USE YOUR KNOWLEDGE, SAVE A SMALL TOWN...

[Ryan Libby]

Time to use your expertise to help improve many peoples lives!

I live in a city of 93,000 people and we have had only two real AV retailers for many years. The two retailers carry many of the same products, and the nearest third retailer is 1 1/2 hrs away. Needless to say this whole area has been hurting for another AV store for a long, long time.

Today a nice guy and long time owner of a very good car audio shop revealed to me that he is going do his part for our city and open a new AV shop. He has been asking everyone as to which manufacturers they would like him to carry.

Here's where you come in...

please offer any suggestions you might have about which manufacturers that this store should carry.

Personal favorites, good service, good value, for whatever reason.

A town this small can't really support a place that has too nice of stuff like $4K amps, and $5K speakers and he needs to sell stuff so receivers and smaller speaker packages he will surely need. However, this place needs some of the good stuff so any suggestions are welcome.

My city thanks you.

[woodman]

Ryan:

I'd be glad to help out, but it would be helpful to know just which brands are being carried by the two existing stores. There's be no point at all in my recommending brands to carry when they might be the brands already available in the area.

So, do some research and find out just what's being offered in the area in TV sets, audio components, speakers, etc. Then, I'd be better able to offer my insights (based upon more than 50 years of experience with this stuff). OK?




woodman

[Eduardo]

I would suggest Klipsh. They have always been, in my opinion, a great speaker with a reliable name. They vary from entry level bookshelf speakers to high end full range speakers.

Ryan, tell your friend Good Luck and I hope he has a successfull business.

http://home.nc.rr.com/ejimenez

[Trevor Schell]

Can't go wrong with Toshiba, Paradigm and Denon.
Those are my personal favorites.
All three manufactures offer product from the low end of the scale to the high end of the scale.
Likely, the right thing to do would be to invest in the low /mid range of product with the option of ordering in, upon request, some of the higher end units.
All lines of product from the above mentioned manufacturers, are of decent quality and reliability.

BTW,,What brands are currently offered in your community right now.?

Thanks,




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

[Ryan Libby]

Thanks for your thoughts. My friend certainly has a bigger pair than I for trying this. I really hope it works out for him. If you think I'm mistaken on any of the below please point out.

Here are some brands I think I'll suggest:
Rotel, Adcom, JBL, Polk, Definitive Technology, Parasound, Sherbourne, PIONEER, M&K, Hsu, SVS, LG, NHT, Totem, B&W, Tannoy, Monitor, Velodyne, SONY, KEF, Acoustics energy, Arcam, Mirage, B&K, Axiom, JVC, Audio research, Mission, Panasonic

...will suggest but are in other stores:
Marantz, Onkyo, Denon, Harmon Kardon, Paradigm, Klipsch, Energy, NAD,

Many of the following I believe aren't what I'm looking for.

Brands I am still trying to look at,(hard to find prices off the net.):
Aragon, ACI, Aronov, Ayre, Audire, Audio Note, Audio Illusions, Atma-sphere, Air Tight, Accuphase, Acurus, Adire Audio, Avalon Acoustics, Ariel, Audio Physic, Avantgarde, Audio Matiere,

Bel canto, Balanced Audio, B&O, Blue circle, Burmester,

CR developments, Cinepro, California Labs, Clayton, Copland, Cary Audio, Chiro, Counterpoint, Creek, Convergent AT, Chord, Cello, Conrad-Johnson,

David Burning, Decware, Don Jose,

Essence, Electrocompaniet, Epos, Entec,

FM acoustics,

Graaf, Granite Audio, Gallo, Goldmund, Genesis Technologies, German Physiks,

Hovland, Hales, Hercules,

Janis, Joule Electra, Jeff Rowland, Jadis, Jean-Marie Reynaud,

Linar Audio, Lamm, Legacy, Linn,

Mesa, MBL, Mlab, Manley, Meridian, Matisse, Mackie, Mark Levinson, Meadowlark, Meridian, Mcintosh,

Nagra, Naim, Nearfield Acoustics,

Odyssey, Optimus,

Pathos, Plinius, Prarian Acoustics, ProAc,

Quad,

Rel Acoustics, red rose, Revel, Rowland,

Soundstream, Siemel, Sansui, Sim audio, Silverline, Snell, Sonus Faber, Sonic Frontiers, Soundlab, spectral,

Talon, TAC, Transcendecent Sound, Threshold, Thiel, Triangle,

Unison Research,

Vienna, Vandersteen, Verity, VTL

Wilson Audio, Waveform

[Lex]

Hey, if he can add most of your list, whew that would be a nice store!

That is a substantial investment though, hope he's got deeeeep pockets.

CAT Cables, Quantum Cable, or Zeus Cable might be good too, haha. Actually, I don't have to much of a dealer program setup, but someday...

Lex

[Burke Strickland]

Ryan -

Carrying all the stuff on your list would be tough for a store in New York City... we're down to a handful of stores with a fairly abbreviated version of that list carried among all of them here in Houston with a metro market area of millions... not thousands.
Maybe having your local guy get into an Internet-based business might be worth considering... but I'll bet even there to make a go of it with the kind of products you are talking about, he'll need very cooperative distributors and deep pockets.

Good luck -

Burke

[Sonnie Parker]

Agree Burke, almost impossible.

If I were going to open an A/V store I would try to find the quality brands that are mostly not available on the Internet. At least not available with a full manufactures warranty.

In todays world it seems that many people shop the Internet heavily. I know some audio/video enthusiast are loyal to their local stores, but I wouldn't suggest that percentage to be very high.

Most of, if not all of, the equipment I've purchased came from Internet companies because of lower prices.






SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

[Sonnie Parker]

That's not to say I would totally ignore any equipment that is available on the net. The mass marketed brands and lesser expensive brands are almost all available via the net. I would think you'd have to offer a price variety so you'd have to include some.






SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

[Robbie]

Ryan,

That is quite some list. Many cities of millions don't have that selection. IMO, Many of those listed are kind of esoteric. Avoid those. Keep to the well known brands like Rotel, Adcom, B&W, Pioneer, Sony. Maybe add 1 or 2 high end brands like McIntosh. Need a variety of price ranges to attract numerous customers. Also keep in mind many mfgs require a minimum purchase in order to become a dealer. Our local audio shop wanted to carry Marantz but had to fork out over 20K worth of stuff. For a little Audio store that's a fortune. Needless to say he didn't carry Marantz. Of course this is all JMHO.

Good luck to your buddy

Robbie

[Burke Strickland]

By the way, Ryan, I see elsewwhere that you are interested in talking with someone who knows how to build cables... you might want to check out http://www.thecableforum.com -- especially the DIY cable area. Or drop Lex a note. He might be able to help you. :>)

Burke

[woodman]

Ryan:
After I thought for a bit on your friend's plans, and the list of brands you provided (both the ones already available in your town, plus the list of brands you thought might be worth considering), I have to respond as follows:

The best thing you could do for your friend would be to talk him out of proceeding with his plans! His chances for success in this venture are very slim to begin with, and if he should stock brands like those on your long list, they'd get even slimmer (down to zero!). The population of 93,000 is barely large enough to support two A/V dealers - let alone three. If you truly want to help him, talk him out of it altogether ... please!




woodman