HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

Lindsayt wrote: ↑Thu Feb 24, 2022 7:41 pm Maybe hi-fi is most like furniture? A chippendale or a DIY'd cabinet would be very competitive with any brand new cabinets sold today. But then vintage hi-fi is usually pleasantly affordable compared to brand new, unlike antique furniture.

For now. Some classic turntables are very expensive, likewise fully restored valve amps. A good tape deck can be nearly the same price as it was when new. There are bargains if you know what you are looking at.

I will say not all dealers are the anti Christ, there are some that are helpful and allow kit to be dem'ed at home, especially if you've been a regular customer in the past, and also deals can be done when purchasing. I can understand why some are happy to go to a dealer, time is a valuable commodity these days especially if you have a 10hr + travel time work day. I do think hifi has definitely improved over the years, you may not prefer it to the 60's,70's and 80's sounds you were brought up on, but take NVA. Since Paul and Tomasz have taken over, changes have been made to parts and I'm sure sound better for it. I saw a review on a 20+ year old VTL pre amp, not cheap back in the day and it still sounded lovely, only when listening to the model produced today, the improvements were obvious, but the reviewer did say not everyone would prefer the newer version.

At any given price level, I'm confident that a system bought from Puresound would shit all over systems sold by Hi-Fi Corner.

The only speakers from Hi-fi Corner that I'd be remotely interested in would be the classic Klipsch and Quad electrostatics. Even then I'd rather have big classics from EV, Altec or JBL than Klipsch Heresys. Klipschorns from Hi-Fi Corner are stupid money.

"Anti Christ" would be hyperbolic. It would be fair comment to describe Hi-Fi Corner as being part of the problem, and not being part of the solution.

It would be fair comment to describe NVA and other small companies that sell direct with cost plus pricing models as being part of the solution. Along with used and DIY.

I wasn't referring to HiFi Corner when posting "not all dealers are the anti Christ", after all they are a Linn dealer, so would agree, are part of the problem.

A further response from Struan Mackenzie (Director General at Hi-Fi Corner dealership in Edinburgh):

To suggest that dealers are making a 45% commission is completely false. Dealers are in the market to make a profit, no doubt, but huge exaggerations to serve your own marketing purposes counts as industry bashing in my book!

Our response:

45% gross margin is a very widely recognised 'average' number across the industry. Of course, there are costs that come out of that margin, which is what we said, yesterday, in a separate post. You might want to read that, if you missed it (we did tag you). If you are saying that you work on a much lower gross margin, we are all ears, as I'm sure are our readers. We are all for transparency, we won't stop you posting your actual numbers.

The number of times I've seen people in the trade say that their margins are much lower than what people have estimated, only for them to never say what their margins are. Often with the excuse of it being "confidential" information.

Let's see if this time is different...

Also, as you quite rightly pointed out there's margins as in what the dealers sell at compared to what they paid to buy the item. And margins as in what they sell at compared to their purchase price, plus all variable costs involved in selling the item to the consumer, plus an appropriate contribution to overheads.

To suggest that dealers are making a 45% commission is completely false. Dealers are in the market to make a profit, no doubt, but huge exaggerations to serve your own marketing purposes counts as industry bashing in my book!





As convincing as the being spouted by Putin.

I'm surprised not to have seen a membership application under an assumed name by now.

Seems to have a big thing about "industry bashing", or should I say having regard for the interest of a purchaser of hifi equipment. The Linn connection sets alarm bells ringing.

CN211276 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 25, 2022 9:17 pm Seems to have a big thing about "industry bashing", or should I say having regard for the interest of a purchaser of hifi equipment. The Linn connection sets alarm bells ringing.

That would be a question I would be asking the 'Director General', in what way are you 'industry bashing'?