If you owned a store what speakers would you have? (1 Viewer)

[Allen Marshall]

If you owned a speaker store what speakers/recievers/amps would you carry? practical or impractical is your choice

Speakers

Aerial Acoustics
Athena
B&W
JBL
Klipsch
Paradigm
Rocket
Vienna Acoustics

Recievers

Denon
Pioneer
Yamaha

 

[John Garcia]

Note that many manufacturers will not allow their products to be sold in the same showrooms as some of their specific direct competiton. For example, I think you will be hard pressed to find a store that carries both Paradigm and B&W (they may exist, but if they do, they are likely very few).

Joseph Audio, Thiel, Aerial, Paradigm, NHT, Vienna, Martin Logan, Mirage.

Personally, I wouldn't carry Yamaha. When I do open my shop (a few years off), I hope to carry Marantz, and Pioneer Elite would be OK, maybe Sony ES to keep the masses happy, and some separates and/or higher line gear such as Arcam, Rotel, B&K, etc...

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

Boston Acoustics

Martin Logan

SVS

Krell

B&W

Aragon

 

[BryanZ]

Speakers:

VMPS
Ascend Acoustics
ACI
Odyssey
Onix (Rocket)
nOrh
HSU
SVS

Electronics:

Odyssey
nOrh
Outlaw

 

[JesseBro]

my local stereoshop carries b&w, paradigm, boston, polk, velodyne, and klipsch

they have a very nice listening room, and it makes it VERY easy to distinquish the sounds of each brand..... even if they are in direct competition, they each have their own sound

 

[george king]

John,

Marvins electronics here is Fort Worth sells both the paradigm (and associated Anthem lines) and the B&W (and associated Rotel lines).

It does happen.

 

[John Garcia]

I know it happens. I don't have any dealers in my area, that I know of, that carry both 'Digms and B&W, though I have seen a few listed here prior to this post. If a dealer can SELL the items is how they make the decision to let a dealer carry them, but these will vary from area to area. Meaning, if there are only one or two stores that are capable of selling at a particular price point, then they will be more likely carry a mixture of these brands. I know for a fact from talking to the owners of a few high end local shops, that some companies will not allow, or rather would prefer not to allow, their products to be sold along side certain competitors (again, may vary by market).

I made a similar comment regarding Anthem/Paradigm and Rotel/B&W, and found that B&W merely share a US distributor, and they are not mutually exclusive, while Classe is the counterpart to B&W as Anthem is to Paradigm. I knew about Classe, but I always thought Rotel was synonymous with B&W too.

 

[Dean_S]

I was gonna mention Marvin carrying both B&W and Paradigm. I think they just dropped Revel??? I go to CES with them every year (as a guest of the family).

My speaker choices:
Wilson Audio (any)
Red Rose Music (the bookshelf model)
MBL (the big ones, don't know the model number but very impressive at the show)
Any of the higher up Dynaudio's
Martin Logan
B&W 801

I lean toward the Dyn's even though they are not quite as perfect as the Wilson WATT/Puppy combo.

Budget choice: NHT SB3, MSRP is $600/pr and they are almost as good as my Celesion SL600s which new cost about double that.

 

[Robert Cowan]

my shop carries:

sonus fabre
canton (people like the small speakers...)
b&w
meridian

i would add magnepan to the list

 

[Scott Oliver]

Avalon Acoustics
Jean Marie Reynaud
Audio Note
Harbeth
Cain & Cain
Beauhorn
Avantegarde
ATC
Kharma
Living Voice

oh wait you said eight
um I guess take off ATC because they aren't tube friendly and say Living Voice.

Three receivers.
I wouldn't carry any recievers.
I would carry Wavelength, Art Audio, and WAVAC amps, amongst others.

 

[Mark gas]

Only carry 3 or 4 brands. one low end to high end like Jamo one mid to hi end and one high end. Have 6 or 7 brands in the same price range just confuses people. If you sell Pioneer and Yamaha you can also carry thier speakers and HTIB setups..

 

[John Garcia]

The dealer I frequent most carries Paradigm, Wharfedale, Martin Logan, Aerial, Sonus Faber and Thiel. Too many similarly price speakers is not a good idea, but no choice is not either. Gotta have something for most income brackets, but also have to give someone at least two brands to compare in the same price range - you have a better shot at selling them something then. I won't carry HTiBs.

 

[Evan M.]

Tough question....someday I would like to do this.
Audio -receiver

Yamaha
Denon
H/K

Amps-

B&K
Rotel

Speakers-
Boston
Paradigm
Klipsch
Vienna
Martin Logan
Def Tech (for those full range power people)
Sonas Faber
JBL

 

[Scott_N]

Kharma, Dali, JMLab, Energy, Triangle, Opera, Quad, Tetra, Dynaudio,Totem and REL subs. For electronics I would carry Arcam, B&K, Conrad Johnson, Cary, Lamm, Thor, Denon, Sim Audio, Parasound, Marantz, Audio Aero, Theta and BAT.

 

[Rory Buszka]

I have actually considered being a business major and starting a small audio shop in my county (Hamilton County), which is the richest county in Indiana and one of the richest in the nation. They would probably have money to spend on such things. I imagine they'd be ready for a true high-end store.

I would call it Aphelion Audio

I would carry:

Paradigm
(Hooked up to the Denon stuff)
-----------------
Paradigm Performance Series (all the models)
Paradigm Monitor Series (a bookshelf and a couple towers)
Paradigm Reference Series (A bookshelf and a tower model)
PS-series Subwoofers & Reference Seismic 12

Acoustic Elegance (formerly Stryke Audio, not yet available)
(Hooked up to the Anthem gear and the big Crown amps for the subs)
-----------------
Center Point 5
Center Point Towers
Thunder Subwoofers
Power Subwoofers
(these will be the most complete line of passive radiator based subs anywhere)

VMPS
(I will have these in their own listening room with the Parasound and Sunfire amps and electronics. They will be special order stuff.)
-----------------
Ribbon Monitor 1
Ribbon Monitor 2
Ribbon Monitor 30
Ribbon Monitor 40
New Original Subwoofer
Larger Subwoofer

Crown
-----------------
XLS Series
K1
K2

Denon recievers and sources (DVD, CD, SACD/DVD-A, Tape, etc.)
Parasound amps
Bob Carver Sunfire Electronics
Anthem electronics (also a Paradigm brand)

Oh yes, and:
Not Monster Cable.

I like being helpful to people, and I like the products. I wouldn't expect to sell too much of anything other than the Paradigm. And perhaps the Acoustic Elegance stuff, depending on how much Mr. Janowitz's new product line costs. I would also do a little bit of sales over the intenet. If anyone bought the RM40s and/or Larger Subwoofers, I would probably offer setup and calibration services. After all, there is that adjustable-tuning passive radiator to contend with. Since they're so customizable, I would just order them for the people purchasing them. You know, the Megawoofer option and all that.

I might also keep on hand a pair of Bose 601s to show the clear difference between poor quality and high quality.

I would have a decent security system to protect the inventory from would-be thieves.

 

[David_Rivshin]

*placing tongue firmly in cheek*

If I owned a stereo/home theater store then I'd probably only carry:

1) everything Bose
2) everything Monster Cable
3) everything Sony

Why? Because they all have big markups and alot of people will pay big money for them. Then I'd make enough money to buy myself some good equipment. It'd be just like being a drug dealer, make lots of cash, but never use your own product

Oh, and for those who can't afford that equipment, I might carry some WhiteVan speakers in the back room

*removing tongue from cheek*

Note: I don't really mean to bucket Sony in with the same category as Bose and Monster. If you buy high end (ES, etc) Sony stuff at 40+% off retail (as is easy to do) then it can be a good value. Of course if you pay retail for just about anything Sony you're probably getting ripped.

-- Dave

*puts on flame suit and runs away*

 

[Russ FL]

Speakers: Revel, B & W, Kef, Martin Logan
Electronics: Bryston, B & K, Denon, Rotel

 

[Russ FL]

Speakers: Revel, B & W, Kef, Martin Logan
Electronics: Bryston, B & K, Denon, Rotel

 

[Bill Blank]

Both of my local Paradigm dealers also carry the entire B&W line-up as well. Anyway, here's what I'd carry:

SPEAKERS:

Paradigm
B&W
Totem
Dynaudio
NHT
Sonus Faber
Epos
KEF

ELECTRONICS:

NAD
Musical Fidelity
Rotel
Creek
Arcam
MacIntosh
Krell
Meridian
Rega
Denon
Marantz
Music Hall
Pro-Ject


I'd also work out a deal with a good independent record store (like Chester County Books & Music) by directing people to their store. I would "donate" a modest 2-ch system to them as well to give music lovers a taste of what's possible with decent gear, in return for them sending customers inquiring about the gear my way.

As you can see, this isn't the first time I've thought about this topic...someday when I hit the Powerball jackpot!!

Entrepreneur in waiting,
Bill

 

[Bill Blank]

Both of my local Paradigm dealers also carry the entire B&W line-up as well. Anyway, here's what I'd carry:

SPEAKERS:

Paradigm
B&W
Totem
Dynaudio
NHT
Sonus Faber
Epos
KEF

ELECTRONICS:

NAD
Musical Fidelity
Rotel
Creek
Arcam
MacIntosh
Krell
Meridian
Rega
Denon
Marantz
Music Hall
Pro-Ject


I'd also work out a deal with a good independent record store (like Chester County Books & Music) by directing people to their store. I would "donate" a modest 2-ch system to them as well to give music lovers a taste of what's possible with decent gear, in return for them sending customers inquiring about the gear my way.

As you can see, this isn't the first time I've thought about this topic...someday when I hit the Powerball jackpot!!

Entrepreneur in waiting,
Bill