I agree Mike. Your "dealer" should be your most trusted reviewer. I will never forget what you told me when deciding to switch from Brand A to Brand B. You told me I would not be making any substantial benefit in sound quality.
It’s funny, I’m brutally honest. Just talked a customer out of buying a new DAC streamer that was announced recently because vs his Cascade/Dual Pink Faun, that would have been a big step down or at a minimum, completely unnecessary.
My favorite story is talking someone out of the Kharma DB11’s because they would overpower his small room. He ignored me. Bought them anyway, then called me 3 months later with his tail between his legs to help him out do his “mistake”.
Lastly, work with a good dealer who will help your spouse in a time of need. This is a subject that goes ignored, but I can’t tell you the number of calls we get from a wife who says “my husband passed away and we have all this stuff” or “I’m terminally ill and I need to sell all this stuff so my wife doesn’t have to deal with it.”
We look after our customers and help the best we can. The team managing our consignment and pre owned gear does a great job here.
But I’ll be honest, there was a guy right here in Sarasota who called the other day, told us his unfortunate story about his illness and this guy had every single brand we sell, yet he never bought a single thing from us. We never heard of him before and he was only a few miles away. But he had all the brands we carry, but he bought elsewhere or used. NOW he needed our help. It’s a shit load of work selling used gear for piddly amounts of commission on each item and we take all the risk dealing with the scammers out there. Let me tell you, I’m sorry for his situation, but we’ve never even spoken to this guy and he’s been here for decades and known of us, but never even came in the store once! Never even called. But now needs our help? I gave my guys the parameters and guidelines to help him under, so we will see what happens.
