In choosing a dealer with whom to work, competence and product footprint (the range and extent of the brands they hold) is everything.
It’s more important than premises
It’s more important than price – after all, it’s only a bargain if it actually does the job. Getting the right solution is much more important than getting the right price on the wrong product.
Today, systems and even individual components have hit positively eye-watering price levels. As those prices have shot up, so too has performance potential, but the remarkable levels of performance that are now possible are also impossibly fragile. Price is absolutely no guarantee of performance: it takes skill, experience and attention to detail to realise the performance potential of your expensive investment. Those skills should reside with and be supplied by your dealer. If they’re not, you’re wasting your time and money.
It’s a lot easier to tune a Golf GTI than a mid-engined, flat-12 Ferrari. But the sad truth is that even a base-line Golf will outperform a Ferrari that doesn’t start, no matter how plush the dealership that Ferrari came from. That’s not an argument against expensive or exotic purchases: it’s a recognition of the realities of realising their benefits. A Ferrari in tip-top shape is a lovely thing, but you need to keep it that way. Still, at least one Ferrari is nominally identical to another, if it’s the same model. Audio systems don’t have that consistency. Every one, every room is different and throws up different challenges. You’ll find that meeting those challenges comes a lot more easily with some expert help. If you are serious about performance, how (and where) you find that help is the real issue. Is a store front or separate, dedicated premises important when it comes to making that decision? Not nearly as important as somer people think. Unnfortunately, they’re often the very people who should know better…
Like I said at the start, it’s not what you buy, it’s who (not where!) you buy it from that matters. It’s an even more important decision today than it ever was.
