Thread: High Fidelity Review Feature

Posts: 5

Post by tream December 10, 2003 (1 of 5)
There is a semi-interesting article posted on the High Fidelity Review site at:
http://www.highfidelityreview.com/news/dvdaudio.asp

that details email responsiveness from various manufacturers of Universal SACD DVD-A players (High Fidelity Review, by the way, reverses the order as they favor DVD-A over SACD-but do a reasonable job covering SACD news).

The company I work for market email response management systems, and it is no surprise to me how bad some companies are in responding to email inquiries. The article itself leans to the side of being content-free, although one can assume that Bel Canto and Linn have a high level of technical knowledge. High Fidelity Review is a site that I check regularly for news about high resolution audio.

Post by zeus December 10, 2003 (2 of 5)
tream said:

There is a semi-interesting article posted on the High Fidelity Review site at:
http://www.highfidelityreview.com/news/dvdaudio.asp

I think most companies would say that their dealers are the ones to answer such questions. Really, the best you should hope for from a manufacturer/distributor is a brochure and a list of dealers in your area. I thought the article was pretty lame.

Post by tream December 10, 2003 (3 of 5)
zeus said:

I think most companies would say that their dealers are the ones to answer such questions. Really, the best you should hope for from a manufacturer/distributor is a brochure and a list of dealers in your area. I thought the article was pretty lame.

"Lame" and "content-free" are different ways of saying the same thing. With respect to your view about dealers and expectations from manufacturers, I could not agree less. Dealers don't carry every brand, have their own biases, and often don't have the technical depth especially in the more esoteric and leading edge areas of the audio world (such as multichannel high resolution audio). Maybe they should, but they rarely do. (I do know some good dealers by the way). As a consumer who likes to make informed purchase decisions, (and who doesn't) I find it useful to do research on topics in advance, before visiting a dealer, and find the manufacturers' own Web site a principle place of research. This is a growing trend, and manufacturers who ignore it do so at the risk of alienating potential buyers.

As an interesting example, last year I was installing an AV system in my new house. Most of the folks who do this are oriented around the video side, but as a dedicated music-lover I wanted to optimize the system for audio. I was surprised by the depth of ignorance (and I live in Silicon Valley, so one hopes there is a reasonable level of technology knowledge). I ended up asking questions of many manufacturers (by the way, Telarc's Web site was very informative), including sending an email inquiry to Wilson Audio. To my delighted surprise, they arranged a telephone call with Peter McGrath, who is not only Director of Sales for Wilson, but a respected audio engineer and a board member of the Florida Philharmonic (that last is a tough spot these days). Peter, who I have now met personally at the Stereophile annual show, was very enlightening and helped me find my way. I still did some things with my installation that I wouldn't repeat, but none of them had to do with the audio side.

I doubt if SACD is going to enter the daily mainstream the way CD's did, or the way MP3 has (one shudders that a dumbed down medium like MP3 has become a standard, but it has). Therefore, we need a way to obtain and maintain critical mass. The Web will be an integral part of building the SACD community (in fact, like this forum), and consumers and manufacturers need to be a part of that community. Dealers need to exist, so that we can hear before we buy, so I believe in dealer support, but I also believe in a strong consumer/manufacturer relationship.

Post by zeus December 10, 2003 (4 of 5)
In an ideal world I agree. It's great to establish direct contact with caring (and generally small) manufacturers which translates into customer loyalty. But most of the products covered by this article are consumer products (albeit upmarket). If you call a large manufacturer you're likely to be transferred to a call centre (in India or wherever) and after your query is escalated up a few levels and you still don't get a satisfactory answer, you'll wonder why you bothered. The upside here, as you point out, is we now have the web to research products, get feedback from peers etc.

As for dealers, knowledgeable ones are well worth the premium you're likely to pay by buying through them. Unfortunately, everybody these days wants the "best price" so something has to give. This is the reality, whether you or I like it or not.

Post by Dan Popp December 12, 2003 (5 of 5)
I think you're both right. Manufacturers should use dealers more to "filter" and disseminate information. Boutique mfgrs can interact directly with their customers, up to a point. My position is that, if a manufacturer posts an email contact address, they had better well have it staffed, and respond to the emails they get - otherwise they are setting up expectations which they know they will dash. PO-ing a few interested consumers may not seem like a grave mistake - but information travels fast, and these companies are building their own negative reputations. If they don't want to deal with you directly, they shouldn't provide a way for you to contact them directly - period.

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