@RonP - yeah - don’t open that dealer salesman box… I’m sure there are some whoppers… I have a few… 
People say some pretty amazing stuff when their living is based on commission… oh no you ditnt
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Good survey design is difficult.
Everything needs to be simple, concise, and unambiguous. Multiple choice questions must necessarily be inclusive and closed so that all respondents will fall within the available responses (There are two candidates up for election. Will you vote for Robin, for Tuck, or not vote?)
Poll design favors words over numbers. E.g., extremely dissatisfied to extremely satisfied with a neutral option in the middle of the scale. Respondents are much more accurate aligning there feelings/thoughts with words than numbers.
It is quite fascinating how the pieces of a good survey fit together. And quite neat what you can learn from the results. I have been impressed with the information a good pollster can elicit.
I don’t disagree at all with your last bullet. I’m sure this models out brilliantly from an accounting perspective.
The challenge will be that no one needs any of these products. These are purely discretionary purchases of high-end luxury products. Reputation and customer experience are important in that market. The performance difference between these products and their competitors is not huge and immediately obvious. The differences are nuanced in many cases.
Worsening the customer experience to make a bigger profit has risk. I love my direct stream DAC and memory player, but to be honest, had I never found them, I would own something else, similarly priced, and just as much fun to listen to. Making the discovery process harder and less convenient for the customer, in a crowded luxury market, isn’t an experience I’m looking for. I don’t think I am alone. I understand selling direct (as they do today), I don’t understand cutting out retailers where their product can be experienced. My concerns aren’t about price, they are about the quality of the customer experience you get for that price.
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Customer service is first class. That is no small matter.
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Actually, Mark Sammut who runs Reno HiFi is Joe Sammut’s (Pass VP of International Sales) son. Not sure if Joe and Nelson are actually related, but it is “in the family” kinda sorta for sure.
Full disclosure: I’m a hopeless Passaholic (though digital front-end is PSA) and have been buying and selling new, used, and demo with Reno for the better part of 15 years or more, and have NO complaints about the customer experience. Absolutely. None. No, it’s not the same as being pampered in an upscale audio salon, but there is nothing low-quality about it. I think most folks who deal with Mark and Reno find the experience to be quite “sticky” and keep coming back for more. There is no way I would have been able to slowly assemble the system I enjoy today over time had it not been for Mark and Reno HiFi. If PS Audio does as well by their customers, the industry and audiophiles will be better off.
Here is something else to think about. It was a while in the past, but an audio writer in Stereophile or TAS did an opinion piece on the economics of the high-end. His point was that you could build “affordable” gear but then you have to sell a crap-ton of it it through distributors, spend a pile to promote it, invest in inventory and warehousing, and hope that it sells itself on the shelves of dealers and big box chains. -or -
You could build boutique statement no-compromise products and sell far fewer of them, but for serious money, and with less staff, less investment, less risk, and less stress, and maybe have fun doing it.
Not that I subscribe to all the economic disaster porn that permeates the financial press, but this economic expansion is long in the tooth and many indicators are rolling over. If you owned a business like PS Audio, how would you prepare for a possible economic squall?
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There was a substantial period or time when Pass Labs didn’t even have a US distributor because of stagnant stateside sales & a strong overseas market.
Negotiable in terms of supply versus demand. If they don’t sale adequately at the set price, price will need to be adjusted down.
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My concern is revolving around international sales. Are countries outside of USA keeping dealers or is PSA shipping at no extra cost with the 30 day trial. I’d like to get my hands on more gear down the road.
PSA only has themselves to blame for this mess. They have allowed far too many shady dealers to sell their products at steep discounts. There was one particular dealer. He didn’t even have a showroom and he would easily give 30-35% off. To make matters worse, I know that they gave big discounts to my local dealer if he ordered more than one item at a time. So, they only have themselves to blame. PSA gear just doesn’t have the cache to warrant a no discount model and Paul’s over inflated ego isn’t going to save this blunder of a move. PSA and it’s poor quality control is acceptable when there is a big discount. Paying full MSRP on the DS or BHK250’s or PP ain’t going to happen. If I paid full retail for my PP15, I would be furious with the constant problems I’ve had. Lastly, I trust my dealers advice and if he no longer sells PS Audio, I won’t even consider it. Glad we still have great companies like McIntosh, Bryston, Pass, Ayre among others that value their dealer network. How do you show the new line of speakers without dealer showrooms?
I’ve been thinking about this. PS Audio makes super high quality products. Yes, I got a small discount thru a dealer for my recent BHK purchase. However, I must say the unit is worth the full price. I paid full price for the Rogue RP-5 ( Yes lower than the BHK) I owned before. The BHK is Miles ahead on fit, finish and of course sound. The Rogue, although an excellent product and great company, seemed “clunky” floabt.
I think PSA could really improve their company and products by going direct. Plus, PSA has lines of products at all price levels. The Stellar series is really a better buy, imo, over the likes of Wired4 sound, etc. Plus, the support and upgrades are excellent.
I am one who buys something for YEARS of service. PSA builds products that appeal to such long term use. As long as PSA does not turn into BOSE - POLK general consumer products company down the road, I think its a good move.
As a former large scale Plant Manager who use to teach and implement lean manufacturing methods, a company like PSA is ideal to do wonders with assembly here in the US.
Paul seems to be a company leader who “gets it”.
I own both PS Audio stuff and Wyred4Sound stuff. I have multiple components of each, and have owned both brands for several years. One definite advantage/upside of Wyred4Sound is quality control. Their stuff doesn’t fail; at least not for me. I’ve returned one thing to W4S and that was for an optional DAC femto clock upgrade. I’ve had an W4S integrated amp, multichannel power amp, two DACs, an upgraded preamp, and a multi device power supply. I also own power cords from both companies. Over an eight plus year period Wyred4Sound components report ZERO product failures. On the other hand, my personal experience with PS Audio quality control and product failure is far different. Bought a PowerPlantPremier from Authorized dealer Music Direct which blew up on the first day and had to be exchanged, Direct Stream Jr ordered from Authorized dealer Audio Advisor failed upon arrival and had to be exchanged, a PWT display screen failed under warranty (pixelation) and had be sent to PS Audio for screen replacement, and lastly, my recently purchased P12 had to be returned to PS Audio since it quit regulating voltage (bad cable connection). They repaired it promptly and returned it. My P5 purchased in 2012 is the only PSA component I have not had a repair issue with. The Bridge ii issue was a pain to deal with too. I like both companies, but quality control is a huge factor for me, so I am going to disagree with you on your assessment of what is a better value. To PS Audio’s credit they do work to make things right, but the quality control issue is a problem that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.
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I guess I’ve been lucky. I’ve owned three pieces from PSA and four from W4S and they have all been flawless.
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So … I don’t sell gear. Therefore, it’s value in the used marketplace is immaterial. I have gotten some nice discounts on both new and demo psa gear. I fall into the camp of - I can’t buy it at full retail. Saying all of this - if people discount - it makes me wonder what the markup is exactly since they are still making a profit on the discounted item.
I figured that was essentially the model - and the incentive for dealers to sell psaudio gear. Possibly more profit margin for them - or just easier to sell more volume at a lower price and taking less profit.
Not that I would want this - why wouldn’t psaudio reduce the profit margin for the dealers forcing them to sell at a higher price to keep their profits? Maybe that becomes non- competitive w other manufacturers ? I dunno.
Also imho - a hideous time to go direct only given the ramp up of the speaker line. But - I don’t know the model - only that I would not buy a speaker direct without hearing it. I travelled 5 hours to hear my 20.7s - and would not have pulled the trigger without doing so. In home auditions are great until you realize if you don’t like it - it’s like having to bring a refrigerator back to the store - possibly pay a restocking fee and shipping fee.
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For the speaker line only they could go to a network of select B&M showroom equipped regional dealers like Legacy has with the pricing the same at all of them with no selling into another dealers area. Vandersteen has been operating on a similar model for over 30 years. But for that to work they couldn’t sell them direct from the factory too.
They have history for doing just that from time-to-time with various sales promotions e.g. the Snowmass promotion where they sold $6K DMP and DSD for $4K, thus killing the used retail pricing on those products, and upsetting those who paid MSRP prior to the sale.
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We’ve been seeing the dealer model falling over for years…people buy from the dealer, there is a problem with the gear, the dealer washes their hands of it and the customer ends up dealing with PS Audio directly for support or to get it fixed.
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There are 2 things I guess and conclude long term from the discussions and influenced by the direct sales strategy:
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in case there are foreseeable repeating campaigns, hardly anyone will at any time pay more than within a certain marketing campaign. Unofficial market prices will be more or less be unofficially fixed at those campaign prices.
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Unofficial market prices in other countries will get down to the US campaign prices (tax added afterwards).
I seriously doubt, that much was sold noticeably above campaign prices afterwards…at least not to people who knew of such campaigns.
So I don’t believe in an official price drop through the direct sale strategy, but in an unofficial caused by the accompanying campaigns and the higher pricing flexibility PSA has back hand by the new strategy.
I have no idea why used prices should be more stable or higher by those changes…I think they will be equally influenced by the campaign prices and settle accordingly below them.
An interesting topic we dummies can just guess and PSA sales people will have spent a few better thoughts more in it.
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I get it, it’s a brave new world but as more manufacturers follow suite and go to the direct sale model, an obvious by-product will be the demise of more and more brick & mortar establishments…
I enjoy just hanging out at my local dealer(s) talking audio, learning, meeting other audiophiles, demo-ing products, the personal touch, equipment loans for home demo…
What will you miss if your dealer/dealers close shop?
-JP
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Absolutely nothing.
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As soon as this happens, more of them will have to be much more engaged in online activities and at the end, those activities (as well as prices and campaigns) compete against each other which imo leads to a similarily balanced situation as it was in the old dealer model without online activity.