I was trying to get a couple things from the only audio shop around and listened to the audio salesman (who is a really cool guy by the way, and I have nothing against him) try to sell equipment to two people. Me and my buddy were going in to just ask him if he wanted to come by our house and work with us on a design for covering the walls of the theater room in sound board, and dense MDF, and adding theater fabric. He's nice to us and does that sort of thing because my buddy bought $10,000 of stuff from the store so far.
Anyway, we stood in the corners of the room which was a dismal room, with a large stack of CD's and vinyls in one side, behind a large couch, looking far across the room at a pair of these Focal Grand Utopia's that monster out at about 6 feet tall, and weigh in somewhere around 2,000lbs or something like that:
there were smaller focals in front with similar styling, and a large table in the back of the room, with 2 record players on it, a cd player, power conditioner, several tube amplifiers and some other things.
We watched as they were mesmerized by a $7,500 turn-table, then in turn, wanted the $269,000 Focal Grands sitting in front of them as well, but were not sure if they could price in such at a gambit at the time.
The salesman was great. He was using words like "4 Grand" and "$3,000 speaker wire" and "sound quality" and "fills the room more." But he was using them in the terms: "If you're going to buy $4,000 speakers, you might as well buy the $3,000 speaker cable as well. There's no need to downgrade in quality of the wiring just to save a few bucks"
The two gentlemen ate it up like he was the last gas station before the horizon, "Yeah, we probably do need that"
Then came the record player demonstration, to which he applied 3 different weights on top. He applied the free one that comes with the player, a cheap piece of plastic, and spun the record and dropped the needle. It sounded really nice, but for $300,000 speakers, I expect to hear no fuzzy noises in the background whatsoever, but there were tons. Ok, maybe the record players fault. He then opened a glorious tiny cardboard box, and procured a small rubber weight with a hole drilled in the center with some company markings on top and said "This is our $250 weight, and watch the difference"
Sure enough, spinning the record again, it sounded different, but it didn't exactly sound "better." Again, $300,000 speakers shouldn't leave much to be desired.
"WOAH! JUST WOAH! Says the gentleman still sitting on the couch, It just sound more fuller, ya know?"
"YES EXACTLY! Said the salesman, these things are worth the money. but wait till you see this one, it's $900, but it's definitly worth it"
Out comes a significantly shinier weight ( I have no idea what they're called) and placed it on the record, spun it and dropped the needle. It was the same track, and I still could tell no difference, other than some of the "crackle" was gone that the previous piece did not help. No doubt about it, they were sold, he just showed them the Ferrari of metal lathe left-overs and they loved it.
He then showed them the power conditioner, "Well, this one's a must have, and it's about 4 grand"
The tone seemed to change, he seemed to realize that they were talking in the thousands range anyway, and just started dropping "grands" like it was the new currency. Like, an automobile salesman would be successful saying "This car... it's about 16 grand, but if we put the options in it, it will be 18 grand"
"so we definitly need this?" said the other gentleman who was remaining quiet most of the time as it was obvious "stereo" to him meant box with speakers, put the CD in, noise comes out. His face looking more and more puzzled with each drop of grands, and power conditioners and "special" speaker wire that ran into the $4,000 range.
This guy worked his magic, and the more talkative fellow asked for his business card, and then said he'd return tomorrow to purchase the things they had discussed. That salesman was sitting on a $40,000 deal, in just one sitting, and he hadn't even talked about a receiver yet. Just a pre-amp, turn-table, weight, power conditioner, and wires.
A subwoofer caught the non-talkative man's eye on the way out the door of the show room. He asked "what is that?" to which the salesman weaved his magic again, and said it's a Focal dual 15" subwoofer, as if it wasn't obvious - there were no dust covers, and it was just sitting there in the corner of the room -
"Wait a minute," Said the other man, "is it good quality?"
"Yes, it runs about 15 grand, and weighs about 400 pounds"
"Wow, I may add that in tomorrow, but I definitly want all the other stuff on this list I made here"
Then the gentleman shook hands with the salesman, and left.
Mind you, the price is a little outrageous for the things they were being sold, but what you may not have noticed from my story, is that there were no sound theories or quality references being sold. Not once did they inquire as to what each part really did, how much power they put out, or anything else for that matter. No, the items weren't set up for them specifically, they are the same things, every time we go in there, for at least the last 6 months. Sometimes things are added, but never changed - yet.
This salesman, had the skill - to basically point at something, and then go "See that? You want that, It's $5,000" and the customers, almost under a trance, said "I see that, I will pay $5,000, I want that." There wasn't even a choice in the matter, or even, "Maybe I want a different pre-amp?" or "Do I need that?" or even "is this the best one you offer?"
I wish I had that kind of talent. Just tell someone how much something weighs, and how much it costs, and they're sold on that. Apparently, if it's heavy, it's good.
