Sound Advice / Tweeter Stores Shut Down in a Dumbed Down Marketplace

[highfigh]

I don't think it is fair to put all of the blame on Tweeter. Yes sound advice sold great audio products for 25 years, but look at the market place 25 years ago. There were the cheap scratchy sounding paper cone speakers and then the high end market. Things can be made so cheaply now that to an untrained ear a $200 HTIB speaker set can sound close to a $4000 speaker set or at least good enough for someone to buy. I was one of those people 5 years ago. The middle market has really stepped up it's game that only true audiophiles see the need to buy anything beyond what is at the big box stores. Then you have BOSE brainwashing another large segment of the market place. And not to start a BOSE war again, but their speakers do not sound that bad in a smaller room at moderate volume, and at their high pricepoint they have become the upper-middle market leader since consumers to not take the time to research other options and want instant gradification.

I had a friend over the other night and he commented on why I purchased such big clunky 'old-style' (floorstanding) speakers.

The market consumer has changed and there is less and less need for the high end market. Stores need to play to the market to stay alive.

I was talking with one of the tech people at JL Audio this morning and he worked for Sound Advice about 25 years ago, as the head of their sales training department. He left to work for Boston Acoustics and not long after, they shut down all of the training, preferring to do it the way Best Buy did it. They were bought by Tweeter relatively close to this time, IIRC and the problem as he saw it is that the main thing that made SA different/better than the competition was the fact that the sales people had really good product knowledge and knew where the market was headed, in addition to knowing how to sell effectively. Well-informed consumers have generally had the edge on most sales people in mass-merchandise stores but when the majority of customers know more than a specialty retailer, it's only a matter of time before they're history. IMO, Best Buy and Circuit City have never been all that knowledgeable in car and home audio, although I would occasionally find someone who was. With assets about equal to debt, I'm pretty sure Circuit City isn't coming back unless someone wants to start from scratch with that name. Best Buy has had their share of troubles, too and while I prefer small local specialty dealers, mass merchandisers have their place.

This is a sign for every dealer that if they don't pay attention to their crystal ball, they'll be looking for a job, too.

 

[highfigh]

Great story Gene, I can tell the outlet really meant something to you. I bet many of us can narrow down our formative hi-fi experiences to a particular store, friend, father, older brother. You mentioned your brother's gear at the party at SOTU. Great story, reminds me of my experiences with my dad's hi-fi equipment. I was never allowed to touch it... hehe, the forbidden nature must have been what turned me into an audioholic.

I'd never seen Tweeter or Sound Advice. But I get the idea.

Things have clearly changed in electronics and in retail. I remember the rise of the 'warehouse' type store in the 80s. Then the rise of cheap, easily replcable electronics that really kicked in during my time as the traveling TV repair man back in the early 90s.

I went to people's houses who owned the same TV set for the better part of 20 years. When they bought that floor model Quazar they were really making an investment in their livingroom's future. It was cost effective to have some clown like me come over and swap out modules to keep it running.

Do you need any small TV tubes?

 

[buzzy]

There's truth in a lot of what's being said about consumers and corporate management. Though the snide, vitriolic tone of lots of comments isn't really appropriate.

But don't lose sight of the fact that the stores aren't delivering value to buyers or manufacturers. Buyers aren't getting much service, even when they spend five figures. And most manufacturers aren't getting well represented by their exclusive dealers.

 

[djriott]

Please Help

I LOVED SA TOO GROWING UP ESPECIALLY THERE CAR ADUIO. I ALWAYS SAID ILL GET MY SYSTEM FROM THERE SOME DAY AND WHEN I WAS OLD ENOUGH AND HAD THE CASH I DID. I WISH I KNOW ABOUT THERE DOWN SPIRAL. CUZ IN 07 I BOUGHT MY WHOLE CAR SYSTEM SPENT OVER $4,000
I BOUGHT WARRENTY OF COURSE. NOW MY PIONEER NAVI DECK IS ACTING UP AND I DONT KNOW WHERE TO TAKE IT OR CALL SINCE SA IS NO LONGER. CAN ANY ONE HELP.. A NUMBER OR EMAIL/WEB SITE SOMETHING.

A sad day indeed on what was once a GREAT audio retailer. It took Tweeter 7 years to dismantle what took over 25 to build...they should all be shot! Who knows... maybe there's life for Sound Advice after this mess and some how it resurects back to become something meaningfull again. Let's hope so because as each day passes, there are less and less places to actually hear, see, feel and purchase quality products. Speed.