Quote Originally Posted by theaudiohobby
One thing is sure, Audio Note UK has a much bigger profile across the Atlantic, I suppose in a sea of Quads, Naims, Linns, Burmesters, YBA, Pathos and Revox to name a few, AN is lost, I recall that Walrus (the only London dealer that carried the brand) dropped it, I never asked the reason why, but I am sure it is not because of looks because some of the obscure brands they carry are also ugly , the 2nd values of ANUK products over here is very weak compared to the US, this does not necessarily correlate with the sound quality but it reflects the perceived market value of the products which is low.
Yes I know a fellow who bought K/B speakers in the early 1990's he had them for 12 years and then sold them for exactly what he paid for them brand spanking new. Granted there is a buying power factor of the dollar to be considered but that's still pretty good. And the K's went up in price so buyers would see the K/B as a relative deal.

When you don't advertise, your gear is not cheap, your stuff is ugly, you don't do home theater or even provide the option (as in a center speaker) and when the owner of the company turns down dealers and pulls his lines from dealers who turn out to be shady then unlike some who will let anyone with a shop window sell it then you are not going to be "big." This dealer started by two audiophile dealers carries them in England http://www.noteworthyaudio.co.uk/index.html

And Bose is on every corner too so what is your point? A dealer in Vancouver is now selling Bose and dropped one of their higher end lines for it because Sales quantity still rules the day. Soundhounds in Victoria has been there 30 years - it's one of the wealthiest most intellectual regions in Canada - they sell more AN than anything else they carry including Naim or Bryston(which carries a 20 year warranty is cheaper is more user friendly has way more power and way more "reviews").

It took Soundhounds over 2 years patiently waiting for the stuff to start selling(they like Creek and tell me it sells very very badly to such a degree that the owner has told his staff to mention the whole name Creek Audio rather than just say Creek because it sounds like a an un-oiled door and nobody wants to spend money on an audio componant that even hints at an un-oiled door) Anyway so many people are so tied to magazine reviews and visual cues. Even I did not go solely by what I heard. I listened and felt it was by an order of magnitude better than anything else his shop sold (He has driopped ML, Totem, and the B&W N801 since carrying the AN line of speakers - that does not necessarily mean it was strictly sound quality - it could be the physical size of the speakers) ----- Being a Multiple magazine subscriber at the time (I no longer am a subscriber at all) I wanted to know about them as a company and to make sure they were big enough to be able to support a warranty. I asked questions on forums AA because there were few reviews. So even though I liked the sound better I did not buy them I did some looking on the net and as time passes there is a big chance people won't go back to buy - still the number of "sales" at Soundhounds versus a dealer or manufacturer pulling a line has zero influence on whether an individual going into a store is going to "like" it or not.

Soundhounds is willing to wait on brands that don't sell well but which they think is very good and they are big enough to be patient because they carry a bucket load of stuff. They carry the big name gear that sells very well so they can support Creek Audio and Audio Note. The fact that Soundhounds dropped Totem and Martin Logan in a store where people spend $69,000.00+ on Audio Note Preamplifiers and sell $30k versions of the speakers in not so rare a number can cetainly support N801 and Totem Mani 2 sales. The fact that they dropped those two other brands does not mean those two other brands suck which is what you try to imply. (An just as easily could have been dropped if people had no corners to put things in or don;t want the hassle of tubes) If you're a small dealer and the stuff isn;t selling right away you MUST drop them if you want to eat. There is a high end dealer not too far from here but he is now selling tv's and style systems because his beloved ideal to sell high end crashed down on him and now he is selling The usual suspects and any big name thing that will sell well without any listening sessions needing to be involved. In the UK AN will set the stuff up in prospective customers homes.

The bottom line is simply that you either like it or you do not - just like anything in life - I can't convince someone to like Dark Mint Chocoloate like I do -- they may not like mint or chocolate or both. Or they may like it but they like the kind from belgium more than the kind from Quebec.