HI FI careers

[magiccarpetride]

Ashley James has been banging on about this for ages, the average commission based sales guy much prefering to flog the more expensive product. Thank heck my salary was never based that way (apart from an evenly distributed approx 20% bonus top-up every month in my early years).

It's not always and necessarily about flogging more expensive stuff. Sometimes, in order to move the merchandise and clear up the shelves, sales staff get offered higher commissions on selling cheaper products.

My point is that the staff on the floor does not seem keen on accommodating customers based on their needs. They rather think only about their own paycheque. And that, to me, is dishonest and unprofessional.

I wouldn't mind paying a higher price if the product is indeed going to match my needs. But I'm against buying a product that is obviously good for the salesman's wallet, and does nothing for me. I get upset when they insist on demoing to me some gear that they know is going to give them a big margin, and then refuse to demo the gear I came in for, saying that right now it's impractical to set the gear up or some such bs.

[colinB]

I have encountered some excellent staff in stores but the cheapest gear would be Wilson Benesch, Krell, stuff i couldnt possibly afford. Those stores seem to still be thriving despite the economy but just pipe dreams for me.

[Spur07]

Many people here are far better placed than me to comment TBH, but FWIW just thought I'd mention there are still a fair few independent stores within driving distance of me in Surrey, SE England.

PJ in Guildford - largely unchanged as far as I can see. Naim dealer.

Infidelity in Kingston - bought my first gear here in the early 90's. Naim dealer. Popped in last year to enquire about computer audio (pre-HDX/Uniti) and the guy looked at me as if I'd just asked his girlfriend to get her t*ts out. Nothing has changed much here apart from the staff.

Some shop in Maidenhead (can't remember the name). Naim/Cyrus dealer I think in the 90's.

A shop very local to me (forgotten the name) in a very rich commuter-belt town called Weybridge in Surrey. Linn dealer, I think. They seemed to have embraced computer audio very early on with SB, Sonus, Streamers, etc. I've never bought anything here but the guy kindly advised me almost 2 years ago on how to set up the computer system I have today - he even drew me a diagram and gave me a quick demo of the difference between a normal MP3 file and the same file played through a Cyrus Dac. He said he was getting a fair few students/men in their 20's coming in complaining about the SQ of their MP3 files so he sells them SB and Dacs. I really hope they survive tbh.

I'm sure there may be many others around that I don't know of. I think many will have to embrace the digital revolution or risk slowly going to the wall. For comparison you only have to look at photography and how digital ripped the heart out of film. Most of the labs are gone. Some independent shops remain selling digital gear but I've been told the margins are slim.

[DSJR]

The few from my generation have to adopt computer audio the expensive numpty way - with Linn and Naim for example, as I doubt many of them know how to make their own streaming solution for well under a grand... At least I know whom to tap up if I ever follow this path.

[Lodgesound]

I think the point about less disposable income is a significant one and is seriously affecting this sector.

I'm 42 years old and earn less money now than I did when I was 19 - I worked in Film and Television but by the time I was 32 I was too old to be wanted in it anymore and was made redundant completely at 38 - all the training I did is now completely worthless - a bit like being a metal cast printer - a skilled well-paid job in it's day BUT newspapers just are'nt made that way any more.

My point is that a lot of folk seem to be in this boat. Employment-wise we seem to be in this "youth obsessed" culture where experience and knowledge of any kind is just laughed out of court - I think this finds it's way all to often into the sales sector as previously highlighted here.

The other problem is that a lot of high-end gear is so ludicrously over-priced in my humble opinion when compared to average wages paid today even at senior management levels. Add this to our obscene house prices and general cost of living and you would have to be insane to think that you could make volume sales of some of this equipment work for you in a business environment.

I honestly believe that there is a serious case for price-revision in the elite Hi-Fi world - not to detrimental levels but just to make it that little bit more feasible for folk on modern wages. There is certainly not a lack of interest in this equipment - many folk would love to own what they can only aspire to at the moment because of such pricing.

I just think that a revision of this kind by some of the elite manufacturers would revive a market that is being killed off by excessive pricing.

[hifi_dave]

In my experience, the obscenely priced gear, just doesn't sell.It's the moderately priced gear which keeps us all going.

If you read Hi-Fi + and Hi-Fi snooze plus certain US mags, you would get the impression that all Hi-Fi costs a fortune and that you are one of the unfortunates who just can't afford proper Hi-Fi. These mags really wind me up because I know that, in GB anyway, there are precious few £30K speakers, £50K amps and £3K cartridges actually sold. You read about them, see wonderful pics and then the review samples are sold on at trade or less just to move them on.

Sensible Hi-Fi, as always, still sells. Maybe not in the quantity it did in the 70's and 80's but real people are still buying good Hi-Fi.

[Effem]

I think the point about less disposable income is a significant one and is seriously affecting this sector.

I'm 42 years old and earn less money now than I did when I was 19 - I worked in Film and Television but by the time I was 32 I was too old to be wanted in it anymore and was made redundant completely at 38 - all the training I did is now completely worthless - a bit like being a metal cast printer - a skilled well-paid job in it's day BUT newspapers just are'nt made that way any more.

My point is that a lot of folk seem to be in this boat. Employment-wise we seem to be in this "youth obsessed" culture where experience and knowledge of any kind is just laughed out of court - I think this finds it's way all to often into the sales sector as previously highlighted here.

The other problem is that a lot of high-end gear is so ludicrously over-priced in my humble opinion when compared to average wages paid today even at senior management levels. Add this to our obscene house prices and general cost of living and you would have to be insane to think that you could make volume sales of some of this equipment work for you in a business environment.

I honestly believe that there is a serious case for price-revision in the elite Hi-Fi world - not to detrimental levels but just to make it that little bit more feasible for folk on modern wages. There is certainly not a lack of interest in this equipment - many folk would love to own what they can only aspire to at the moment because of such pricing.

I just think that a revision of this kind by some of the elite manufacturers would revive a market that is being killed off by excessive pricing.

I am looking at jobs that pay less than I was earning back in 1988, so actually it's almost like taking a pay cut of 40% in real terms because money was worth more to you and me back then.

I can't fathom out what the obsession is with "yoof" being so desirable to employers. When I recruited, I used to look first at the applicant's attitude, work ethic, skills set, their people skills and honesty as paramount, because if I wanted something pretty to LOOK AT then it would make perfect sense to buy a nice picture and hang it on a wall, not employ it. Methinks it's either a source of cheap labour, or part of the "Nobody sits higher than the King" mentality where the boss is an idiot so the employees have to be dumber than he/she is to make them look good. Bit of each I suppose.

I would agree that most hi-fi is overpriced, even the latest chinese imports are costing a lot more than they did a year ago. An important factor in these pricing structures is volume, so if a manufacturer shifts less boxes than they used to, it makes sense for them to generate the same level of profit from a smaller volume of output. However, that price increase does come around and bite them in the ass because it then focusses their product on a different market sector which the product was not designed to compete in, so their sales volume falls yet again and so it goes on.

The good news (if there is any) is that a lot of manufacturers, distributors and dealers that do go to the wall because of their lack of flexibility and vision in a difficult market will pave the way for some new fresh blood once the happier times economy returns. Or should I add the word "maybe" into that statement?

[John]

In my experience, the obscenely priced gear, just doesn't sell.It's the moderately priced gear which keeps us all going.

If you read Hi-Fi + and Hi-Fi snooze plus certain US mags, you would get the impression that all Hi-Fi costs a fortune and that you are one of the unfortunates who just can't afford proper Hi-Fi. These mags really wind me up because I know that, in GB anyway, there are precious few £30K speakers, £50K amps and £3K cartridges actually sold. You read about them, see wonderful pics and then the review samples are sold on at trade or less just to move them on.

Sensible Hi-Fi, as always, still sells. Maybe not in the quantity it did in the 70's and 80's but real people are still buying good Hi-Fi.

I imagine but maybe wrong that part of the motivation for this is advertising revenue.....Winds me up to

[DSJR]

Ken Kessler once wrote in 'Snooze that some of these luxury Top End US brands we know so well are actually tiny and far smaller than Linn or Naim I believe, let alone the likes of B&O.....

[HighFidelityGuy]

I've found that the medium sized mid-range stores like Sevenoaks are the worst places. They generally can't be arsed to spend any time discussing your requirements etc, they just want to sell you a 5 star What Hi-Fi product and get rid of you.

I'm quite lucky as I have three good independent shops near me that sell everything from basic Arcam gear all the way up to Tannoy Prestige's etc. All of them make you feel really at home and mainly want you to be happy. Last year I spent an entire evening listening to music, drinking tea and chatting to one particular store owner. I had a thoroughly enjoyable time and because of this I'll definitely buy more from him in the future.

I'd love to work somewhere like that but unfortunately most of them have very few staff to keep costs down and the wages are often pretty low. I'd also like to start my own store but that's unlikely to work. Maybe one day.