In every profession you have people who seems to be a bit higher qualified than the rest. Due to talent, experience, studying and whatever more. Also in audio. That brings up designers and designs which excel just a little bit more than the average. That also brings up shops and dealers which stand up against the rest.

If a dealer is very experienced and knows how to get the most out of a system in YOUR room, the value of this dealer cannot be expressed by “a price”. It decides for an average sounding system or a fantastic sounding system.

We all know that too many audio systems, for which huge amounts have been paid, sound like ….. Fill in yourself. If such a full system has been supplied by one dealer, then you made at least one wrong choice. If the system has been made of components, bought from different sources, you cannot expect that one dealer feels responsible for getting the best results out of it. Maybe the different components do not match and if they do, why should a dealer spend his time on a full system if you only buy a part of it from him. So the best part of a good sounding system is probably a qualified dealer.

If you look around in tiny country Holland, you notice that more and more dealers are disappearing. Not enough business? Or maybe not qualified enough? Probably a combination of both. Modern consultants will immediately bring up the changing culture of buying products: buy online. Mmmm …. I wonder how many good sounding systems will be the result of that … Unless …

Unless maybe a new kind of job comes up. The audio advisor, the travelling audio advisor, who does not sell equipment but can be hired to advise what to buy and to do the installation for you and eventually the after sales service. Interesting idea.

For now we still have some good audio shops with good people in it. Maybe you have to travel more than before, but please do yourself that favor. Support your local dealer if he is a good one, so you can enjoy a best performance from your audio system.