Unfortunately in my market place it's my opinion that the bulk of the really high end stuff sells itself because it's the only real high end game in town. Anyone who is in the design and architecture trade or a sophisticated user knows who has the product so that is where the high dollar players are directed and a listening room is only there for that final nail. A monkey with a pen could produce nearly the same financial outcome to the manufacturers and to the dealers bottom line.
I feel certain that there are audiophiles who do go to such a dealer and are happy with the service and have a friendly relationship, however, they likely have significant wherewithal to go in for a review...hear what they are expecting.. and go out happy knowing that the dealer will bring and install competently.
I don't think that that is the routine audiophile's modus operandi. I may be totally wrong, but I feel that most audiophiles stress over each purchase and try, maybe almost daily to find some small detail that may bring them just that much closer to a natural sounding (convincing) system. They look hill and dell and new and used. I never met Dave Wilson but from those who I know who have spoken of him give me the feeling that his goal in life was to make the best sounding speaker that he was capable of. He truly enjoyed the music and the sound of the music. It lit his candle. No one ever mentioned his desire to make a lot of money but I suspect it was secondary to him. He probably liked it. But his part of the business was the sound. Now that's just my opinion. The reason that I say this is when Dave was trying to make the best speaker that he could, with limited resources, he likely used whatever he could find to get there. That's natural. The way even the WBF heads talk about the secondary market, whether it's buying or selling on it.
Nobody wants to be taken advantage of. And to expect to go to a dealer and just milk him and then buy your gear elsewhere is not kind. In the "old days" dealers had great equipment, new and used. You didn't have to go to the internet (there was no internet) to find a great piece of used high end gear. Yes, the local dealer does have a few pieces of used gear. They aren't ready for demo and it really isn't what they want to sell. I don't intend for this to be a "beat up the dealer" post, and I understand that real estate (showroom space) costs money. The margin on used equipment likely isn't the same as on used gear. It's all common sense economics. But if your aspirations are to own say wilson alex v and you don't have the 135k today, in about 5 years, a used set will be much more economical... maybe 65k and still every bit as good as they are today. Maybe not "state of the art" but still outrageous speakers. You may say to yourself, do I want the best speaker from 5 years ago with little use on them or a new set of a much scaled down version that the dealer has...say an Alexia 3? at comparatively the same price. I specifically remember a set of xlf's on one of the primary online sites at a substantially discounted price. They were in the owners summer home and rarely used. How do you really stack that up against a dealer who has only brand new alex v and xvx. I suspect that it's really hard for a truly High end dealer to cover both bases.
It isn't that hard to see why the dealer doesn't want to deal with much used gear (or the buyers who may want it) nor does the manufacturer want to have that competition of their own product. I can see that it's a difficult mountain to climb. Unfortunately, guys who have the top top equipment on the secondary market (dealers) often don't have showrooms and they are scattered. It's hard to develop that friend relationship and to build that trust locally.
