| Editorial November 2003
Decisions: Why It's Hard to Make 'em in Today's
Market
There’s a growing debate underway on Internet message
boards, such as the Audio Video
Science Forum, about whether or not it’s feasible for the average consumer to
compare home-theater systems in a way that will lead to the most informed buying
decisions. Especially in North America, shoppers in many rural areas suffer from a paucity
of dealers. Let’s say you’re looking for a multichannel speaker system for
around $5000 and you’d like to compare, say, six to eight possible candidates. In
many areas of the US, that would mean you’d need to cross a state line -- maybe
several -- to do so. Contrast this to buying an automobile: If you don’t have every
available brand in your town, a trip to the closest city will allow you to test-drive to
your heart’s desire.
But for home theater, most people are not willing or able
to make the time commitment to do the legwork. Instead, they turn to advice from different
sources, to narrow the choices to two or three brands that they have access to. Now,
"access" could mean a dealer that they can visit, or an Internet-direct company
that has a money-back guarantee or trial period. Over the years, I’ve fielded a ton
of speaker queries pitting Axiom
Audio against Paradigm Electronics
against Energy models.
The Internet message boards are full of folks looking for
someone to give them useful opinions about the products they’re considering buying.
Unfortunately, the responses often read like this: "There’s no substitute for
listening yourself, so why are you asking such a question?" I’ve responded this
way myself when I’m unfamiliar with the specific products mentioned, but even if I
issue a warning against relying on a single opinion, I do try to give some insight where I
can. When someone issues an open question to a group dedicated to discussions on the
subject, it seems reasonable that the responders would be people who actually have
something useful to offer. The need for this type of information is why Home Theater
& Sound’s reviews include comparative sections in which at least two brands
competitive in the market are contrasted.
The problem is that, unless a company has huge distribution
or is Internet direct, there’s the very real possibility that a potential customer
may never hear a worthy brand; hence the need for solid advice from those in the know.
Heck, I’m a reviewer and have access to a wide range of gear from all over the world,
and sometimes I ask a fellow writer for an opinion on some brand or another with
which they have experience and I don’t.
The feasibility of being able to comparison-shop is also
hamstrung by the fact that, when visiting multiple dealers, it’s hard to conduct
apples-to-apples comparisons due to differences in room acoustics, associated equipment,
and setup. And we all know these variables can make all the difference in the world.
Contrast that to the car analogy: You can almost always find a flat road that’ll
drive like the one near the other car dealership you visited 30 minutes ago.
What are shoppers to do? Combine all the resources at your
disposal into one big ball and see how that ball bounces at the end of the day. In other
words: You have professional reviews like those found in the many publications of the SoundStage! Network; you can
solicit opinions from friends, co-workers, and message-board populations; information can
be gathered from manufacturers regarding the suitability of their products for your
intended application; finally, there are your own experiences of visiting dealers and
conducting evaluations yourself. More and more in today’s market, you need all of
these resources to make fully informed decisions that you’ll be happy with in the
long term. For many of us, there’s simply no simpler way.
...Jeff Fritz
editor@hometheatersound.com |
