Shopping Abroad - It does make you wonder

[Anonymous]

fr0g:I read somewhere that in fact the dog with the worst record in the UK, is the labrador, this may or may not be true, but I can tell you that it certainly isn't the Staffie. Any dog can be dangerous, badly trained. No dog should be left alone with small children. Irresponsible owners should be banned from keeping them.

It may have been the golden retriever, which -as far as I know- has very much the same look as a labrador, but not the same color and character.
I say this because a few years ago in The Netherlands a similar survey had been done, with the same surprising result. Dogs like golden retriever and dachshund/teckel topped the list because they were reported to bite quite regularly. The catch? The wounds from these dogs are usually nothing serious.
Great tip for people with angst for dogs. Ignore them. DON'T watch them in the eyes as this in dog language means you're displaying submissive behavior. Watch the tail instead, if it moves you're ok.

 

[Anonymous]

Hughes123:fr0g:I have to say, for me, that shop sounds awful. I like the personal treatment you get in a proper hifi shop. Even if you don't get all the brands together.

I'm sure places like that will exist soon in the UK, and will probably be the death knell of the small, personal shopping experience.

That's wrong IMO - such shops will disspear due to the internet and so little shops will prevail. And the probable reason nobody approached me was that me and my father don't speak Espanol very well!

Actually what FrOg described is just what happened in the town I used to live in. A big electronic retailer settled in town. The specialist dealer close to it went bankrupt and so did quite a few other specialist stores in car audio etc.

 

[Henley]

Such stores did exist, they were called Laskys.

The independant stores hated them but it was the last time that general public were exposed to quality HiFi in a high street environment. A couple went shopping, the Lady went to Next and the Gent amused himself looking round the HiFi store.

Before I get shot down in flames (CN), the roles are a generalisation.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Octopo:What we clearly don't want in this country is any American led gigantic superstore's of any kind.

The clock is ticking...

 

[cse]

HiFi shops in my opinion are their own worst enemies. They rarely seem to have any systems actually set-up so that you can just wander in and have a casual listen. This, even though the product ranges are now quite small, with very little chance to do any like-for-like comparisons. They nearly always seem to have done the selecting for you and when you want to, say listen to £800 speakers, they have only one or maybe two in that price range. Usually they try and fob you off by saying they've done the demoing themselves and decide to stock the best product only. This of course is entirely related to the size of the margin they receive. The whole process of going into the the shop to listen is stiffled and awkward. You need to book a demo they say, but actually i want to walk in off the street and listen lots of times and at diiferent times of the day. The demo itself is also always really false. You have to sit there and make yourself hear things, with the assistant constantly asking, what do you think? Of course, if you say something negative about a product or claim that it isn't better than your current componet, they always come up with a ridiculous excuse, like it needs at least two weeks settling-in. They also claim to never read reviews especially of items that haven't received unbriddled praise or ones that they don't stock. If you don't have Cyrus or Arcam they have no point of comparison. Product knowledge is often very poor. I think really they prefer and understand much more how to sell TV's!

 

[Anonymous]

chebby:

Our city (200,000 people and a 200,000+ catchment) has one (yes one) small branch of Audio-T and that makes us the lucky ones (!) compared to some large UK towns with no specialist hi-fi shop at all.

However, we get what we deserve. Here in Britain there is almost zero interest in quality reproduction of music and only a tiny fraction of the population regularly hear live music.

Spare a thought for us poor souls living in the Hull area. I don't think there's a single specialist hi-fi shop in the city anymore (unless you count Richer Sounds which has, admittedly, just moved to a nice new location with more floor space) since Sevenoaks closed down in June and Superfi disappeared about 3 years ago, not to mention a couple of independent stores which have vanished over the past few years. This, in a city which claims to be the tenth most populous in the country. Now if I want to buy/demo a Denon receiver I have to go to York or Sheffield! What's worse, we only have one Burger King in the area and that's a small outlet in a shopping centre! Outrageous!

 

[professorhat]

I don't think I've ever read a thread with so many sweeping generalisations before!

 

[chebby]

professorhat:I don't think I've ever read a thread with so many sweeping generalisations before!

I've told you a million times not to exaggerate.

 

[Craig M.]

AgentCool:

chebby: Our city (200,000 people and a 200,000+ catchment) has one (yes one) small branch of Audio-T and that makes us the lucky ones (!) compared to some large UK towns with no specialist hi-fi shop at all. However, we get what we deserve. Here in Britain there is almost zero interest in quality reproduction of music and only a tiny fraction of the population regularly hear live music.

Spare a thought for us poor souls living in the Hull area. I don't think there's a single specialist hi-fi shop in the city anymore (unless you count Richer Sounds which has, admittedly, just moved to a nice new location with more floor space) since Sevenoaks closed down in June and Superfi disappeared about 3 years ago, not to mention a couple of independent stores which have vanished over the past few years. This, in a city which claims to be the tenth most populous in the country. Now if I want to buy/demo a Denon receiver I have to go to York or Sheffield! What's worse, we only have one Burger King in the area and that's a small outlet in a shopping centre! Outrageous!

fanthorpes do arcam, primare, roksan, exposure and a few others.

the audio room in hedon has a lot of nice stuff incl. naim, meridian, and he will make an effort to get stuff in he doesn't stock for you to demo.

as for sevenoaks, i'm not suprised they closed. did you ever demo hifi there? i think they regarded hifi as secondary to tv's and home cinema. impossible to hear speakers properly in their "listening" room, and knackered kit for demo. really, really poor.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll be in Northern Spain next week, what's the name of the shop?

Thanks....

 

[JoelSim]

Andrew Everard:
Octopo:What we clearly don't want in this country is any American led gigantic superstore's of any kind.

The clock is ticking...

ÿ

Looks like Denon and Marantz will feel the pain then

ÿ

 

[JoelSim]

Craig M.:AgentCool:
chebby: Our city (200,000 people and a 200,000+ catchment) has one (yes one) small branch of Audio-T and that makes us the lucky ones (!) compared to some large UK towns with no specialist hi-fi shop at all. However, we get what we deserve. Here in Britain there is almost zero interest in quality reproduction of music and only a tiny fraction of the population regularly hear live music.

Spare a thought for us poor souls living in the Hull area. I don't think there's a single specialist hi-fi shop in the city anymore (unless you count Richer Sounds which has, admittedly, just moved to a nice new location with more floor space) since Sevenoaks closed down in June and Superfi disappeared about 3 years ago, not to mention a couple of independent stores which have vanished over the past few years. This, in a city which claims to be the tenth most populous in the country. Now if I want to buy/demo a Denon receiver I have to go to York or Sheffield! What's worse, we only have one Burger King in the area and that's a small outlet in a shopping centre! Outrageous!

fanthorpes do arcam, primare, roksan, exposure and a few others.

the audio room in hedon has a lot of nice stuff incl. naim, meridian, and he will make an effort to get stuff in he doesn't stock for you to demo.

as for sevenoaks, i'm not suprised they closed. did you ever demo hifi there? i think they regarded hifi as secondary to tv's and home cinema. impossible to hear speakers properly in their "listening" room, and knackered kit for demo. really, really poor.

Well Sevenoaks is a franchise and therefore quality (store) control can be an issue.