There are some underlying uncertainties when you, as an end user, purchase a consumer electronic product …

Is it about to be replaced by a newer and better model ?

If I wait will it be cheaper?

If I buy this new now how long will it last?

What if the tech that this device has built into it becomes obsolete?

If I buy this will it work with what I already have?

If it breaks down will it be able to be repaired?

What if I can buy this cheaper from somewhere else?

Will it still sound as good in my own home?

Will my wife find out how much this cost me?

In reality our job as a retailer in this particular specialist area of enthusiast high fidelity and audio visual is to mitigate these risk factors for a potential client so that they can enjoyably purchase and experience the product without suffering these slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

As a retailer we are the meat in the sandwich with quite a lot of legal liability and complete marketplace accountability, our very existence is contingent on the continued approval of our clients.

Just now we seem to have a particular type of uncertainty in the continuance of some quite major brand names that we have comfortably coexisted with for some time. It seems that when companies are bought and sold they can quite suddenly be dissolved at the stroke of a pen if they are then found after all to be incompatible with the revised aims of the new organisation.

I think it is a sign of the prevailing turmoiled times that four of our main brands are actually under threat in this way just now. There have been mass extinctions before in our marketplace. Where are you now Sansui, Akai, Toshiba, Nakamichi?

Now because of my liability I cant say what these brand names are, although if you read the fine print of trade publications in the wee insomniac hours you may already know.

It very much seems to me that real security of ownership and purveyance lies with the specialist small companies that make their product because they love it. The companies that come to mind in our small company are those which are owned by impassioned individuals who are in it for more than the money, or those which have their products and values imbued in their DNA with real provenance …

It seems to me that the dedicated high fidelity companies that have a workforce that is loyal to the management, and as well a management that is loyal to the brand and workforce are the companies where a customer can best put their hard earned without fear of the product being boat anchored.

Those individually directed companies like Rega, Cyrus, PS Audio, et al that a good specialist store deals with all have a direct accountability and duty to their end users. These companies have individuals at their helms and on their workbenches whose lives have been dedicated to the product they design and manufacture,

Televisions though have been awful. The last twenty years have created so much landfill ... 

We were an early adopter reseller of flat panel TV when the transition from CRT to Plasma happened, for a brief season Carlton Audio Visual was the largest reseller of Fujitsu plasma Televisions in Australia, that was when a new 40 inch Plasma was $12,000 and a 50 inch Pioneer was $35,000. Note neither of these brands are now extant, given that the floorstock Pioneer was sold out at $10k below net cost with screen burn I doubt that we made a profit in our net purveyance of those panels.

Interestingly the last generation Pioneer Plasma panels being the "Kuro" series from 2008 are still held in high esteem for their black levels and colour dynamic. You can buy a secondhand one for $250 ... it was the production of these that broke the financial back of Pioneer. Even though they were an excellent panel they were never able to achieve a profitable sell price in the broader marketplace.

Likewise the Japanese made Sharp LCD panels were also excellent televisions. Indeed, Carlton AV became something of a standard bearer for these in their technical heyday, we would demonstrate their virtues against the mass market plasma TVs of the time that were the main competition. However once again they were unable to achieve a profitable sell through and the wonderful Japanese Kamayama factory that was earthquake proof and solar powered became a fiscal albatross that dragged Sharp into the mire.

Although Sharp were the industry standard for LCD panels they were unable to compete with the cost advantages of the new Chinese panel manufacturers who were unfettered by environmental obligations and an existing distribution structure. In 2016 the company was taken over by the Sauron of the panel industry being Foxconn.

So there is a litany of panel brands that have come and gone .... Pioneer Sharp Fujitsu Hitachi Toshiba Panasonic ... and these products are fundamentally unserviceable now.

Televisions are that particular epitome of built-in obsolescence at the moment. The current mainstream brand churn intention is for the consumer to buy a new TV every four years.

Loewe is an exception to this policy and is a German brand that people are prepared to pay a little bit more for ... we are vey excited that they are going to become an original raw panel manufacturer out of their Kronach plant which can help to further raise their product above the struggling disposable morass.

So as a responsible purveyor I am able to mitigate our client’s risk by promoting brands and devices that I know at the time of presentation are low risk of becoming redundant electronic landfill, and indeed I think this is one of the most valuable reasons why someone should deal with an accountable specialist when considering good quality audio and visual.

For a business like ours where we have the end user liability of service, it is in our DNA to recommend those devices that offer the best possible long term experience to our clients. A shareholder driven franchise simply does not carry that same underlying organisational imperative.

Alas there is nothing we can do about your partner finding out how much you paid for it ... thus we always recommend involving them in the selection process ... :)