Living Stereo 60 CD Collection Box Living Stereo 60 CD Collection Box [Audio CD]
Price: $173.92

Mercury Living Presence Boxed Set Mercury Living Presence Boxed Set [Audio CD]
Price: $95.57

The Decca Sound The Decca Sound [Audio CD]
Price: $128.38

Some of these questions are a little delicate - but it is better to know the answers before hand, before misconceptions and unwarranted assumptions eventually get everyone’s knickers in a twist, isn’t it?

1. Does the manufacturer (M) sell directly to customers in this country?
2. If so, will they agree to pay the distributor (D) the amount over best export that they sell the products for?
3. How important do they see shows being?
4. How many shows per year do they want to show at ?
5. What type of systems do they want to show [percentages each for statement level systems, midline, and entry level]
6. Who staffs shows? [just the D, or does the M send staff / themselves]
7. Do they expect to sell things at shows?
8. If so, who gets the profits: how are they divided up between the exhibitor, the D, the M, and the local dealer[if any]?
9. Who pays for shows: Shipping? Fees?
10. Does the M plan to advertise: online? print? To what extent / frequency?
11 If so, who pays?
12. Is there a repair center in this country?
13. Who pays for repairs? Warranty? Off-warranty? Shipping? Parts? Labor?
14. How are prices determined? Does the D set them? Are they set by the M? Are they the same world-wide?
15. How was the line previously represented in this country?
a. Did they sell direct at discounts? Did they raise the price more than 10% above the price elsewhere in the world? [i.e. does the dealer population now hate this brand?]
b. Did they setup dealers? How many? What quality?
c. What did the M like about the previous D? Not like? Why did they let them go? How long were they distributor? What quality of distributor are they?
16. Does the M expect the dealer network to be expanded? How important is this? What quality of dealers do they want - does it matter? How many / year?
17. What are the targets for the top line revenue growth? YoY? In 5 years?
18. How long is the lead time for products? entry level? midlevel? statement level?
19. Is there a M rep here in the country we are supposed to work with?
20. Numbers: what were sales like last year? The previous year? Both worldwide and here.
21. What has been the best selling products? What does M want to be the best selling?
22. What kind of marketing has the M been doing? The previous D? Are any changes foreseen?

Suitability of Products

1. Does the general appearance of the products appeal to the typical buyer in this country. If not, will they appeal to any buyers at all in this country?
2. Is the performance competitive at the price?
3. How is the packaging? Will each product sold need to be re-boxed by the distributor to withstand the slings and arrows of our reportedly worse-in-world shippers?
4. How is the reliability?
a. Will each product need to be opened and tested before shipping to customer to prevent an above average rate of DOA sales?
b. Are there spurious failures in the field?
c. Are the products small enough to be shipped when the fail? Or will there have to be on-site repairs?
d. Is there at least one repair center in the country?
e. If so, do the people at the repair center know their stuff? Do they respond in reasonable time? Are they suitable pleasant to customers? Do they keep the product clean - or leave it a filthy mess?
5. How heavy/large are the products? Will they be a pain to warehouse? To send to and setup at shows?
6. Are the products UL / CE inspected?
7. Does the product ‘work well with others’ in actual systems that people may have? If an amp, can it drive real speakers? If a speaker, can it be driven by real amps?
8.

Hmmmm.. not all of these appear to be in the English language, but hopefully you get the gist.

Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor plays Brahms Hungarian Dance No. 5 at the First NIght of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

There is the music. Lots of great music. Tons of great music.

There is the pure wonderful exhilaration of hearing a little deeper into our favorite songs when we tweak the system a little or get a new component.

There is the joy of self-discovery as we learn more about our personal tastes and how we are so unique but also the same.

There is the geeky fun of playing with the cool-ass gear.

…… This is so excellent.

Then there are the frustrations.

The dealers or press who convince you to buy something you later find out they misrepresented.

The distributor who gives your friend 40% off while you pay full retail.

The forums deleting your favorite threads for some reason maybe because, well, it *is* Tuesday. The forums that convince you to hate dealers, or hate people with expensive systems, or hate people who like/dislike tubes, LPs, CDs, cables, rap, opera, country, and on and on.

The sites whose underlying philosophy is that audiophiles are marks, or can’t be trusted, or must be treated like children, or that we shouldn’t be allowed to talk to each other or about whatever the heck we want to talk about who cares if we are a little off topic.

…….This is so, so, so freaking mucked up.

OK.

So, yeah, some dealers and press are always just so danged bored. And there are those who, face it, are just way too excited about everything [:-)].

And some distributors are too all-knowing like they think they are Yoda or something.

And some… well, really, a lot… of manufacturers spend all their time in their lab and never get out and hear what everyone else is doing and, well, really just don’t get out much.

But that is just because we are all… just… plain… nuts.

And that is so cool.

So. Do you see the disconnect?

There is this layer of… unpleasantness… between the audiophile nuts and the industry nuts trying to get together and be their nutty selves.

So, in a somewhat self-serving [in so many ways] conclusion, it is now time for us to see what we can do about this unpleasant middle layer.

Then a family emergency.

Then Neli’s PC’s hard disc starts telling her it is about ready to stop its spinning days forever… so she borrows my drive that has all the CES photos on it.

And THAT is what March has been like. But nice temperatures though. Very nice…

Dear friends and fans of vintage audio, radio, music gear and electronics,

The 6th annual Vintage Voltage Expo is TOMORROW - SUNDAY - March 25!
Dealers Tables are SOLD OUT! Scroll to bottom of email for the List of Vendors coming in from all over the region!
Scroll down for event schedule, directions, and more!

Visit our website!

Note to Dealers:
Load-in is 8 - 11 am
The hard core Early Bird buyers get in at 10 am, so try to be mostly set up by then.
Load in through the East doors.
Tear-down is 4pm. No early packing ( unless you sell out, which has happened…)

Events:
- Colorado Radio Collectors Club Annual Show - all day! Don’t miss this spectacular display - with some of the most gorgeous original and restored vintage radios ( and more! ) in the state! These guys really BRING IT …. They’ll be awarding prizes in several categories! More info at www.radioace.com !

- Miss Modernism Meet & Greet - 11 - 11:30. Miss Modernism is crowned each August at our Denver Modernism Show, and she is ALLLL about the retro! This year’s Miss Modernism, Atomic Gracie, is a true delight, and a great talent ( keep reading….)

- Atomic Gracie on Electric Violin - 12 noon, our own Miss Modernism, will do an amazing electronic violin performance. We guarantee it’s not like anything you’ve ever seen! This is the talent that won her the Miss Modernism crown.

- Elton John Birthday Party - 2pm (Yes, it will be Elton’s 65th birthday that day!) We’ll have a custom-made BIRTHDAY CAKE and Elton John Music piped in! Enjoy a piece of cake and some great Elton tunes, hand-picked by your show hostess ( who used to sign her papers in school, “Dana John.” LOL )

Concert is free to all Vintage Voltage attendees. $5 cover is the admission to the Expo.
visit www.atomicgracie.net

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK! Be part of the year-round community.

General show info follows. See you THIS SUNDAY, March 25!
- Dana
See ALL of my 2012 shows at www.danacain.com !
Antique book show, antique toy show, Modernism Show and more!

___________________________________________

Classic Gear for Audio, Radio, Music and TV

This Sunday

March 25, 2012

Ramada Plaza Convention Center

I-25 at 120th Ave, Northglenn/Denver
11am - 4pm*
*Note - New Hours!
(Early Bird admission: 10 am)

Winner:
Westword’s BEST OF DENVER: BEST VINTAGE ELECTRONICS

Loads of Vendors from Around the Region Selling:

vintage electronics - old school audio gear - tube amps - antique radios - transistor radios - speakers - turntables - vintage LPs & 45s - hi-fi - synthesizers - stereos - 8-tracks - electric guitars - amps - vintage TVs - ham radio - commercial equipment - video games - parts - and MORE!

DIRECTIONS:

From Denver: Head north on I-25. Exit at 120th Ave. (exit 223) - go east to first street where you can make a right. est. time - 10 minutes

From northern Colo/Wyoming: Head south on I-25 to 120th Ave. (exit 223). Go east under highway, turn right at first street.

From Boulder: Head east on US 36. Take CO-121 exit toward US-287. Jig left onto Wadsworth, following signs for CO-121/CO-128E. Turn slight left to take US-287 ramp & merge onto CO 128-E. CO 128 is the same as 120th Ave. Continue east, go under I-25 and turn right at first street. est. time: 20 minutes

— All kinds of cool old electronics and music stuff! —

It’s like a:

- Antique Radio Swap Meet

- Vintage Audio Convention

- Record Collector’s Show

- Used Electronics Flea Market

- and a Vintage Guitar Show

ALL IN ONE!

Bring a FRIEND and come on down! It’s Guys’ Day Out!

COLORADO RADIO CLUB:
The Colorado Radio Collectors Club (CRC) will be hosting their big annual show within our show! Don’t miss this chance to see LOADS of the best radios in the STATE! Big Radios, Little Radios, Old Radios and Even OLDER Radios! This is a REALLY GREAT bunch of guys! For more info on the club, visit www.radioace.com

VINTAGE VOLTAGE EXPO

Admission: $5.
Kids under 12 Free.
CRC members FREE.

Early birds ( 10 - 11am) $10.
(if you want first crack at this stuff!)

Vendors
Most of our vendors don’t have shops, so this is a unique opportunity to see A TON OF STUFF that has never been offered for sale to the public! We’ll have over 100 tables - LOADED! Here’s the list ( in no particular order…)

Johnny Johnson
Sound Hounds
Vacuum Tube Supplies
Howard Howarth
The Tesla Society
Record Rails
Fred Bantin
Bryce Hall
Robert Matthews
Recycled Audio
Peter Glen
Home Audio Sound
Vinyljones
Calcu-Type
Charles Brett Radio & More
GP Audio
AGL Productions
Unccle Teddy’s
High County Rockin’ Records
Vinylcology
Phat Cat Records
Michael Barrett
Alec Mielinkowski
Peter Crowl
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Selznick
Myron West
Vintage Audio Rescue
Cal Warnecke
Go Green Recycling
Jeff’s Junk
Dave Boyle
Gold Sound
Marty Phillips
Lynn Hunt
DB’s Restorations
Robert Groschen
KAS Audio
Charles Waynick
GAS Audio
Radios-N-Stuff
Bill Miller
Galaxie 65
Michael Hawk
Standin’ Records
Tim Schulz
John Davenport
Chris Perez
Scott Dantonio
Alpine Pioneer
Chris Hoffauer
Bob Benson

More info: http://danacain.com/vintage-voltage-expo/

Please Forward to Interested Friends, Groups and Lists!

Dana Cain | 5061 S. Stuart Ct | Denver, CO 80123

Fritz monitor speakers, Resolution Audio CD player, Electra Print amplifier, WyWire cables

The Fritz ‘Carbon 7′ loudspeaker

The Fritz Carbon 7 speaker with Optari reel-to-reel player in the background

They were also using a laptop here in this room

Not sure what this is

Resolution Audio CD player

Zestos Audio’s Andros PS1 Phono stage

Electra Fidelity

Nice looking Electra Print Audio amplifier

Electro Print Audio amplifier - but a little dusty

The Optari MX5050 B 2HD Reel-to-reel recorder

An Electra Fidelity integrated amp on static display

The Fritz speaker display by the door - one of the mags had just given them a positive review.

[Sorry about the trickle of photos these last few days everybody. Busy here. But we are finally getting close to the end though. Kind of]

The Sonist room usually features almost entirely deHavilland electronics, but this year they changed things up a bit.

The Sonist ‘Concerto 3′ speakers

The Increcable TIA 280 integrated amplifier

The Increcable TIA 280 integrated amplifier

The Increcable TIA 216 integrated amplifier

The Increcable TIA 216 integrated amplifier

Some kind of deHavilland here.

The Cary 306 pro CD / SACD player on the bottom shelf

The Increcable TIA 240 integrated amp on static display

Another shot of the Increcable TIA 240 integrated amp on static display

These guys had one of the rooms with a ’suite’ - an archway into a little sleeping room. We’ve exhibited in one of these kind of rooms further down the hall for a few years. Ain’t so bad, really - but it is not great either.

These Feastrex speaker drivers are getting a lot of buzz these last few years - supposed to do a lot of things right. Still need to build a good speaker around them though. Here? Sorry. I do not remember what these sounded like.

The Feastrex-driver speaker

The Feastrex-driver speaker

The Exemplar WMTS XPH-1 phono preamplifier

The Exemplar WMTS XP-2 preamplifier

The Stillpoints equipment rack

The WMTS XPC-2 power conditioner

The Oppo CD / DVD player

New Exemplar power amplifiers

New Exemplar power amplifiers

Rear of the Stillpoints equipment rack laden with gear and lots of cables.

Vintage Voltage Expo March 25, 2012 Ramada Plaza Convention Center

Dear friends and fans of vintage audio, radio, music gear and electronics,

The 6th annual Vintage Voltage Expo is just 3 weeks away! It’s coming right up - on March 25! Once again, we are the last Sunday in March.

UPDATES:

- Elton John Birthday Party - 2pm (Yes, it will be Elton’s 65th birthday that day!) We’ll have a custom-made CAKE and Elton John Music piped in!

- Miss Modernism in concert ( time TBD). Atomic Gracie, our own Miss Modernism, will do an amazing electronic violin performance. (We’ll have the exact time in our next update….). Miss Modernism is crowned each year at our Denver Modernism Show, and she is ALLLL about the retro!

- Over 50 vendor tables already sold! If you want to sell, sign up now at https://danacain.webconnex.com/vintagevoltage2012.

- Look at our new orange logo, and watch for our great new postcards and posters around the state:

Over 1,500 dedicated fans of vintage audio, radio and music gear attended our show last March! Every year more and more people are finding out about us!

WANT TO SELL? Register now to be a seller at https://danacain.webconnex.com/vintagevoltage2012 .
More info at http://danacain.com/vintage-voltage-expo/ . Dealers Tables are $40 or 3 for $100.
We have a NEW ONLINE SIGN-UP company - with lower fees!

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK! Be part of the year-round community.

General show info follows. See you in three weeks - on March 25!
- Dana
See ALL of my 2012 shows at www.danacain.com !
Antique book show, antique toy show, Modernism Show and more!

Classic Gear for Audio, Radio, Music and TV

Sunday March 25, 2012

Ramada Plaza Convention Center

I-25 at 120th Ave, Northglenn/Denver
11am - 4pm*
*Note - New Hours!
(Early Bird admission: 10 am)

Winner:
Westword’s BEST OF DENVER: BEST VINTAGE ELECTRONICS

Loads of Vendors from Around the Region Selling:

vintage electronics - old school audio gear - tube amps - antique radios - transistor radios - speakers - turntables - vintage LPs & 45s - hi-fi - synthesizers - stereos - 8-tracks - electric guitars - amps - vintage TVs - ham radio - commercial equipment - video games - parts - and MORE!

— All kinds of cool old electronics and music stuff! —

It’s like a:

- Antique Radio Swap Meet

- Vintage Audio Convention

- Record Collector’s Show

- Used Electronics Flea Market

- and a Vintage Guitar Show

ALL IN ONE!

Bring a FRIEND and come on down! It’s Guys’ Day Out!

COLORADO RADIO CLUB:
The Colorado Radio Collectors Club (CRC) will be hosting their big annual show within our show! Don’t miss this chance to see LOADS of the best radios in the STATE! Big Radios, Little Radios, Old Radios and Even OLDER Radios! This is a REALLY GREAT bunch of guys! For more info on the club, visit www.radioace.com

VINTAGE VOLTAGE EXPO

Admission: $5.
Kids under 12 Free.
CRC members FREE.

Early birds ( 10 - 11am) $10.
(if you want first crack at this stuff!)

Vendors:
6-ft Vendor Table: $40
or 3 tables for $100
Set-up 7 - 10 am.
Tear down - 3pm (no early tear-down)

Payment Options:
Pay online with credit card at:
https://danacain.webconnex.com/vintagevoltage2012

or mail check to:
Dana Cain (made out to me)
5061 S. Stuart Ct. Denver, CO 80123

More info: http://danacain.com/vintagevoltagexpo.html

Please Forward to Interested Friends, Groups and Lists!