While I agree that the tone of the posts may have been over the line, I think the underlying message is in many cases, all too true. Listen I can understand a dealer in the Silicon Valley area making it his business plan to convince people with large incomes to spend large amounts of that money on boutique type equipment, good for him. He is obviously offering these people something that they feel is worth the asking price, so like I've said in the past as long as everybody involved is making their money legally, I'm happy for them.
But what I do have a problem with is people in some (not all) of these dealerships looking down their noses at anyone who doesn't walk in with a huge budget to spend. There have been several dealers like that in the NYC area over the years, and maybe it's just a coincidence, but every one that ever gave me an attitude like that, with the exception of one dealt exclusively in British gear. Just my small sample, but it is what it is. Anyhow, I walked into one such dealer about 25 years ago to pick up a few audiophile LPs that a friend told me that had in stock. Grabbed six LPs that each sold for around $20 a piece and went to the counter to pay for them. The salesmen looked at what I had picked out and said "Wow, looking at what you picked out you must be pretty serious about sound. What kind of TT do you have?" I explained that had a VPI HW-19 Mk IV with an SME Series IV tonearm. Not the be all and end all in vinyl playback, but even by today's standards still a pretty credible table. Knowing that they were a Roksan dealer I kind of expected him to say something along the lines of Well if you are that much into it you should really listen to the latest Roskan table I think you might consider it a significant upgrade to what you have now. But what he said next absolutely floored me. He looked me right in the eye and said "How could you possibly stand listening to music on a piece of shit like that." And then when I told him forget it I didn't want the records he ask me why I was being such an asshole. And most of the people I know who have been in the hobby for any length of time have had one or more similar situations. So a lot of what may have come across as bad feelings are not really feeling about rich people as much as they are pointed at the attitudes of the people who serve them.
But that said in an electronic forum such as this posts are often viewed as a stand alone comment by people who often don't know some of the stories and situations behind the words, so w all must be careful that the words we use in each post stand on there own and ell the whole thought we are trying to convey.
