Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Meridian should have its own stores

There was a segment on CNN this morning about Meridian , had Meridians vice prez on it , showed some 8000's in a ferrari dealership or with a Ferrari and had a whole blurb about lifestyle , configurability etc - dunno why CNN had the piece , but it was about 4 mins long.
Seeing it brought this thread to mind - so perhaps soon you CAN buy either a f40 with your system or vice versa.

Kal - you're right - Ralph Lauren is on Madison, not Park

And if I remember correctly, are paid for by the franchise owner.

I thought those B&W Omni speakers sounded quite impressive during the 30 seconds I heard them.

I know. My wife works for him (but not at the store).

Kal

I agree that there are a few groups interested in M, easily broken out into the two:

A- Custom install, fit n forget.
B-Tweaky geeks agonising.

Those in B tend to buy second hand, want to buy value, and spend a higher proportion of their disposable income on a/v gear than those in A. I submit to you -though you wont want to hear this- that M isn't going to care much about you. Now I doubt any company would ever admit this- but lets face it- when you buy second hand you are not putting money in the mothershop pocket. Whats more, you expect service from them so you are actually an added cost/ liability as who knows what each successive owner does in terms of damaging the product.

Now, those in A just want it to work right and the few extra dollars are relatively insignificant. Its just my opinion that M is being marganialized in the retail marketplace. I don't think the Ferrari dealer should be the point of first attack because there are so few dealers and many will feel intimidated to go a Ferrari dealer etc. Plus most dealers pick up and drop the cars so the customers are not waiting around for an oil change.

You wanna continue to be the agonizing tweaky geeks, you better hope the "A-team" buys because as they say in a great movie: "No Bucks: No Buck Rogers".

The more I think on this, the more I think M really needs this. They have many of the pieces in place but if no one knows, no one buys...


best regards,
Jerry

I'm not sure the majority of this thread
wait for crumbs to fall off rich mens tables.
They seem to be keen active new buyers.
It does, of course ,make great sense to by S/H.

With the car illusion, M is more Merc than Ferrari.
You can buy a car loaded with accesories new, or used a year later.
The choice is yours.
M may have to change its sales strategy (Those new Linn guys)
But lets not forget TAG / Maclaran.

Interesting thought, though I have to say that not all buy used equipment for the non-installer market. And that the Audio/Video nuts does buy new models because of the sound/(video) quality.

I still long for my Meridian Audio Video networked server, and that will really put Meridian back into the spotlight if they want to. That is where the hole is currently in the line-up.

My dealer sold a custom install system with Meridian inwalls and processors, BUT with a Kaledescape source server! That does speak for itself..

No- I dont think M is more Merc- it is more Ferrari. The better analogy is this: M is more the Ferrari USA edition that comes with options picked out in advance rather than the ROW edition when its left up to you to spec everything. Which is really not true for Ferrari but you get the picture. Its not rich "crumbs"- who do you think is going to buy those inwalls and other toys M sells- do you think youll see many on used market? The business has shifted and M sees this by the G series and in walls, F80 and Im sure others. They need a place they can properly demonstrate it. They do not need hundreds of locations, but 5-10 would be smart.

best regards,
Jerry

Guys, this is great speculation but I think we're in danger of forgetting just how small a company Meridian is. According to the post sometime ago with 2005 figures, they are "only" turning over around �10M (hopefully a little more now). The investment required for 1 shop let alone 5-10 would be significant and I suspect difficult to justify (to the bank!) in the short term.

Maybe an alternative strategy is required - and M have shown with the F80 that thinking outside the box is not alien to them.

Clearly the "problem" is public awareness and perception. Maybe lending some systems (possibly even F80's if not a G91 or G95 + speakers) to high profile shops like Ralph Lauren (with say a discrete "you are listening to sounds my Meridian Audio" at the cash registers - do up market establishments still have these, I don't know as even buying secondhand Meridian systems I can't afford to visit them) would get the name in front some people with the money to invest in M kit.

Maybe they could get closer to Apple and have a standard high quality audio demo in Apple Stores. OK maybe this doesn't have quite the standing of Ralph Lauren but each time I visit an Apple Store there's a lot of people there and getting the Meridian name known by more people is the name of the game.

just my 2 cents (now only 1 penny!!) worth.

Chris

As time passes I sometimes reflect on these old threads and on this one I have become more and more convinced that in general I am correct. M needs a better retail presence than what they have- especially in the USA. They cannot expect to make it being sold by the high end speciality shops. Since they are not likely to open their own stores directly- ala Apple or Bose, I suggest a partnership with someone. As a matter of fact- don't laugh- but a partnership with Bose might even make sense. Bose has tremendous name recognition and Bose could use M's technology. Bose also has a ton of auto contracts, allowing M to perhaps get their name into automobiles. On the flip side, perhaps something with Apple or Ferrari... Just some rambles on a drizzly Sat. morning while the rest of the house snoozes...

best regards,
Jerry

I agree. I've got no M dealer at all here in Ireland . At one point they were trying to negotiate something but so far , at least , nothing's happened .

Krell , Classe , Mark Levinson , Loewe , B+O , Naim , Linn all have either a presence here or even their own stores in some cases .

I regularly talk up the 'sound' of the brand , even give demos to any interested parties but I cant lend equipment and/or give pricing details and I suspect that there are very few individuals out there who would lay out M-type cash without at least putting up a fight in a dealer's listening room

Even if they had one in London , we Europeans could think of it as our Mecca perhaps ? ( " Yes , son , I really was on the original Hitchhiker's Tour of '07 before Meridian bought out Sony ) Similar for NY maybe in U.S. ?

Maybe one day ?

~M~