[Kohn]

Hi All,

We are currently in the process to open our first store in New York City. A major feature in the store is to have a wall dedicated to showcase our headphones where customers can try the headphones on and listen to music. My question is, anybody has any experience or idea of how such a large, wall mounted headphone system can be developed demoing 16-24 headphones with good sound quality? If somebody knows or has developed such a system before, or know electricians that may know how this can be done, please let me know. Thank you!

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

Interesting.

One more place to visit the next time I'm in New York.

 

[2deadeyes]

This is awesome!!! Definitely checking out the store once opened. All the best!

 

[Asr]

Well given that you're AudioCubes and that you deal primarily with Audio-Technica, Sony, and Denon, personally I think it might be an idea to use a tier of PCDPs - you wouldn't really need amps since those are all categorically low-impedance. DAPs would work too, maybe you could use both?

Make sure you tie down the headphones securely too, otherwise I foresee Mercuttio going in there trying to swipe something....

 

[BrookR1]

At DXC Store, if I remember correctly, they have their low to mid range cans for demo. Anything over about $250, you have to ask a salesperson for assistance. They bring out the headphone and supervise you while you demo the can.

 

[krmathis]

Since you sell both dynamic (Audio-Technica, JVC, Sony, Denon, ...) and electrostatic (Stax) headphones, I assume you need a sampling system that can handle all of them.

Perhaps some of the amplifier vendors that have experience with both constructions can help you out? Like Mikhail at Singlepower Audio, or Justin at HeadAmp...

 

[M0T0XGUY]

I'll have to echo the portable CD player idea. It not only eliminates the need for a whole soundboard and related equipment backstage, but it would also give customers the ability to try your headphones with music they are extremely familiar with, thus increasing the chances of them making a purchase.

With electrostatic phones, you could place the amplifier unit on a separate shelf near the portable CD player, and customers could control the volume with the amp's pot.

And off topic, but I'm absolutely ecstatic that you've decided to open a store in NYC, I'll be sure to visit as soon as I get a chance to go down there.

 

[Soundinista]

Congratulations, Kohn! A headphone dealer with vision at last! (I was recently at a large store in Manhattan for a pair of DT990's, and you'd be horrified to learn about the kind of crap I had to put up with from the salesperson. Anthropologists assure us that neanderthals weren't this rude! This really was the shopping experience from hell, but I'll spare you the sordid details.

)

You've come to the right place for advice, needless to say. More capable people will hopefully post suggestions here (some already are). For my part, I just wanna make this little point: Make it enjoyable, please! Let people sit down and take their time sampling the phones. Don't expect anyone who's willing to buy the likes of a JVC DX1000, or a Denon, or a high-end Audio-Technica, to put up with having to elbow their way into a crowded wall. (Some of us wouldn't put up with the elbow experience for anything hobby-wise whatever, of course.) A little complimentary beverage can't hurt your business either.

In sum, helping people learn how to enjoy the headphone experience must the smart thing to do for any heavyweight headphone dealer. Please, put some thought into it. We'll be watching!

Cheers,

PS: I hope you are planning on getting the amplifier industry involved in your project. It shouldn't be difficult to get them to send you their stuff for demoing phones -- if you're really gonna have a nice showroom. I really hope you're planning on putting on a world-class show!

 

[Hardwired]

I would think your application would work much the same as wall of car stereos where you can select the source and speakers from a central bank of switches. You'd have to be careful about the quality of the switches and you would need multiple listening stations instead of one, but the principle should be the same. You'd also have the additional problem of chaining the headphones to the wall.

 

[Kohn]

Thanks for all the comments! I really appreciate it. To illuminate this subject a little bit more, actually, our first store is going to mimic closely to the products of AudioCubes.com. That is to say, the headphones we are going to demo are not going to be audiophile end, but more like stylish/colorful/unique ones such as the Zumreed, Audio Technica EC700, Elecom Rhinestone, etc. For the "high end" part we will probably have the A900 and A500 available. Hopefully this won't disappoint anyone, but our store will be more like a headphone slash electronic gadget shop (more like kidrobot's store). The store will hopefully look modern and utilitarian, but definitely not like a high end stereo showroom. Maybe one day when we open a flagship store in Soho we will have all headphones available for demoing.

With that said, the demoing wall will have 20+ headphones for users to try on without exposing the wires/amps/sources. Since all the headphones are rather low end, will amping be needed? If so, what's the most cost effective way and efficient way to connect all the headphones to 1 sound source securely without anybody trying to unplug the headphones and run? Thanks everyone. Let me know of your comments!

 

[terance]

I think it would be awesome if you guys had vinyl set ups to demo

with the boom in vinyl sales it might be worth a try


good luck audiocubes, you've made a lot of head-fier's very happy

 

[terriblepaulz]

All due respect to previous posters, but the PCDP idea seems like a disaster waiting to happen: stolen and damaged cds, individual players getting damaged and dirty from overuse etc. The first time Kohn pulls a wad of gum out of a PCDP he will regret that decision. This is not even taking into account the aesthetics - wires everywhere, PCDPs that do not look exactly alike (thus leading consumers to think they sound different), loose CDs scattered on horizontal surfaces etc. The AudioCubes brand identity seems to this potential customer to be futuristic, slick, technologically savvy etc. Having a sloppy retail space will not sell that brand.

Remember Kohn - head-fiers are not your target customer. These are people who buy gear, sight unseen, from strangers over the internet. These are people who value sound quality over all other features of products. These are people who think paying more than $100 for a pair of headphones is not insane. If you design your retail space to appeal to head-fiers, you may be alienating the 99.5% of the general population that thinks head-fiers are certifiable (if they think of them at all).

Look at the pro market. There are studio/professional headphone distribution amplifers where you can plug 4/6/8 headphones to a single source, with each jack having an independent volume control.

Just my $.02

 

[minimus]

I think it may be a mistake not to offer some of your high-end headphones for sale at the store. There are few other US distributors of the headphone brands that you carry (Audio-Technica, JVC, Denon), so it is unlikely customers who like what they hear at your store would buy those phones elsewhere because they can get them for less on the web. As far as I know, most of the high-end headphones you carry can only be purchased from web retailers based in Japan, who charge virtually the same price as Audiocubes. Personally, I have purchased both of my "higher-end" headphones at retail stores in New York City (my HD650s at B&H and a pair of Grado SR-225s at Harvey's), because I didn't want to deal with the possibility of having to wait for a delivery from an internet retailer, or have to mail back headphones I didn't like. Harvey's carries Sennheiser and Grado lines -- if a customer wants to listen, a salesperson brings out the headphones from a display case and plugs them in to an audio system that pipes in a few channels of music (classical, jazz, rock.) B&H offers even less to its customers-- you can bring an iPod to demo the Sennheisers, but the listening conditions are far from ideal, since it is a crowded, loud store. I suspect you would be missing out on a lot of business if you didn't at least offer some high-end headphones for sale at your store. New York is a wealthy city, and there are a lot of people who wouldn't think twice about plunking down $1,000 on a headphone that blows them away, even if they only came in to your store to browse the gadgets and lower-end headphones there.

 

[Kohn]

Very interesting comments. I appreciate it again. While I agree with terriblepaulz, minimus' also got a point. Our store is like Sharp Image but trendier and cooler. We are not going to be an audiophile gear stereo (as you can see from AudioCubes.com right now, most of the high end products are now moved to AC2, leaving AC with sub-250 products). Having a lot of high end products in display will confuse our customer our brand image. But with minimus' suggestion, maybe we can have a few high end products store in the back and upon demand we can bring them out for people who really know about them.

Meanwhile, any idea on the demo wall of headphones?

 

[feh1325]

i remember seeing a beyerdynamic thing that was wall mounted
it was like a huge surge protector but when headphone jacks
i think we called it the beyerbar