"Paul Stamler" wrote in message

wrote in message
m...

The point of the showrooms was to promote AR's image, and thereby
_increase_
sales.

OK, fine... did it work? Seems like something called "advertising"
would've worked in that regard too...

They did both; AR and Dynaco advertised in all the hi-fi mags of the
day, and ran their salons in a couple of big cities as well.

Did it work? The speakers sold like hotcakes; lots and lots and lots
of people's first decent stereo was a pair of AR2ax's with a Dynaco
amp and preamp (and maybe turntable too), and lots of lawyers and
psychiatrists had AR3s. Many of them are still in service after a few
woofer refoams. Oh, and I believe the Dynaco Stereo 70 is still the
best-selling power amp of all time.

Yes, it worked.

FWIW, agreed. AR isn't dominant today for business reasons that have very
little to do with how effectively their products were brought to market. The
market those products served changed, immensely. The mainstream of home hifi
went from high tech to appliances. In their day, AR3s helped define the high
end of audio.