lei sik mm sik yeh gah?

i have come to a conclusion that the best thing for any customer to buy is that already decided thing he wanted to buy even before seeing me. most buyers have a pre-concluded decision hidden subconciously in his mind of what he wants to do. that pre-decided decision would only probably change if he was willing to consider a change and due to reasons that does not relate to the product at sale. so the principal selling rule applies...sell what the customer wants to buy. just give him what he wants and be happy with the profit margin.

sound system equipment and peripherals is one industry i sell. and after some 10yrs in this business, i have met so many "sound engineers" (especially the church ones) that tell me what is best in the industry. they begin to advice me and affirming to me that such and such brands are more superior that others. well, some may be right while some are just plain rubbish.

everything boils down to budget. with bigger budgets, more options can be discussed while with smaller budgets...naturally, we would only be looking at that few models lor. for me, i would spend a lot of money for one particular setup while i would do the complete opposite for another setup. what is good for here may not be good for there. so, there is really no such thing as "best systems"!

i get irritated when some church "sound engineers" trying to act smart telling me how wrong i am. i am willing to change if your comments carry substance and technical logic...otherwise, please go check your facts.

latest incident was this small auditorium in KL that needed a sound system make-over. the ceiling height is around 9 feet. the stage is about 1.5feet high. and there was this church "sound engineer" who suggested a center speaker to cover sound for the center cluster of seats since the auditorium is wide (around 65 feet) in design with only about 35 feet of length. means he will have to hang that center sepaker somewhere just above the standing position of the worship leader or pastor during church service. with a celing height of only 9 feet and the staged raised at 1.5 feet, there is only some 7.5 feet left. with a speaker hanging right in the center of the stage dangling down at another minimum of 1.5 feet...i leave that to your imagination to visualise the eyesore!

many people say Behringer is a lousy brand. i ask them what in their opinion are good brand then? various names were given, typically brands such as JBL and Yamaha (as far as speakers are concerned). i asked them what do they know about JBL and Yamaha as compared to Behringer. all sorts of funny comparisons were made.

here is what i have to say about the average "know-some-but-not-know-enough" type of "technical people". brand names like JBL and Yamaha are everyday brand names since JBL also do home hi-fi systems and also car audio systems while Yamaha is obvioulsy the name to call for when home theater 5.1 DTS surround sound systems are concerned. Yamaha is also very popular name when comes to music education. but names like Behringer are only related to the pro sound reinforcement industry.

there was one time where i tested this sound guy by giving him two options of speakers to choose from. with the prices witheld from him, i gave him a normal class JBL make (RM4,500 each) and the concert series EAW (RM28,000 each). straight away, without hesitation, he chose the JBL. obviously the decision has nothing to do with the price but everything to do with the fact that he hears a lot about the JBL name. the same goes for audio mixers, EQs microphones and other sound peripherals. every church soundman wants to own a yamaha or at least a mackie and would immediately disregard that poor Behringer again. between a mackie and midas, they'd go for the mackie series. but somehow, the world-class sound technicians that i had the privilege of working with (in various international live concerts), always insist on a midas...anytime!

i can go on and on about this funny buying attitude of many people. the same goes for buying cameras. whenever i affirm that the camera that they are about to purchase is a good choice, they instantly fall in love with me. but the moment i give them technical explainations that their initial choice is unwise, their defence wall gets errected up almost immediately. and they will fight for the rights of "their" camera. LOL i just keep quiet and ;et it be lor. afterall, i have my trusty D2X and D100 to live with.

haaar...now i feel a lil better after releasing out some steam! cool...life goes on.

anyway, here is me on a 40-channel crest audio X8 professional mixing console...another "non-preferred" name of the typical church "sound engineers".