You should never call someone dumb for having a concern. It's not dumb to question your motives after becoming a dealer. It's a conflict of interest. It doesn't mean you're not being honest but its not dumb to question it. Bottom line is that you're not a SALESMAN for your products. Think about it.
I have absolutely no problem with someone having questions, raising concerns and sharing their thoughts on the matter. That is the entire point of this video. Go back and watch what I said again. I never said he was dumb. What I find dumb is how me becoming a dealer is considered shady, which means dishonest, untrustworthy or unethical. This is an attack of my character and a statement that is untrue.
As stated above and in the video, I never said he was dumb. I said “It” was dumb (the accusation), not the person that said it. I’m not concerned what label is placed on me (reviewer, content creator, influencer, RUclipsr or even salesman). What I am concerned about is living a life with integrity and character.
@@Youthman Look, saying "it" was dumb doesn't absolve you. Next time your wife says something dumb, see if saying "it" was dumb and see if that works for you. I don't mean any offense but I think you get my point? People don't know your character like you do and they rightly ask questions that bring your character into question. You're no longer and independent reviewer. I respect a lot of brands but I don't trust their reviews of their own products. In conclusion, you should have handled it better than using the word "dumb ". There were better ways to make your point. No?
I think you are somewhat naive about this Michael but ultimately well meaning. At some point in the future it's inevitable you will have a conflict of interest. If this is financially tied to the actual well being of your family can you honestly say you will put strangers first? It's all well and good when things are going great, but if it literally means putting food on the table or not then thats a whole different ball game. This obviously may never happen, but if being truthful and having integrity is important to you, is it not more honest to acknowledge that it could? Please dont think this is a personal attack on you in any way at all, it's just my opinion and I don't presume to know your thoughts. I still value your channel very much and wish your new venture well. Just something to consider is all.
I don’t take offense at all to your thoughts, and I certainly appreciate your perspective. But I don’t feel I’m naïve at all in my approach. I’ve always said, if you take care of your customers, they will take care of you. It’s a simple philosophy that I have lived by since starting my first business in 2001. I also seek to honor the Lord by serving my customers. Lastly, as a man of faith, I believe the Bible is true. Philippians 4:19.
@@Youthman I also agree with your points but don't think your faith bares any relevance to them, what you say holds true regardless. But that's not my point, I do believe your being honest but naive not to acknowledge there's potentially issues.
My faith is not something I do on Sundays, but rather what guides the decisions of my life, including how I treat people, and how I do business. So it’s absolutely relevant. There are potential issues with every reviewer on RUclips. There are potential issues with every business owner on RUclips. My character, integrity and how I conduct myself doesn’t change because I have become a dealer for the brands and products that I have vetted through my experience with them.
I understand this about you Michael and choose to watch your channel despite having different opinions in some areas, it's very clear you're a good person. I just don't personally think being a good person requires faith in a God, I know you do and that's fine with me . I meant no disrespect to you, your religion or beliefs , I would hope you would extend the same courtesy to me and mine. Anyway as you said there are potentially issues with any business, I truly hope you never find yourself in any unavoidable conflicting situation. All the best for the future.
I absolutely respect your differing views. I’m a Christian but have good friends that are atheist, agnostic, Buddhist, Hindu etc. having the same beliefs is not a requirement for my friends.
It's generally easy to tell who the shills are, and there are many on YT. The bigger issue that I see regarding YT reviewers is that many of them simply do not have the knowledge/expertise that is required but act as if they do. YT does not need any more self-proclaimed experts and having a YT channel for many years certainly does not make one an expert (nor does being a dealer). Best of luck Michael, keep it genuine and you'll do just fine.
Honestly I have never seen you give a bad review for any product anyway so what does it matter? Correct me if I am wrong but anything that you "review" gets a positive recommendation doesn't it?
Yup you are wrong. Search for my Paradigm Premiere, the original Sofabaton X1 remote, and especially the Emotiva RMC-1 processor. You’ll also see in every Valencia my critique of how they do the LED (very poor design), and I criticized their new aluminum holder for the accessories in their Monza. Just because you haven’t seen any critique of products on my channel doesn’t mean they are not there.
First if you are going to refer to something as clickbait, at least learn how to spell it correctly. Clickbait refers to a title and/or thumbnail that does not represent what the video is about. Please show me any examples of clickbait on my channel in the 1,000+ videos. You won’t find them.
Subscriber for several years and have followed your journey thru Daily HiFi and MWave, was a bit surorised when you announced partnering with Obsessed. I have watched some of his videos (HT and Car) and really didn't see you two as a match. Anyway, if you're dealing, then watchers need to consider you are no different than Audio Advice, Dreammedia, or Crutchfield. Product reviews are products they carry. They vet them, so you can believe they are "valuable", but there's a profit motive there. So "watcher beware "is what I would say. I trust what those entities sell, but I need to consider some they don't sell too. My decision, my process, collect data, do analysis and don't become a fanboy just because you subscribe to someone's channel. I think SHADY is a bit derogatory, but we all have a bias to products we like/buy/sell.
100% agree with you Stephen. We all have to do our homework and make our own decisions. Most consumers do not have the ability to compare products side by side. You likely will not see Crutchfield or Audio Advice do that as they need to appease all of their vendors. We are creating curated products which affords us the ability to do so. Matt and I have been friends for the past 4 years. We have different personalities but the same core values and faith.
You have earned my trust as a reviewer. You have every right to make money to support your family so if you sell some gear, that doesn't hurt my feelings. As long as there's transparency, which there has ALWAYS been with you then I'm good with whatever you do. -Dave
Generally, as of late, affiliates and reviewers (whatever) don’t seem to have much skin in the game regarding the products they deal, so they say whatever. I don’t think Youthman has said anything negative about Klipsch. You would think they’re the greatest speaker ever based upon his reviews. They’re fine, but have issues he didn’t or couldn’t mention. I guess it’s cheap for the brand, and easy for the reviewer, but the customer gets mediocre information. Now you also have reviewers monetizing their review videos, introducing commercials for anything. More shady cash grabs these days and people are becoming harder and harder to trust. Do your research people.
I don’t trust anybody, nothing personal. All reviews, everywhere are suspect, if someone gives you the equipment that being reviewed it certainly would skew anyone’s opinion.
I agree. Everyone says they are transparent but never tells the full story. Was the equipment free, heavily discounted, shipped back or payment made?. They know if they give a positive review, the free equipment will keep coming. How many times did you receive free chairs after "honest" positive reviews. Unfortunately, this is the 'paid' advertising policy of many suppliers. I will applaud and trust someone when they are truly 100% transparent. Until then it is difficult to trust the reviewers even if 'paid promotion' pops up for a few seconds. This damages credibility of the reviewer and supplier and is basically an infomercial even if they like the product.
The recent review by 'Den of Tools' on Walabot is true transparency. I wish others would follow his example if they want to have exemplary integrity. ruclips.net/video/WHp3x8vxXko/видео.html
Having said that, I really like the channel and enjoy the videos. Sorry for the rant. I realize many do this, I just wish for more honesty and not partial, true stories.
YTM, I just saw this video and would like to respond. I too love HT and have a dedicated HT room and have took a lot of advice from YTM and used in my room. I do IT for a living and told my wife when I retire, I will take some HT courses and volunteer at a HT store doing some installations and design work. Does that make me shady, no. If I like Klipsch speakers and decide to become a Klipsch salesmen or authorized Klipsch dealer, does that make me shady, no. That is just a passion you have for that particular product. YTM keep up the good work and may the Lord continue the blessing he has now bestowed on you and your family. God Bless PM
I really like the new business you’re adding and feel it will add tremendous value to us. Your excitement and passion fuels our interest as well. In your case, I see no issues with a conflict of interest in providing honest reviews. Your integrity is clearly evident and speaks for itself!
Not being a dealer meant you could give an independent non biased review. Being a dealer does not make you shady but it changes the relationship between the people watching the video and you because the viewer now needs to trust you as you are no longer independent with your reviews.
If my audience hasn’t trusted me in the past seven years, they’re not going to trust me now. I believe I’ve earned my trust and will continue to earn it going forward.
Keep in mind, I know reviewers they get paid to write or publish reviews. But the public doesn’t know about that, yet they still trust them. To me all comes down to integrity and character.
@@Youthman Yes you have but have you considered the Risk that you are now applying to that trust. At the moment the trust is because you are not selling products. Trust is easily lost, you just need one person to have a bad experience with a product you have reviewed, recommended and then sold and 7 years of trust is gone. In business we always consider the risk, you may have done this already but you are now in a position where the trust can easily be lost.
Without risk, you can't grow. Without risk, there's no potential reward. Without risk, there's no chance of personal growth. I'm 100% ok with taking risks that are calculated. This is one of them. I don't agree with your assessment regarding loss of trust. Let's say we review a product. It's rock solid, performs well and offers great value to the consumer. One of my subscribers purchases it and it fails. That can (and will happen) with any product, whether it is a TV, AVR, vehicle, drone, time piece or any other product on the market. You lose trust when you realize you made a mistake and do not own up to it and do your best to make it right. Every person on this planet is one bad decision away from losing trust from the people around us.
@@Youthman That is true providing you are dealing with a reasonable person, there are a lot of unreasonable people out there that will enjoy damaging someone's brand. I am not trying to argue with what you are doing; you may have calculated the actual risk but by becoming a dealer it completely changes your brand, and your reputation will change over time because of this, especially with new subscribers. I am the GM of a company; My directors ensure I have a risk management plan for every change of direction I make, I was just trying to point out that there is risk in what you are doing, now you are selling products your brand is at risk from the decisions you make, your suppliers decisions, even the person that delivers the goods can now impact your brand, they dynamic of what you are doing has changed as you can no longer have no biases, even if you think you can stay natural you won't convince everyone that you can. I like you content and I like that you are not affiliated with any brand, it makes it easy to trust you, especially with your energy and enthusiasm. I would hate to see you stop being you because something happened to your brand, and you changed because of that experience. Without risk, you can't grow. Without risk, there's no potential reward. Without risk, there's no chance of personal growth. - I would never get away with the above in business. You can grow without risk, there is potential without risk, and you can have personal growth without risk. You put steps in to negate the risk, and you have a backup plan for each scenario that can go wrong. But if you are happy to have risk in your business then your statement is true. My directors make me negate risk, identify what it is and reduce it. You may have done this already; I was just wanting to make sure you have actually sat down and considered all the risk to your brand. Tom Cruise completely ruined his brand by jumping on a couch and he went from not talking about his personal belief to talking about them. His many followers turned on him overnight.
Their concerns don't have any validity that wasn't already there. It's the same temptation that most reviewers face. If their concerns involve you making more money, that's not a legitimate concern. That's called ingenuity, being an entrepreneur, etc... Unless there's something I'm not seeing?
You’re absolutely correct Paul. if your focus is on money, it will dictate the decision you make. But if you’re focus on your audience and the consumer, the money will come. I owned my own business since 2001. My motto has always been. If you take care of your customer, they will take care of you. I’ve done my best to be a man of integrity and character and live out my faith on my channel for the past seven years.
Every dealer or influencer will recommend what they believe in first there never be 100 percent unbiased reviews. Not everyone will experience product in their own homes same way as any reviewer would or even when we demo equipment is local store, this is how it is in audio business. One build reputation and it takes time and no one wants to ruin it for business. Shady is kind of strong word in my opinion
I really appreciate your take on this scorpion king and feel the same. I’ve spent seven years building my reputation around honesty, integrity, and transparency. I have no desire to depart from that with Obsessed Home Theater. , We all have biases. I have a bias for speakers with horns and compression drivers. But that doesn’t mean I do not enjoy speakers that do not have horns or compression drivers.
Anyone who has been around for any amount of time will understand that you are a man of faith and integrity. Why would a business sell/push a faulty product? That's a sure fire way to go broke and lose come shirt, come on guys think this through. Michael I'm excited to see what the future holds, thanks for sharing!
I agree, Seth. that’s why in my videos I share what I like and even don’t like about a product. Because I know if you purchase it and I didn’t tell you the faults that I found, it’s going to make me look bad. Thank you for the continued support, brother. We’re excited as well!
Part of who i buy from is who i trust. I put faith in people to do some of the research for me that i dont have time to deal with. If they break that trust then i find someone / someplace else. You have earned my trust over the years. I think the transition to monitize your efforts is smart, not only for you, but also for us. Your passion for the hobby is a reason i will keep supporting you. And just to add, there is so much to do with sound and audio that is psychoacoustics, and a good sales and support experience can make a marginal system sound pretty good because, at some point, it all becomes value for the money. Your value to me would be to help me navigate that spectrum... there is always better.. but whats the value and return for my investment based on my interpretation of quality to value.
I don't really agree, Valencia Seating, for eg. " That home theatre dude " who reviewed them and loved them, in his recent video he said " they gave me this to review, they didn't like the amount of review I have done, and to be hoenst, their are other better seats outtheir. " maybe you don't get infulanced but ALOT of other people do sadly.
Valencia provided my seats as well, yet they have continued to remain in my Theater Room. They are still working as great as they did the day that I unboxed them. I don’t know what “they don’t like the amount of review I have done” means. Out of 1,000 + videos on my channel, I only have made less than 10 Valencia videos. I only make one review per seat that they have provided. I’m very honest about what I like and dislike about the seats. I shared in almost every video the LED strip needs to be modified so it does not shine on your screen or TV when in a reclined position. I also shared in my Monza review the new aluminum insert for the accessory port is not a good choice. My guess is there are other things they did not like than simply the amount of videos that he has made.
As a fellow brother in Christ i must say . I love your channel but with all due respect, as a business owner myself, your going down a slippery slope. I love home theater! I worked as an installer and seller back in the days. We would do half a million to a million dollar home theater systems all day. I loved and it’s what got me into it. I could never afford it then or now but I love to see you show things that are out of my reach but to see the joy on your face it reminds me of well me. I really enjoy watching you and to be honest like some say it won’t be the same if you are possibly selling the same stuff you’re reviewing. It’s just not the same anymore. With that said i will still be watching. God bless my fellow Home Theater fan.
Thank you for sharing your perspective. I realize I won't be able to please every. Even if I kept my channel exactly the same and never made any changes, there will be people that I won't please. My desire is to continue to put my audience first and seek to find the best brands and products for them. As long as I can do that, the business will be successful. I've always said, "Take care of your customers, and they will take care of you." Have a blessed week.
A reviewer should always remain impartial. Much the same as a politician should not have financial interests in stocks in which their policies can manipulate.
I appreciate you sharing your perspective. While I agree that we need to remain as impartial as possible, I'm curious how you reconcile reviewers receiving compensation from Google Adsense, affiliate sales and sponsored videos? I believe it's impossible for any reviewer to be 100% impartial, completely unbias and have zero financial interest. The truth is you can't. We all have our preferences (bias) on what our eyes and ears prefer. If this is your business, you have a financial interest. Not to mention there are plenty of reviewers within Home Theater niche as well as every other niche that accept payment for reviews (which IMO is HIGHLY unethical and a direct conflict of interest). But those reviewers will never tell their audience they were paid to make the review. The reality is there are shady reviewers. But I firmly believe I will continue to provide value to my audience through testing of products (regardless of whether or not I'm considered a "reviewer") to discover which products are the best, becoming a dealer for those products, make videos teaching how to setup, use and get the most out of those products, and then purchasing, warehousing, and selling those products to my audience. The value proposition that we offer is most consumers do not have the ability to test 3, 5 or 7 AVR's before they buy them. We will. The same goes for remotes, speakers and any other Home Theater product. My reputation, my integrity and most importantly, my faith as a Christian mean more to me than any amount I make on a sale. I have maintained integrity over the past 7 years that I have been on RUclips and will continue to do so going forward.
Would you, as a reviewer, be willing to recommend or show great enthusiasm for a product that competes with another product that you sell as a dealer? I think that is the conflict some are taking issue with. There will be times when the two don’t mix.
Absolutely! We tell every brand that we meet with that just because we choose one of their products this year, doesn’t mean we’re carrying it next year if they’re competing brand comes out with something something better. Here’s a prime example of how that might look. After testing, we might choose Epson to be the best $5000 and under projector. Maybe the midtier is something from Sony and the upper end is one of JVC’s.
@@Youthman Well that's interesting that you have the potential to change your inventory year after year, depending on the merit of the products. However you may still be in a position to have to choose between the truth in your review or a potential sale in your product for at least part of the time every year. Would you withhold the review until your contract with a manufacturer is finished? Maybe just ignore the competition until later in the year when you can make a switch? That too would be dishonest. Perhaps you can make it work, Youthman, but the concerns over conflict of interest are legit.
@@krupkake1 trust me as an obsessed garage viewer, they will always give you the truth. Matt has 0 loyalty to brands, only good products and merit. Also always willing to be shown something new/better to have the best catalogue possible.
Youthman knows like any good reviewer, not all people will like his "biased" choices and therefore not purchase what he has. It's all good in the hood. Absolutely no issue to speak on product that he has vetted and tested and maybe already personally owns. And guess what, there is product out there that has blindsided the best of them, meaning tech issues not seen before constantly coming up. I'm sure Youthman will pivot clients away from those products despite being a dealer. If not, his model will not work.
They are separate entities. Youthman will remain Youthman. Obsessed Home Theater is another business that I am part owner of. Obsessed Home Theater videos will be posted on my Youthman Channel.
I'm really excited about this new venture. I've been following Matt for many years and have quite an extensive collection of Obsessed Garage Gear. At one point, I even considered reaching out to Matt to suggest that he start Obsessed Home Theater because I felt it was a niche that was missing. I believe we, as consumers, need to remember that the world is a business, and we should use these videos and reviews as guidance when making decisions, rather than blindly following them.
I've enjoyed your content for many years and I am a little concerned with the change in direction. I used to follow a Bronco aftermarket parts review channel until she did what you are doing and actually did become more of the advertising arm of the company. You are one of the least "shady" people I follow online so I don't see that as being a problem but I am concerned you may morph into a mini Crutchfield. They have knowledgeable people doing rewiews of their products, they are not going to sell "bad" products and I have trusted them for decades. But i generally use their reviews as verbal spec sheets and I hope that you don't go down that path. If you pick up a speaker brand to sell because you love their bookshelf I hope you will still be honest with us if when you review their tower or sub and find it is not as good ( sound or value or whatever) that you are not afraid to say it in the review even if you carry it in your store. Aaron (audio corner) always will comment that people will still use his affiliate links for speakers he has just stated he doesn't like and it kind of makes him laugh. I'm counting on you maintaining the honesty about daily usability, how the product makes you feel when you use it( you are about the best at that). Remember, the grin on your face dosent lie when you actually like something so stay honest with us and you will continue to have great success. Thanks for doing what you do.
Thank you for sharing your concerns. I'm grateful that I am the least shady person you follow. haha The entire point of Obsessed Home Theater is to compare products to discover the best in various price points and share that with my audience. Obsessed Home Theater will provide even more value to my audience than what I currently can as we will have the capital to purchase products to compare, where currently I'm relying on brands to provide the products to review. You don't have to worry about us becoming a mini Crutchfield. They sell EVERYTHING! We will only carry the brands AND the specific models that rise to the top. If we are selling one model AVR this year, if next year another brand provides a better product in the same price point, we will sell off our inventory and purchase the new AVR and begin to sell those. We aren't tied to any one brand. We've told each brand that we've met with of that so they know up front. We don't do contracts, we simply sell what we feel is best for my audience. That's the exact business model Matt with Obsessed Garage has done and his audience is EXTREMELY grateful for it because he's putting in the work to discover what is best for the audience, not what has the highest margins. I have demonstrated integrity and character over the past 7 years, and I have no plans of changing that. You'll definitely know what I like by the size of my grin. LOL Appreciate the continued support!
@@Youthman I assumed what you said above was your intention when I posted my own comment the other day, however now that you've actually clarified what I thought, here's where I think it falls apart. You sell brand A as it is in your opinion the best, next year brand B is better, so you stop selling Brand A so you can give your customers the best, all fine so far. Next year low and behold brand A releases an amazing product again, but now they've decided they're no longer going to deal with your business as they don't consider you loyal or whatever other stupid reason they may have. This absolutely happens with independent dealers, and they are handicapped only able to sell whatever product they can actually supply. Sure you might be able to source their products elsewhere, but it's very unlikely your new profit margin will make it financially viable. Hifi / Av manufacturers can be very petty, it's not at all like the obsessed garage business model. Manufacturers can have conditions about what they will allow you to sell, say you want to sell their speakers? Well sure but only if you also carry their amplifiers for example. This is a real thing that happens. So now product A is objectively best but you only have product B available to sell. It's not wrong to continue to sell product B but are you going to tell each and every customer that they could buy something better from one of your competitors? You can't or your business will fail, that's a reality and where a potential conflict of interest arises. And none of this means you aren't trustworthy.
Based on the 7 years I have been reviewing products, there are a few brands that I know I am interested in. We have had meetings with those brands and each brand is intrigued because this is a new business model, one that isn't being done in the Home Theater space. We shared the entire vision and not a single one are requiring us to carry all of their products, and they each know up front that just because we choose them today, doesn't mean we will choose them next year. Again, zero issues with that because they have other retailers and online stores that sell all of their product lines. We are doing something that has never been done in the Home Theater space. Will there be challenges along the way? Absolutely. Are we willing to put our best foot forward, believing we are creating something truly unique in the space that is centered around the best interest of the consumer? Absolutely. Will we have skeptics? You betcha. I don't want to get to the end of my life full of regret that I didn't chase my dreams. My motto is, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained". Let's see what this looks like in 3-5 years.
I watched a podcast that you did as a guest on the topic 2 Way speakers versus 3 Way speakers. I'm doing both. I have a pair of Insignia bookshelf Indoor/Outdoor speakers. I saw these speakers at my Local Best Buy. 2 weeks and bought the set. I fully enjoy these speakers. They are way better than my Vizio 1 way surround speakers. There is nothing like hearing seperate music that sounds so rich from a 2 way speaker set up. Watching NCAA Football I can hear what the game announcer is saying. The background music has more detail that I don't get with my 1 way speakers. I have 6 total but I don't want to give up on my Vizio speakers because they still have a meaningful purpose. I think my Vizio sound bar now has more channels than just a 5.1.2. It sounds like a seven channel set up. I now want to replace my 1 way Aiwa satellite speakers. Last week I googled 3 way speakers. I found a set that closely matches my Insignia speakers. I want speakers that will produce slightly better midrange sound from the surround connections. Both are passive and RCA male connections to bare wire make the connection. I prefer using wire that has the RCA plug assembled so I don't have to buy separate parts I found it on Amazon.
I don’t put much into a person view of a product until I can go and test it myself but I due enjoy watching someone view on a product that I like , I have my go to companies that I enjoy and stick with .
That is 100% valid. The problem is most people do not have the opportunity to test before they buy, which is exactly why we rely on reviews and third-party testing. The value proposition we will have is we are not brand loyal. We are searching for the best products. Just because one brand product is the best this year doesn’t mean it’s not going to get knocked off by its competitor next year.
That would be a question for Matt as he handles logistics. I know with Obsessed Garage he is currently working on Canadian distribution and then Australian distribution. to start, we will be shipping within the continental US as the business grows, we might be able to offer some international shipping.
I’ve been watching you on and off for years. I enjoy your content, I mostly enjoy your energy and excitement when you see or hear something awesome from other sound enthusiasts
We do not doubt your transparency at all, or the great selection, judgement and support you give the community. This does change the role you play however. Your product selection, representation, and longevity of retaining those products will have financial consequences regarding your channel's opinions. You represent a business now, more than an informing enthusiast. Just embrace it, change is fun and good my man! Can't expect your audience to not adapt or change when you do.
Oh I’m absolutely embracing it and could not be more excited! I just thought this was a fun conversation to have. I’ve never been one to shy away from critique or criticism. Let’s have a healthy conversation. That’s what a healthy community is all about.
As a sidenote, everything we do on RUclips has a financial consequence. Reviewing a product no one has ever heard of will likely generate $25 in ad revenue. Does that mean I should only review mainstream brands? Of course not.
Over the past 7 years that I have reviewed products, most get shipped back to the manufacturer after the review while others have allowed me to keep due to the high cost of shipping the products back and most brands do not have a means of selling used gear.
I WANT dealers to review their own products and competing products. It offers context of the dealer's perspective and transparency of the dealer's knowledge of such products. Over the years, I've come to appreciate dealers that steer me to a better product for me even if it's a competing product. I'll go back to those type of dealers every time.
It's fully possible to run a business, make a good living and have integrity at the same time. In the mortgage business there's plenty of shady characters out there, but instead of joining them because it's easier I'll go the hard way which is take my time to educate and explain and take the contrarian approach and that wins me clients. So in the end I win them over with with trust by doing the opposite as some of my competition. With that said you'll never make anyone happy no matter what and you can't be all things to all people so just do what you need to do and what you feel is right.
That's ridiculous! There's not a shady bone in your body! I think your business venture with Matt is awesome! You introduced me to Matt in your home theater tour several years ago. I have since became a huge fan of his also. I'm looking forward to Obsessed Home Theater going live and plan on being a customer. Hope you guys do some 2 channel stuff as well. I couldn't think of a better person to go into business with other than Matt! Don't know anything about Rusty but I'm sure he's solid if you guys chose to partner up with him!
Thank you for the kind words. We are very excited. Matt and Rusty are both great guys. I’m excited to be partnering with them with Obsessed Home Theater.
The moment a reviewer makes money in form of products money or other benefits from the company that makes the product they are reviewing that is a shady review dealer or not. It becomes a conflict of interest knowingly or unknowingly it dosent matter if everyone is doing it, its still bad integrity and i would not ever trust it.
So a company hires me to cover their booth at CEDIA. I benefit monetarily. Does that make me shady? If a brand wants to pay me to run ads about their new product on my channel. Does that make me shady? If a brand pays for advertising in my newsletter. Does that make me shady? If I receive a commission in the form of affiliate links. Does that make me shady? Inquiring minds want to know.
@@Youthmanfor me a review is to compare something against the current market and if someone is paying you to review it thats a conflict of interest, what you are talking about is advdrtisment i dont have a problem with that if its clearly stated, i dont think that should be labeld as a review. I wouldent call you personaly shady, i just think its a shady practice in general.
Sorry, I misunderstood what you were saying. I agree 100%. If a company pays for a review, that is a conflict of interest. I do not allow paid reviews. Never have, never will. But I know there are many who do because every week I receive emails asking, "What is your rate for reviews?" If I receive a product for free, I disclose that. Some say that is a conflict of interest. I'm of the opinion as long as you disclose it, that's up to the viewer to decide if they trust the reviewer can maintain a level of integrity and as unbiased review as possible.
Sorry I don't often comment on this channel but feel it is necessary to do so now. With the best intentions in the world your either a salesmen for your products or an impartial reviewer not both. Companies make money from sales and that is the bottom line nobody is going to trust a salesmen to be honest if there is information that will harm their sales. Ultimately the reviewers position is to point out both the positive and negative information about the product.and there is a pretty clear conflict of interests there if the reviewer is also trying to sell the products. You may well believe your only going to bring in products you believe in but that's not how people think It is also not always how it works. You might only want to sell some of a particular manufacturers products but what do you do when they expect you to sell all of their products or none if they are going to work with you. While I believe you personally would choose the none option if it compromised you many do not which is one of the reasons people do not trust salesman. Having followed your channel for a while you are clearly passionate about home theatre and that maybe enough for people to trust your advice about the products you decide to sell but you shouldn't expect the same level of trust from people who knew you as a reviewer until you demonstrate a level of honesty with your own products over the next few years and even then you will never achieve the same level of trust you enjoyed as a reviewer as that conflict of interests is always going to be in people's minds. As a Christian myself I understand that you are a man of integrity but unfortunately we live in a world where there are many who take the Lords name in vain and are walking down the wide path instead of the narrow path so people often do not see us as different. I do however wish you every success with your endeavours and will pray for you your family and business
I love and appreciate your approach, especially the last few sentences. I’m 1000% confident I “earn my trust “with my audience with this new adventure. I don’t expect anything from anyone. Since the beginning of my channel, people are free to make their own opinions about me. The way I live my life is not determined by what other people think of me, rather what God thinks of me which can be found in the Bible. I am not tied to a title. If the world deems I’m not fit to be a “reviewer” I’m absolutely fine with that. I’m still going to do what I always have done, and that’s share my honest experiences with products that I test in my own home and help educate, encourage, and inspire others to build a cool Home Theater, regardless of their space, limitations or budget. But I appreciate you are at least willing to wait and see if I will remain true to my faith, my morals and my word. Have a blessed week.
@@Youthman Lol you are correct there. The point is SOMEONE is going to make a commission on most Home Theater gear so it might as well be you. This is the beef a lot of us have, companies like JVC artificially raise prices by forcing a middleman on those of us that do not need it. The system is broken and will not last much longer so you might as well get some of those commissions while you still can.
I just ordered tonight from Best Buy Insignia 2 Way I/O door bookshelf speakers for $50.00 plus tax. Best Buy gave me a free $30.00 gift card after making a $250 purchase. So I got these speakers for free since I'm using cash back points on my credit card. It will be nice to get more frontal sound from surround sound channels.
We are all biased to a certain extent. We like what we like and have our own preferences. Someone recently mentioned they haven’t seen any negative reviews on my channel. Check out the Emotiva RMC-1, Sofabaton X1, Paradigm Premiere reviews on my channel. I’ve also criticized Valencia’s choice in pointing the LED’s forward on their seats and the aluminum holder for the accessory port on the Monza seats is a bit ridiculous.
Most passionate dealers in most industries source and sell to their customers what they like. Shady reviewers are those that simply read the specs and share their opinion without ever testing in person then get affiliate sales from it. Some of their staging in these reviews look like they do have them but they simply don’t.
That indeed would be shady. I don’t like even giving my opinion of something unless I have personally heard it, and experienced it for myself. And preferably in my own home.
Generally, as of late, affiliates and reviewers (whatever) don’t seem to have much skin in the game regarding the products they deal, so they may omit some information. Intentionally or not? I guess we’ll never know. I don’t think Youthman has said anything negative about Klipsch despite their big issues NOW known. I guess it’s cheap for the brand, and easy for the reviewer, but the customer gets mediocre information. After buying Klipsch, and selling them, I now now know to rust more objective reviews that have some measurements, unlike a guy like Youthman who bases reviews on his subjective opinion not backed by data.
I appreciate your viewpoint but here are some things to consider. How much more skin in the game can you get than to purchase products you are willing to get behind, warehouse them, repack them and ship them to customers? It's MUCH easier to provide an affiliate link. No shade whatsoever to those who have affiliate links (I have them myself). But there is absolutely zero skin in the game to do that. None. Having a warehouse, inventory, hiring staff, developing a website is a risk. That's what I would consider having skin in the game. I've been very clear over the years that I enjoy horns and compression drivers. I have owned over 100 pair of Klipsch speakers. Most I have liked, some not so much. I never liked the Academy. It was never a great solution for a Heritage center channel. I've also been vocal that I have never cared for Klipsch's entry level products that are sold on the end caps at Best Buy. The build quality isn't good, nor do I like how they sound. The Reference Premiere, Heritage and the RF7 series are fantastic. The THX Ultra2 series was never impressive either. Very flat sounding, especially for music. If Klipsch were the greatest speaker ever made, I'm curious why I sold my RF7's to replace them with the MartinLogan F200's. Maybe...just maybe it was because MartinLogan F200's have much better midrange due to the 3-way design and a dedicated midrange driver. Likewise, if Klipsch was the end-all-be-all brand, why would I sell my LaScalas, RSW-15's and begin slowly upgrading over a 3 year period to a full JTR system?
@@Youthman You can have LOTS more skin in the game, by designing and testing the product from the ground up while entering an already competitive market and running the business. And I suppose in that case, you want good reviews. I get it, people's preferences change. It doesn't mean the issues weren't always there. Nobody really knows the future intent for a reviewers product at the time of the review. Some things, like reviews, just don't age well. You have to admit, there are people out there giving amazing reviews to lousy products. You can buy them, even buy bad reviews for an objectively good product. Also, having had plenty of Klipsch, Reference, RP and RF, fantastic is hardly a word I would use to honestly describe them, so I don't agree with your review there. Reviewers are quickly becoming more and more untrustworthy, so I suspect that's why the government is introducing "fake" review legislation, although I don't know how it will reasonably be enforced, or expect it to bring positive change surrounding the issue. www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/08/federal-trade-commission-announces-final-rule-banning-fake-reviews-testimonials I guess one question is how, or should reviewers be held to account for me purchasing a product they claimed was good, but I didn't like? Why should you retain a commission for being wrong in my opinion? What would you think, if as an affiliate, there was a no-risk purchase program? As in if I didn't agree with your review upon receipt, that you, the affiliate, had to accept the product back? As of right now, I don't see much risk to an affiliate for giving glowing reviews on everything, so naturally in most cases, that's what happens.
Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio does a great job of being a reviewer and dealer as it's obvious that he's trying to sell you something, but he also does a good job explaining various aspects of audio and what to look for, so it's valuable nonetheless. Sure, he slams some of the competition like VAC and especially Audio Research, but I believe that he's sincere in his criticism and isn't just doing it for business reasons.
Hey Youthman, I would love something like this in the 🇬🇧 For me it's the next natural thing for you and your associates to do. You've earned this next step and I wish you all the best in its success. Can't wait for it to begin on RUclips 👏🙏♥️
Nope... sorry dude, I ain't buying it. As a dealer you have a vested financial interest in selling your product lines. So tell me now... If one of your prime lines comes out with an overpriced stinker of a speaker that stands to make you more money than anything else on your floor... are you going to tell us it's a bad product? If one of your competitors comes out with a near perfect speaker at a price you can't hope to compete with... are you going to tell us? In both cases ... probably not. It is basically impossible to maintain even the appearance of objectivity when playing both games at the same time.
My goal isn't to convince you. If you check out Matt's channel, he purchased almost every pressure washer on the market. Most were junk, some were ok, and a few were great. Guess what he sells? The great ones. In fact, he has sold over 20,000 pressure Kranzle pressure washers to his audience. We will be selling curated products. If a product isn't good, we aren't selling it. Period. We aren't "loyal" to any brand. Let's say we decide the JVC NZ800 is the best projector in that price point. If next year, Sony comes out with a projector that is similar in price and kicks it's butt, we sell off the JVC inventory that we have and begin selling the new Sony. It's really that simple. Matt has done this successfully for the past 8 years with Obsessed Garage and we will use the same business model for Obsessed Home Theater.
@@keepingupwiththejones2933 It is an easily recognized conflict of interest. Doesn't matter if you like the guy or not, it could lead to legal problems down the road.
Look man if you and others like you suggest something I'm gonna go for it . Truth is youthman you have build up a lot of trust over the years and anyone who knows your channel will know better. You have help me put together a great home audio system and I trust your judgement
Thank you for the kind words Ed. I’ve done my best over the past seven years to earn the trust and respect from my audience. Thank you for your support. I really appreciate it.
I think the concern is that if someone is a dealer they are going to avoid saying anything negative or critique the product. Nor will we hear if there are competitors that have a better product. There are no perfect products. It's important for a reviewer to highlight both positives and negatives. If you commit to be real and unbiased, then perhaps there is no issue with it. That being said, sponsored videos is a whole other concern that probably drives me nuts more than the dealer issue. I don't know how one can be an unbiased reviewer and then take money to say a product is awesome in an informercial type of video. I don't think one can do both types of content in my opinion.
Those are valid concerns, Adam. What we will be able to offer that places like Crutchfield and even Audio Advice can’t is they’re not going to put products head to head because they have to appease to all brands that they carry. During every meeting we have had, we let the brands know that if we decide to carry one of their products this year, doesn’t mean they’re competitor won’t end up in the spot next year because it out performs their product. We believe that provides a HUGE value proposition to consumers while motivating brands to continue to innovate. I have always shared what I like and don’t like about a product. That’s not going to change going forward.
Yes, sir, that is the plan. We truly want to find amazing products that we are willing to get behind ourselves, purchase those items, stock those items, and ship those items to our customers.
Everyone's "concerns" are all "potential." It's "potential" conflicts of interest, "potential" bias of products, or "potential" dishonesty for financial gain, but how are any of these different from what any reviewer faces? Scale? Besides that, what has changed? When did it become a bad thing to earn more money doing something you love? For those who think faith has nothing to do with this. I'm sorry to say, but you don't understand Christianity. Faith in Christ isn't a piece of "Life's Pie" we section off like family and career, but that's because Christ is the pie, and everything we do is a reflection of Christ in us. All other concerns become secondary when you live your life that way. If that's something that anyone doesn't understand, I'm sure Michael or myself would be happy to explain. It's good to express your concerns because that helps people like Michael keep an eye out so they don't become problems. Michael has character and integrity and someone like that will always appreciate accountability, but trying to fault him for something "potential" is actually concerning, just not for the other man.
I appreciate the perspective Paul. You are correct. My faith in Jesus isn’t something I do on Sunday, it’s at the very core of who I am and what guides my decisions. I’m all for my community holding me accountable.
Let's make it real easy for folks.. ask Youthman what he personally owns, then compare to what he is dealing/selling. Any "discrepancies", then ask why, so you understand the context. Take that information and do your own research, understand its value proposition, and then make your informed decision that fits your personal needs.
I love it! But keep in mind, even if we decide to sell Trinnov, or a JVC NZ900. I may not have either of them in my own setup simply because it's way out of my budget. But there are those that it might be a good fit for.
@@YouthmanYes sir! But more importantly you own a JVC projector as do I. You would love nothing more than to own a Trinnov, as I own one. So your "biased" recommendations of these brands and others are appreciated and understandable. Definitely not "shady" nor unethical. Your personal money is / will be spent on products where your mouth is! Ohh do you want me to talk to your wife about loosening up the purse strings to get your Trinnov?! lol !! All in the name of growing your biz!! All about the marital spin sir!
I dont think it’s shady. I know what you’re passionate about Michael and I get that. I love your reviews and I know I will always decide on what’s right for me and what I like. Stay the course my friend.
First of all, any salesman that is not standing up for the product he is selling, is the real shady one here. Many enthusiasts have become salesmen at one point or another, because they are enthusiasts and are willing to help others.The fact that they already started to reach out via youtube and other social media is showing that fact. Yes, you have to consider that they have a commercial interest with their videos after they have become tradesmen, but that is up to you as a watcher of those videos. After all, many info is to get from youtube videos from major shops and manufacturers, who are also present on social media.
I can’t think of any better way to stand up for a product than to purchase them as a dealer. We are willing to have “skin in the game” to help consumers navigate through the buying process for their Home Theater.
OMG what a load of semantic salad and political speak . if you are a dealer and or sell a product ,your review must show a positive bias to the company that makes the product otherwise they would drop you . On Earth money is the prime motivator regardless of one's ethics , self created or adopted via a well known "faith " . Any denial of that is a deflection . you can't say you're immune from bias because the boss of your faith gives you a pass . that's like saying my bias and worldly motivation is sanctioned by a higher authority that allows one to live a consequence free life . UN-subscribed !
As long as someone discloses the fact they are a dealer for a product there is no ethical issue here. It’s funny, outside of the youtube context if you told someone..”This guy started a small business selling products he tested and believes in.” They would say, thats great. Support American small business. It’s great for our economy… Everyone eats that stuff up politically… But as soon as they experience a speaker review they are cynical…”Dude is shady and sleazy salesmen. Lying to me to make a sale.” Its nonsense. You do you man. Good luck in your venture.
I hope you will review the Cornwalls and compare them to your JTRs. In Germany (or near countrys) there is absoluty no chance to listen to JTR. But i want to, before I will buy a whole set for 12-15k. Otherwise I would go with the Cornwalls
@@Youthman Thank you for your opinion and answering so fast. Maybe I have to take some risks 🙈 but I will wait, cause I heard that they will upgrade their line with new 2025 models ☺️
Recently, a friend in the financial industry exposed me to the bottom line business of being a youtuber and the natural progression of unlocking revenue streams. Magic Beans app made more sense at that point. I 100% believe it works, but I also know that's the youtuber playbook. Sell people on the idea that you've solved a problem that they didn't know existed, in a nutshell. I have a lot of respect for you and your transparency, and while I don't have anything bad to say about people who are less than transparent about this, I have lost respect for people that aren't bad apples but exhibit some of the behavior of bad apples.
What if one were to provide a real solution to a real problem? Or meet the needs of the community by providing something they do not typically have access to (like comparing products)? I'm curious if you feel that would make them a bad apple?
Also to be clear, you and Joe ( since i used MB as an example) don't even remotely exhibit that kind of behavior. That's why I have so much respect for you guys. It's really helping the community in so many ways, and ways unique to who each of you are.
I hate that so many of my favorite RUclips reviewers are now pushing their own products! First it was OG, now Youthman and Pan! Dropping like flies. I just hope Marques Brownlee doesn't create a phone!
One day I would love to design my own Home Theater products. Let’s say I develop and sell my own banana plugs. Does that mean I cannot test AvR’s, subwoofers, projectors and speakers?
@@Youthman I am happy for your success. I just don't think it's right to build a fan base who chose to follow you because of your unbiased reviews, and then flipping the switch to push products that you endorse. To your point, they are products that you have experience with and stand behind, and there is value in that for sure. But can you continue to remain unbiased about competing products? What about products that may be better that you have no experience with? It all boils down to trust. Someone that only does reviews is easy for me to trust. Someone that does reviews and sells products is much more difficult for me to trust. That's just my personal view.
@DavidAg02 I appreciate your point of view. I know reviewers that I don’t trust because they get paid to review products. 🤷♂️ To me, it’s all about operating with integrity. The purpose of me becoming a dealer isn’t to sell a particular product, but to curate products that I truly believe are great products for my audience.
Regarding pushing products that I endorse. I’ve been doing that for 7 years. I just wasn’t the recipient of the sale. I will continue to give my unbiased view and share my personal experience with the products that we test. The ones that rise to the top, I’ll reach out to those brands and request to become a dealer.
Not in the least. I can’t tell you the last video I have seen or watched from GR Research. This video was in response to comments left on my channel regarding me. I just gave you a living room video 😀. More to come.
It depends. I myself could be objective on reviews of any product and be a dealer with certain brands for my company . Keep the two businesses separate. RUclips and X. Just provide more scientific testing and actual split graphs and color graphs depending on what your doing. Then let your audience decide which product they want to buy. I may like Trinnov or Storm Audio but most likely would be a Marantz or Denon dealer for my business. Probably selling more 3k AVRs then 20k+ AVRs.
Okay, but then company A That you depend on suggests, hey test it this way or don't compare it to this. Never do they suggest you lie but it can be a path to manipulation. Maybe you want to review this and support this, but the money is really over there and you can't survive otherwise. Don't tell me you're infallible, we all are.
@SlyNine I don’t depend on any company. Never have and. Never will. Over the past 7 years I have reviewed products, I have received many offers for paid reviews and have turned them all down. I also have had one well known and established brand that wanted me to sign a contract prior to receiving their product. In that contract it stated I could not say anything negative about the product and they were willing to let me keep the $3,000 product after the review. I declined it. If you lose your integrity, you have nothing. Plain and simple.
Hi from Belize, Michael! I agree with you. I think you are by now a person that is well-equipped with knowledge to be able to make yourself marketable to any brand who is simply following the standard business model in marketing/advertising. I could understand the line between your opinions and what the EARS of any buyers of any products you help to sell make them buy from you. The home theater niche industry is clearly dynamic and evolving (especially with new technology).
You have to feed your family. I think you can do this with the utmost integrity. If people don't like it then move on. That's life on the internet really. I wish you the best and I will continue to view your videos and support you.
I enjoy your videos and honest reviews and support your right to feed your family. People should be able to sniff out the fake reviewers that love everything they review. Best of luck with your new venture!
Personally, I think you should reconsider putting yourself in conflicts of interests. It's not able lying outright. It maybe be as simple as not including a comparison on a chart or not addressing a controversy. Even great people fall to temptation. Because we are just human. The best thing we can do is remove temptation, keep our path clear. It's a difficult path. But much easier than letting our pride lead us to a cloudy convoluted path.
Using your logic, you shouldn’t accept a promotion because you might be tempted to use the money for illegal things. You shouldn’t drive on the interstate because you might be tempted to road rage. You certainly should not go to any store as you might be tempted to steal something. If you are married, you shouldn’t ever speak to a woman or you might be tempted to commit adultery. Everything in life provides a temptation. It’s my morals, character, integrity and faith that help me navigate life around temptation.
No. Truth is always going to skew towards objectivity. A good reviewer upholds what they believe is objective truth via their data and personal conviction. When that happens they do not need to fear dissenting opinion nor remove contrarian voices. Readers with experience should be able to get a good sense for the veracity of the reviewers claims. For me feel to review and deal the standout products.
No it does not make them shady. It would make them biased. There is nothing wrong with that because we all have it. As long as they are honest about there bias. It is a very subjective industry with opinions all over for various reasons.
Interesting thought. Of many of my audience are continually asking what they should buy, it makes logical sense for me to buy the products I recommend, rather than telling them to buy it on Amazon, Crutchfield or another online vendor. For the record, I’m not a RUclipsr. RUclips just happens to be the platform of choice to share my experiences online. If RUclips went away today, I would simply share on another platform.
@@Youthman RUclipsrs social media influencer are same thing and it is logical that influencer should capitalize their audience, this isn't 19th century, we have internet, AI so people are smart enough to make their own purchasing decision.
People absolutely are smart enough to make their own purchasing decision. The challenge is most people do not have the opportunity to compare products.
Many of these responses are coming from experience, but I think they miss your point. Are some people shady? Yes, but that doesn’t make you one of them. People need to make their own judgement. I’ve watched your channel and feel 100 percent that your character counts. Others maybe aren’t so trustworthy. In either case, each of us needs to have an open mind before passing judgement. The person questioning your comment about “dumb” got emotional in there response. You were simply stating your opinion. Not about a person, but about an idea. Which you have every right to do. On a side note, what are your general thoughts on in-wall speakers? Is the sound significantly better going with standing speakers.
Klippel verified data from Erin would be good for speakers. Objective data for electronics. Maybe Amir. Reviews turn into features when you are a dealer. Which is not a problem. I would just call it a product feature. Same for RUclipsrs who are paid for videos Most expect reviews to be subjective. Even if it is not intended, people will subconsciously give a more favorable review when some salt is in the game. It’s just human nature.
Every one have been talking to a bias seller more then not. But sitting on here trying to convince otherwise that this dosent change anything is so stupid and dum. Don't think for a moment this will not impact your credibility, And this video confirms this is already a big issue.
Credibility isn’t given, it’s earned. I’ve earned it over the past 7 years and have no intention of losing it. By now you either trust me or you don’t.
@@Youthman Is that you answer on everything? You can loose credibility in 2sec. The problem is not that you now is a dealer it’s your lack of understanding people will see you in a different way and try so hard to making bad excuses for it.
Before I give you my opinion on dealers also being reviewers a word from our channel sponsor Arendal🤣😅. I see you Michael 🤣😅. Your integrity is not for sale. Period. All reviews are just another person's opinion about a product. You have always been transparent about your channel sponsors or whether a product was provided for review. I wish you nothing but the best for Obsessed Home Theater.
This is a psychology conversation on beliefs. What is the definition of shady??? Shady implies out of integrity, doing the wrong thing. But according to who? Carl Jung said there is a difference in believing and knowing. Religion is beliefs, science is knowing. Car dealers reviewing the vehicles they sell, and they may only sell one brand. They are not out of integrity, so they are not shady.
@@Youthman hmm. The thing about morals, ethics, etc is they are all made up values. They are just opinions, not absolutes. USAs values on gun control are shady to most of the world, and some USAans, but not all USAans. I think making statements you have made would best be suited to start with “I” statements. Eg “I believe reviewers who review and sell are in a conflict of interest vs a reviewer who only review products.” See how it’s not a statement of absolute but an “I” opinion. Here’s an I statement. “I believe youtube content makers shouldn’t be able to advertise in their videos as people subscribe to RUclips to turn advertising off.” However RUclips has agreed to let these people continue to advertise. I think it’s ok to review products a reviewer sells if they are transparent, authentic, honest, and within integrity. I care enough about you to reach out and challenge you to raise your game. I like your videos, prefer your product reviews over home theatres but that’s just my opinion. Maybe, just maybe a different approach would be to review the other hifi reviewers. Scary.
Interesting view on morals and ethics. I personally find it flawed. If it's all made up, I'm curious what your thoughts on universal morality? Why is it that across nations, tribes and countries, we all share some of the same moral principles? Even within unreached people groups. Someone's belief on guns is a personal preference and choice, not morals and ethics. I appreciate your critique, even if I do not 100% agree with your opinions (see what I did there?) :) Have a great weekend.
@@Youthman know I respect you, i find you to be a good man, according to me. This is a healthy conversation. Beliefs are flawed as they are beliefs. Every thought we have is made up in our head. Ethics are made up by humans on the planet earth. They are not the ethics made up on another planet. Universal ethics. Hmm. If we assume that there is one planet per star in each galaxy, then there are about 2 trillion planets in the observable universe. Scientists assume there are 60m habitual planets in the universe. If 1m had something similar to ethics, then universal ethics would be an average or absolute agreement of the 1m planets with ethics? Wrong and right only exists between our ears. We agree murder is wrong but some countries execute people, which the human race agrees is wrong but the USA government. Universal laws are things like gravity. Where does compassion and love fit into this conversation? These are feelings of beliefs, and define humanity. I honour teachers like Paul Lowe, Gabor Mate, and Eckhart Tolle.
While I appreciate the vote of confidence, it’s still important to look at other review reviews and do your own homework so that you can make the best assessment for what product is best for you.
I don't see what the big deal is. If you provide a good service and product for your fans and consumers then you make money. People have this idea that anybody who wants to grow or make money are just greedy business men. Folks on the internet over analyze things like this and think there's something sketchy about it.
Youthman, you do you. These are the same people that say (IMHO). I don't know you, him or her. So no one is HONEST! It's just your opinion, your eyes and your ears. Every one is different.
Well Micheal you have to understand and I’m sure you do not everyone lives by your standards. A good percentage of the population will not be upfront, transparent, completely honest. They will try to sell you something just to get some extra money in the pocket, be misleading. Not everyone is like this ofcourse. And I don’t completely think you’re 100% a trustworthy food person, I get the feeling you are but I do not personally know you so it’s hard to be sure 1 way or another. Personally I do think you’re a good person tho. But the point is if someone is a reviewer and affiliated with a product they’re reviewing alot of people will mislead you for there personal gain or simply not be honest for even the most part. Not everyone but I believe very few things are black and white. For someone the is a reviewer and then becomes a dealer that inherently doesn’t make them shady, true. But I think for these people I would take there word with a little bit more grains of salt especially on this place called RUclips or perhaps take there word with a little bit more scrutiny. In conclusion, for everyone do not jump to conclusions take things at face value and realize in this world and especially this field the way one person experiences life it will likely not be the same for you and do your own research trust in yourself and never stop questioning.
I am grateful for your perspective. I encourage you and the rest of my audience to simply watch my life and see over time if I continue to be a man of character, integrity and as trustworthy as I’ve been the past 7 years I’ve been on RUclips. 👍
Shady? No. Conflict of interest/ potential bias? Yes - take all with a grain of salt as long as the reviewer is transparent about the potential conflict by noting hey I also sell this product I have no problem with it
@@Youthman yeah I don’t have a problem with it as long as it’s disclosed what is and what brands are not sold by the dealer when doing comparisons or top lists etc…. Several channels do both in THIS space dream media audio advice etc
I have to say that I trust you more than anyone 100% in fact . I was a salesman for a audio company and I would never sale my customers something that I know they would never like so I would give them information about another company that I know they will find what they need. I’m sure that Michael would not sell you a product that you would not like. I’m also a Minister and I have seen many times where Michael has told you about this product but it doesn’t work for me but it may work for you but it is your choice . Thanks for your honesty and enthusiasm in this thing called home theater keep doing what you’re doing I appreciate you and I will continue to support you as you move forward on your journey.
Lol, this country likes to pat itself on the back for this but we've got a LONG way to go especially with this new bs way of beating around the bush for fear of retaliation. People may interperate what you say differently from ur intentions. Just hope for as much honesty as u can get and give.
Hey Michael, it was good to see you at CEDIA. I always find this type of topic interesting because most don't know I'm a dealer for multiple products. Though I really don't sell much personally because being a dealer is a full time job and commitment and I'm way too busy as it is. There are times when I give suggestions and recommendations on products as to the best fit for a unit because I have reviewed them. I just helped someone decide between a 8100 and a NZ900 because I've reviewed both but the funny thing is I did not once mention I'm a dealer and I can sell them what they're looking for, I just wanted to help them out and make sure they got what they would be happy with. Just going them the pros and cons and how each would apply to their system and use case. What I find interesting about this is I think there are so many bad dealers that are just trying to make the sale, go for the product with the highest margin, etc. it paints all dealers in a bad light. Also many overlook the fact that if the dealer owns it it's because they generally think something is good and believe the product. If the dealer is a good dealer and actually does what they're supposed to do, they should technically be evaluating anything they sell because 1. If it isn't up to the standards they set a good dealer won't sell the product. 2. The dealer should know how something truly works in order to be able to properly assist and integrate said product into a system. All that being said I'm not blind to the optics and the view of it being a conflict, but generally someone that is a reviewer, if they have integrity it shouldn't be a concern for most.
Thank you sir for your great videos over the years. I've really enjoyed them. I would say Mike Stevens really knows his stuff over the years thanks. For home audio you are amazing.
Are you a member of the Arendal Club? Peter from Sweden a member of the Arendal Club🔊🔉🔊 And for as long as you can keep the viewers envy you'r good to go🔈
how rude...objective integrity would easily say there is a potential for conflict of interest. If you don't understand that concept review the friggin Justice Department.
Objective integrity? Hopefully you realize that some of the reviewers get paid to do a reviews. Also, there are reviewers that do not state when a video is sponsored. I've always been up front that I do not allow for paid reviews as that is definitely a conflict of interest. I've also disclosed any time a video is sponsored. That cannot be said of all reviewers. We all have the ability to determine whether a reviewer is a person of character and integrity, or if they are a shill or a sell out.
@@Youthman you skip over the most important concept like wind blowing leaves. Research the appearance of potential conflict of interest…see the Justice Dept of the United States for context
@@Youthman that’s how my 3rd grader responds, oh Sonny miss took you for the US Justice friggin dept. Grow up and respond as an adult and pretend you understand conflict of interest.
Thanks! I said I love your channel , you have done a lot of good reviewing for many years ,I wish you well in whatever you do . I think as a viewer , Im confused about what hat your wearing today , dealer or reviewer . Im not confused when I see a Dream Media video , it clear to me that they are a dealer , lots of dealers are honest , people just need to know
Appreciate the love. I took no offense to your question. I love having healthy conversation around controversial topics. I’m not sure I’ve ever really worn the hat of “reviewer”. I’m first and foremost a passionate Home Theater Enthusiast. I’m not the expert and I certainly do not have all of the answers. I have always shared my personal experiences with products. I’m not concerned with what title I’m give. (reviewer, tester or dealer). My desire is to experience, test and even compare products and share my experiences with my audience so they can make an informed decision on what is best for them, their setup and their budget.
@@YouthmanIf I had to guess , looks like you were just posting videos on youtube about what you love and it turned into something bigger than you ever thought it would , but to a lot of us you were a reviewer . Youll do well with your new channel , to me your in the middle , need to get over to one side . Looking forward to your new stuff
You are correct. I didn’t start my channel looking to build a business. The business was a result of serving the community. That I will always continue to do.
It was implied when I said, "Appreciate the love" but I wanted to express specifically I'm grateful for the $24.99 super thanks. Appreciate the support. :)
Reviews are always subjective...it could be that I buy a product and review it and not like it even if 99% of who ever purchased this item loves it...bias comes with anything you like. It's like food. I love meat you love chicken...both are good for who loves to eat them but for a vegetarian they are both not good.
You should never call someone dumb for having a concern. It's not dumb to question your motives after becoming a dealer. It's a conflict of interest. It doesn't mean you're not being honest but its not dumb to question it. Bottom line is that you're not a SALESMAN for your products. Think about it.
*now a salesman.
I have absolutely no problem with someone having questions, raising concerns and sharing their thoughts on the matter. That is the entire point of this video.
Go back and watch what I said again. I never said he was dumb. What I find dumb is how me becoming a dealer is considered shady, which means dishonest, untrustworthy or unethical.
This is an attack of my character and a statement that is untrue.
@@Youthman Then stop calling people dumb for having those concerns. That's my point. You're now a salesman whether you realize it or not.
As stated above and in the video, I never said he was dumb. I said “It” was dumb (the accusation), not the person that said it.
I’m not concerned what label is placed on me (reviewer, content creator, influencer, RUclipsr or even salesman). What I am concerned about is living a life with integrity and character.
@@Youthman Look, saying "it" was dumb doesn't absolve you. Next time your wife says something dumb, see if saying "it" was dumb and see if that works for you. I don't mean any offense but I think you get my point? People don't know your character like you do and they rightly ask questions that bring your character into question. You're no longer and independent reviewer. I respect a lot of brands but I don't trust their reviews of their own products. In conclusion, you should have handled it better than using the word "dumb ". There were better ways to make your point. No?
I think you are somewhat naive about this Michael but ultimately well meaning. At some point in the future it's inevitable you will have a conflict of interest. If this is financially tied to the actual well being of your family can you honestly say you will put strangers first?
It's all well and good when things are going great, but if it literally means putting food on the table or not then thats a whole different ball game.
This obviously may never happen, but if being truthful and having integrity is important to you, is it not more honest to acknowledge that it could?
Please dont think this is a personal attack on you in any way at all, it's just my opinion and I don't presume to know your thoughts. I still value your channel very much and wish your new venture well. Just something to consider is all.
I don’t take offense at all to your thoughts, and I certainly appreciate your perspective. But I don’t feel I’m naïve at all in my approach. I’ve always said, if you take care of your customers, they will take care of you. It’s a simple philosophy that I have lived by since starting my first business in 2001. I also seek to honor the Lord by serving my customers. Lastly, as a man of faith, I believe the Bible is true. Philippians 4:19.
@@Youthman I also agree with your points but don't think your faith bares any relevance to them, what you say holds true regardless. But that's not my point, I do believe your being honest but naive not to acknowledge there's potentially issues.
My faith is not something I do on Sundays, but rather what guides the decisions of my life, including how I treat people, and how I do business. So it’s absolutely relevant.
There are potential issues with every reviewer on RUclips.
There are potential issues with every business owner on RUclips.
My character, integrity and how I conduct myself doesn’t change because I have become a dealer for the brands and products that I have vetted through my experience with them.
I understand this about you Michael and choose to watch your channel despite having different opinions in some areas, it's very clear you're a good person. I just don't personally think being a good person requires faith in a God, I know you do and that's fine with me .
I meant no disrespect to you, your religion or beliefs , I would hope you would extend the same courtesy to me and mine.
Anyway as you said there are potentially issues with any business, I truly hope you never find yourself in any unavoidable conflicting situation.
All the best for the future.
I absolutely respect your differing views. I’m a Christian but have good friends that are atheist, agnostic, Buddhist, Hindu etc. having the same beliefs is not a requirement for my friends.
Youthman you do you. I've been watching you for a while and know you are a nice person and have gone through a long journey to be where you're at. 👍😎
Thanks Don! It’s been an amazing journey over the past 7 years and I’m truly grateful.
It's generally easy to tell who the shills are, and there are many on YT. The bigger issue that I see regarding YT reviewers is that many of them simply do not have the knowledge/expertise that is required but act as if they do. YT does not need any more self-proclaimed experts and having a YT channel for many years certainly does not make one an expert (nor does being a dealer). Best of luck Michael, keep it genuine and you'll do just fine.
Thank you kindly.
Honestly I have never seen you give a bad review for any product anyway so what does it matter? Correct me if I am wrong but anything that you "review" gets a positive recommendation doesn't it?
Yup you are wrong.
Search for my Paradigm Premiere, the original Sofabaton X1 remote, and especially the Emotiva RMC-1 processor. You’ll also see in every Valencia my critique of how they do the LED (very poor design), and I criticized their new aluminum holder for the accessories in their Monza. Just because you haven’t seen any critique of products on my channel doesn’t mean they are not there.
I was about to say the same everything is exciting and amazing, it's always clickbate about game changer or a life changing product.
First if you are going to refer to something as clickbait, at least learn how to spell it correctly. Clickbait refers to a title and/or thumbnail that does not represent what the video is about. Please show me any examples of clickbait on my channel in the 1,000+ videos. You won’t find them.
@@Youthman this video is clickbait. "Shady Reviewers" is clickbait.
Subscriber for several years and have followed your journey thru Daily HiFi and MWave, was a bit surorised when you announced partnering with Obsessed. I have watched some of his videos (HT and Car) and really didn't see you two as a match. Anyway, if you're dealing, then watchers need to consider you are no different than Audio Advice, Dreammedia, or Crutchfield. Product reviews are products they carry. They vet them, so you can believe they are "valuable", but there's a profit motive there. So "watcher beware "is what I would say. I trust what those entities sell, but I need to consider some they don't sell too. My decision, my process, collect data, do analysis and don't become a fanboy just because you subscribe to someone's channel. I think SHADY is a bit derogatory, but we all have a bias to products we like/buy/sell.
100% agree with you Stephen. We all have to do our homework and make our own decisions. Most consumers do not have the ability to compare products side by side. You likely will not see Crutchfield or Audio Advice do that as they need to appease all of their vendors. We are creating curated products which affords us the ability to do so.
Matt and I have been friends for the past 4 years. We have different personalities but the same core values and faith.
@@Youthman best of luck to you two, will be awaiting the new content.
The line between reviewer and salesman becomes indistinguishable. Profit to survive will always come first.
I’m excited to set a new standard showing that it can be done.
I support your approach, there are many great reviewers doing the same. The key is developing trust, your 7 years of videos speaks to that.
Amen to that ❤
You have earned my trust as a reviewer. You have every right to make money to support your family so if you sell some gear, that doesn't hurt my feelings. As long as there's transparency, which there has ALWAYS been with you then I'm good with whatever you do. -Dave
Thanks Dave. If you lose trust from your audience, you have nothing.
Man's got to put food on the table. You do you brother. Keep up the good work.
Generally, as of late, affiliates and reviewers (whatever) don’t seem to have much skin in the game regarding the products they deal, so they say whatever. I don’t think Youthman has said anything negative about Klipsch. You would think they’re the greatest speaker ever based upon his reviews. They’re fine, but have issues he didn’t or couldn’t mention. I guess it’s cheap for the brand, and easy for the reviewer, but the customer gets mediocre information.
Now you also have reviewers monetizing their review videos, introducing commercials for anything. More shady cash grabs these days and people are becoming harder and harder to trust.
Do your research people.
Youthman investigated himself and found he did nothing wrong
I don’t trust anybody, nothing personal. All reviews, everywhere are suspect, if someone gives you the equipment that being reviewed it certainly would skew anyone’s opinion.
We are buying the equipment. Watch my recent Kaleidescape videos. We purchased one of every product they sell.
I agree. Everyone says they are transparent but never tells the full story. Was the equipment free, heavily discounted, shipped back or payment made?. They know if they give a positive review, the free equipment will keep coming. How many times did you receive free chairs after "honest" positive reviews. Unfortunately, this is the 'paid' advertising policy of many suppliers. I will applaud and trust someone when they are truly 100% transparent. Until then it is difficult to trust the reviewers even if 'paid promotion' pops up for a few seconds. This damages credibility of the reviewer and supplier and is basically an infomercial even if they like the product.
The recent review by 'Den of Tools' on Walabot is true transparency. I wish others would follow his example if they want to have exemplary integrity. ruclips.net/video/WHp3x8vxXko/видео.html
Having said that, I really like the channel and enjoy the videos. Sorry for the rant. I realize many do this, I just wish for more honesty and not partial, true stories.
@@bacobb1 Agreed!
YTM, I just saw this video and would like to respond. I too love HT and have a dedicated HT room and have took a lot of advice from YTM and used in my room. I do IT for a living and told my wife when I retire, I will take some HT courses and volunteer at a HT store doing some installations and design work. Does that make me shady, no. If I like Klipsch speakers and decide to become a Klipsch salesmen or authorized Klipsch dealer, does that make me shady, no. That is just a passion you have for that particular product. YTM keep up the good work and may the Lord continue the blessing he has now bestowed on you and your family.
God Bless
PM
I really like the new business you’re adding and feel it will add tremendous value to us.
Your excitement and passion fuels our interest as well.
In your case, I see no issues with a conflict of interest in providing honest reviews. Your integrity is clearly evident and speaks for itself!
Thank you kindly Ironshifter
Not being a dealer meant you could give an independent non biased review. Being a dealer does not make you shady but it changes the relationship between the people watching the video and you because the viewer now needs to trust you as you are no longer independent with your reviews.
If my audience hasn’t trusted me in the past seven years, they’re not going to trust me now. I believe I’ve earned my trust and will continue to earn it going forward.
Keep in mind, I know reviewers they get paid to write or publish reviews. But the public doesn’t know about that, yet they still trust them. To me all comes down to integrity and character.
@@Youthman Yes you have but have you considered the Risk that you are now applying to that trust. At the moment the trust is because you are not selling products. Trust is easily lost, you just need one person to have a bad experience with a product you have reviewed, recommended and then sold and 7 years of trust is gone. In business we always consider the risk, you may have done this already but you are now in a position where the trust can easily be lost.
Without risk, you can't grow. Without risk, there's no potential reward. Without risk, there's no chance of personal growth. I'm 100% ok with taking risks that are calculated. This is one of them. I don't agree with your assessment regarding loss of trust. Let's say we review a product. It's rock solid, performs well and offers great value to the consumer. One of my subscribers purchases it and it fails. That can (and will happen) with any product, whether it is a TV, AVR, vehicle, drone, time piece or any other product on the market. You lose trust when you realize you made a mistake and do not own up to it and do your best to make it right. Every person on this planet is one bad decision away from losing trust from the people around us.
@@Youthman That is true providing you are dealing with a reasonable person, there are a lot of unreasonable people out there that will enjoy damaging someone's brand. I am not trying to argue with what you are doing; you may have calculated the actual risk but by becoming a dealer it completely changes your brand, and your reputation will change over time because of this, especially with new subscribers.
I am the GM of a company; My directors ensure I have a risk management plan for every change of direction I make, I was just trying to point out that there is risk in what you are doing, now you are selling products your brand is at risk from the decisions you make, your suppliers decisions, even the person that delivers the goods can now impact your brand, they dynamic of what you are doing has changed as you can no longer have no biases, even if you think you can stay natural you won't convince everyone that you can.
I like you content and I like that you are not affiliated with any brand, it makes it easy to trust you, especially with your energy and enthusiasm. I would hate to see you stop being you because something happened to your brand, and you changed because of that experience.
Without risk, you can't grow. Without risk, there's no potential reward. Without risk, there's no chance of personal growth. - I would never get away with the above in business. You can grow without risk, there is potential without risk, and you can have personal growth without risk. You put steps in to negate the risk, and you have a backup plan for each scenario that can go wrong.
But if you are happy to have risk in your business then your statement is true.
My directors make me negate risk, identify what it is and reduce it. You may have done this already; I was just wanting to make sure you have actually sat down and considered all the risk to your brand.
Tom Cruise completely ruined his brand by jumping on a couch and he went from not talking about his personal belief to talking about them. His many followers turned on him overnight.
If you say, or have ever said 'I have no Bias' then you are simply advertising that you have no idea what Bias is......😬
Their concerns don't have any validity that wasn't already there. It's the same temptation that most reviewers face. If their concerns involve you making more money, that's not a legitimate concern. That's called ingenuity, being an entrepreneur, etc... Unless there's something I'm not seeing?
You’re absolutely correct Paul. if your focus is on money, it will dictate the decision you make. But if you’re focus on your audience and the consumer, the money will come. I owned my own business since 2001. My motto has always been. If you take care of your customer, they will take care of you. I’ve done my best to be a man of integrity and character and live out my faith on my channel for the past seven years.
@@Youthman It's the only way to live...🙏.
Every dealer or influencer will recommend what they believe in first there never be 100 percent unbiased reviews. Not everyone will experience product in their own homes same way as any reviewer would or even when we demo equipment is local store, this is how it is in audio business.
One build reputation and it takes time and no one wants to ruin it for business. Shady is kind of strong word in my opinion
I really appreciate your take on this scorpion king and feel the same. I’ve spent seven years building my reputation around honesty, integrity, and transparency. I have no desire to depart from that with Obsessed Home Theater.
, We all have biases. I have a bias for speakers with horns and compression drivers. But that doesn’t mean I do not enjoy speakers that do not have horns or compression drivers.
Anyone who has been around for any amount of time will understand that you are a man of faith and integrity. Why would a business sell/push a faulty product? That's a sure fire way to go broke and lose come shirt, come on guys think this through. Michael I'm excited to see what the future holds, thanks for sharing!
I agree, Seth. that’s why in my videos I share what I like and even don’t like about a product. Because I know if you purchase it and I didn’t tell you the faults that I found, it’s going to make me look bad. Thank you for the continued support, brother. We’re excited as well!
Part of who i buy from is who i trust. I put faith in people to do some of the research for me that i dont have time to deal with. If they break that trust then i find someone / someplace else.
You have earned my trust over the years. I think the transition to monitize your efforts is smart, not only for you, but also for us. Your passion for the hobby is a reason i will keep supporting you.
And just to add, there is so much to do with sound and audio that is psychoacoustics, and a good sales and support experience can make a marginal system sound pretty good because, at some point, it all becomes value for the money. Your value to me would be to help me navigate that spectrum... there is always better.. but whats the value and return for my investment based on my interpretation of quality to value.
I appreciate you sharing your perspective Chris. I agree wholeheartedly.
I don't really agree, Valencia Seating, for eg. " That home theatre dude " who reviewed them and loved them, in his recent video he said " they gave me this to review, they didn't like the amount of review I have done, and to be hoenst, their are other better seats outtheir. " maybe you don't get infulanced but ALOT of other people do sadly.
Valencia provided my seats as well, yet they have continued to remain in my Theater Room. They are still working as great as they did the day that I unboxed them. I don’t know what “they don’t like the amount of review I have done” means.
Out of 1,000 + videos on my channel, I only have made less than 10 Valencia videos. I only make one review per seat that they have provided. I’m very honest about what I like and dislike about the seats.
I shared in almost every video the LED strip needs to be modified so it does not shine on your screen or TV when in a reclined position. I also shared in my Monza review the new aluminum insert for the accessory port is not a good choice.
My guess is there are other things they did not like than simply the amount of videos that he has made.
@@Youthman isn't that kind of proving the naysayers point? You were given free seats in exchange for saying nice things about them?
Love your honesty, your integrity and especially your enthusiasm.
Appreciate it Janno
As a fellow brother in Christ i must say . I love your channel but with all due respect, as a business owner myself, your going down a slippery slope. I love home theater! I worked as an installer and seller back in the days. We would do half a million to a million dollar home theater systems all day. I loved and it’s what got me into it. I could never afford it then or now but I love to see you show things that are out of my reach but to see the joy on your face it reminds me of well me. I really enjoy watching you and to be honest like some say it won’t be the same if you are possibly selling the same stuff you’re reviewing. It’s just not the same anymore. With that said i will still be watching. God bless my fellow Home Theater fan.
Thank you for sharing your perspective. I realize I won't be able to please every. Even if I kept my channel exactly the same and never made any changes, there will be people that I won't please. My desire is to continue to put my audience first and seek to find the best brands and products for them. As long as I can do that, the business will be successful. I've always said, "Take care of your customers, and they will take care of you." Have a blessed week.
A reviewer should always remain impartial. Much the same as a politician should not have financial interests in stocks in which their policies can manipulate.
I appreciate you sharing your perspective. While I agree that we need to remain as impartial as possible, I'm curious how you reconcile reviewers receiving compensation from Google Adsense, affiliate sales and sponsored videos?
I believe it's impossible for any reviewer to be 100% impartial, completely unbias and have zero financial interest. The truth is you can't. We all have our preferences (bias) on what our eyes and ears prefer. If this is your business, you have a financial interest.
Not to mention there are plenty of reviewers within Home Theater niche as well as every other niche that accept payment for reviews (which IMO is HIGHLY unethical and a direct conflict of interest). But those reviewers will never tell their audience they were paid to make the review.
The reality is there are shady reviewers. But I firmly believe I will continue to provide value to my audience through testing of products (regardless of whether or not I'm considered a "reviewer") to discover which products are the best, becoming a dealer for those products, make videos teaching how to setup, use and get the most out of those products, and then purchasing, warehousing, and selling those products to my audience.
The value proposition that we offer is most consumers do not have the ability to test 3, 5 or 7 AVR's before they buy them. We will. The same goes for remotes, speakers and any other Home Theater product.
My reputation, my integrity and most importantly, my faith as a Christian mean more to me than any amount I make on a sale. I have maintained integrity over the past 7 years that I have been on RUclips and will continue to do so going forward.
Would you, as a reviewer, be willing to recommend or show great enthusiasm for a product that competes with another product that you sell as a dealer? I think that is the conflict some are taking issue with. There will be times when the two don’t mix.
Absolutely! We tell every brand that we meet with that just because we choose one of their products this year, doesn’t mean we’re carrying it next year if they’re competing brand comes out with something something better.
Here’s a prime example of how that might look. After testing, we might choose Epson to be the best $5000 and under projector. Maybe the midtier is something from Sony and the upper end is one of JVC’s.
@@Youthman Well that's interesting that you have the potential to change your inventory year after year, depending on the merit of the products. However you may still be in a position to have to choose between the truth in your review or a potential sale in your product for at least part of the time every year. Would you withhold the review until your contract with a manufacturer is finished? Maybe just ignore the competition until later in the year when you can make a switch? That too would be dishonest. Perhaps you can make it work, Youthman, but the concerns over conflict of interest are legit.
@@krupkake1 trust me as an obsessed garage viewer, they will always give you the truth. Matt has 0 loyalty to brands, only good products and merit. Also always willing to be shown something new/better to have the best catalogue possible.
@@krupkake1legit yes but folks already calling his actions shady. That's a problem
Youthman knows like any good reviewer, not all people will like his "biased" choices and therefore not purchase what he has. It's all good in the hood. Absolutely no issue to speak on product that he has vetted and tested and maybe already personally owns. And guess what, there is product out there that has blindsided the best of them, meaning tech issues not seen before constantly coming up. I'm sure Youthman will pivot clients away from those products despite being a dealer. If not, his model will not work.
It might be worth considering decoupling the youthman brand from the obsessed home theater brand and making them separate entities.
They are separate entities. Youthman will remain Youthman. Obsessed Home Theater is another business that I am part owner of. Obsessed Home Theater videos will be posted on my Youthman Channel.
I'm really excited about this new venture. I've been following Matt for many years and have quite an extensive collection of Obsessed Garage Gear. At one point, I even considered reaching out to Matt to suggest that he start Obsessed Home Theater because I felt it was a niche that was missing. I believe we, as consumers, need to remember that the world is a business, and we should use these videos and reviews as guidance when making decisions, rather than blindly following them.
Thank you. We are excited as well!
I've enjoyed your content for many years and I am a little concerned with the change in direction. I used to follow a Bronco aftermarket parts review channel until she did what you are doing and actually did become more of the advertising arm of the company. You are one of the least "shady" people I follow online so I don't see that as being a problem but I am concerned you may morph into a mini Crutchfield. They have knowledgeable people doing rewiews of their products, they are not going to sell "bad" products and I have trusted them for decades. But i generally use their reviews as verbal spec sheets and I hope that you don't go down that path. If you pick up a speaker brand to sell because you love their bookshelf I hope you will still be honest with us if when you review their tower or sub and find it is not as good ( sound or value or whatever) that you are not afraid to say it in the review even if you carry it in your store. Aaron (audio corner) always will comment that people will still use his affiliate links for speakers he has just stated he doesn't like and it kind of makes him laugh. I'm counting on you maintaining the honesty about daily usability, how the product makes you feel when you use it( you are about the best at that). Remember, the grin on your face dosent lie when you actually like something so stay honest with us and you will continue to have great success. Thanks for doing what you do.
Thank you for sharing your concerns. I'm grateful that I am the least shady person you follow. haha
The entire point of Obsessed Home Theater is to compare products to discover the best in various price points and share that with my audience. Obsessed Home Theater will provide even more value to my audience than what I currently can as we will have the capital to purchase products to compare, where currently I'm relying on brands to provide the products to review.
You don't have to worry about us becoming a mini Crutchfield. They sell EVERYTHING! We will only carry the brands AND the specific models that rise to the top. If we are selling one model AVR this year, if next year another brand provides a better product in the same price point, we will sell off our inventory and purchase the new AVR and begin to sell those. We aren't tied to any one brand. We've told each brand that we've met with of that so they know up front. We don't do contracts, we simply sell what we feel is best for my audience.
That's the exact business model Matt with Obsessed Garage has done and his audience is EXTREMELY grateful for it because he's putting in the work to discover what is best for the audience, not what has the highest margins.
I have demonstrated integrity and character over the past 7 years, and I have no plans of changing that.
You'll definitely know what I like by the size of my grin. LOL
Appreciate the continued support!
@@Youthman I assumed what you said above was your intention when I posted my own comment the other day, however now that you've actually clarified what I thought, here's where I think it falls apart.
You sell brand A as it is in your opinion the best, next year brand B is better, so you stop selling Brand A so you can give your customers the best, all fine so far.
Next year low and behold brand A releases an amazing product again, but now they've decided they're no longer going to deal with your business as they don't consider you loyal or whatever other stupid reason they may have. This absolutely happens with independent dealers, and they are handicapped only able to sell whatever product they can actually supply. Sure you might be able to source their products elsewhere, but it's very unlikely your new profit margin will make it financially viable.
Hifi / Av manufacturers can be very petty, it's not at all like the obsessed garage business model.
Manufacturers can have conditions about what they will allow you to sell, say you want to sell their speakers? Well sure but only if you also carry their amplifiers for example.
This is a real thing that happens.
So now product A is objectively best but you only have product B available to sell.
It's not wrong to continue to sell product B but are you going to tell each and every customer that they could buy something better from one of your competitors?
You can't or your business will fail, that's a reality and where a potential conflict of interest arises.
And none of this means you aren't trustworthy.
Based on the 7 years I have been reviewing products, there are a few brands that I know I am interested in. We have had meetings with those brands and each brand is intrigued because this is a new business model, one that isn't being done in the Home Theater space. We shared the entire vision and not a single one are requiring us to carry all of their products, and they each know up front that just because we choose them today, doesn't mean we will choose them next year. Again, zero issues with that because they have other retailers and online stores that sell all of their product lines.
We are doing something that has never been done in the Home Theater space. Will there be challenges along the way? Absolutely. Are we willing to put our best foot forward, believing we are creating something truly unique in the space that is centered around the best interest of the consumer? Absolutely. Will we have skeptics? You betcha.
I don't want to get to the end of my life full of regret that I didn't chase my dreams. My motto is, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained".
Let's see what this looks like in 3-5 years.
@@Youthman it's certainly time manufacturers moved with the times, and if you are part of bringing this about I certainly applaud you for it.
I watched a podcast that you did as a guest on the topic 2 Way speakers versus 3 Way speakers.
I'm doing both. I have a pair of Insignia bookshelf Indoor/Outdoor speakers. I saw these speakers at my Local Best Buy. 2 weeks and bought the set. I fully enjoy these speakers. They are way better than my Vizio 1 way surround speakers. There is nothing like hearing seperate music that sounds so rich from a 2 way speaker set up. Watching NCAA Football I can hear what the game announcer is saying. The background music has more detail that I don't get with my 1 way speakers. I have 6 total but I don't want to give up on my Vizio speakers because they still have a meaningful purpose.
I think my Vizio sound bar now has more channels than just a 5.1.2. It sounds like a seven channel set up.
I now want to replace my 1 way Aiwa satellite speakers. Last week I googled 3 way speakers. I found a set that closely matches my Insignia speakers. I want speakers that will produce slightly better midrange sound from the surround connections.
Both are passive and RCA male connections to bare wire make the connection. I prefer using wire that has the RCA plug assembled so I don't have to buy separate parts I found it on Amazon.
I don’t put much into a person view of a product until I can go and test it myself but I due enjoy watching someone view on a product that I like , I have my go to companies that I enjoy and stick with .
That is 100% valid. The problem is most people do not have the opportunity to test before they buy, which is exactly why we rely on reviews and third-party testing.
The value proposition we will have is we are not brand loyal. We are searching for the best products. Just because one brand product is the best this year doesn’t mean it’s not going to get knocked off by its competitor next year.
@@Youthman how does that work if one lives outside of the USA? Meaning if a person wants to buy though you!!!
That would be a question for Matt as he handles logistics. I know with Obsessed Garage he is currently working on Canadian distribution and then Australian distribution. to start, we will be shipping within the continental US as the business grows, we might be able to offer some international shipping.
I’ve been watching you on and off for years. I enjoy your content, I mostly enjoy your energy and excitement when you see or hear something awesome from other sound enthusiasts
We do not doubt your transparency at all, or the great selection, judgement and support you give the community. This does change the role you play however. Your product selection, representation, and longevity of retaining those products will have financial consequences regarding your channel's opinions. You represent a business now, more than an informing enthusiast. Just embrace it, change is fun and good my man! Can't expect your audience to not adapt or change when you do.
Oh I’m absolutely embracing it and could not be more excited! I just thought this was a fun conversation to have. I’ve never been one to shy away from critique or criticism. Let’s have a healthy conversation. That’s what a healthy community is all about.
As a sidenote, everything we do on RUclips has a financial consequence. Reviewing a product no one has ever heard of will likely generate $25 in ad revenue. Does that mean I should only review mainstream brands? Of course not.
Just curious: do you keep all the products you receive: couches, speakers…?
Over the past 7 years that I have reviewed products, most get shipped back to the manufacturer after the review while others have allowed me to keep due to the high cost of shipping the products back and most brands do not have a means of selling used gear.
I WANT dealers to review their own products and competing products. It offers context of the dealer's perspective and transparency of the dealer's knowledge of such products. Over the years, I've come to appreciate dealers that steer me to a better product for me even if it's a competing product. I'll go back to those type of dealers every time.
Most dealers do not manufacture their own products. One day, I'll have some of my own products, but that will likely be years down the road.
@@Youthman I could have worded that better. By "own products" I was talking about dealers reviewing products they sell not manufacture.
Oh I gotcha.
It's fully possible to run a business, make a good living and have integrity at the same time. In the mortgage business there's plenty of shady characters out there, but instead of joining them because it's easier I'll go the hard way which is take my time to educate and explain and take the contrarian approach and that wins me clients. So in the end I win them over with with trust by doing the opposite as some of my competition.
With that said you'll never make anyone happy no matter what and you can't be all things to all people so just do what you need to do and what you feel is right.
I love this Michael! 100% agree brother!
@@Youthman You guys are going to do great!
Thanks we are excited!
That's ridiculous! There's not a shady bone in your body! I think your business venture with Matt is awesome! You introduced me to Matt in your home theater tour several years ago. I have since became a huge fan of his also. I'm looking forward to Obsessed Home Theater going live and plan on being a customer. Hope you guys do some 2 channel stuff as well. I couldn't think of a better person to go into business with other than Matt! Don't know anything about Rusty but I'm sure he's solid if you guys chose to partner up with him!
Thank you for the kind words. We are very excited. Matt and Rusty are both great guys. I’m excited to be partnering with them with Obsessed Home Theater.
The moment a reviewer makes money in form of products money or other benefits from the company that makes the product they are reviewing that is a shady review dealer or not. It becomes a conflict of interest knowingly or unknowingly it dosent matter if everyone is doing it, its still bad integrity and i would not ever trust it.
So a company hires me to cover their booth at CEDIA. I benefit monetarily. Does that make me shady?
If a brand wants to pay me to run ads about their new product on my channel. Does that make me shady?
If a brand pays for advertising in my newsletter. Does that make me shady?
If I receive a commission in the form of affiliate links. Does that make me shady?
Inquiring minds want to know.
@@Youthmanfor me a review is to compare something against the current market and if someone is paying you to review it thats a conflict of interest, what you are talking about is advdrtisment i dont have a problem with that if its clearly stated, i dont think that should be labeld as a review. I wouldent call you personaly shady, i just think its a shady practice in general.
Sorry, I misunderstood what you were saying. I agree 100%. If a company pays for a review, that is a conflict of interest. I do not allow paid reviews. Never have, never will. But I know there are many who do because every week I receive emails asking, "What is your rate for reviews?"
If I receive a product for free, I disclose that. Some say that is a conflict of interest. I'm of the opinion as long as you disclose it, that's up to the viewer to decide if they trust the reviewer can maintain a level of integrity and as unbiased review as possible.
I have been watching you for awhile. You are honest in your assessments and reviews. I also tend to do my own research as well.
Thank you, Percy. You absolutely should do your research as well.
@@Youthman yes sir. Keep grinding.
Sorry I don't often comment on this channel but feel it is necessary to do so now. With the best intentions in the world your either a salesmen for your products or an impartial reviewer not both.
Companies make money from sales and that is the bottom line nobody is going to trust a salesmen to be honest if there is information that will harm their sales.
Ultimately the reviewers position is to point out both the positive and negative information about the product.and there is a pretty clear conflict of interests there if the reviewer is also trying to sell the products.
You may well believe your only going to bring in products you believe in but that's not how people think It is also not always how it works. You might only want to sell some of a particular manufacturers products but what do you do when they expect you to sell all of their products or none if they are going to work with you. While I believe you personally would choose the none option if it compromised you many do not which is one of the reasons people do not trust salesman.
Having followed your channel for a while you are clearly passionate about home theatre and that maybe enough for people to trust your advice about the products you decide to sell but you shouldn't expect the same level of trust from people who knew you as a reviewer until you demonstrate a level of honesty with your own products over the next few years and even then you will never achieve the same level of trust you enjoyed as a reviewer as that conflict of interests is always going to be in people's minds.
As a Christian myself I understand that you are a man of integrity but unfortunately we live in a world where there are many who take the Lords name in vain and are walking down the wide path instead of the narrow path so people often do not see us as different. I do however wish you every success with your endeavours and will pray for you your family and business
I love and appreciate your approach, especially the last few sentences. I’m 1000% confident I “earn my trust “with my audience with this new adventure. I don’t expect anything from anyone. Since the beginning of my channel, people are free to make their own opinions about me.
The way I live my life is not determined by what other people think of me, rather what God thinks of me which can be found in the Bible.
I am not tied to a title. If the world deems I’m not fit to be a “reviewer” I’m absolutely fine with that. I’m still going to do what I always have done, and that’s share my honest experiences with products that I test in my own home and help educate, encourage, and inspire others to build a cool Home Theater, regardless of their space, limitations or budget.
But I appreciate you are at least willing to wait and see if I will remain true to my faith, my morals and my word.
Have a blessed week.
@@Youthman And that's why you will do well regardless of what you're new job description is. Thanks for the reply.
Some support requires an in home visit. How will this be done?
I’m pretty sure neither Crutchfield nor Audio Advice provides in-home visits for product sales.
@@Youthman Lol you are correct there. The point is SOMEONE is going to make a commission on most Home Theater gear so it might as well be you. This is the beef a lot of us have, companies like JVC artificially raise prices by forcing a middleman on those of us that do not need it. The system is broken and will not last much longer so you might as well get some of those commissions while you still can.
I just ordered tonight from Best Buy Insignia 2 Way I/O door bookshelf speakers for $50.00 plus tax. Best Buy gave me a free $30.00 gift card after making a $250 purchase. So I got these speakers for free since I'm using cash back points on my credit card. It will be nice to get more frontal sound from surround sound channels.
Love the channel and as Andrew Robinson always says the only one that has to like it is you. Hope all goes well.
He's one I've recently stopped watching. When a "reviewer" never gives a bad review you know they're biased.
We are all biased to a certain extent. We like what we like and have our own preferences.
Someone recently mentioned they haven’t seen any negative reviews on my channel. Check out the Emotiva RMC-1, Sofabaton X1, Paradigm Premiere reviews on my channel. I’ve also criticized Valencia’s choice in pointing the LED’s forward on their seats and the aluminum holder for the accessory port on the Monza seats is a bit ridiculous.
Most passionate dealers in most industries source and sell to their customers what they like. Shady reviewers are those that simply read the specs and share their opinion without ever testing in person then get affiliate sales from it. Some of their staging in these reviews look like they do have them but they simply don’t.
That indeed would be shady. I don’t like even giving my opinion of something unless I have personally heard it, and experienced it for myself. And preferably in my own home.
Generally, as of late, affiliates and reviewers (whatever) don’t seem to have much skin in the game regarding the products they deal, so they may omit some information. Intentionally or not? I guess we’ll never know. I don’t think Youthman has said anything negative about Klipsch despite their big issues NOW known. I guess it’s cheap for the brand, and easy for the reviewer, but the customer gets mediocre information.
After buying Klipsch, and selling them, I now now know to rust more objective reviews that have some measurements, unlike a guy like Youthman who bases reviews on his subjective opinion not backed by data.
I appreciate your viewpoint but here are some things to consider.
How much more skin in the game can you get than to purchase products you are willing to get behind, warehouse them, repack them and ship them to customers? It's MUCH easier to provide an affiliate link. No shade whatsoever to those who have affiliate links (I have them myself). But there is absolutely zero skin in the game to do that. None. Having a warehouse, inventory, hiring staff, developing a website is a risk. That's what I would consider having skin in the game.
I've been very clear over the years that I enjoy horns and compression drivers. I have owned over 100 pair of Klipsch speakers. Most I have liked, some not so much. I never liked the Academy. It was never a great solution for a Heritage center channel. I've also been vocal that I have never cared for Klipsch's entry level products that are sold on the end caps at Best Buy. The build quality isn't good, nor do I like how they sound. The Reference Premiere, Heritage and the RF7 series are fantastic. The THX Ultra2 series was never impressive either. Very flat sounding, especially for music.
If Klipsch were the greatest speaker ever made, I'm curious why I sold my RF7's to replace them with the MartinLogan F200's. Maybe...just maybe it was because MartinLogan F200's have much better midrange due to the 3-way design and a dedicated midrange driver.
Likewise, if Klipsch was the end-all-be-all brand, why would I sell my LaScalas, RSW-15's and begin slowly upgrading over a 3 year period to a full JTR system?
@@Youthman You can have LOTS more skin in the game, by designing and testing the product from the ground up while entering an already competitive market and running the business. And I suppose in that case, you want good reviews.
I get it, people's preferences change. It doesn't mean the issues weren't always there. Nobody really knows the future intent for a reviewers product at the time of the review. Some things, like reviews, just don't age well.
You have to admit, there are people out there giving amazing reviews to lousy products. You can buy them, even buy bad reviews for an objectively good product.
Also, having had plenty of Klipsch, Reference, RP and RF, fantastic is hardly a word I would use to honestly describe them, so I don't agree with your review there.
Reviewers are quickly becoming more and more untrustworthy, so I suspect that's why the government is introducing "fake" review legislation, although I don't know how it will reasonably be enforced, or expect it to bring positive change surrounding the issue.
www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/08/federal-trade-commission-announces-final-rule-banning-fake-reviews-testimonials
I guess one question is how, or should reviewers be held to account for me purchasing a product they claimed was good, but I didn't like? Why should you retain a commission for being wrong in my opinion?
What would you think, if as an affiliate, there was a no-risk purchase program? As in if I didn't agree with your review upon receipt, that you, the affiliate, had to accept the product back? As of right now, I don't see much risk to an affiliate for giving glowing reviews on everything, so naturally in most cases, that's what happens.
Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio does a great job of being a reviewer and dealer as it's obvious that he's trying to sell you something, but he also does a good job explaining various aspects of audio and what to look for, so it's valuable nonetheless. Sure, he slams some of the competition like VAC and especially Audio Research, but I believe that he's sincere in his criticism and isn't just doing it for business reasons.
Hey Youthman, I would love something like this in the 🇬🇧
For me it's the next natural thing for you and your associates to do. You've earned this next step and I wish you all the best in its success. Can't wait for it to begin on RUclips 👏🙏♥️
Thank you for the kind words and suppor Jeff.
Nope... sorry dude, I ain't buying it.
As a dealer you have a vested financial interest in selling your product lines.
So tell me now...
If one of your prime lines comes out with an overpriced stinker of a speaker that stands to make you more money than anything else on your floor... are you going to tell us it's a bad product?
If one of your competitors comes out with a near perfect speaker at a price you can't hope to compete with... are you going to tell us?
In both cases ... probably not.
It is basically impossible to maintain even the appearance of objectivity when playing both games at the same time.
My goal isn't to convince you. If you check out Matt's channel, he purchased almost every pressure washer on the market. Most were junk, some were ok, and a few were great. Guess what he sells? The great ones. In fact, he has sold over 20,000 pressure Kranzle pressure washers to his audience. We will be selling curated products. If a product isn't good, we aren't selling it. Period.
We aren't "loyal" to any brand. Let's say we decide the JVC NZ800 is the best projector in that price point. If next year, Sony comes out with a projector that is similar in price and kicks it's butt, we sell off the JVC inventory that we have and begin selling the new Sony. It's really that simple.
Matt has done this successfully for the past 8 years with Obsessed Garage and we will use the same business model for Obsessed Home Theater.
Sounds like you are telling us what you would do if you were a dealer. That isn't what Michael would do.
@@keepingupwiththejones2933
It is an easily recognized conflict of interest. Doesn't matter if you like the guy or not, it could lead to legal problems down the road.
@@Youthman
You do you .... but I see trouble down the road.
I have zero concerns about legal problems down the road.
Look man if you and others like you suggest something I'm gonna go for it . Truth is youthman you have build up a lot of trust over the years and anyone who knows your channel will know better. You have help me put together a great home audio system and I trust your judgement
Thank you for the kind words Ed. I’ve done my best over the past seven years to earn the trust and respect from my audience. Thank you for your support. I really appreciate it.
I think the concern is that if someone is a dealer they are going to avoid saying anything negative or critique the product. Nor will we hear if there are competitors that have a better product. There are no perfect products. It's important for a reviewer to highlight both positives and negatives. If you commit to be real and unbiased, then perhaps there is no issue with it.
That being said, sponsored videos is a whole other concern that probably drives me nuts more than the dealer issue. I don't know how one can be an unbiased reviewer and then take money to say a product is awesome in an informercial type of video. I don't think one can do both types of content in my opinion.
Those are valid concerns, Adam. What we will be able to offer that places like Crutchfield and even Audio Advice can’t is they’re not going to put products head to head because they have to appease to all brands that they carry.
During every meeting we have had, we let the brands know that if we decide to carry one of their products this year, doesn’t mean they’re competitor won’t end up in the spot next year because it out performs their product.
We believe that provides a HUGE value proposition to consumers while motivating brands to continue to innovate.
I have always shared what I like and don’t like about a product. That’s not going to change going forward.
@@Youthman That sounds great. Head to head will be awesome! Let the products speak for themselves!
Yes, sir, that is the plan. We truly want to find amazing products that we are willing to get behind ourselves, purchase those items, stock those items, and ship those items to our customers.
Everyone's "concerns" are all "potential." It's "potential" conflicts of interest, "potential" bias of products, or "potential" dishonesty for financial gain, but how are any of these different from what any reviewer faces? Scale? Besides that, what has changed? When did it become a bad thing to earn more money doing something you love?
For those who think faith has nothing to do with this. I'm sorry to say, but you don't understand Christianity. Faith in Christ isn't a piece of "Life's Pie" we section off like family and career, but that's because Christ is the pie, and everything we do is a reflection of Christ in us. All other concerns become secondary when you live your life that way. If that's something that anyone doesn't understand, I'm sure Michael or myself would be happy to explain.
It's good to express your concerns because that helps people like Michael keep an eye out so they don't become problems. Michael has character and integrity and someone like that will always appreciate accountability, but trying to fault him for something "potential" is actually concerning, just not for the other man.
I appreciate the perspective Paul. You are correct. My faith in Jesus isn’t something I do on Sunday, it’s at the very core of who I am and what guides my decisions. I’m all for my community holding me accountable.
Sir you are trusted person cause o have been watching u for very long. Keep up the good work.
Thank you kindly. I’ve earned your trust over the past eight years and will continue to earn my audience‘s trust over the next eight years.
Let's make it real easy for folks.. ask Youthman what he personally owns, then compare to what he is dealing/selling. Any "discrepancies", then ask why, so you understand the context. Take that information and do your own research, understand its value proposition, and then make your informed decision that fits your personal needs.
I love it! But keep in mind, even if we decide to sell Trinnov, or a JVC NZ900. I may not have either of them in my own setup simply because it's way out of my budget. But there are those that it might be a good fit for.
@@YouthmanYes sir! But more importantly you own a JVC projector as do I. You would love nothing more than to own a Trinnov, as I own one. So your "biased" recommendations of these brands and others are appreciated and understandable. Definitely not "shady" nor unethical. Your personal money is / will be spent on products where your mouth is!
Ohh do you want me to talk to your wife about loosening up the purse strings to get your Trinnov?! lol !! All in the name of growing your biz!! All about the marital spin sir!
🤣🤣🤣 I personally would likely never spend $30,000 on a Trinnov processor as the law of diminishing returns is extremely high.
@@Youthmango with Altitude 16 which as you know gets you 20 channels. Gotta find a way for dealer cost, then no diminishing returns!!
I never click on anyone's affiliate links.
So you are the reason my Amazon sales are down 🤣
I dont think it’s shady. I know what you’re passionate about Michael and I get that. I love your reviews and I know I will always decide on what’s right for me and what I like. Stay the course my friend.
There you go! Thanks Mike
If you can’t be trusted, now one can. Good luck with the new business Michael!🙂
Thank you kindly. I do my best to live with integrity and character.
First of all, any salesman that is not standing up for the product he is selling, is the real shady one here. Many enthusiasts have become salesmen at one point or another, because they are enthusiasts and are willing to help others.The fact that they already started to reach out via youtube and other social media is showing that fact. Yes, you have to consider that they have a commercial interest with their videos after they have become tradesmen, but that is up to you as a watcher of those videos. After all, many info is to get from youtube videos from major shops and manufacturers, who are also present on social media.
I can’t think of any better way to stand up for a product than to purchase them as a dealer. We are willing to have “skin in the game” to help consumers navigate through the buying process for their Home Theater.
Grifters gonna grift...
If I have been dishonest, feel free to elaborate.
@@Youthman Not you, the shill reviewers
Oh 🤣🤣🤣
OMG what a load of semantic salad and political speak .
if you are a dealer and or sell a product ,your review must show a positive bias to the company that makes the product otherwise they would drop you .
On Earth money is the prime motivator regardless of one's ethics , self created or adopted via a well known "faith " .
Any denial of that is a deflection .
you can't say you're immune from bias because the boss of your faith gives you a pass .
that's like saying my bias and worldly motivation is sanctioned by a higher authority that allows one to live a consequence free life .
UN-subscribed !
Take care.
As long as someone discloses the fact they are a dealer for a product there is no ethical issue here. It’s funny, outside of the youtube context if you told someone..”This guy started a small business selling products he tested and believes in.” They would say, thats great. Support American small business. It’s great for our economy… Everyone eats that stuff up politically… But as soon as they experience a speaker review they are cynical…”Dude is shady and sleazy salesmen. Lying to me to make a sale.”
Its nonsense. You do you man. Good luck in your venture.
Thank you for the support. You have a great point and an accurate perspective.
I hope you will review the Cornwalls and compare them to your JTRs. In Germany (or near countrys) there is absoluty no chance to listen to JTR. But i want to, before I will buy a whole set for 12-15k. Otherwise I would go with the Cornwalls
I’ve heard Cornwalls on several ocassions. They sounded nice, but I wouldn’t ever trade them for my JTR’s.
@@Youthman Thank you for your opinion and answering so fast. Maybe I have to take some risks 🙈 but I will wait, cause I heard that they will upgrade their line with new 2025 models ☺️
They are definitely great speakers. Just not on the same level as JTR.
Recently, a friend in the financial industry exposed me to the bottom line business of being a youtuber and the natural progression of unlocking revenue streams. Magic Beans app made more sense at that point. I 100% believe it works, but I also know that's the youtuber playbook. Sell people on the idea that you've solved a problem that they didn't know existed, in a nutshell.
I have a lot of respect for you and your transparency, and while I don't have anything bad to say about people who are less than transparent about this, I have lost respect for people that aren't bad apples but exhibit some of the behavior of bad apples.
What if one were to provide a real solution to a real problem? Or meet the needs of the community by providing something they do not typically have access to (like comparing products)? I'm curious if you feel that would make them a bad apple?
@@Youthman its early, i just read through your reply again, and no, i dont think that makes them bad apples. As long as there is honesty.
Thanks, I was just wanting to better understand what you felt makes a bad apple. Have a great weekend.
Also to be clear, you and Joe ( since i used MB as an example) don't even remotely exhibit that kind of behavior. That's why I have so much respect for you guys. It's really helping the community in so many ways, and ways unique to who each of you are.
Reviewers that are dealers are usually biased towards what they sell!
I’ve never been one that fits the mold of others.
Very interesting video Michael😊
I thought it was a fun conversation, Michael.
@@Youthman it was a eye opener
Anything in particular?
I hate that so many of my favorite RUclips reviewers are now pushing their own products! First it was OG, now Youthman and Pan! Dropping like flies. I just hope Marques Brownlee doesn't create a phone!
Why are you disappointed to see people building successful businesses that serve the community while providing for their family?
One day I would love to design my own Home Theater products. Let’s say I develop and sell my own banana plugs. Does that mean I cannot test AvR’s, subwoofers, projectors and speakers?
@@Youthman I am happy for your success. I just don't think it's right to build a fan base who chose to follow you because of your unbiased reviews, and then flipping the switch to push products that you endorse. To your point, they are products that you have experience with and stand behind, and there is value in that for sure. But can you continue to remain unbiased about competing products? What about products that may be better that you have no experience with? It all boils down to trust. Someone that only does reviews is easy for me to trust. Someone that does reviews and sells products is much more difficult for me to trust. That's just my personal view.
@DavidAg02 I appreciate your point of view. I know reviewers that I don’t trust because they get paid to review products. 🤷♂️ To me, it’s all about operating with integrity. The purpose of me becoming a dealer isn’t to sell a particular product, but to curate products that I truly believe are great products for my audience.
Regarding pushing products that I endorse. I’ve been doing that for 7 years. I just wasn’t the recipient of the sale. I will continue to give my unbiased view and share my personal experience with the products that we test. The ones that rise to the top, I’ll reach out to those brands and request to become a dealer.
Is this video in response the GR Research video from yesterday? How about more living room theaters 😊
Not in the least. I can’t tell you the last video I have seen or watched from GR Research. This video was in response to comments left on my channel regarding me.
I just gave you a living room video 😀. More to come.
Love your videos and can’t wait to keep seeing success for you.
Thank you Michael! Appreciate your support.
It depends. I myself could be objective on reviews of any product and be a dealer with certain brands for my company . Keep the two businesses separate. RUclips and X.
Just provide more scientific testing and actual split graphs and color graphs depending on what your doing. Then let your audience decide which product they want to buy.
I may like Trinnov or Storm Audio but most likely would be a Marantz or Denon dealer for my business. Probably selling more 3k AVRs then 20k+ AVRs.
We likely will not be selling Trinnov 😀
Okay, but then company A That you depend on suggests, hey test it this way or don't compare it to this.
Never do they suggest you lie but it can be a path to manipulation.
Maybe you want to review this and support this, but the money is really over there and you can't survive otherwise.
Don't tell me you're infallible, we all are.
@SlyNine I don’t depend on any company. Never have and. Never will. Over the past 7 years I have reviewed products, I have received many offers for paid reviews and have turned them all down.
I also have had one well known and established brand that wanted me to sign a contract prior to receiving their product. In that contract it stated I could not say anything negative about the product and they were willing to let me keep the $3,000 product after the review. I declined it.
If you lose your integrity, you have nothing. Plain and simple.
Hi from Belize, Michael! I agree with you. I think you are by now a person that is well-equipped with knowledge to be able to make yourself marketable to any brand who is simply following the standard business model in marketing/advertising. I could understand the line between your opinions and what the EARS of any buyers of any products you help to sell make them buy from you. The home theater niche industry is clearly dynamic and evolving (especially with new technology).
You have to feed your family. I think you can do this with the utmost integrity. If people don't like it then move on. That's life on the internet really. I wish you the best and I will continue to view your videos and support you.
I appreciate the support Dan. I too believe I can do it with integrity.
I like the new glasses!
Thanks for noticing. 👍
Had to decide: HT or 2 channel 😮
Most gear reviewed doesn't apply
I enjoy your videos and honest reviews and support your right to feed your family. People should be able to sniff out the fake reviewers that love everything they review. Best of luck with your new venture!
Personally, I think you should reconsider putting yourself in conflicts of interests. It's not able lying outright. It maybe be as simple as not including a comparison on a chart or not addressing a controversy. Even great people fall to temptation. Because we are just human.
The best thing we can do is remove temptation, keep our path clear. It's a difficult path. But much easier than letting our pride lead us to a cloudy convoluted path.
Using your logic, you shouldn’t accept a promotion because you might be tempted to use the money for illegal things.
You shouldn’t drive on the interstate because you might be tempted to road rage.
You certainly should not go to any store as you might be tempted to steal something.
If you are married, you shouldn’t ever speak to a woman or you might be tempted to commit adultery.
Everything in life provides a temptation. It’s my morals, character, integrity and faith that help me navigate life around temptation.
No. Truth is always going to skew towards objectivity. A good reviewer upholds what they believe is objective truth via their data and personal conviction. When that happens they do not need to fear dissenting opinion nor remove contrarian voices. Readers with experience should be able to get a good sense for the veracity of the reviewers claims. For me feel to review and deal the standout products.
No it does not make them shady. It would make them biased. There is nothing wrong with that because we all have it. As long as they are honest about there bias. It is a very subjective industry with opinions all over for various reasons.
100%, we all have our own personal bias. I have shared mine are for compression drivers and horns (when done right).
RUclipsrs love to capitalize their audience, I see nothing wrong with it
Interesting thought. Of many of my audience are continually asking what they should buy, it makes logical sense for me to buy the products I recommend, rather than telling them to buy it on Amazon, Crutchfield or another online vendor.
For the record, I’m not a RUclipsr. RUclips just happens to be the platform of choice to share my experiences online. If RUclips went away today, I would simply share on another platform.
@@Youthman RUclipsrs social media influencer are same thing and it is logical that influencer should capitalize their audience, this isn't 19th century, we have internet, AI so people are smart enough to make their own purchasing decision.
People absolutely are smart enough to make their own purchasing decision. The challenge is most people do not have the opportunity to compare products.
Many of these responses are coming from experience, but I think they miss your point. Are some people shady? Yes, but that doesn’t make you one of them. People need to make their own judgement. I’ve watched your channel and feel 100 percent that your character counts. Others maybe aren’t so trustworthy. In either case, each of us needs to have an open mind before passing judgement. The person questioning your comment about “dumb” got emotional in there response. You were simply stating your opinion. Not about a person, but about an idea. Which you have every right to do.
On a side note, what are your general thoughts on in-wall speakers? Is the sound significantly better going with standing speakers.
It is annoying when I am trying to find information on something, and come to find out it's a really long ad. Such a waste of time.
It's all good 👍
Klippel verified data from Erin would be good for speakers.
Objective data for electronics. Maybe Amir.
Reviews turn into features when you are a dealer. Which is not a problem. I would just call it a product feature.
Same for RUclipsrs who are paid for videos
Most expect reviews to be subjective. Even if it is not intended, people will subconsciously give a more favorable review when some salt is in the game. It’s just human nature.
Every one have been talking to a bias seller more then not. But sitting on here trying to convince otherwise that this dosent change anything is so stupid and dum.
Don't think for a moment this will not impact your credibility,
And this video confirms this is already a big issue.
Credibility isn’t given, it’s earned. I’ve earned it over the past 7 years and have no intention of losing it. By now you either trust me or you don’t.
You ended a sentence with the words "stupid" and "dum", and misspelled 'dumb". Just saying.
Doesn’t was misspelled as well. Does that reduce his credibility. 🤷♂️
@@GreatOutdoors1 Dum is dumb in Swedish, the new combined keyboard for IOS 18 is not 100%.
@@Youthman Is that you answer on everything? You can loose credibility in 2sec. The problem is not that you now is a dealer it’s your lack of understanding people will see you in a different way and try so hard to making bad excuses for it.
Michael, I believe you whole heartedly. Thank you for your continued transparency and your content.
You Got My Support
Thank you kindly!
Before I give you my opinion on dealers also being reviewers a word from our channel sponsor Arendal🤣😅. I see you Michael 🤣😅. Your integrity is not for sale. Period. All reviews are just another person's opinion about a product. You have always been transparent about your channel sponsors or whether a product was provided for review. I wish you nothing but the best for Obsessed Home Theater.
🤣🤣🤣 Absolutely. You will never have to question what videos or content is sponsored. I’m 100% transparent with that.
This is a psychology conversation on beliefs. What is the definition of shady???
Shady implies out of integrity, doing the wrong thing. But according to who?
Carl Jung said there is a difference in believing and knowing. Religion is beliefs, science is knowing.
Car dealers reviewing the vehicles they sell, and they may only sell one brand. They are not out of integrity, so they are not shady.
To add, religion is not wrong or shady, our beliefs are what define is important to one persons values vs another. Is Pink Floyd the best band ever?
By shady, I understood them to mean misleading and unethical. There is a universal moral code so we all know what those adjectives mean.
@@Youthman hmm. The thing about morals, ethics, etc is they are all made up values. They are just opinions, not absolutes. USAs values on gun control are shady to most of the world, and some USAans, but not all USAans.
I think making statements you have made would best be suited to start with “I” statements. Eg “I believe reviewers who review and sell are in a conflict of interest vs a reviewer who only review products.”
See how it’s not a statement of absolute but an “I” opinion.
Here’s an I statement. “I believe youtube content makers shouldn’t be able to advertise in their videos as people subscribe to RUclips to turn advertising off.” However RUclips has agreed to let these people continue to advertise.
I think it’s ok to review products a reviewer sells if they are transparent, authentic, honest, and within integrity.
I care enough about you to reach out and challenge you to raise your game. I like your videos, prefer your product reviews over home theatres but that’s just my opinion.
Maybe, just maybe a different approach would be to review the other hifi reviewers. Scary.
Interesting view on morals and ethics. I personally find it flawed. If it's all made up, I'm curious what your thoughts on universal morality? Why is it that across nations, tribes and countries, we all share some of the same moral principles? Even within unreached people groups.
Someone's belief on guns is a personal preference and choice, not morals and ethics.
I appreciate your critique, even if I do not 100% agree with your opinions (see what I did there?) :)
Have a great weekend.
@@Youthman know I respect you, i find you to be a good man, according to me. This is a healthy conversation.
Beliefs are flawed as they are beliefs. Every thought we have is made up in our head. Ethics are made up by humans on the planet earth. They are not the ethics made up on another planet.
Universal ethics. Hmm. If we assume that there is one planet per star in each galaxy, then there are about 2 trillion planets in the observable universe. Scientists assume there are 60m habitual planets in the universe. If 1m had something similar to ethics, then universal ethics would be an average or absolute agreement of the 1m planets with ethics? Wrong and right only exists between our ears. We agree murder is wrong but some countries execute people, which the human race agrees is wrong but the USA government. Universal laws are things like gravity. Where does compassion and love fit into this conversation? These are feelings of beliefs, and define humanity. I honour teachers like Paul Lowe, Gabor Mate, and Eckhart Tolle.
Youthman approved?! Then it's for me. Well, if I had the $$ and the need. 😁
While I appreciate the vote of confidence, it’s still important to look at other review reviews and do your own homework so that you can make the best assessment for what product is best for you.
I don't see what the big deal is. If you provide a good service and product for your fans and consumers then you make money. People have this idea that anybody who wants to grow or make money are just greedy business men. Folks on the internet over analyze things like this and think there's something sketchy about it.
I hear ya Jeff. I just thought it was a fun conversation to have.
Youthman, you do you. These are the same people that say (IMHO). I don't know you, him or her. So no one is HONEST! It's just your opinion, your eyes and your ears. Every one is different.
I only know how to be myself. 👍
Well Micheal you have to understand and I’m sure you do not everyone lives by your standards. A good percentage of the population will not be upfront, transparent, completely honest. They will try to sell you something just to get some extra money in the pocket, be misleading. Not everyone is like this ofcourse. And I don’t completely think you’re 100% a trustworthy food person, I get the feeling you are but I do not personally know you so it’s hard to be sure 1 way or another. Personally I do think you’re a good person tho. But the point is if someone is a reviewer and affiliated with a product they’re reviewing alot of people will mislead you for there personal gain or simply not be honest for even the most part. Not everyone but I believe very few things are black and white. For someone the is a reviewer and then becomes a dealer that inherently doesn’t make them shady, true. But I think for these people I would take there word with a little bit more grains of salt especially on this place called RUclips or perhaps take there word with a little bit more scrutiny. In conclusion, for everyone do not jump to conclusions take things at face value and realize in this world and especially this field the way one person experiences life it will likely not be the same for you and do your own research trust in yourself and never stop questioning.
I am grateful for your perspective. I encourage you and the rest of my audience to simply watch my life and see over time if I continue to be a man of character, integrity and as trustworthy as I’ve been the past 7 years I’ve been on RUclips. 👍
@ grateful for you presence on RUclips you def make it a better place
@daveycrockett5738 thank you for the kind words. Just doing my part to make a positive difference
Shady? No. Conflict of interest/ potential bias? Yes - take all with a grain of salt as long as the reviewer is transparent about the potential conflict by noting hey I also sell this product I have no problem with it
If we chose to sell a product, I’ll be more than happy to share that with my audience. Thats the goal, to compare and find the best products.
@@Youthman yeah I don’t have a problem with it as long as it’s disclosed what is and what brands are not sold by the dealer when doing comparisons or top lists etc…. Several channels do both in THIS space dream media audio advice etc
I have to say that I trust you more than anyone 100% in fact . I was a salesman for a audio company and I would never sale my customers something that I know they would never like so I would give them information about another company that I know they will find what they need. I’m sure that Michael would not sell you a product that you would not like. I’m also a Minister and I have seen many times where Michael has told you about this product but it doesn’t work for me but it may work for you but it is your choice . Thanks for your honesty and enthusiasm in this thing called home theater keep doing what you’re doing I appreciate you and I will continue to support you as you move forward on your journey.
U just need to be smart enough to recognize bias. It's not that difficult usually.
We all are bias. Every one of us. Being willing to recognize and share that bias makes you authentic.
Lol, this country likes to pat itself on the back for this but we've got a LONG way to go especially with this new bs way of beating around the bush for fear of retaliation. People may interperate what you say differently from ur intentions. Just hope for as much honesty as u can get and give.
Hey Michael, it was good to see you at CEDIA. I always find this type of topic interesting because most don't know I'm a dealer for multiple products.
Though I really don't sell much personally because being a dealer is a full time job and commitment and I'm way too busy as it is. There are times when I give suggestions and recommendations on products as to the best fit for a unit because I have reviewed them. I just helped someone decide between a 8100 and a NZ900 because I've reviewed both but the funny thing is I did not once mention I'm a dealer and I can sell them what they're looking for, I just wanted to help them out and make sure they got what they would be happy with. Just going them the pros and cons and how each would apply to their system and use case.
What I find interesting about this is I think there are so many bad dealers that are just trying to make the sale, go for the product with the highest margin, etc. it paints all dealers in a bad light. Also many overlook the fact that if the dealer owns it it's because they generally think something is good and believe the product. If the dealer is a good dealer and actually does what they're supposed to do, they should technically be evaluating anything they sell because 1. If it isn't up to the standards they set a good dealer won't sell the product. 2. The dealer should know how something truly works in order to be able to properly assist and integrate said product into a system.
All that being said I'm not blind to the optics and the view of it being a conflict, but generally someone that is a reviewer, if they have integrity it shouldn't be a concern for most.
It was a pleasure meeting you as well, Sammy. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts as well. I love it.
Thank you sir for your great videos over the years. I've really enjoyed them.
I would say Mike Stevens really knows his stuff over the years thanks.
For home audio you are amazing.
Thanks for the kind words and for the continuous support Steve
Are you a member of the Arendal Club? Peter from Sweden a member of the Arendal Club🔊🔉🔊 And for as long as you can keep the viewers envy you'r good to go🔈
how rude...objective integrity would easily say there is a potential for conflict of interest. If you don't understand that concept review the friggin Justice Department.
Objective integrity? Hopefully you realize that some of the reviewers get paid to do a reviews. Also, there are reviewers that do not state when a video is sponsored. I've always been up front that I do not allow for paid reviews as that is definitely a conflict of interest. I've also disclosed any time a video is sponsored. That cannot be said of all reviewers.
We all have the ability to determine whether a reviewer is a person of character and integrity, or if they are a shill or a sell out.
@@Youthman you skip over the most important concept like wind blowing leaves. Research the appearance of potential conflict of interest…see the Justice Dept of the United States for context
I’m not the Dept of Justice.
@@Youthman that’s how my 3rd grader responds, oh Sonny miss took you for the US Justice friggin dept. Grow up and respond as an adult and pretend you understand conflict of interest.
I understand conflict of interest. Happy now?
vlogger techenthusiasm is another going this same route too.
Yes. The biggest difference is we will be mostly be purchasing and selling from our own inventory. Very few items will be drop shipped
Thanks! I said I love your channel , you have done a lot of good reviewing for many years ,I wish you well in whatever you do . I think as a viewer , Im confused about what hat your wearing today , dealer or reviewer . Im not confused when I see a Dream Media video , it clear to me that they are a dealer , lots of dealers are honest , people just need to know
Appreciate the love. I took no offense to your question. I love having healthy conversation around controversial topics. I’m not sure I’ve ever really worn the hat of “reviewer”. I’m first and foremost a passionate Home Theater Enthusiast. I’m not the expert and I certainly do not have all of the answers.
I have always shared my personal experiences with products. I’m not concerned with what title I’m give. (reviewer, tester or dealer).
My desire is to experience, test and even compare products and share my experiences with my audience so they can make an informed decision on what is best for them, their setup and their budget.
@@YouthmanIf I had to guess , looks like you were just posting videos on youtube about what you love and it turned into something bigger than you ever thought it would , but to a lot of us you were a reviewer . Youll do well with your new channel , to me your in the middle , need to get over to one side . Looking forward to your new stuff
You are correct. I didn’t start my channel looking to build a business. The business was a result of serving the community. That I will always continue to do.
It was implied when I said, "Appreciate the love" but I wanted to express specifically I'm grateful for the $24.99 super thanks. Appreciate the support. :)
Reviews are always subjective...it could be that I buy a product and review it and not like it even if 99% of who ever purchased this item loves it...bias comes with anything you like. It's like food. I love meat you love chicken...both are good for who loves to eat them but for a vegetarian they are both not good.