Silent Sound,
Indeed it is decades to go, to be at par with customer service and related, but the way our economy is booming, maybe within a decade, we could be at par with the international services.
In reference to the latest models or all the models, not being around, is quite a issue, that is why I say, one should do their best to get the things from abroad, but that is viable only if you want to spend big monies for a very good system with the accessories, as then only the traveling will be viable.
I have seen 2/3 demo room?s in Mumbai which are quite good, but than what you say is right, there are hardly any demo room?s.
Indeed the international manufacturers themselves are not fully aware of the problems, suggestions, etc, because the dealers keep them in dark and related, like in one of the case I pointed out to the denmark manufacturer that his screen is being offered by a dealer at 1,75,000/-, while someone else is selling for 1,45,000/-, so it is the responsibility of someone, that such a price difference should not occur.
About the demo room I will like to tell you something interesting, I saw a demo room which was very good, I wanted to make my theatre exactly like that, so I told the dealer that I will buy the equipments from you only, if you connect me to the interior guy, who made your demo room, first he said no, than I told him I will not give you the business, than he agreed, with a lot of phone calls, still the dealer did not bring the interior guy, finally he bought him, he took the measurements of the room and related, during the course of the talks, I realized that he has not made the demo room of the dealer, so I cross questioned both of them a few things, and to my horror, he was not the same interior guy who had made the demo room, so you can imagine what kind of a dealer he was, and at the end of the day I am pleased to tell you that the way my mini theatre has shaped up, it is around 75% better than the demo room of the dealer.
About the users forum, it is a great idea, but with this site hifi, our job is being done to quite a extent, I feel that this site should charge all of us, we are benefiting in such a big way.
Vinay.