Auditioning speakers in Toronto...expand my horizons please! (1 Viewer)

[Drew_W]

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=104249

Here's a similar thread. I really didn't mean this to turn into this, but hey, I love hearing all the stories so bring them on.

To continue the Brack story though, my friend was there looking for a new power amp for his Magnepan 2.7QRs. About 5 minutes later after he tells the sales **MANAGER** this, a Monster Power thing caught his eye, and he was looking at it...sales manager says "I hope you're not going to plug the Magnepans into that...it'll kill the soundstaging"...my friend was all confused and when he asked why, this is what the SALES MANAGER said: "They're active aren't they?"

UGH. We had a good laugh about it in the car later, but such absolute ignorance just pisses me off.

 

[Kevin. W]

Drew get out of the GTA and checkout EHR in Hamilton. They run an excellent program with TransCanada Credit where you get 6mths no charge/no interest/no payments upto 14mths for 7%. If it wasn't for this program I wouldn't be able to afford what I have. They also offer extended warranties on their equipment that if never used becomes a store credit at the end of the term(no more than 10% value of purchase). Don't think anyplace else offers this? Not to mention their always willing to deal. I've been able to get min 15% to 25% off everything I've purchased from them since day one. Prices are pretty much in line with surrounding dealers as well as in the GTA. Here's a pic of my setup.



Kevin

 

[Drew_W]

If I want Paradigm.

They have this 2 day speaker sale coming up next weekend...wonder what they're going to be letting go for cheap. I'll have to go look.

I am familiar with their website, although I'll admit I've never been.

 

[Owen Bartley]

Drew, who has the Paradigm sale coming up? I'm waiting to pick up a pair of Monitor 7s, and if they were on for a decent price I'd be interested. And thanks for the link to the old thread, there is a ton of info in there...

Now the only question is who wants to transcribe it? (hoping Lee steps up, otherwise it will be a weekend project for me... :wink: ) I'd like to do an HTML version and I'll pop it up on my site for future reference.

 

[Lee Carbray]

Sorry guys I had a busy weekend.

Owen you can email it too me, that's fine. I will send you a PM with my address.

I will see what I can do about the info in the other thread. An HTML version would be great.

 

[brentl]

"this is the first time I've felt like I've been kicked out of an audio store because they're closing"

Maybe because the salesman has a life outside of work!

While I understand your need to audition speakers/electronic don't leave it until 5:30 on Saturday and expect people to stay late.

Brent

 

[Drew_W]

It was 10 minutes to closing...

And really, if you're selling high end electronics, are you going to kick people out of the store right at closing time? I mean really. Even Best Buy doesn't do that.

 

[Drew_W]

I came in jeans, t-shirt and a backpack to Brack Downtown inquiring about a Rotel amp. They let me take one home for a trial, I brought it back the next day, and negotiated an 18% discount for my own Rotel amp.

So please, put away those comments...they don't help anyone, and are ABSOLUTELY FALSE.

The staff at the downtown store are very easy going and were great to chat with even before I bought something. The new Classé Statement (I think) pieces were in, and obviously far out of my price league, but Ian told me "Dude, you've gotta see this this is the coolest thing ever".

I like to chat with salespeople (obvously when there's noone around so I don't keep them), and the Brack guys are more than happy to chat it up. On the other hand, there's Bay Bloor Radio...not going there. Although for the sake of the list that's being compiled, I will say this. They are the most pompous and rude (total asses) salespeople I've ever dealt with...or tried to. Too bad they're the only Energy dealer in the city...I guess they (Energy) aren't getting my business anymore.

 

[Shiu]

I hope you are not giving up on Energy. There are dealers outside of Toronto. After listening to the Mirage OM7, Polk LSI15, B&W, Paradigm S2, Studio 100, KEFQ7, I went back to the Veritas dealer. I got 3 quotes, Bay Bloor was by far the highest.

 

[Drew_W]

Where did you go, and how much did you pay for what you got, if you don't mind my asking. Please PM if you don't want to post.

 

[Owen Bartley]

Lee, if you have time to do a few of them, that would be great, I'll switch it over to an HTML version and post it on my site, and I'll go through and add what I can based on the other posts.

Drew , sorry if I missed it, but is it Brack having the Paradigm sale (and when is it)?

Thanks!

 

[Shiu]

Its the V2.3i. Without doing A/B comparison, I can't say the Veritas is the best among those I auditioned. I thought the Studio 60 was the best deal, but I have problem with the way it looks. Check your PM.

 

[Drew_W]

Brack? No, I was talking about EHR.

 

[Shiu]

Drew, from you other posts, I thought you had the veritas already. If not, I don't think you can go wrong with the 2.2i. Subjectively, they seem to sound better (to me anyway) than the 2.3i except for the bass.

 

[Drew_W]

I have 2.1s now. Looking to upgrade (mainly colour, I detest the cherry finish of my 2.1s) and add a centre channel.

 

[Lee Carbray]

I have was able to transcibe some of the info from the other thread. On my lunch today I will be adding the work Owen has done and updating the link.

Cheers

 

[Lee Carbray]

Well it went faster then I thought. I changed the link so if you have it bookmarked make sure you update it. Here is is again anyway.

http://home.cogeco.ca/~lcarbray/GTA%...ers%20List.xls

I will probably do some more updates this afternoon if I am not too busy.

 

[Owen Bartley]

Thanks Drew, I gave them a call this afternoon.

And thanks Lee, by the weekend I'll have a rough page set up to dump all the info into.

 

[Kevin T]

gershman acoustics is located in north york and they are a fantastic audiophile speaker company. for $2K you could pick up a pair of their X-1 ($1700) monitors. i'm fairly sure these will spank most offerings from b&w, totem, paradigm, and the like. i'm not exactly sure how close north york is to toronto, but give ofra a call at 905-669-5994. good luck.

kevin t

oops...i over looked the fact that you wanted a center as well. perhaps if you can stretch your budget, you can add a single x-1 for center duties as well. their center, the cc-x is $1300.

 

[Cameron Wright]

good ole fairvire HiFi in burlington. I keep going back there. Great staff. Larry and paul and very friendly and help me out a lot. ya should check them out... there website kinda sucks but.. o well