Local Circuit City store has Sony *CD* changer in SACD kiosk! (1 Viewer)

[KeithH]

Now I've seen it all. Here is what happens when Sony, in its infinite wisdom, discontinues the SCD-CE775 SACD/CD changer and doesn't replace it. My local Circuit City must have sold the 'CE775 on demo at the SACD kiosk because it has been replaced by the $100 Sony CDP-CE275 carousel CD changer! This is not an SACD player! They had it playing a CD. Gee, there was no sound coming from the center speaker, surrounds, or subwoofer. What an effective demo of SACD! Way to go Sony! :rolleyes

 

[Dave Dahl]

You know, I think that it says more about Circuit City than Sony.

Either they don't know that the SACD demo is not functioning or they just don't care. Either way it doesn't inspire consumer confidence in their business.

-Dave

 

[KeithH]

Dave, no question about it. The vast majority of people at Circuit City are clueless. However, I feel as though Sony is not taking a proactive role in marketing SACD through the mass merchants. Circuit City is a business, and as such, wants to move merchandise. There is little reason for Circuit City to hold onto a demo unit of a discontinued model. Why should Circuit City continue to demo a player that has been discontinued? It would have been nice if Sony had immediately replaced the 'CE775 with a new model. Still, Circuit City isn't helping matters by neglecting its stock of SACDs. Perhaps Sony is partially to blame for that as well. The bottom line is that Circuit City's SACD set-up is a mess.

 

[John Geelan]

yeah, I was in a local LI BestBuy the other day and the Sony Kiosk with SACD looks abandoned.
There are no players for sale anymore and they only have a few SACD's in stock. The whole thing is stuck in the back of the store like an afterthought.
I wonder if Sony will make another reasonably priced SACD changer at this point. They certainly have not replaced the 775 yet.
The funny thing is BestBuy has plenty of DVDA's! New releases and catalog items. Hundreds of Music DVDs and plenty of DVDA's compared to SACD. No problem finding the DVDA's since their in the DVD dept. where most of the people in the store hang out. There's always a crowd around the DVD's.
I've never seen another person other than myself in the SACD section of any BestBuy I've been in. Same with CC, the SACD area sits all alone with nobody even giving it a glance.
Now they remove the SACD players and replace them with a CD player? Sheesh!
Doesn't look good for SACD if you judge it by Mass Merchantdisers.
SACD's may be popular on HT/Audio websites but the general public has no idea.

 

[KeithH]

John said:

I've never seen another person other than myself in the SACD section of any BestBuy I've been in. Same with CC, the SACD area sits all alone with nobody even giving it a glance.

Same here. It's really sad. I am especially disappointed with Circuit City. Even before seeing the Sony CD changer at one kiosk, Circuit City had clearly given up on SACD in my opinion. They haven't gotten in a new SACD since around March. Plus, they are a bit more expensive than Best Buy on SACDs. It's ironic. For awhile, Best Buy was getting no new SACD titles and Circuit City was. Now it's the opposite. The problem with Best Buy is that they never restock SACDs. They get a couple copies of a new titles in, but once they are gone, they are gone (I'm not counting the Stones discs).

 

[Jack Kelsey]

It's starting to become rather safe to assume that NEITHER DVD-Audio NOR SACD is really going anywheres.

 

[KeithH]

Jack said:

It's starting to become rather safe to assume that NEITHER DVD-Audio NOR SACD is really going anywheres.

With the masses, I have to agree. With audiophiles and many music enthusiasts who frequent this site and other audio sites, I have to disagree. Of course, without mass acceptance, one has to wonder what sort of staying power either format will attain.

 

[ChrisAG]

It looks like Laserdisc all over again - a niche market for those that appreciate quality. High resolution audio may limp along for years (or even forever) on the strength of those relatively few-but-dedicated collectors, but having two formats to choose from is definitely NOT good for the long term prospects of either.

 

[John Geelan]

True, only hard-core audiophiles will continue to buy both formats as I am doing right now.

I'm so bad that if say Pink Floyd's DSOTM came out today in SACD and DVDA, I'd buy both.
But you know most of the public wouldn't even care or be able to since you need a dedicated sacd/dvda player to play these things.

Sacd may survive if they at least make all new recordings hybrids. It would have been nice to have James Taylor's latest October Road on a hybrid sacd for instance. Then we could listen to it as a cd/ stereo sacd/ or multi-channel sacd. Audio nirvana! You could play it in the car, the discman and at Home.

If Sacd doesn't go hybrid soon, then DVDA may survive since most Americans will soon own a DVD player at the least and you can play DVDA's on any DVD player. People who become impressed with Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound may check out how The Eagles sound in 5.1. I know this is how I felt when it was announced the Fleetwood Mac "Rumors" was being issued on DVDA.
I bought the disc before I had purchased a dedicated DVDA player. I was able to listen to "Rumors" on my old regular DVD player.

 

[Jack Kelsey]

With the masses, I have to agree. With audiophiles and many music enthusiasts who frequent this site and other audio sites, I have to disagree.

Of course, without mass acceptance, one has to wonder what sort of staying power either format will attain.

Actually that's exactly my point - although I wouldn't say it would have to have been MASS acceptance. The studios and manufacturers have left the whole thing to a totally cult audience.

And that cult has to take joy in trying to make any sense of all the bass management problems, etc. Add to that all the other weird formatting - 'bad' mixing - 'bad' choice of surround effects and editing - pricing - dribbling out of old revised recordings - bad support for retailers - you name it.

And they've been messing around for about 3 years! Time to call it a day I would suppose.

 

[Aaron H]

I noticed the same thing in Best Buy, John. I looked EVERYWHERE for the SACD kiosk, and finally had to ask. They had it way back in the rear of the store by the stereo equipment. Really hard to find. They also have the DVD-A's back in one small corner of the DVD section. I still can't quite decide if that makes sense or not. I'm thinking no.
I was pleasantly surprised at their prices, however. All SACD's were $16.99. CC sells them for $19.99 and you can find some internet sites that sell for $17.99. I ended up picking up Stevie Ray Vaughn Texas Flood and one of Satriani's pieces (that I had to go look in the regular CD section for - thanks for the tip whoever I got that from).
Although I'm still not quite sure I can hear the difference with SACD, the silver box is nice.
Aaron

 

[Lin Park]

This is really bad for SACD and would really hurt it if there was a DVD-A section sitting right next to it. Even if there wasn't a DVD-A player in the display, you might still be listening to a DD or DTS track that at least uses all the channels. That must mean that DVD-A is better than SACD, right? Just kiddin' (and please no flames on that one).
Someday they'll get it right, but it probably won't be in our lifetimes.
Lin

 

[KeithH]

Jack said:

This is really bad for SACD and would really hurt it if there was a DVD-A section sitting right next to it.

There was. Just 10 feet away, there was a DVD-Audio kiosk. It had a silver Panasonic 'CP72 DVD-Audio changer connected to a silver Panasonic receiver. A disc was playing at the DVD-Audio kiosk, but I didn't listen closely. I just looked through the selection of DVD-Audio discs, which was scant. The price was good, though, at $14.99 each.

 

[Piers C]

Am I the only one who feels that you should just buy the high rez format you prefer? Its a shame there hasn't been better pentration, marketing, etc. But don't waste time on what display arrangements CC or BB have up in their stores.

While I don't have a TT currently, I have a great deal of respect for all of those who decided to keep seeking out LPs during the whole digital wave of CDs. That was the format they wanted and continued to purchase. Even if it was a real pain to find sometimes!

To me the same holds true for those of us who enjoy/appreciate DVD-A and/or SACD. If you like a format - support it by buying it or telling your friends & family. Don't worry about the general public adopting it right away or maybe ever. Just get on with enjoying listening to the music!

 

[KeithH]

Piers asked:

Am I the only one who feels that you should just buy the high rez format you prefer?

No. I feel the same way. However, my frustration with how the backers of SACD and DVD-Audio have marketed, or not marketed, the formats is compounded by the way Best Buy and Circuit City, have handled them. I actually have more issues with Circuit City since they have abandoned their inventory of SACDs. The bright side is that Circuit City stores are finally carrying DVD-Audio discs.

 

[Piers C]

Keith,

In an ideal world, the music industry & chains like CC & BB would have figured out to market and sell the new formats. But I think its wasted time & energy to even to hope that these guys can get it together, as someone said above, in "our lifetime."

Maybe we can have more realistic expectations? Like Universal figures out people want hybrid, etc. Or CC expands DVD-A selections after people buy in-store or on-line the "Harvest" release...

But you may have to settle (for a while) that these formats are primarily found through direct purchase from exclusive channels. There seem to be a number of these around now, especially online.

Has anyone considered a "Share the Love" program for upcoming releases? There appear to be a small amount of releases, and most of us recommend or listen to the same albums. Is this practical and is there any interest?

 

[KeithH]

Piers, I understand the situation that exists. I just hate reality sometimes. :frowning:

 

[Piers C]

That's when you have to listen to music!

 

[John Geelan]

And the music is good

 

[IraSWeiss]

I heard that the new Rolling Stones SACD was marketed as a hybrid disk and put with normal CD stock - at Walmart! That's an example of what needs to be done.

This is really simple:

Start making all players combined DVD-V/CD/SACD/DVD-A players as Pioneer has done with their 47AI and 45A. Marantz, Yamaha, Onkyo and others are also starting to produce these "univeral" players. (I REALLY want to see these univeral audio features combined with a DVD/HD recorder!)

Start making all new releases combi disks, either SACD/CD or DVD-V/DVD-A so they will play on any CD or DVD player and start putting them in normal bins rather than separating them out; and pricing them at normal CD or DVD prices.

Maybe with these steps the formats will catch on!