h/k 130-$699 can. should i get something else? (1 Viewer)

[WendyS]

The worst example of HK ripoff in Canada has got to be the AVR 7200.
2999 at Future Shop. It did eventually go down to 2599.....so 2989 including taxes.
I could have ordered it from the US......duty, taxes, exchange included........1500 CND. :frowning:

 

[HienD]

I also agree H/K is way over priced in Canada.

Onkyo is also bad when it come to conversion.

501- $299us, $599cnd

601- $499, 899cnd.

List goes on and on. WTF? when did the exchange become 2.0?

Pioneer and yamaha seemed to be price right. My Friend got a pioneer 912k for $450 and loves it.

 

[WendyS]

I had aleady included exchange in the 1500.00 CND price for the HK 7200......comparing apples to apples......so it is truly a 100% increase.
I don't understand why it seems to be only this way with HK....just because I happen to like them?? LOL
The Yamaha 2400 is 999 US......so with taxes, duty exchange it would be around 1500 CND to order it from the US.......which is exactly what it would be here including taxes. I don't get it??

I just bought the HK AVR 630. The list price here was 1799...so 2069 with tax. Luckily I found it for 1450...1670 or so with tax. But I could have ordered it from etronics for just over 1200 CND....which included exchange, taxes, duty, and 80.00US shipping!
It's freekin robbery!!

 

[Howard_You]

[rant]Presumably it all has to do with how the Canadian H/K distribution network is set up. I'm guessing there is probably only a single distributor who can keep the dealer prices high. Couple this with a relatively small marketplace compared to the US which cuts down on competiton and keeps the prices near MSRP. There's some room for negotiation with individual dealers but the best you can do will still be higher than the US. A Canadian dealer knows if you're coming to them rather than odering from the US that you are willing to pay more for the Canadian warranty and for whatever reason(granted it may be perfectly valid) you absolutely must own an H/K receiver, not a greate bargaining position.[/rant]

I was leaning towards purchasing an AVR325 last year, but eventually decided not to pay the overpriced Canadian amount and not to order from the US either and went with a NAD T742 for C$650 locally instead. These go for US$450 or so in the States so the price is a lot more in line. Plus, it sounds significantly better than the H/K IMHO. On the feature side though, it's very weak in comparison.

 

[Drew_W]

Yeah, for the same price you can get a Pioneer Elite 53TX, Arcam AVR200, Denon 3805, Marantz SR7400 (even the 7300 OSE at that price I think...), the Rotel RSX-1056 (might be just a little more).

And for $3000, the same price as an H/K 7200 here, you can get Rotel separates. From a good dealer and with some clever negotiating, you should be able to get an RMB-1075 and the new RSP-1068. Now as good as the H/K is, the Rotel blows it out of the water.

The point here is that at the marked up prices H/K is available at in Canada, at the price of any of their models there is always a better choice. But they've got the marketing down right for those consumers who only shop at mainstream stores (Best Buy, Future Shop, etc). Because there are no other higher end brands available at these stores, and they know not the higher end dealers, they think of H/K as something of a holy grail of receivers. It's good, but not *that* good.

 

[Dennis Tester]

I picked up the yamaha rxv 2400 for $ 1000 Canadian ..IT'S all who you know ...

 

[WendyS]

The ONLY reason I shop at the big stores is because of their laid-back return policies. Since they will price match with any Canadian retailer, not getting the best price (Canadian price that is) isn't an issue.
I live in a city of 100K and there is 1 HK dealer and 0 Yamaha dealers. In fact as far as audio shops go that can give any sort of competitive pricing.....there's only 1.
Just wondering if the Yamaha 2400 for 1000 included tax? If I could find one at that price I'd go for it for sure!!!

 

[Dennis Tester]

Sorry wendy plus tax $1150 but thats a great price .... If you are interested and if you can drive to Toronto , I can help you out with it .

 

[Jimi C]

Why not just drive to Buffalo and hit a Circuit City? should only be a 2 hour drive.

 

[JohnnyG]

Yup...I figure I help them sell lots of H/K.

 

[WendyS]

I think you do John!!!
Then again the Cambridge FS guy hadn't ever heard of it before.

I found your website (before I saw you on here) through a sympatico search I think.......burried deep in the many pages that came up.
If I lived closer I would have just come to your store.
What are your thoughts on the DVD 31 player? I need a new one and it seems to be the only HK that is capable of playing all the formats. It seems a bit pricey but I want my components to match. It seems awefully light though....about half the weight of the CD player....but then again, my Pioneer weighs nothing.....I could balance it on 1 finger I swear!

 

[Drew_W]

The H/K doesn't do all formats. It won't do SACD. :frowning:

And even here in Toronto, if you asked a Future Shop employee to even name 5 higher end audio gear brands than those they carry, 90% of them would fail that simple test. And they're supposed to HELP people make INFORMED decisions? Bah.

 

[Steve Adams]

for that price you can get a NAD. that would blow the H/K out of the water...and last for more than 6 months too!

 

[WendyS]

Well that bites!
Why would they do that?
According to Vanns.com.......The DVD31 plays the DVD-Audio format in addition to DVD-Video, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, VCD, SVCD, CD, CD-R/RW, and even MP3 and Windows Media.
Why not just throw them all in there?

 

[WendyS]

5. No thread farting. If you see a thread that talks favorably about a particular subject, don't ruin it with negative comments.

Pretty soon Steve is going to need a spanking!!

 

[Drew_W]

Universal players in your price range (or the same as the H/K)

Pioneer 563A runs about $229
Pioneer Elite 45A (more or less the same machine, better DACs, lower crossover) $699 retail
Denon DVD-2200 runs around $999 retail (I think).

Yamaha has a universal, but that one's well over a grand, as is Onkyo's offering. Marantz's DV6400 does all format as well, but I don't have a price on it.

In any case, see if you'll actually get use out of those features. Are there actually SACD titles that make the SACD feature worthwhile. I've got the player, but don't find myself using its features as much as I thought due to limited title availability. Oh well. At least the 45A makes for a good red book CD player.

 

[Steve Adams]

It's not negative comments....it's the truth!

 

[JohnnyG]

It hasn't shipped yet, so no real opinions to offer at this point.

Toshiba will have a 'universal' player in May - the SD4960.

 

[MuneebM]

H/K and Denon are extremely over-priced in Canada! I got the Yamaha RX-V2400 for $1120 CDN, so $699 for an H/K AVR130 is much too expensive, $1200 for an H/K AVR430 is also much too expensive, and $2200 for a Denon 3803 (price quoted to me by Dumoulin in Montreal) is waaay too expensive.

To get anything equivalent to the Yamaha RX-V2400, I'd need the H/K AVR630 to be $1120 OR the Denon 3805 to be $1120, and those prices are beyond impossible for those 2 products in Canada.

 

[Drew_W]

You're kidding right? The 3803 is $1700 at Bay Bloor. BAY BLOOR EVEN!

I'm curious as to where/how you got the HSU to Canada and how much it cost you. I need a new sub, this 8" Athena is well...tiny.