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MSRP!? I hope not! (1 Viewer)

Chu Gai

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I am suggesting that dealers, after having closed the deal on your major purchace, will then suggest some accessories to complement your system. The profits on these accessories are substantial. So yes, not only am I suggesting that they will, they do.
If the above is your example of a good dealer then we two have quite different definitions of good. Good for him for sure though.

Not for free stuff but for certain considerations as thanks for his craftily written reviews. Harley has never been out for the common man and his Listener's Manifesto, written in the early 90's I think was a joke. I will see if my local library carries his latest book though. Yes, he reviews equipment and it's sold through dealers.

My purpose for responding was to urge the poster to aggressively seek the best deal he can get. When the salesman disappears in the manager's office that's their version of good guy bad guy. Maybe they're establishing the lowest limit. Maybe the manager's telling him if he goes below $X then his commission gets reduced. Maybe they're discussing the A-Rod trade. It's all part of the game. The better the consumer is informed about how the game is played, then he can play it too. After all, odds are against you if you hit on 19.
 

Tim Beebe

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Tim
I just want to say thank you to everyone for all the information. I'll definately update the thread when I get a price and stuff. I have a couple of weeks to feel things out (there are only two dealers in the area, so my choices are limited).

I have a stupid question though. When you say "cash in hand," do you literally mean that? Or would plastic be ok?

Edit: As cool it would be to hold $2000 or so in my hand... :D
 

Shane Martin

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CASH in hand literally. Plastic means they will have to pay a certain amount to the CC company(3% or more depending). Cash is much easier to hide for a business.
 

Tim Beebe

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Got it. I guess I can wait a couple of weeks extra to get the biggest discount possible. :) I've waited this long so I can wait a little longer.

Edit: Should I call them to see if they'll give a price over the phone? No harm no foul, right? They won't know it's me when I actually come into the store...
 

Chu Gai

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I'd expect a bit more off for real money. Make sure you're comfortable with the return policy if you don't like them. Now don't be using none of that funny money like this!
 

Chester II

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Chu Gai dude,

I'll offer you 20% off the current value of that bank note (20% of nothing is about....nothing...rounded comes to.......nothing). Now you should know I'm calling all the dudes in the Tri-State area with old Iraqi dinars so I need your best offer.....FAST. Hope we can do business...


Dude,

Chester
 

Lee Distad

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This is way off topic, but the discussion reminded me of this.

For heaven's sake, if you're going to buy online, read the webpage. We had a young man in the store a few months back, who went on and on about how he could get the Energy C5's for an incredible price.

Some weeks later he was in, and shamefacedly told us that the reason it was such a great deal was because he had bought, paid for, and been shipped one single C5, rather than the pair that he expected. He paid 15% than retail for a single unit...

I still snicker when I think about that.
 

Tim Beebe

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Ouch. That's sucky. We'll the deal I'm looking at on the webpage is for the whole set of speakers, and it specifically lists what is in the set, so I think I'm ok. It doesn't list any wires and obviously it doesn't come with the receiver. I've been researching all the HT stuff for a little over a month now, so I'm pretty well versed with how the online stores set up their stuff.

I do thank you for your concern, though. :)
 

Tim Beebe

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Ok. How about this? There are two places in my area where I can buy the HT system. I believe I can get the exact system at both places. Just for a point of reference, here's what I'm aiming for...

I want a pair of Image 4Ts, Image 2Bs, the Image 8C, Subsonic 5i, and the Yamaha HTR-5590.

I'm going slightly offtrack on this, but I'm still not sure if I should get that subwoofer considering I live in an upstairs apartment and I think I'd have to put it on the floor. I'd like opinions on this as well, if possible...

Anyway... the total MSRP of the above is $2500.

Now, I'm going to wait to purchase this with cash, so I'll get whatever extra discount on that. As another point of reference, I can get an almost identical system at DMC Electronics. It's Blemish Stock, but that's fine with me.

It would be Image 4Ts, Image 1Bs, Image 8c, and a Subsonic 6i for $1239 ($1471.00 after shipping and no tax).

For a local dealer to be competitive with that, the system would have to run about $2170 or so plus tax. That's 1471 + 698 (Yamaha + tax) for a receiver.

So, as long as my math (read: my calculator) is right, I'll need to get a 20% discount minimum to get a comparable price ($2144). I've read up enough and researched enough that I know I'm looking on spending about another $150-$200 on banana plugs, speaker wire, audio cables, etc. These things will probably be purchased from Best Buy, unless he gives me a really good deal and they're high quality. Right now, I'm planning on buying Monster brand stuff.

I guess my low bid to the store will be a discount of 33% off, so the total price would come to just under $1800 after tax.

But I'll most likely be paying maybe a little over $2000 after tax.

Does this sound about right?

Also, should I play one store against the other? The whole "looking around" and "price quoting" angle?
 

Chu Gai

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Subs and apartments or for that matter any kind of a sound system and apartments are always a tricky business. Me, I'd go for the sub and just be careful with your calibrations and try and be reasonable. Might be a good time to get to meet your downstairs neighbor and get some feedback.

The Yamaha is about $470 shipped from etronics (I didn't check any other places...I was just curious) so that's 41% off (msrp $799). Might be better deals around...others might chime in here.
I'm a little confused on your speakers...one pair 4T's, one pair 2B's, single 8C, one SubSonic 5i gives me an msrp of 1248. How're you figuring your prices? Also have you contacted DCM for a package price or are you just figuring things from the website?

Me, and this is just me, dealing locally, I'd leave the receiver out of the mix for my negotiations...at least at the beginning. Receivers and speakers are discounted differently.
 

Michael__M

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I think you should just call DMC and order up. You could have been enjoying your system already. I ordered the blems and I haven't found the blem they are talking about yet. 5Ts and 9C are in my room as we speak. I'm gonna order the 10s today. Haggling with the locals will only piss them off and waste your time. They probably will not be able to match the DMC prices. Save yourself some trouble.
 

Shane Martin

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Etronics is not an authorized dealer. Be very aware of where you buy your gear and if you were to say purchase it from Etronics then you would lose the warranty.
 

Tim Beebe

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I was getting my MSRP prices off of the PSB official site. Was that the wrong thing to do?

The DMC price I got off their site. It's the PSB Concert Theater System (so yeah, it's a package price). For reference:

https://dmc-electronics.com/Default.htm
It's almost all the way at the bottom.

I refuse to buy any products without warranty, so don't worry about that. :)
 

Drew_W

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I recently bought a Rotel 1075 amp. I could have had this for about $1200CND used final value, after taxes, shipping, duty, whatever (in black, I couldn't find any used silver ones when I was looking). I bought it authorized and new for $1449CND taxes in, in silver like I wanted.

In my situation, the advantages of buying authorized:

FIRST AND FOREMOST, you get a WARRANTY. For Rotel, it's 5 years. Huge plus.

Not far behind, secondly, you get the option of an in-home trial. This will vary from dealer to dealer, but mine loaned me the store demo overnight so I could run it in my setup and more importantly, in my ROOM (which would be especially important in your case with speakers), and let me throw whatever I wanted at it without any sales pressure. In my case, it took me all of 10 seconds to become sold on the amp. If you don't "click" like that with a piece of equipment, then you should consider why it is you're purchasing it (or thinking about it)...

Other advantages over buying used are, obviously, that you get a new product, and in my case, in the colour you want (which may not always be the case with used items). And that you know exactly what you're getting. I don't direct this personally to the sellers of the used Rotel amps I was looking at, but unless you know the person, you can never be 100% sure.

On price negotiations. When I initially went in to do an in-store audition, I started low. I came in there looking for the 1075, but explained that maybe the RMB-1066 was a good solution, or just an RB-1070 for the fronts or something. Naturally, he talked me up to the 1075. We auditioned for a bit, then he took me to the computer where he showed me a price. It was honestly a bit of a stretch, but one I might have been willing to accomodate. And the price he showed me was very reasonable. So I went home to think about it. I came back a few days later, picked up the piece for an in-home trial. The in-home trial went very well, and I'll post a review on this amp in a few days once I've "adjusted" to it in my system. When I indicated the next day that I wanted to buy it, the sales rep offered me a 10% discount. The price he showed me on the computer a few days before when I first came in was about 17% off. So he lowered the price back down to what the computer said. And I was happy, but I had to leave a deposit since the amp had to be ordered (on my debit card, much to the sales rep's delight). I picked it up a week later. When I went to pay for the balance, I offered the sales rep a choice. I'd either charge it to my credit card (M/C and Visa charge a 2% transaction fee, Amez charges 4%), or I'd pay by debit card if he further discounted the amp for me. Guess which route he took. On high dollar purchases especially, the added discount that you can get, just for paying CASH (or an equivalent) can go far beyond what you would have got in points on your credit card.

I didn't add that when I got sent home with a $1499 amp for my in-home audition, I also got sent home with $1350 in cables. Yeah umm...I've discussed this at greater length in a different thread, but as fun as it was to play with expensive cables, they didn't make a shread of difference in my system. But that's where the margin is for them. To use the all famous Monster Cable as an example, there is a reason (and a way) they can afford to offer their dealer a 60% off discount. That's where they make their money, and where the sales people make their commissions.

Caveat emptor, as always. Good luck!
 

Shane Martin

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Sep 26, 1999
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6,017
I don't think so. That's about 30% off roughly.

The blems you have to deal with and I doubt a local dealer will match it because you are dealing with a non identical product(blems vs non blems).

IMHO you are likely not going to get the 1800 price and to go any lower may outright insult them.

Give it a go but It's unlikely they will go for it. They will probably counter with 20% off + tax which is about $2100+ tax if you deal in MSRP. If you buy the yamaha online you are likely NOT to get a warranty with your product. The dealer will definitely say this too or should if he is worth a hoot.

DMC's prices are pretty good for the blems. You could probably try to negotiate the reciever seperately if you wanted to go with the Yamaha and buy it locally. It will probably be best if you go that approach. You can try the other but again I will stress that they are not likely to even mess with that given the blems.
 

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