Stuff at Best Buy worth to buy? (1 Viewer)

[ToddPhipps]

Auditioning anything at Best Buy is a crap shoot IME...if they could figure out how to connect speakers in phase it would be a miracle...ditto for Circuit City. Both BB and CC in my area are pathetic places to shop for audio...nothing is properly set up and some units are non-functional period. Very poor merchandising. The kid I saw at CC in the audio department had a sattelite receiver playing death-metal through (gag)Bose(puke) 301's. Now there's fine audio for ya...

The Best Buy I used to visit in MI had their whole speaker distribution system wired with one channel out of phase...it was beyond pathetic.

TP

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

The "if it's crap they wouldn't sell it" theory isn't one I usually subscribe to, especially w/ audio gear. I bet Best Buy sells alot of Bose and alot of Sony DE receivers, both of which are far from great and very poor values (Bose being the worst offender).

 

[Drew_W]

That my friend is why they have a return policy. You simply buy all the stuff, take it home, and audition there. If they give you a hard time, you inquire how you're supposed to properly audition speakers in their warehouse full of ambient noise and poor setups. Of course, they won't understand, but that's ok. They can't refuse the return either unless you majorly messed up some of the stuff you're trying to return.

The kicker for me is how all the local Best Buys here have all their speakers wired with wire that's the gauge equivalent of CAT5...whatever that is...26? CAT5 is 8 strand, this is 2 strand, of basically the same kind of wire. Now after listening to the speakers on this, and deciding that they're for you why would you give into buying $100+ of speaker wire if they were connected to 5 cents/mile garbage? Surely if you like the speakers already, then thinking that $100 worth of wire is going to make them better means that well...you're not so sure those speakers are for you if you're going to drop a bill to make them sound better sound unheard...

*sigh*

I give up with Best Buy. Just take it home and do what you want with it. Hanging around the HT section at my local store gets me more laughs than the local comedy club.

 

[Drew_W]

If you're asking why...I'll tell you.

Would you open a retail chain and not carry Sony? If they offered you a chance to be a dealer, would you turn them down? You'd have to be an idiot not to take them on. There are ooodles of people out there who still think Sony is the best there is, has been, and ever will be. That's why it's there.

Similarly with Bose, they're there to capitalize on their marketing. I've told the story of the layman's Bose/Harman Kardon dream system (context: Future Shop, which is owned by Best Buy Canada, carries both Bose and Harman/Kardon, which are the highest priced speakers, and receiver in the store). For someone who doesn't know the alternatives, they give into the marketing hype and drop 5 grand on a system like that *thinking* it's the best they can do. And if you ask even the *SALESPEOPLE* at a store like that to name five speaker companies who sell speakers that cost more than $1000/pair that they do not sell at Best Buy, almost none of them could do it. We can't expect that of the customers either. The markup on Bose is somewhere near 60%. You sell one overhyped Bose Lifestyle system, the company makes close to $3000. How is that *NOT* something you'd want to carry in your store?

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

It makes perfect sense from the standpoint of a retailer to carry Bose and Sony. It doesn't, however, jive with your "if it's crap they wouldn't sell it" theory. Ya can't have it both ways.

 

[Drew_W]

In the eyes of the average consumer, Bose and Sony are not crap...

(How unfortunate...at least in the case of the former).