Magnolia

mystik610

Stopped by the Best Buy by my office the other day...they're just now finishing up their remodel, but the magnolia store is up and running. They had a set-up with some big martin logan speakers (not sure which ones) running off McIntosh gear, and I was enticed to check it out. Talked to one of the ladies working in the Magnolia store, and she brought me into a very legit listening room (properly sound treated and everything) where they had an array of Sonus Faber speakers, a set of B&W Diamonds, and another McIntosh set-up to demo off of. No matrixed switches either...she was disconnecting and connecting speakers as we switched.

The lady I worked with seemed to know her stuff too. Not anywhere up to par with a local dealer who lives and breathes audio, but definitely a step above your typical Best Buy employee.

Not sure how I feel about this, but the experience at the Magnolia store in my area feels very close to a legitimate a/v dealer.

badchad

I always find the Best Buy employees to be hit or miss on their knowledge. You can indeed, find people that know their stuff.

I haven't seen the remodeled setups yet, however, I just can't bring myself to consider Best Buys prices in the internet era. It's hard for me to imagine how they stay in business.

chumlie

Must be a special Best Buy. Never thought McIntosh or Sonus Faber would make it in there. Nice.

rdb2001

You visited a Magnolia Design Center and it is much different from your typical best buy or best buy magnolia. They carry higher end stuff and their staff is very knowledgable. I ordered my speakers and subs from the one in Richfield, MN. They were a pleasure to work with. Magnolia was one of the biggest AV dealers on the west coast and was bought out by bestbuy. Now bestbuy is opening up those Design Centers Across the country. They are a true high end dealer. I had the chance to visit one in Atlanta, and was able to hear the 802 diamonds, and the Cremona M towers from Sonus Faber. If I ever have the opportunity to have a seperate 2 channel system, those speakers would be it.

zingo

Magnolia can be a great store, but like Best Buy, depends on the sales person. We have two standalone Magnolia stores locally, and they do have very nice equipment.

PSOVLSK

Very different from my experience the other day. I went in looking for a Slingbox or something similar. When I told the guy what I was looking for, I thought he was going to send me to the Billy Bob Thornton movie section to find what I was looking for. He had absolutley no clue what I was talking about...and he was working the TV section of the store.

unclebiskabobka

I went into the one over on Bay Area Boulevard in Webster the other day, and it was amazing! They've done so much work to it! I love the new selection of Bowers and Wilkins. And the McIntosh/Martin Logan setup they had at the entrance to the Magnolia section sounded amazing, I stood there for a while.

polkfarmboy

I think you would have heard the ML Theos, they are monster ML speakers but the demo I got was with a Marantz 8003 pm lol

mystik610

rdb2001 wrote: »

You visited a Magnolia Design Center and it is much different from your typical best buy or best buy magnolia. They carry higher end stuff and their staff is very knowledgable. I ordered my speakers and subs from the one in Richfield, MN. They were a pleasure to work with. Magnolia was one of the biggest AV dealers on the west coast and was bought out by bestbuy. Now bestbuy is opening up those Design Centers Across the country. They are a true high end dealer. I had the chance to visit one in Atlanta, and was able to hear the 802 diamonds, and the Cremona M towers from Sonus Faber. If I ever have the opportunity to have a seperate 2 channel system, those speakers would be it.

You're right, its very different from the typical Magnolia store, including the recently remodeled one near my house. This particular store resides in the up-scale area of Houston.

The lady working with me made a point to differentiate herself and the Magnolia section from the rest of Best Buy, and she was clearly trained specifically about the products they carry. I guess this is the true implementation of the "store within a store" concept that they were talking about during their earnings call earlier this year. She mentioned that there were only able to carry Sonus Faber and McIntosh by making themselves distinct from Best Buy, which is typically the case of most "esoteric" brand speaker brands that deal exclusively with local Audio dealers, and don't sell online or though big box retailers. I would not mind if Best Buy started carrying some of the brands/lines that you often have to jump through hoops to find (ie Paradigm, Focal, Totem, Polk LSiM's etc etc).

rdb2001

mystik610 wrote: »

You're right, its very different from the typical Magnolia store, including the recently remodeled one near my house. This particular store resides in the up-scale area of Houston.

The lady working with me made a point to differentiate herself and the Magnolia section from the rest of Best Buy, and she was clearly trained specifically about the products they carry. I guess this is the true implementation of the "store within a store" concept that they were talking about during their earnings call earlier this year. She mentioned that there were only able to carry Sonus Faber and McIntosh by making themselves distinct from Best Buy, which is typically the case of most "esoteric" brand speaker brands that deal exclusively with local Audio dealers, and don't sell online or though big box retailers. I would not mind if Best Buy started carrying some of the brands/lines that you often have to jump through hoops to find (ie Paradigm, Focal, Totem, Polk LSiM's etc etc).

Most of them are in upscale areas of the city. The one in Atlanta was in the High End Perimiter Mall. It is a store within a store and though it is owned by Bestbuy, it is not the same. They are on a whole different level from the typical magnolia stores. I asked about the LSiMs and Paradigm. I even asked about JL subs. Unforunately, they can't those right now. It is strange because they carry lower end Polk in the regular bestbuy's and use to be able to get the RTiA's. They do carry REL though. They just dropped Monitor Audio Sept 1. Hopefully they will be able to expand some more and add more brands. They just became a Peachtree Audio Dealer.

cstmar01

mystik610 wrote: »

You're right, its very different from the typical Magnolia store, including the recently remodeled one near my house. This particular store resides in the up-scale area of Houston.

The lady working with me made a point to differentiate herself and the Magnolia section from the rest of Best Buy, and she was clearly trained specifically about the products they carry. I guess this is the true implementation of the "store within a store" concept that they were talking about during their earnings call earlier this year.

There is an Mag AV design center in Chicago and overall very good. I have had a great experience in that one dealing with a young lady who really knew her stuff and well, needless to say I wish I could have married but she was engaged, darn.

Anyways, apart from my love story they were very good to deal with and knew their stuff. They had some good deals going on too with stuff and the one guy was also working on price matching a Runco TV selling off of ebay for a customer. They can also get Runco I guess as well and will make all efforts to make sure they are good on price.

The one thing is that they are not like other best buy employees and do work on commission. They normally do a lot larger jobs as well as the girl I worked with had just gotten done working on a 275K install job that she oversaw everything from start to finish. She oversaw all the ordering, installing, etc and worked with a design team for the client who was an NBA player I guess. Very cool story and install she did.

Their set ups were nice, they had the B&W 802D's running off McIntosh stuff along with Arcam, SF, and Martin Logan.

rooftop59

Are there one of these in Dallas or Austin yet?? I am probably not going to making down to Houston, well, ever:eek::biggrin:

rpf65

I think the closest to Austin is in San Antonio.

Drenis

When I took my trip to Minneapolis this past summer, we stopped at the Best Buy in Mall of America (THAT was funky I thought) and seen this Magnolia section. Far from the awe inspiring layout compared to up here. I found myself jaw dropped seeing some brands that I?ve known Best Buy to not carry or EVER carry up here. I was impressed. What REALLY shocked me more was the Room full of music gear! Drums, Guitars, etc etc etc! I could have stayed all day jamming on some drums...

Dabutcher

I went to the Magnolia store @ Bestbuy here in Woodbury. Mn. At the opening to that substore they had some sweet Martin Logan towers w a full McIntosh setup blasting some great sounding music. The salesman said w the interconnects and all together it retailed for $35,000.00. That was enough for me to exit. Just when you buy your first set of SDA SRS 1.2 s and you think you got it going on ,you see a set up like this w a price like that? Peace,Darryl

[Deleted User]

rooftop59 wrote: »

Are there one of these in Dallas or Austin yet?? I am probably not going to making down to Houston, well, ever:eek::biggrin:

There is one right next to North Park Mall, 75 and Park. Magnolia Best Buy there has the Mac, Sonus Faber and B&W Diamond series for you. They also have the higher line Def Techs.

badchad

While we're on the topic of Best Buy and Magnolia, I was told that BB will price match online Amazon prices.

There is a thread over at AVS where numerous people have got BB to pricematch other online retailers as well. I'm skeptical of the latter but you can try your luck.

mutelight

I bought my Pioneer SC-57 for $1,200 from there the other day.

MADGSF

The Best Buy in Grapevine (DFW) has one of these. They are actually their own store even more separate than Magnolia from Best Buy. They guy I talked to there was glad to demo any thing for me and knowledgeable. I listened to some Sonus Faber Liuto, my favorites, and higher end B&W. I have officially confirmed B&W are way too bright for me or maybe it was the McIntosh gear we used. They also have Arcam and Martin Logan, I really liked the Motion 40s. If you are in the area I highly recommend stopping by.

Polkie2009

RDB , you're probably right, I'll have to check out one of the new Magnolia Design Center stores. I've been to 2 or 3 Magnolia stores inside BBs and honestly, I think the majority of the regular CP forum members know way___ more about audio equipment than their Magnolia salesmen.