Best Buy Experience.

xsmi

Hi guys,

I went to a Best Buy grand opening today in my city. It is the first one in my area to have a Magnolia Home Theatre area. Although, I don't frequent Best Buy, when I saw their flier yesterday, I thought the pictures on the flyer were Martin Logans. Well I was right and not only did they have ML's but they had Definitives, and Mirage. It was great, sort of. See, although I am not a seperates snob by any means, there were no seperates in the store. They were running them on a very nice Pioneer Elite receiver and Denon receiver. It would have been nice to see how these speakers really performed with separates though.

Monster Jam

In Las Vegas, the major distributors (Best Buy, Tweeter, Circuit City and Frys) do not sell seperates. Even Ultimate Electronics does not push seperates (although I am pretty sure they offer Sunfire, Monster, and other brands), as their retail space is devoted to Onkyo, Pioneer, and Denon.

If you want seperates (such as Adcom or Rotel) or the brand Marantz, you have to go to "specialty" stores. These stores also offer "specialty" speakers like B&W, and hold the local monopoly on this type of gear. As a result, its all pretty expensive.

Some "specialty" stores won't sell you the gear outright, either. They include them in their "consulting" services, where they plan/design and subcontract the construction of your audio/video center.

jdhdiggs

xsmi:
Sounds like a decent setup for a big box store. Try their return policies if you want to see how they sound on seperates.

MJ:
Wow, the mom and pop stores in your area suck...

Fireman32

I bought my TV from the magnolia theather at the best buy by me and was quite happy with there selection. They also have a good return policy.

seo

The Magnolias (Seattle) here are stand alone stores, I believe they started here.

F1nut

These stores also offer "specialty" speakers like B&W, and hold the local monopoly on this type of gear. As a result, its all pretty expensive.

No, it's pretty expensive because high end gear costs money. The people shopping at box stores aren't spending big money on audio, so the box stores aren't going to carry it. Even if those box stores carried high end audio products, they would still be expensive.

schwarcw

It's a shame that specialty stores are fading fast. Inventory costs are high and there just is not enough local sales to survive. This is especially true in smaller cities. Mid level and high end gear is fast becoming an online product. Buy from dealers with good reputation and a good return policy.

danger boy

none of the Best Buy stores here have Magnolia Hi Fi's in em. and we have no stand alone Magnolia's anymore. all we have is OneCall.com (local store) for higher end gear anymore.

halo

Fry's, by me anyway, carries AudioSource separates.

bert26

If I understand correctly, Best Buy bought Magnolia and only rolls out new ones within the Best Buy box. Where they open them is based on demographics - BB has a decent idea of where the people are that are going to purchase more expensive gear. They have a huge data warehouse with a ton of customer data.

I can't believe there is a Magnolia in Toledo, but not in Cbus! :mad:

Emlyn

Seems to me that the Magnolia sections are there in Best Buy to push $4000 and up plasma TV's and custom installation jobs, with the audio side an afterthought. Still, what they have in terms of speakers and receivers is a huge step up from what they used to have in the same space (JBL, Sony, Yamaha, Cerwin Vega, and Bose!). Serious two channel gear is best dealt with through dealers who know what they're doing with that type of equipment. I buy TV's at Best Buy because of their pricing, local return and service policies. That's one thing they do well.

mantis

Emlyn wrote:

Seems to me that the Magnolia sections are there in Best Buy to push $4000 and up plasma TV's and custom installation jobs, with the audio side an afterthought. Still, what they have in terms of speakers and receivers is a huge step up from what they used to have in the same space (JBL, Sony, Yamaha, Cerwin Vega, and Bose!). Serious two channel gear is best dealt with through dealers who know what they're doing with that type of equipment. I buy TV's at Best Buy because of their pricing, local return and service policies. That's one thing they do well.

Actually they are very into audio. They focus on inwalls for custom install. Receivers and inwalls are what most people want. Livingrooms and familyrooms are better suited for this kind of system.Plasma tv's are becoming the normal tv sale and inwalls go great with them.No audio video company wants to sell only video, theres not much money in it.

Dan

heiney9

danger boy wrote:

none of the Best Buy stores here have Magnolia Hi Fi's in em. and we have no stand alone Magnolia's anymore. all we have is OneCall.com (local store) for higher end gear anymore.

Same here, I'm sure I could travel to the suburbs, but unless I was on other business what's the point. I'm sure they wouldn't have anything I'd be interested in, but I'd like to take a peek. Pehaps we will get the Magnolia soon, who knows.

H9

xsmi

The thing that surprised me though was a $2800 pair of speakers driven by a receiver. It just seems like a mix match.

mantis

xsmi wrote:

The thing that surprised me though was a $2800 pair of speakers driven by a receiver. It just seems like a mix match.

For people like us(audiophiles) wouldn't run them like that but if the receiver can hold the ohm load, they will sell it that way. Most people have no idea what good sound is and think this setup is great.

I get slighty upset at things like this but I look past it.If you know better then you will not be coming home with such a setup.

Dan

venomclan

I was excited when I heard the largest Magnolia was being built in the Best Buy a few miles from my house. After it was finished, I went in and just shook my head. While they do have some upper scale speakers (ML's) they had nothing but Denon receivers. I spoke to a few of the guys over there and they said that all of the speakers they sell would work fine with the receivers they had.

Personally, I do not even consider using a receiver over $500. At that point, there are many seperates options available on the used market and for just a bit more, one can jump into that realm. Who would buy a Denon receiver at $2000? Or the onkyo flagship at $6000? Whats the point.

tryrrthg

bert26 wrote:

I can't believe there is a Magnolia in Toledo, but not in Cbus! :mad:

Agreed! Although the chances of me buying something there are slim, I'd still like to have one, it's always fun to look around or have it available.

I might have to make a trip to Toledo the next time I head to my parents house in NW Ohio.

Danny Tse

venomclan wrote:

Who would buy a Denon receiver at $2000? Or the onkyo flagship at $6000? Whats the point.

The targeted customers of Magnolia, that's who. Most of these people goes into "the stores" and wants something besides what's being sold "outside". They will see brands that are different from those carried by the regular Best Buy....I suppose that's one reason why Magnolia don't carry the expensive Yamaha receivers. Also why you don't see JBL's upscale speakers, such as the Performance Series, at Magnolia.

At my local Magnolia, they carry REL subwoofers, Boston Acoustics, and Primare 2 channel integrated amp and CD player. I think the 2 channel components are being cleared out since, in my own opinion, Magnolia is about selling the giant plasma TV....and the associated expensive HTiB. OK, maybe in a couple of boxes (big receiver and DVD player).