Why I don’t have B & W speakers.

[Barry]

Why I don’t have B & W speakers.
 
I just had another bad experience at Best Buy (where I go only when I have to!) I thought I write about the first bad experience I had with Hi-FI.
 
About 1990 I just “borrowed” and then bought the Mark Levinson Balanced pre-amp and stereo amp from a dealer. In those days you could “borrow” (and be charged) a unit for a few days to test on your home system. So wanting to hear better speakers than the ADS that I had, I went to the big Stereophile show in town that weekend.
 
I got to the B & W site and was walking in, when their representee came up and asked me: “What equipment do you have?”
“Mark Levinson” I replied.
“Mark Levinson, what?”
“Their balanced pre-amp and their stereo amp.  They call it their dual mono amp.”
“what ae their numbers? I was asked.
“I know Levinson has model numbers, but I forget.”
“All Levinson owners know their numbers.” He said.
“I am a owner, but I forgot the numbers.”
He said, “I can’t let you in. You don' t have have Levinson equipment. If you did you would know the numbers.”
I couldn’t believe it.  So I listened to other speakers and bought Thiel.  I have never bought B & W, but that is because I like my Revels.  
 
(As for Best Buy:  We keep a cheap ($50) flip top phone in the car for emergencies and convenience . We also have the cheapest Verizon monthly payment: $5 a month. Ell, Verizon dropped their 3G plans and we need a cheap phone that was 4G.  Best Buy advertised them at $70.  We went in and asked to see the phone. They showed us the $179-$300 phones.  I asked to see the $70 phone.  The salesman said, “Go to Verizon” and when to serve the other people, who were looking at the expensive phones.
Verizon served us quickly, sold us a flip top phone, transferred our numbers and set it up in our car. Yeah, we don’t eget thee internet, but we can call the Enterprise.
 

[bmoney]

Best Buy employees don’t make commission so it’s odd he wouldn’t help you 

[tripplej]

From my experience shopping at Best Buy and other retailers, most are part time students working there and/or folks working pay check to pay check, not really knowing what they sell. I typically buy now online, I haven't been to an electronic physical store in many years! I try to avoid them as much as possible.

[Paul Heroy]

Barry, elitist gatekeeper crap like that is infuriating. You hear so many stories like that in high end audio unfortunately. Hopefully it's not as bad as it used to be, and most companies have figured out that alienating customers without good reason isn't good for business. (There are some customers who aren't worth it, unfortunately.)

[Barry]

From my experience shopping at Best Buy and other retailers, most are part time students working there and/or folks working pay check to pay check, not really knowing what they sell. I typically buy now online, I haven't been to an electronic physical store in many years! I try to avoid them as much as possible.

I feel the exact same way. But for the phone I needed to go in to transfer phone numbers and sush

[Barry]

Best Buy employees don’t make commission so it’s odd he wouldn’t help you

It's not odd there, unfortunately. They just don't have good salesman. or supervisors. 

[bmoney]

I never received training when I worked there in the very early 2000’s and I knew 95% more than everyone there about HT. Was a terrible company to work for 

[TRainH2O]

Barry, I am anxiously waiting to read your future memoir, The Unwilling Audiophile - How I Survived the Dark Side of New York's AV Industry.

[Barry]

Barry, I am anxiously waiting to read your future memoir, The Unwilling Audiophile - How I Survived the Dark Side of New York's AV Industry.

Hi Tracy:

I have dealt, very nicely, for 35 years with Suffolk AV.  For high end equipment I have shopped at Overture since 1995 and have enjoyed the experience. But NYC companies, not just audio/visual are often difficult. I have friends come from the city just to shop in my area.

Just to give you example, when I wanted to upgrade my broken Krell 707 to a McIntosh 170, I called a store, Audio Breakthroughs near the City and Long Island border. They insisted on coming over to see my room. I agreed. Tracy, you are going to think this is a joke, but when he came in the first thing the owner said was, "You have a JVC 3000 projector, you need to replace that with a JVC DLA-NX9." You and I know that is the same projector!!  He told me the NX9 was better because the parts were hand picked. No satisfied  with the sale of the 170, three amps, A CD player and a streamer, he more than doubled the price of the sale replacing things (including wiring).

Suffolk AV, where I got my 3000 and 4100 was just great and helpful. So was Overture, but Overture is in Delaware and is a bit of trip. But it's worth it.

[David Vaughn]

Hi Tracy:

I have dealt, very nicely, for 35 years with Suffolk AV.  For high end equipment I have shopped at Overture since 1995 and have enjoyed the experience. But NYC companies, not just audio/visual are often difficult. I have friends come from the city just to shop in my area.

Just to give you example, when I wanted to upgrade my broken Krell 707 to a McIntosh 170, I called a store, Audio Breakthroughs near the City and Long Island border. They insisted on coming over to see my room. I agreed. Tracy, you are going to think this is a joke, but when he came in the first thing the owner said was, "You have a JVC 3000 projector, you need to replace that with a JVC DLA-NX9." You and I know that is the same projector!!  He told me the NX9 was better because the parts were hand picked. No satisfied  with the sale of the 170, three amps, A CD player and a streamer, he more than doubled the price of the sale replacing things (including wiring).

Suffolk AV, where I got my 3000 and 4100 was just great and helpful. So was Overture, but Overture is in Delaware and is a bit of trip. But it's worth it.

I figured it out Barry...they know you have deep pockets and just want a piece of you

[Barry]

I figured it out Barry...they know you have deep pockets and just want a piece of you

If you saw the rest of my house you’d would not think so.

[David Vaughn]

If you saw the rest of my house you’d would not think so.

Are you doing a remodel?

[Barry]

Are you doing a remodel?

That’s it. You should have seen it before we remodelled.  

[TRainH2O]

That’s it. You should have seen it before we remodelled. 

I was thinking you were super dedicated to home theater and sank every penny into your system.