Moderators Youthman Posted September 15, 2014 Moderators Share Posted September 15, 2014 (edited) Recently, I read in the Klipsch forums that Best Buy was starting to carry McIntosh. My initial thoughts was of disappointment because this meant that McIntosh would be introducing budget products for the mass market which goes completely contrary to it's business model. Needless to say, I wasn't in favor of it. Today I took my bro-n-law to the airport and on the way back, I decided to stop by Best Buy to see the new Klipsch Speakers. I headed over to the Magnolia section to see what they had to offer. My apologies that these are not the typical Youthman quality photos as they were taken with my iPhone but I wanted to share nonetheless. The Magnolia sales rep greeted me and asked if I had ever been at the store. I told him no and that this was not my local Best Buy. He asked if he could show me around and I said sure. They had 3 demo rooms available. In their premium room, they had (4) complete high end 2ch setups that consisted of offerings from Magnapan, Sonas and B&W. The B&W 802's were hooked up to a pair of McIntosh 601 Monoblocks and McIntosh Preamp and CD Player so I was anxious to have a listen. He played 3 songs and the B&W's had fantastic imaging, very smooth midrange and although very clear, they did not have the "detail" and the "highs" that I'm used to hearing with Klipsch. Overall, very, very nice sounding setup. My thoughts of this whole intermingling between Magnolia, B&W and McIntosh was beginning to rub off on me. I honestly was VERY impressed with the setup. This was not what I was accustomed to seeing at the typical Magnolia demo rooms. They had acoustic panels, Furman line conditioners, amplifier stands, several turntables and "high end" cables. This was exactly what I would see from the high end A/V Stores (you know the ones that are getting harder to come by. Edited September 15, 2014 by Youthman 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted September 15, 2014 Author Moderators Share Posted September 15, 2014 The next room was setup with a plethora of lower end offerings from the same manufacturers including some in-walls / in-ceiling setups with a switch box that would allow you to demo various receivers with various speakers. I did not demo anything in this room but was impressed to see offerings from Arcam and Marantz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted September 15, 2014 Author Moderators Share Posted September 15, 2014 (edited) The third demo room was setup for automation. All lighting, shades, screen and equipment were controlled via the iPad. I forgot to take a photo of the rack but they even had a Kaleidescape (very high end Bluray storage) device that looked similar to this model. I did not demo this room other than a quick lighting, drop down screen and shades automation demo. This room was setup with in-walls. Cool thing is the in-walls were located directly behind the acoustic panels. They had a huge selection of fabric and designs. He also said if I had a nice camera (which I do), they could take photos that I've taken and print them onto the acoustic panels. And just outside, they had a plexiglass behind the A/V Rack to show the cable management (which was extremely professional and tidy). Sorry for the reflections and stinky quality photo. Edited September 15, 2014 by Youthman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted September 15, 2014 Author Moderators Share Posted September 15, 2014 As I ended my visit, I walked passed a 2ch setup just on the edge of Magnolia. Looks to be a McIntosh Tube amp (maybe all McIntosh are tubes as I'm not very "up" on McIntosh offerings). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Panza Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Those things with the screens on them keep Mosquitos away? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted September 15, 2014 Author Moderators Share Posted September 15, 2014 And lastly, I was surprised to see them selling a $1200 bluray player....the Oppo BDP105. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted September 15, 2014 Author Moderators Share Posted September 15, 2014 I share that to say this....I think Best Buy / Magnolia is really trying to step up their game and I'm glad to see them offer more than just your budget setup. I've been in Magnolia before and I've never seen this high end of offerings from the. The sales rep said this store was brand new. I'm not sure how many other stores they will be rolling these out. He said the closest other stores offering this was in St Pete and one down in Miami. Back in the day, Sound Advice offered high end & Circuit City offered just under them. Then SA went belly up and along came Best Buy which offered lower end electronics than Circuit City. Then we were left with Best Buy and ahem....Walmart (ok not really Walmart). I just think it's great that Best Buy is attempting to add high end audio to their selection, yet still have budget electronics for the non-audio enthusiast. What are your thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted September 15, 2014 Author Moderators Share Posted September 15, 2014 Those things with the screens on them keep Mosquitos away? Quite possibly. LOL One other thing I thought was cool was the sales rep said that each model of the Sonas speakers were designed with an instrument in mind. Like the ones in their demo room had speaker grills that resembled strings on a violin or guitar. Thought that was pretty cool design wise. The sales rep seemed to be very knowledgeable (not what I'm used to experiencing from a lot of BB audio reps) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Panza Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 No Klipsch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fjd Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Best Buy acquired the Magnolia chain back in 2000, but it has been a difficult time for them to implement the concept in their stores over the years. I believe that some of the marketing that Magnolia was using (e.g., the "buyer's guide" concept) rather than just using pages of 'loss leaders' to bring people in, has been hard to duplicate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted September 15, 2014 Author Moderators Share Posted September 15, 2014 No Klipsch? I did not see any Klipsch That was the reason I stopped by. They might have had Klipsch in the non-magnolia area like by the TV's but I didn't go by there. Best Buy acquired the Magnolia chain back in 2000 I remember when Magnolia first began to be implemented into Best Buy but it was never this high end. I was quite impressed to day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fjd Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 On 9/15/2014 at 4:44 PM, Youthman said: On 9/15/2014 at 4:41 PM, Fjd said: Best Buy acquired the Magnolia chain back in 2000 I remember when Magnolia first began to be implemented into Best Buy but it was never this high end. I was quite impressed to day. When I'm traveling I sometimes try to see what the 'local' Magnolia store might be doing and who the target market may be. Not all Magnolia stores are equal in relation to equipment that it stocks. The "Magnolia Design Centers" will typically have the "high-end" audio equipment such as McIntosh, while the Magnolia Home Theater rooms are scaled down. With the economic downturn in 2008, it seems like they took a huge step back with the Magnolia concept and were scaling back and letting go knowledgeable employees. While I haven't seen the set-up yet, I've read that in certain stores they had also planned to do mockups of bathrooms and bedrooms to show the luxury flat-screen TV in the mirror that is invisible until it's turned on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Morbius Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Impressive, that Magnolia is really getting "High End"! (and those are bug zappers surrounding the McIntosh amps, good idea to keep them bugs away!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WakeJunkie Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Very cool. Nothing like this around here. Rare to see such nice demo rooms. Seems the brick and mortar stores just can't compete with online stores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted September 15, 2014 Author Moderators Share Posted September 15, 2014 My thoughts exactly Dr. Speaking of high end, I also saw a $10,299 Viking Refrigerator there as well. Haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akdave Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 I recently visited one of the original Magnolia stores in Seattle and they were in the last days before closing. They were moving to the BB location. The employee I spoke with had worked there since 1985 (blew my mind). The store had been there for 40 years (same location). Whenever I go to Seattle I liked to stop in there to hear some things I don't get to hear or see up here. I was disappointed, but if they are going to attempt to retain some of their knowledgable employees that could be a good thing. I just don't see how a chain can afford to maintain what I feel to be an increasingly niche market in the high end home audio/theater offerings. Interesting post, thanks for sharing! Side note - were they retailing the acoustic panels or were they just demos? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted September 15, 2014 Author Moderators Share Posted September 15, 2014 Wake when I lived in Huntsville near you I remember used to going to some really high-end audio video stores but of course they all closed down. Sad to see them shutting their doors but economy is just really cause them to take a beating Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted September 15, 2014 Author Moderators Share Posted September 15, 2014 Dave I guess I did not realize that Magnolia was actually a separate store since I've never seen a magnolia store other than in Best Buy. The sales rep along with several others there today had moved from out-of-state one from Texas others from various parts of the US. Maybe they are closing their doors and only moving into Best Buy's not sure. As far as the acoustic panels he made it sound like they were retailing them because he said that they have a lot of styles to choose from as well as you can give them high res photos and they will print them on the acoustic panels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max2 Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 30+ years ago most people could afford very decent audio even if great sound wasn't a priority with their lifestyle. Now days you have to live and breathe music to justify the cost of great sound. I think its cool Magnolia is making one last push to get more of the general population to come in and get the hifi bug. I also like seeing so many great brands, but disappointed to not see Klipsch there. A couple of K's hooked up to that 275 or one of Mc's SS amps would likely send the rest packing, unless of course you had a high browed, horn hater plopped on the couch 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckAb3 Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 I certainly would like to see Klipsch offered in that setting as opposed to the usual Best Buy set up. That always made me cringe. (These pics sorta remind me of the old Ultimate Electronics stores but with better stuff). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.