wvu80 Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 I was in the Myrtle Beach, SC Best Buy last week looking for a new wireless router. We don't have Best Buy near me in WV and when I saw a Klipsch demo set up I wanted so listen to it since this was the first time I've ever heard these speakers. Things did not go good. Description: There was a touch screen so I could choose demos in 5.1, 3.1 and 2.0 Other choices were between 10" and 12" subs. The only adjustment was volume, no tone controls. The touch screen did not respond at all when I first tried it. I had to find a salesman and it didn't work for him either until he took a rag and wiped the screen. He claimed it was "dust" that kept it from working. There were icons where I could choose short Music or Movie demos. I didn't notice any prices. This wasn't the actual store, but the shelvling looked like this: I'm not sure what speakers I was listening to because they were not clearly marked. The right side floor stander was missing, left speaker only. It had a pair of 8" drivers. The center speaker hit me about belly button level. The surrounds looked like 5" drivers. They were to the outside and directly beside the L/F speakers, all sitting on floor divider 5 foot wall and placed on shelves. There was a similar floor divider 3 feet away behind me. My Experience: I listened via a Music icon on the touch screen and I didn't know any of the songs. The sound was a muddy mess in the mid range and there was not much of a HF sound. Obviously it didn't help the right side speaker was gone. I started in 5.1 and it was almost un-listenable on the open floor. I switched to 3.1 and the speakers were still muddy sounding. I didn't bother with 2.0 since there was only one speaker. Believe it or not switching between the 10" and 12" subs was a good experience. The sound difference was noticeable between them and I thought both subs sounded pretty good, the 12" model just sounded louder, more full. I had to find a salesman to help me get the touchscreen working. He was young, very pleasant and helpful. He was very neutral in helping me. He did not make speaker or music suggestions, nor did he point me towards any other speaker demos. There was also a Sony 5.1 w/AVR setup and a Polk setup all beside one another in the same place. I didn't listen to either one. Suggestions: I would have liked it if I had a music demo with exposed male voice, female voice. The demos had too much rock and roll so I couldn't tell if it sounded good or not. I would also have liked to have heard a demo with some jazz and classical. Overall: I would not have purchased based on what I heard. It just didn't sound very good. The setup of the speakers all beside each just did not sound good, and there was a LOT of ambient noise from the store so it was hard to do any critical listening. +++ Comments? Has anybody else tried one of those Klipsch pre-assembled demos? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted February 3, 2017 Moderators Share Posted February 3, 2017 I had roughly the same experience at a store 30 miles from us a little over a year ago. Everything was just a mess with little chance of working, other displays were about the same condition except for one, you guessed it bose. They had a complete all in one display which required store people to only plug it in, they probably figured upkeep of these things would not exist and took no chances. You would think the managers would keep all displays working to help sales no matter what brands, but I guess not. The TV section was working perfectly, must be a big sales draw? Another thing that went downhill was concert DVD's, you now have a choice of maby 15-20 at the most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted February 3, 2017 Author Share Posted February 3, 2017 6 minutes ago, dtel said: You would think the managers would keep all displays working to help sales no matter what brands, but I guess not. Yeah, I would certainly think so. I asked where the other speaker was and why the touch display didn't work properly (touching it didn't work, go figure!) and he said "the Klipsch representative" was responsible for the display, so it was up to him to get the missing speaker replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldred Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 Best buy....If I want to buy a movie I go to Best buy....Speakers ....no. Don't get me wrong best buy is a great store and has it's place....Just not that place. And this is coming from a guy with a best buy rewards card. George, 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phillmartin Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 I had a similar experience in store up here in Minnesota. Thankfully the magnolia people were vastly more knowledgeable and helpful. Still, what a mess when they can't get the displays working.Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 I got my own 5.1 experience going... and I don't even to get dressed to enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted February 4, 2017 Moderators Share Posted February 4, 2017 1 hour ago, oldred said: Best buy....If I want to buy a movie I go to Best buy....Speakers ....no. Your right, they can't help me with speakers, but DVD's and computer stuff or a Tv depending on the deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 A similar display at ours (2 miles away). But, yea, the music clips need to resemble some sort of leanings towards fidelity.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzog Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 Similar experience with most any Best Buy and any speakers. There was one time they actually had some B&W hooked up correctly. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 One wonders too if the stuff was messed with like the TV's being jacked up with the internal maintenance adjustments for a different look. Bose probably has it right on with a lock on their stuff so it can't be messed with. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjptkd Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 Was this a Magnolia Hi-fi display? We have one local to me but I have not been there in ages. Best buy for me now is where I go to buy a TV or video games for the kid, everything else I buy online. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woofers and Tweeters Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 If you get ear fatigue while listening to your Heritage speakers with your woman, both of you go to best buy; listen to the best that they have to offer; check out the prices: then go back home and listen to your system again. If you still get ear fatigue, upgrade your woman. (Disclaimer: If you have a wonderful woman, such as minermark's wife, Mark's BOSS or dtel's wife, then you might try SS or tubes) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paducah Home Theater Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 I check out everything like this that I can, and still play with stuff in my local store when I go in, just because I'm like that. Pretty much every time, something is broken, especially locally. If something is not broken and a sales guy is "helping", he will turn it up to the point of clipping. Even if everything worked perfectly, you're still in an industrial box store, which needs no explanation. The whole experience is pretty horrid. They need to stick with at least the Magnolia demo rooms or nothing at all. The magnolia room in Louisville is pretty decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Chad Posted February 6, 2017 Administrators Share Posted February 6, 2017 Thank you. I'm forwarding this thread to people that need to know this valuable feedback here @ Klipsch. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasec2021 Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 1st off, I just went from the Best Buy line to Ref ii's, night and day in my opinion. They carry the lowest line of Klipsch speakers, and don't have them calibrated, I'm sure. So if you had a bad experience, remember, bottom barrel line + inept workers setting it up= bad experience. Also, besides items such as tv's, video games, things that are priced by the manufacturer, you should never purchase a thing there. Their cable prices, tv mount prices, anything they mark up are all waaaay overpriced. 4 ft in wall rated hdmi is 40 dollars there. First off, who the heck can do anything with 4 feet in a wall? 15 ft in wall on amazon is around 12 dollars. that right there should tell you the type of business model they run. They jack everything up price wise because most people don't realize that its so much more expensive there over online, and are not willing to wait to buy the cables/mount since they are probably buy a tv impulsively anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoboKlipsch Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 This is a great thread and I have had similar experiences. It makes me wonder if at this point, where people buy so much on the internet, if creating a quality demo space is unhelpful for BB! It's long been said that people go to BB (and used to go to Circuit City) to see things in person and then they buy them over the internet at the cheapest price. I would agree 100% that the way the speakers are placed on the shelves is not highlighting what is no doubt, a far better line of speakers than the others they tend to have at BB. They may not be Klipsch's flagship offering, but they most certainly are a quality product and one that deserves better placement and advertising than the Sony and Bose lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasec2021 Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 2 minutes ago, RoboKlipsch said: This is a great thread and I have had similar experiences. It makes me wonder if at this point, where people buy so much on the internet, if creating a quality demo space is unhelpful for BB! It's long been said that people go to BB (and used to go to Circuit City) to see things in person and then they buy them over the internet at the cheapest price. I would agree 100% that the way the speakers are placed on the shelves is not highlighting what is no doubt, a far better line of speakers than the others they tend to have at BB. They may not be Klipsch's flagship offering, but they most certainly are a quality product and one that deserves better placement and advertising than the Sony and Bose lines. My comments were not meant as a knock on the Klipsch they carry, but was more inform the author of this thread that that line is literally the lowest value line of Klipsch. One thing I will give Bose was the showcase rooms they had at their outlets. I don't know if the are even around still, the only one I knew of was in Foley, AL and went to one in Park City UT. But their showcase room was set up wonderfully. It would be nice for best buy to dedicate an area to actually have SQ instead of on an open shelf in an aisle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted February 6, 2017 Author Share Posted February 6, 2017 On 2/4/2017 at 8:58 AM, jjptkd said: Was this a Magnolia Hi-fi display? We have one local to me but I have not been there in ages. Best buy for me now is where I go to buy a TV or video games for the kid, everything else I buy online. A Magnolia Hi-fi setup? I don't know, I don't have any experience from which to compare. It was almost like a Kiosk type of setup where all the listening choices were pre-programmed. There was no visible amp or AVR, just the touch screen choices for genre and volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted February 6, 2017 Author Share Posted February 6, 2017 1 hour ago, chasec2021 said: Their cable prices, tv mount prices, anything they mark up are all waaaay overpriced. It's retail, I understand why it costs a little more. I'm paying for the convenience of immediate gratification, and somebody has to pay the light bill, the nice employee's salary, the rent on the building, etc. The price was higher, but reasonable. I bought a Netgear cable modem and a wireless router for my son, and I was out of town. No doubt I could have ordered them from Amazon and gotten a $10 lower price on each item, but I wanted to plug them in that day. When I saw some Klipsch boxes stacked up in a corner on impulse I looked for a demo because I had not heard them before and I was curious. They don't sell them in my hometown so I had no expectations of what I would hear, or how I would hear it. I hope it's clear my impressions were of the Best Buy, and of the demo experience, and not a critique of the speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasec2021 Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 1 minute ago, wvu80 said: It's retail, I understand why it costs a little more. I'm paying for the convenience of immediate gratification, and somebody has to pay the light bill, the nice employee's salary, the rent on the building, etc. The price was higher, but reasonable. I bought a Netgear cable modem and a wireless router for my son, and I was out of town. No doubt I could have ordered them from Amazon and gotten a $10 lower price on each item, but I wanted to plug them in that day. When I saw some Klipsch boxes stacked up in a corner on impulse I looked for a demo because I had not heard them before, they don't sell them in my hometown. I had no expectations of what I would hear, or how I would hear it. The items i listed are not $10 markups. It may be for some things here and there. But 4ft for $40--> $10 per foot on a cable whereas on amazon 15ft for 12--> $0.80 Per foot. That is an astronomical difference in price. You are talking about 9.20 cents more per foot on a product that coming from one avenue is not even a dollar per foot. It is also around $100 for a tv mount (let's just say on average) whereas online the same quality product (METAL AND BOLTS) averages around $35. These arent 10% mark ups we are talking about here. I get that it is a business, but it is a business banking on individuals not knowing the difference. Chances are, if you are on a forum like this, you have been online long enough to know there is a better deal out there than things like this that I named. If it was a 10 dollar difference, then yes, that certainly makes up the difference in having to wait a couple of days to come in. As far as cables go, I learned a long time ago to stock up and have them ready for whenever it was time to do a project and not need to run to best buy for an HDMI or Optical cable 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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