Why BestBuy shouldnt sell Klipsch speakers (My Expiernce atleast)

[Mrphats1999]

This is not a bashing on Klipsch anyway. This is just an expression of opinion on how BestBuy does Great audio equipment.

I was shopping the other day with a friend who wanted to check out some klipsch equipment for both his computers and his home ent. Being that its a modest budget Best Buy seemed to be the place to go. I attempted to show hm the computer speakers first. However all they had at Best Buy was the Klipsch 5.1 GMX and older 5.2 PM series. No 2.1's. So I went ahead and tried to show him the new speakers and the older 5.1 PMS but the merchandise was soo DAMAGED it was embarrassing. The sound was distorted and crackling, hissing speakers from both sets. The hook ups were rigged as if a 10 year old did it.

So next I took him to the Home Ent and the speakers there were just as bad... A large amount distortion the control panel wasnt functioning correctly and KSW 12 sub wasnt even hooked up. The speakers couldnt compare to the JBL's there or even the Athenas because it was soo distorted.

I dont know this is just my expirence with Best Buy as a reseller and Im sure its not like this every where in the US. Lately it seems its hard to find any Audio Specialist who really recommends Klipsch, and having them at Best Buy makes it even harder. Most thoughts I hear from Audio Specialists are there not really a bang for the buck but just a high price named for some decent audio.

Heres wishing Klipsch some good luck in the future.

[pinipig523]

its not like that at my bestbuy - the synergy speaks absolutely blow the rest away. the only one which i thought sounded REAL good as well were the yamaha ns-777 floorstanding speakers (with dual 8" aluminum woofers, a 5" midrange driver (dedicated) and a semi-horn loaded tweeter).

[jt1stcav]

My Best Buy experience is similar to 1999...A few months back I was in the market for new PC speakers, and I wanted to audition the Klipsch ProMedia Series. The 2.1s on display were fine and sounded great, but the new GMX D-5.1 system didn't operate at all, even powered up! I asked a salesperson to examine them and see it they could get them to play. Of course the kid knew nothing about them, so after fiddling around with their wires, he gets his manager over, and he can't figure out the problem either! I got disgusted with the whole fiasco, but I couldn't afford the GMX anyway, so I just took the box of the 2.1s (and they're perfect).

I then walked over to the audio dept. to the loudspeaker soundroom just to audition the Synergy Series (I've never heard them before). Of course not a single loudspeaker was hooked up properly for a listen, not even the subwoofers! I asked that dept's salesman to please connect them to the control pod that was situated in front of the entire Klipsch array, even if it was just one loudspeaker...he couldn't even do that! He then gives up and asks me if I want to audition their Athena line instead, that their entire line is way superior to the Klipsch anyway...I just glared at him and walked out!

If Klipsch wants to look good to the average everyday Joe Schmoe consumer, then they had better get on the ball with Best Buy's executives in charge of sales and give all their salespeople a rigerous instruction on how to properly display and sell the Synergy Series. If I knew nothing about Klipsch, I would've been immediately turned off by the brand, and would go elsewhere for my loudspeaker needs. I think Best Buy is doing Klipsch a major disservice by the way their salespeople are so incompitent...they need to get their act together if they want to sell the Klipsch line and be successful.

Just a thought...

[j-malotky]

I don't have a problem with BB selling Klipsch. It is really too bad that the local stores have idiots setting up the systems at the stores you mention. I bet the other systems are set up just as bad That is really too bad.

In casual conversations with friends of friends who know nothing of my hobbies, Over the summer, I have heard three stories of people who have purchased Klipsh systems from BB because they were amazed with the sound and the price.

Also if Klipsh can make a killing in the low cost speaker market, the good people like Steve P, Trey C, and the other engineers at Klipsh can help us all keep the Heritage dream alive.

JM

[m00n]

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On 8/11/2003 8:50:46 PM jt1stcav wrote:

He then gives up and asks me if I want to audition their Athena line instead, that their entire line is way superior to the Klipsch anyway...I just glared at him and walked out!

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Are salesmen aloud to make comments like that? I would be interested in seeing how well behaved our BB is here in the area.

[michael hurd]

Salesmen will make all sorts of erronous statements just to get you to buy the product. Most of the time, when I start quizzing the salesmen, I find out quickly that the knowledge of product I possess is far above the reaches of the average salesshmuck. Sometimes, they will try to steer you to an item that has a higher markup, even though it is sonically a step in the wrong direction. Like the famous " better sound through reasearch " brand. ( insert your expletive here ) Unless you happen to deal with a store that has trained, knowledgeable employees that are paid on an hourly basis, not 100% commission, nine times out of ten you will walk away disappointed.

[BBB]

Have any of you that have a Best Buy credit card received a coupon in your statement that is an advertisement for a special deal they are offering on Klipsch speakers? Its valid through August 15th. The ad says, The speakers your neighbors are dreading. Heres an offer thatll blow your mind-and those old speakers. 24 month no interest financing on Klipsch speakers. The interest is charged from the date of purchase. Im all for Klipsch selling as many speakers as they can at any place, anywhere, at any price they choose but what are the finance charges going to be if you dont pay off the balance in full within 730 days? Those rates at Household Bank can be brutal. Itll blow your mind all right. It might end up being the credit card bill your checkbook is dreading.

Oh well. I might just be another guy complaining because his local Klipsch dealer folded and Im living in a world surrounded by Circuit Cities and Best Buys. These small local dealers just cant compete with these gigantic chains regardless of what line of Klipsch they are authorized to carry. Maybe Im getting old but I remember when a guy would come into one of our local audio stores with his son and be excited about picking things out for a set up for juniors room or the familys living room. Not today. Now if the young ones want audio gear the parents just toss them the car keys and tell them to grab something at the mall. Its a shame.

[Deang]

With the revenue Klipsch if bringing in right now -- what would be sweet would be some retail outlets called, "The Klipsch Store".

Klipsch only. Set up correctly. With some nice furniture to sit in. With people selling who actually give a crap. Something more in line with PK's POO.

[jt1stcav]

I agree. If Bose can successfully operate their outlets throughout the country, then why can't Klipsch?

I'd shop there in a heartbeat!

[Audible Nectar]

"With the revenue Klipsch if bringing in right now -- what would be sweet would be some retail outlets called, "The Klipsch Store".

Klipsch only. Set up correctly. With some nice furniture to sit in. With people selling who actually give a crap. Something more in line with PK's POO."

And I would be the first to fill out an application. No joke. I could sell Klipsch for life.......well in a way, I already do

[TheEAR]

This sour WorstBuy experience sounds and looks alot like FutureShopless here in Canada.The "listening rooms" have no slinding doors to cut the noise from the store floor and are filled like garbage cans with sub par gear.

How can anyone build confidence and sell quality products in a dump like this?And to add insult to injury the sales peeps know only what the spec sheet and piss poor training told them.

Klipsch is made for quality audio stores where you can see,hear and inspect Klipsch products.

One of the rare stores that represent Klipsch well(DAMN WELL) is Radio St-Hubert in Montreal.They are a few steps from work and I spend many hours/month there looking for new and interesting gear.

They have two rooms with Klipsch,one Synergy the other Reference.The WHOLE lineup is there(just waiting for RW subs).The RF7/RC7/RSW15/RS7 are in the main room with quality electronics(Sunfire)and a Pioneer Elite plasma.

Some of the mass market stores described on this board do not deserve Klipsch,like I said you dont throw pearls at pigs.

Let the bozos sell B0$e.

[TBrennan]

Klipsch is no longer a quality oriented company but a profit oriented one. PWK is gone. I don't think Hoosier Fred gives a damn where you fellas think he should sell his speakers, what he does care is that he sells lots of them. Best Buy will serve his purpose.

Frankly I wonder why you fellas do care where they're sold, what's it to ya? It's not your business, it's Fred's business.

[Soundthought]

Well, it was either dip into the mass consumer market vunue or go belly up.

Considering the change from a single owner occupied to a corporate motivated agenda, what did we expect?

Better products for less?

"Tis the nature of the machine, itself"

Gotta maintain a consitently rising profit margin, ya know?

On a side note...

It is too bad that our children won't be able to grow up knowing what one mans' devoting to HIS business can do for a nation of devote followers.

Heck, it's hard enough to keep on top of what "sister" business is owned by what "parent" coporation.

My BB has had an SB-1 hooked up on same channel as an SC-1 since they got them in.

Makes the SB-1s sound bad...real bad.

Everytime i'm in there I unhook the SC-1 and hook up the other SB-1, but then when I go back....it's hooked up wrong again.

Sigh!

Whatta gonna do....

Idiots, that's what $7 an hour will get ya....idiots.

[michael hurd]

Audioreality, it's like this: minimum wage = minimum work.

[Unreal]

Bestbuy owns Futureshop, so that may be why they are similar

And I make $7.50 an hour at Bestbuy, not mearly $7.

2 more sf2s out the door tonight. Not a single bose thanks to me

[Soundthought]

That's great!

Keep up the good work.

There should be more BB workers like yourself.

Unfortunately, there's not.

Even $7.50 doesn't generally spur much enthusiasm for selling Klipsch or any other product for that matter.

Been there...

Done that...

Back in the day...

All I cared about was checking out the honeys and quitting time.

With increased pay and benefits comes the desire to actually KEEP ones' job.

And as such, that means you have to do your job to the satisfaction of your employer.

When an employer pays his help a decent wage with benefits, he in turn expects increased job performance from that emplyee.

Less pay = less performance.

Of course, there are exceptions to that rule, but not many.

In BB's case, as a LARGE national chain, they can afford to pay their help crap.

That's the strategy.

They profit by maintaining several extremely large inventory purchase orders (which reduce overall unit cost) to boalster high volume sales (a direct result of their lower prices due to high volume purchasing).

So we should all eat, drink, and save money by purchasing electronics from BB.

I think i'm gonna put on my old "BUY UNION, BUY AMERICAN" shirt on and take the bike up to BB for a little look see.

It's been 3 days since I last rewired their Klipsch display.

I'll bet someone has already F**ked it all back up again.

[Bruinsrme]

I was not pleased to see Klipsch move out of Tweeter and into BB.

BB has offered Klipsch a great deal of floor space to sell there product. If so many of stores have the Klipsch set up correctly then perhaps the stores are not being trained or maintained properly. Look at coke and pepsi, their delivery people every so often measure the retail space their product is sitting on. If not correct then Pepsi or Coke lets the store know about it. Perhaps Klipsch needs to send around their reps to various stores to verify the set up. It is a lot of man hours but if they want to sell the product they have to ensure it is ready for demo. Bose does this well andthey sell well.

For this venture to be successful it is going to take klipsch and best buy to work together. Stop blaming the guy making $7.50 an hour. For many of us going into best buy and comparing systems is like a Mustang SVT facing off against the Focus.

The listening room is a necessity. Park a guys *** in a comfortable seat and throw some decent sounding music his way at an affordable price, things will start flying out the door.

Most guys can't think standing up but park their *** on a couch and they think they know everything.

The listeing rooms do not need to be built for the pro audio guy they simply need to provide an envelope to better hear the abilities of the speakers. BB can't afford to build the very best sound rooms after all their profit margin is not all that high.

[easylistener]

BB has the refrence line and Syn. line set up nicely at the best buy by us. They do need work with the computer speakers.

[dodger]

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On 8/12/2003 10:29:39 PM TBrennan wrote:

Klipsch is no longer a quality oriented company but a profit oriented one. PWK is gone. I don't think Hoosier Fred gives a damn where you fellas think he should sell his speakers, what he does care is that he sells lots of them. Best Buy will serve his purpose.

Frankly I wonder why you fellas do care where they're sold, what's it to ya? It's not your business, it's Fred's business.

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Greetings:

I n a way it is all of our Company, as well as Fred's.

How many other speakers would someone be able to post and they sell within a few hours, with many disappointed Forum Members that could not but them.

I don't know what kind of market research Freddie has done, but I commend those at Best Buys that demonstrate them properly.

Unfortunately, that is more of the norm than wished. And that translates into the Reference Line. If people see Klipsch as crap are they going to walk into the store that carries the Reference Line.

Before, you could go to one store see the lines and maybe move up to The Reference.

But now you have two (2) stores and in a good number of posts the speakers are shown in the poorest manner by those not familiar with what the specs are, how long has the company been around (how about this answer to that question: "Geez, we just got 'em so it must be some new company from a hick town.")

Again my accolades to those stores that show the product properly and even more to the Salkes Staff that has taken the time to learn the specs and the Company history.

In business there's a six (5) month learning curve before an employee starts breaking even, then six (6) more months to show full potential.

I called parts and they didn't even have a mid-range horn for a Heresy II. I had to make a few calls to get grille cloth prices. The employees vare trying their best and working their butts off, but I don't see this as close to when HQ was in Hope.

I waited twenty-five (25) minutes for Tech Assisitance today. I hung up

We all have a stake in this company.

WE ARE THE CUSTOMERS. I'll loan Fred any of my books on Marketing and Business Administration.

In those books there are passages about quality, service, etc.. Need I say more ?

Win dodger

[TheEAR]

Audioreality,

"Idiots, that's what $7 an hour will get ya....idiots."

Hold your horses Realistic one,when I was just a youngster with a pizza face I was working at the Rat Shack!Selling Optimus and Realistic speakers and receivers,for less than $7/hour(well with the piss poor comission I got more WEEEE).And selling extended warranty plans to get some real extra fat on the thin paycheck.

After school I realised wait a minute,this job STINKS like rotten meat.You can NEVER be wealthy working at the Rat Shack or any mass market store.I said SEE YA RAT SHACK and found a much better job.Today I would never be able to have even 1/10th of what I own on a BS salary like they pay...even living in an all paid home.

Good I saw the light fast and said CIAO

Not all $7/hour people are idiots,some are just...slow. LOL

And gues what the poor minimum wage and close to minimum wage people are being told they cost TOO MUCH by the greedy swines who send jobs outside north america.I say may those who kill jobs here go to hell and rott in torment.

Without American and European money many of the booming countries who are skyrocketing now would be still economic stinkholes.

And that is a fact