NHT is Back!

[admin]

Now Hear This wants you to know it’s coming back to business. The much-loved American speaker manufacturer’s hiatus only lasted a few months – about as short lived as the death of a comic book Superhero before being brought back to life by a miraculous plot-wrinkle. But the comeback for NHT as it relates to its dealers is sure to have a few plot-twists of its own.

Discuss "NHT is Back!" here. Read the article.

 

[rnatalli]

I'm glad to see they made a quick comeback.

 

[oldgoalie33]

I'm glad they are back too. NHT's always been one of my favorite speaker manufacturers.

 

[just listening]

Can't say that I'm surprised. At least they were nice to their dealers and let the inventory empty, instead of starting up their direct-sales business in competition.

If they are smart, they'll follow the Aperion business, customer service model. It's absolutely first-rate from beginning to end.

 

[Adam]

Internet direct for NHT? Awesome. I can't stand the NHT dealer in town (that I bought from), and I would welcome the ability to buy direct from NHT.

 

[griffinconst]

Hey Adam - I didn't buy those 2.5i's. The guy dropped the price too. I'll bet they could be had for $350 or less. I don't know if he'll ship though.

 

[Adam]

Hey Adam - I didn't buy those 2.5i's. The guy dropped the price too.

Have you been drinking? Wait, wrong question - have you NOT been drinking? Get 'em. Get 'em. If they were local and easy to get, I'd seriously consider them. The key being "easy to get." After all, I order cereal online.

 

[ace0001a]

I remember liking the sound of their old floorstanders from the 90s that had the angled front and side firing woofers. In this crappo economy and knowing having not so good experiences with home audio specialty stores, I'm all for the internet direct way. A bit of a rant here...but you'd think local home audio dealers with take into consideration the bad economy and internet competition to want to give you a low ball deal just to make a sale...well apparently alot of them are still on their high horses and only give the time of day to those who have lots of money to spend in this crap economy...ok rant over. I'm a big fan of internet retailers for obvious economic reasons and so I think it's a great move by NHT.

 

[griffinconst]

Have you been drinking? Wait, wrong question - have you NOT been drinking? Get 'em. Get 'em. If they were local and easy to get, I'd seriously consider them. The key being "easy to get." After all, I order cereal online.

Because ceral is so hard to get?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I've always liked NHT.

I'm glad to see them back in action.

And I'm glad to see them going the direct-to-consumer approach.

 

[Boerd]

I just wrote a review for the NHT XD 2.2 which is my current system - about 1 month old...
Glad to see NHT back - when I heard the news I bought the Xd 2.2 from them.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56455

 

[fredk]

A bit of a rant here...but you'd think local home audio dealers with take into consideration the bad economy and internet competition to want to give you a low ball deal just to make a sale...

Or maybe they can't afford to sell at a loss to lowballers. Retail is a tough business and from what I understand there are less and less independants out there. If you are Paradigm or B&W you have the economies of scale and brand awareness to drive sales. Smaller guys like NHT probably have a hard time finding good dealers and both they and their dealers probably had a hard time making money. on the brand.

 

[ace0001a]

Or maybe they can't afford to sell at a loss to lowballers. Retail is a tough business and from what I understand there are less and less independants out there. If you are Paradigm or B&W you have the economies of scale and brand awareness to drive sales. Smaller guys like NHT probably have a hard time finding good dealers and both they and their dealers probably had a hard time making money. on the brand.

When I say "low ball", I'm not talking about selling at a loss. I have friends who used to work for such home audio stores and I'm aware of their general percentage of markup. I worked for a small business myself, so I am aware of how tough retail can be. While I won't pretend to be a man of business, I just simply say it's better to make a sale and make a few bucks rather than lose a potential sale elsewhere in these times when people are cutting back on spending. For me around where I live, I just simply get the impression from these "specialty" home audio stores that they still simply are only motivated to sell to customers with a fat wallet. For me, it wasn't NHT but rather Paradigm. My local Paradigm dealer didn't seem to interested in talking to me when I being a return customer went to them to get a quote on upgrading 5 speakers. The salesman just simply gave me a computer printout with like a 9% discount from retail pricing. On top of that, buying local means you pay sales tax (which is 8.75% where I live). I was looking at walking out the door spending $2400 and to me that's just crazy during these bad economic times. Now also realizing I enjoy this hobby, there was some leeway I wanted to give myself and I was hoping to walk out of there with no more than $2000. So I quickly searched around online and found a reputeable big name online retailer willing to give me a better price. I ended up spending $1900 on the 5 speakers and saving $500 from the local dealer. Now I realize you can argue that the local dealers already are at a disadavantage with charging you tax, but speakers are heavy and so shipping isn't exactly cheap either. Sure shipping isn't as much as tax, but certainly is a small chunk of the overall cost too. My point is that local dealers need to get off their high horses and be more dynamic to the state of the economy. I mean if I could've picked everything up out the door for $2000 locally, I would've done it. I think it's reasonable to presume even small dealers get probably around 30%-40% off of retail that selling speakers even at 20% discount would still make them money. I would like to support local business, but I am also a budget-minded shopper and I'm all for an internet direct business model keeps prices lower.

 

[Boerd]

What do you think about NHT not having 30 days trial on their products?

 

[ace0001a]

What do you think about NHT not having 30 days trial on their products?

To me that would defeat a primary benefit of being internet direct. Basically you'd have to find a dealer who sells them to listen to them and then decide who you would get the best deal from. I guess NHT is trying to have the best of both worlds for themselves only. Not having a 30-day trial would be a major deterrent for me to buy direct from them.

 

[chris357]

i have the 2.5i's and I really enjoy them.. they are my first what i woudl call higher end speakers.. and they pretty much drove me to get separates.. which they eat up and love power.. I started off with a denon avr 3200 reciever moved to a b&k amp and now have a krell kav3250 and they have never sounded better.. the bass is amazing .. I really want to upgrade.. yes I'm an idiot.. but damn I have to spend thousands to get an improvement..

on that note has anyone here compared them to the B&W dm640's?

Thanks from a newbie

 

[fredk]

ace0001a. The numbers I have heard on retail speakers is 40-60% I don't know if thats margin or markup, but either way thats pretty slim. The store owner has to pay all his overhead on that 40-60% and there is plenty of overhead in a retail operation.

Consider that in the heyday of retail, the 70s, markup was in the 100 - 300% range. There was plenty of haggle room for a retailer. Not so now.

I understand your desire for value, I am the same and went the ID route. Just don't put down the retailer for needing to make a living.

 

[Boerd]

To me that would defeat a primary benefit of being internet direct. Basically you'd have to find a dealer who sells them to listen to them and then decide who you would get the best deal from. I guess NHT is trying to have the best of both worlds for themselves only. Not having a 30-day trial would be a major deterrent for me to buy direct from them.

Kind of agree - it is hard to imagine a lot of people buying blindly (deftly ???)

 

[ace0001a]

ace0001a. The numbers I have heard on retail speakers is 40-60% I don't know if thats margin or markup, but either way thats pretty slim. The store owner has to pay all his overhead on that 40-60% and there is plenty of overhead in a retail operation.

Consider that in the heyday of retail, the 70s, markup was in the 100 - 300% range. There was plenty of haggle room for a retailer. Not so now.

I understand your desire for value, I am the same and went the ID route. Just don't put down the retailer for needing to make a living.

Which seems to me that a sale is better than no sale in these tough times. I am sure those customer's who can afford to pay higher prices coupled with those who can't will still allow a retailer to "make a living". I have no sympathy for business owners who complain about business being slow (and yes I have heard them) when the efforts to do whatever it takes (short of selling at a loss of course) to make a sale doesn't seem to be a desireable option. Like I said, I never said anything about selling at a loss. I just said it's better to make a few bucks rather than nothing at all because you lost a potential sale to someone else.

 

[chris357]

Which seems to me that a sale is better than no sale in these tough times. I am sure those customer's who can afford to pay higher prices coupled with those who can't will still allow a retailer to "make a living". I have no sympathy for business owners who complain about business being slow (and yes I have heard them) when the efforts to do whatever it takes (short of selling at a loss of course) to make a sale doesn't seem to be a desireable option. Like I said, I never said anything about selling at a loss. I just said it's better to make a few bucks rather than nothing at all because you lost a potential sale to someone else.

Sure its better to make a little rather than nothing.. but as a person who is in sales.. it seems to me that consumers are using the economy as a way of trying to rationalize the retailers to do below cost sales. they have this attitude that since the economy is so bad you must be dying to get rid of your inventory on this expensive merchandise. "i'm doing you a favor to offer you half just to get rid of it"

honestly these people are the reason we are in such bad shape in this country! as a salesman who gets paid on profit not the gross sale its hard to make a living when the profit is so small.