Marantz Closeout

[Buckeyefan 1]

Anyone interested in Marantz receivers, check out this site...

www.ubid.com/actn/opn/getpage.asp?AuctionId=800290429

This is $500-$600 below this years offering! There are two separate auctions for the 8400. Check out all the bids for the one! I can vouch for this site for you. I got my Denon 3805 here and the service and shipping was outstanding and fast.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

What is UBid? Is that an Ebay imitator?

 

[pynchon]

I bought a speaker on Ubid before - worked fine.

 

[guess88]

ubid's ok, just watch those shipping charges.. they can be outrageous sometimes.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Ubid is a part of Bizrate. Shipping is actually very low for receivers. It is high for small items like cameras, memory, and portable dvd players. They are much much better than ebay. You call, and actually get someone on the phone to talk to you after a few minutes wait. They have very very low prices on audio. Some is "B" stock, but is rebuilt by the maufacturer, not some type of scam. I'd say they are more like Amazon.com than ebay. You have my full thumbs up to order from them. I honestly check out as many ratings as possible before I order from an etailer. They are one of the best.

 

[MikeMA]

You have my full thumbs up to order from them. I honestly check out as many ratings as possible before I order from an etailer. They are one of the best.

BuckeyeFan - took your heads up last week and sprung for the Denon 3805 at UBid. Received it this morning (at work). Looks good so far - repackaged, but the parts and pieces are there. Did you receive a warranty card? There is none in the box.

Looks like the Marantz deal came and went with no takers. They had 10 available; no bids. Do you know how long UBid puts those "closeouts" out for? You are right - that was a good deal! Not enough to sway me away from the Denon though.

Thanks again for the heads up - I'll put the Denon through it's paces tonight to check the innards.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Mike,

No warranty card either. You don't need one. I called Denon and asked if I could upgrade the remote from the black foil to the blue foil. I have a bright room, and they just needed a copy of my receipt from Ubid and the serial number on the unit. Did your unit come with any cosmetic defects? Mine was perfect-internally and externally, and has been for a month and a half. I love it. I placed another order from Ubid for a subwoofer. Can't wait to get it. It's hard to find an internet company that has great pricing and actually answers the phone. Thanks for trusting my feeds. Hopefully some others will benefit from our advice. What was your price out the door?

TC

 

[MikeMA]

Price was $799 + $26 shipping. There was not a mark on it. Got to test it out this weekend. So far so good, as far as I went with it. Sounds great with my Paradigms. The only problem is the remote keeps hanging, which is a known problem documented in other threads. I have to keep taking the batteries out and putting them back in. Like you, I will probably swap the remote. (Not a huge deal, since I intend to use my Harmony remote anyway).

I had the unit shipped to work, so UBid called to have me verify the alternate address with my credit card company. Once it shipped, it only took 2 days via Fedex ground. Trouble free. I absolutely would do business with UBid again.

The reason I went UBid is that my local Tweeter wouldn't budge on price. After I bought it I got an email for 15% off audio gear from Tweeter. Still not enough for me to change my mind, but since it included accessories, I went down to purchase the microphone. The mic should be here Thursday. Timing is everything.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Mike,

Interesting. Funny how these guys have discounts all of a sudden. Let us know if the mic is better than manual setup. I used the old school tape measure from my listening position and it seems to be pretty accurate. It's been two weeks on my remote. Nothing yet. I emailed Denon to see what's up. Probably should have shipped it Fedex rather than the useless USPS priority mail. I'd like to upgrade the remote. It's less than impressive. You say you have a Harmony? Will it do everything the Denon does? Do you have a website I can see one/pricing info? I also added a cpu fan over the 3805 since it generates so much heat. Seems to be working perfectly.

 

[MikeMA]

I have the Logitech Harmony 688 - I got it because of great word of mouth and that it works well with DVRs. I have the Comast 6412 HD DVR, and the 688 has two extra FF/RW buttons that can be used for skipping commercials, DVD chapter skip & RW, etc. The Harmony 659 is cheaper, and doesn't have the two buttons.

Really easy to use for input switching etc. Just a matter of pushing "watch TV", or "watch DVD". Simple for wife and kids.

The Harmonys are good because you set them up via USB cable over the via their web page interactively - the LCD menu options are programmable and the screens can be paged down to include many additional options that say, the Denon 3805 would have. I plan on putting the "lip synch" feature of the Denon 3805 on the LCD, as I have this issue occasionally on the Samsung TV. Haven't put the 3805 on the remote yet, but I'll let you know how it turns out.

I got the best deal through Buy.com. Harmony's customer support is superb.
There is a coupon floating around for a 25% rebate, but you have to buy like, today! (I'm not endorsing this one, so you are on your own!).
http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php?t=17515&highlight=harmony+659

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Mike,

Nice remote! The new 880 is awesome! A little pricey though. Thanks for the discount link. So you just plug it into a usb port, log on to Logitech's site, and put in your A/V model numbers? Very cool. Now the wife can use it too.

www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/detailsharmony/US/EN,CRID=2084,CONTENTID=9933

 

[MikeMA]

Correct.

That's the first time I've seen the 880. Pretty slick. There is a ton of info on the remotecentral.com forums about these remotes - a whole forum devoted to Harmony. Do a search on Denon 3805 and you'll find out what's happening.

 

[MikeMA]

That Marantz 8400 is on the move at UBID again...Going out to bid. Looks like they have 113 ea. available - no reserve...and a bunch of $345 bids. Are they really willing to take whatever for these?