One Year Speaker Upgrade

[mwheelerk]

I'm just curious if dealers in your area offer this speaker upgrade path. One dealer in particular will allow you to purchase a set of speakers and keep them for up to one year. Within that one year period they will allow you to upgrade to another speaker and recieve your full purchase price back. In my current situation I am considering the Paradigm Studio 60s which retail for $1600. They will sell them to me for about $1470. Within one year I could upgrade to the Studio 100s which retail for $2200. I would get the full $1470 off of the $2200 (not a discounted price again) but would have to pay only the $730 for the Studio 100s. What do you think of this deal. It sounds good to me.

 

[corysmith01]

Lots (if not most) do offer this. I'm on the current path right now, having just purchased B&W DM601's (decidedly not that "high end") with the hopes of moving up the chain each year. It's a very enticing proposition. I wish car buying worked the same way.

 

[WooHoo]

It's a great way to continue to evolve your system. That and the guy that buy's your old 60's gets to perhaps upgrade his system and so on and so on. Everyone wins!

More dealers should install this policy.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Just keep in mind the word "retail". If you pay retail you are probably paying more than an online etailer with shipping. Would you be able to trade in your speakers next year if the Studio 100's were on clearance for less than what you paid for yours? I doubt it. Would you be forced to pay retail for the newer model or get the sale price on "trade up"? They are not going to take a loss. Circuit City does that here and it's not all its cracked up to be. Ask those questions, and get the answers in writing. It's a great way to upgrade, but sometimes a little more costly.

 

[Nomo]

Sounds like a similar scenario to leasing a car. A great deal for some one who wants to always have something new. But given the fact you are paying a premium, that being "retail", not so great if you wish to keep them long term and can get them at discounted or internet prices.

 

[warnerwh]

My system has been being upgrade since the eighties. It's at the point where I could buy 20,000 dollar speakers and not get much more. It started with a Technics receiver and Jensen speakers and has climbed ever since. I learned that buying good used gear was the best way to go, at least for me. You can get products at about half price and when you want to upgrade you can sell and take little loss. Also buying used stuff let's you buy a much better product for the same money. Most people take good care of their equipment so it's really a good way to go. If you take at all of the excellent used gear on audiogon.com and Ebay you'll see alot of people selling to upgrade. You just take the same money, add a few hundred or so, and move up. Just remember that speakers are the most important piece in the chain.
To answer your question about upgrading, I know of some internet companies that will let you have a trial and upgrade with a full purchase price credit for upto a year. It's a good path also but I like the used gear route because there's ton's of various products and if you don't like it you can turn around and sell it.

 

[warpdrive]

It's definitely a very nice option for people that expect to upgrade often (like me). After a while, I'm itching for an upgrade just because, hey, I like *stuff*.

If you don't take advantage of the plan, they you might have paid more than you should have....but for the most part, you can come out ahead even if you use the option once.

 

[Leprkon]

Just keep in mind the word "retail". If you pay retail you are probably paying more than an online etailer with shipping.

the only point worth aguing here is that many of the better quality brands (Paradigm, for example) will only sell through retailers and have no on-line sources for new items. as you move to the upper stuff, some trade-in protection is worth considering

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

Actually, Paradigm seems to be an anomoly as far as I can see. Most other high end brands, NHT, B&W, Monitor Audio, Epos are all available through online distributors.

 

[Bryguy]

B&W E-tailer?

Shadow Ferret,

I would love to know who sells B&W online. I've done a lot of searches and couldn't find didley. I was under the impression B&W was one of the few that refuses to go down that road. If I'm wrong how about throwing us a couple of links for them.

Thanks

Bryguy

 

[warpdrive]

There are some speaker makers that sell their speakers online, but at the same time are not allowed to discount them at all. You are always better off going to the store, and bargaining with them. Speaker margins are pretty large and you can get 15%-30% off depending on the brand if you show up at the door of the dealer.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

I have yet to have a dealer give me any sort of discount, much less 15-30%. Certainly nowhere near what I can get online. For instance, my NHT dealer says the SB1s are $150 a piece, firm. But I can get them online for $210 a pair. I think the dealer knows he's the only game in town for NHTs, just as the Paradigm dealer knows he's the only source, and so on. It isn't like Polk or Athena where every national chain electronics store has them and is discounting them to get your dollar.

And as far as the B&Ws, I guess I missread what I was looking at. When I traced down the "available at" links it merely shows the speakers but you can't fill your shopping cart with them.

 

[warpdrive]

I guess it depends on the dealer, I've NEVER more than 80% of MSRP on any speaker. If the dealer doesn't budge, I go to another dealer. Even electronics I always get a discount at my local audio store. At least 15% on DVD players, 15% on receivers etc.

Paradigm is a bit more stingy than others. And my local B&W has the trade up policy so he's full MSRP. So your mileage may varying depending on the dealer. I find the independent ones more likely to be willing to deal. For example, I went to shop for a Mirage speaker at a Good Guys store in Las Vegas and the Great Indoors home store....their policy is full price unless on sale. But my local independent dealers here regularly will knock 20-25% off the price.

Also, I do wait until after winter clearances, sometimes there are good deals to be had.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

heh

You're probably just better at dickering than I am.

That's the main reason I prefer online -- I don't enjoy dealing with salesmen and never feel confident I got the best deal I could. We even bought our current car online through autotrader.

 

[warpdrive]

heh

You're probably just better at dickering than I am.

That's the main reason I prefer online -- I don't enjoy dealing with salesmen and never feel confident I got the best deal I could.

I use the best of both worlds...I do both.

Sometimes you can't beat online deals, sometimes dickering gives you the better price. For speakers, I've always done better in person (for speakers, saving the big shipping costs by picking up yourself is a bin win).

 

[20to20K]

Tweeter offers the same policy...

I bought a pair of Polk LSi15's($1500 paid/$1750 list) last August and I went back last month to see if they had anything I'd be interested in upgrading to. The only model they had that was a significant improvenment over my Polks were the Sonus Faber Grand Piano($4000 list).

The speakers were definitiely better...I couldn't convence myself that they were almost three times better. I went into another shop that had B&W 804's ($3200) and Paradigm 100s ($2200). I may have considered upgrading to one of these...but I didn't buy my Polks from them (even though they sold them) so I could use their upgrade policy.

I guess my point is make sure the shop you're buying your speakers at have speakers you may be interested in upgrading to when you make your original purchase. I didn't and now if I want to upgrade I got to come up with a gob of money or go the Ebay route to sell mine. I won't be doing that as I really still enjoy my Polks.

Someday I'll just buy the speakers I really want for my main system and use the Polks for another system.

Enjoy...