Inside High-end A/V Showrooms

A look at some pricey products and how they stack up against their mainstream counterparts.

Oct. 10, 2008 — by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

I thought it was all over until November…those tiresome, sometimes boring but occasionally fruitful audio/video press conferences. The big manufacturers occupied the summer holiday-preview slots and now the smaller companies take their turn showing off their wares at smaller venues.

Most of the time, the well meaning media relations people were demonstrating a $600 Blu-ray player or $500 home theater in a box…topped off with a $1,500 to $4,500 giant screen, 1080p, 120Hz plasma or LCD screen. But thanks to the crowded room and/or bad speakers, I could rarely hear the difference. 

So I decided to see and hear what the really elite audiophiles, “pro”-sumer video aficionados, top video game geeks and the ultra rich were actually buying and using. I visited one of the top high-end custom design showrooms near my home in New Jersey and then while going to other press events in L.A and Denver, I stopped by private showrooms…sometimes invited, sometimes posing as the super rich.

In those custom design showrooms and high, high, high-end venues (you couldn’t call them stores) there were ashtrays and fruit bowls that cost more than many of the TVs sold in Wal-Mart, Target or even Circuit City. And the salespeople were dressed accordingly; no company T-shirts with logos here, just fancy schmancy suits and designer dresses. 

The names of the companies, especially in the really exclusive showrooms like Stewart, Sim2 multimedia, Runco, Thiel, Sanus, Niles, Meridian, Grado, Audioquest, Escient, Linn and McIntosh, were not unfamiliar. However, I wanted to find out whether the people who owned or operated the showrooms had some recommendations for me as an elite buyer.

I also asked some of the owner-operators what they might recommend for my kid in college or even for their workers who, like most people, couldn’t afford this super elite equipment. Are there off the shelf A/V products they might recommend? Surprisingly, once out of reach from their supervisors, these salespeople often recommended the brands or the products we all use and even those less well known brands available at discount stores or wholesale clubs. The showroom owners themselves had recommendations for the average consumer (I’m guessing the equipment was for the second or third home or servant’s quarters).

Here are some of the showroom owner answers and/or what their employees are buying:

Turntable: $299 vs $9,500
No surprise on the audio front. It would be great to afford that McIntosh MT10, but if you just want to play your old LPs, convert them to high quality CDs and play them on your Blu-ray or component CD player, chose Ion’s LP 2 CD. The company also makes plain affordable turntables, but this is probably your best answer for playing and converting vinyl records to CDs. And like the almost 20-year old Philips play-and-record device, you don’t need a computer to capture the music, preserve it and make it into a CD.

Some $200 turntables that could easily slip into many high priced component audio systems are the Audio-Technica, Pioneer and the Panasonic produced Technics models. In addition, as hard as it to believe, there are 20 year Kenwood, Dual and Sure models (new and still in their boxes) from some on-line dealers that are also terrific alternatives.

Blu-ray/DVD Players - $279 vs $2,000
I borrowed the soon to be released Funai/Philips $279 Blu-ray player and my friend’s $2,000+ Sony special edition player and voila, the terrific resolution of both players was pretty much equal in quality with the DTS audio slightly more rich on the Sony. In all cases, these Blu-ray players were attached to either Runco and/or Epson rear-projection models, and Panasonic plasma or Westinghouse Digital LCD 1080P sets. When doing this experiment in a fancy showroom near my home, the owner and the salespeople had a myriad of reasons why there wasn’t too much difference in the results. But when using older non Blu-DVDs (Standing in the Shadows of Motown - 5.1 channel edition) and Blu-ray “Iron Man,” then the experts did point out some differences in the budget player and the elite player. At least we all agreed on the differences when viewing content that really required some extra upscaling.

Receiver/Amplifier/Pre-Amp - $8,000 vs $800
Not everyone can appreciate or afford an $8,000 Mark Levinson dual mono amplifier from Madrigal, but there are audiophiles chomping at the bit to get the new $800 Emotiva MMC-2 audio-video processor. That processor manages your A/V component system with as much aplomb as the Levinson series, according to some of the salespeople. Utilizing Motorola’s top of the line DSP, you can expect dramatic improvements in all areas of sound reproduction,” said the owner of a Connecticut based audio-video showroom. While watching movies, you will receive amazing clarity and instrument/effects separation. Precision steering logic like you’ve never heard coupled with a simply natural and emotionally engaging sound.

When I mentioned that a budget priced $800 amplifier, audio processor might be too steep for many people, the showroom owner insisted that if you spend only $300, you should build up your component system. “Denon, Sony, Onkyo, Yamaha are now selling single components that too many of us with a trained ear will pass muster even in the fine homes of Connecticut and Westchester county,” the showroom boss said. “And I just sent one of my employees to Costco to pick up a Harmon Kardon system like that for our grandson’s college dorm.”

Video Game Systems - $400 vs $79
Nearly everyone recommended a PlayStation 3 as their top choice for the ultimate in video games because of its built-in Blu-ray player and awesome audio setting in the firmware. And many we spoke to had the Nintendo Wii because they are just plain fun. But for some, even the Wii’s $300-$400 price tag is too steep. Several showroom folks we spoke to purchased Jakk’s Pacific UltiMotion which essentially does the same body bending, running, jumping, shooting, swinging disciplines as the Wii but for a fraction of the price. The UltiMotion game system($79) uses a wireless accelerometer, one of the hottest trends in gaming technology with just about the same experience as the Wii. With a powerful motion controller, arguably as strong and accurate as Nintendo’s (and, for all we know, sourced from the same third party), players will see characters replicate their movements on the TV screen when they jump, wave, and move around. The controller also comes with snap-on toys and plugs directly into the A/V jacks of any standard TV, making it an all-in-one gaming system with no additional console or software needed.

Tabletop Radio - $249 vs $499
Oh, this was not easy. The age old controversy still reigns: Is Bose worth it?...or will the new Tivoli, Polk and even Boston Acoustic system be so much better? The usual talk amongst almost all CE experts is split 60-40 with many believing that some Bose equipment is either overrated or over-priced or both. I have a few of their products and while I am not disappointed with their direct competitors radios and speakers, I have to think twice about my Bose opinion. This argument between the managers and the workers also resulted in quite a surprise. Bose did well as a sort of high-priced budget alternative for those who need to fill a den or small bedroom with music and don’t require super high audio resolution, but have a few bucks to spend. But others recommended a Cambridge Soundworks factory direct tabletop radio at under $250 that reportedly sounded larger and better than the equivalent Bose.

Polk’s table top model was highly recommended by all and Tivoli’s AM-FM Internet Radio was the big talk at many of the showrooms….but unknown to me, another company has apparently snuck ahead when it comes to delivering great tabletop audio quality, features, reliability at an unbelievable price. Sangean has previously made radios for a number of big name vendors (and still does) but, in the last few years, started to market a higher-end acoustic quality tabletop radio that some Electronic House readers and several showroom people suggested more than Bose or Tivoli. It’s priced at about $300.

Loud Speakers/Home Theater in a Box - $100 vs $1,000
I actually have some experience here, as my late uncle left some way-above-my-means equipment to me when he died. So I had half of my home equipped by the finest brands in speakers and the other half…early Wiz, Crazy Eddies and Lafayette.

Back then and now still, I believe once you get above the $300 bookshelf and $600 floor-standing speakers, all these nice wood boxes really rely on their surroundings; size of room, acoustic furniture and wall settings (the showroom people were really adamant about this too). Some people either loved the little Bose bookshelf or thought it was over-priced and not even as good as the under $200 models from Wal-Mart.

The marketing of Bose is sometimes pretty far beyond the sound, admitted a few authorized Bose dealers. But unless the customer really gets a chance to experience and compare other speaker and products in the right way, they don’t get too many requests for returns.

I truly believed and some showroom people agreed that the speaker was the key to whatever all-in-one or component system is being used. “The finest $20,000 CD player with a pro amp-receiver-pre-amp will only sound as good as the speakers that you hear them from,” conceded one veteran dealer near the N.Y.-Massachusetts border. 

Most agreed that a mid level B&W set of speakers costing around $1,000 is going to do better than anything off the shelf at BJs warehouse in the $250 range. But very few showroom experts would argue the fact that the average homeowner on a limited budget wouldn’t find a difference between a mid-priced 5.1 channel HTIAB and 7.1 channel component system.

But there were some brands that everyone recommended in all prices. The entry level Boston Acoustics (about $700) and Yamaha YHT F1500 (around $1,000) seem to be the choice of the “help” while the alleged experts would only suggest a bundled Onyko or Denon component system without speakers for under $2,200.

My opinion? Well I am borrowing a few models from $200 to $3,500 this week and I’ll let you know…

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