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Revisiting Best Buy and their McIntosh/Martin-Logan setup

Tom Bombadil

Tom Bombadil

AK Member
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how my local Best Buy store, in their Magnolia high end section, had a $20,000'ish McIntosh / Martin Logan setup out on their floor, using streaming Spotify as their source. And how it so severely impacted the sound. (a thread that went haywire and eventually was closed)

Well, I went back and found that they had significantly upgraded the system. Now they have a high end Sony network storage device, I think it is a HAP-Z1ES, connected into some big DAC, whose name I didn't catch. Also they are now streaming 1411 Tidal (which the manager is paying for out of his own pocket).

I was walking past it and noticed that it sounded MUCH better than what I had heard earlier. Stopped to ask about it.

Also ventured into their back room. I was shocked by how much high end gear was back there. With several pieces running over $10,000. Complete systems in the $50,000 range, and I'm talking stereo systems. More McIntosh gear than I have ever seen before. Not just speakers from B&W, Sonus Faber, and Martin-Logan, like their entry models, but models from up into their $10,000-$20,000/pr range.

At a Best Buy! Just a few yards away from $50 printers, $25 keyboards, blenders, and washing machines.
 
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Which BB in Madison? I have to take my daughter to West Towne Mall next Sunday, (a BB is next door), and I probably would stop in for a "listen"
 
Heard the Mac/ML (summit X) at the "Magnolia" store within a store. Very poor sounding to these ears - thin, without any "body" to the music and rather distant. Then heard the full up Mac "stack" with the B&W "80x" speakers. Again rather underwhelming. Better than the ML but still not much. Lumpy and incoherent sounding.

Color me unimpressed by the "Magnolia" offerings. Not much to the sound. Should be close to blenders, washing machines and cheap printers. Same quality items.
 
jcamero said:
Which BB in Madison? I have to take my daughter to West Towne Mall next Sunday, (a BB is next door), and I probably would stop in for a "listen"
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Yep, that one. They encourage people to bring in a demo CD. I took in a couple I had from my car, not my best demos. I plan to take a couple of my best back to listen to a Sonus Faber speaker.
 
We have one of those Magnolias in E. Loudoun N. Va. I bought a Peachtree integrated amp there and saw a similar demo setup. I was taken aback too. They have a special room to design home theater and outdoor systems. Loudoun is pretty wealthy area after all and I guess they are taking advantage of this but I can't bring myself to buy new Mac from BB.
 
I was just in the store in Sterling (I assume that's the bone you refer to) and today they didn't even have the Mac stuff playing anything :(

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I was in a Houston BB, Mc275, ML speakers. Bass turned all the way up etc. Sad,just sad.
 
I am happy to see the change in demo playback hardware. Puts McIntosh and Martin-Logan to better advantage sonically. Glad to see Magnolia improve and step up their demo experience.
 
the entire Magnolia setup in the Sterling/Dulles store is very well done. I was surprised and pleased to see it close to my home. But I will say it puts me aback due to combo of 1. lack of knowledge by the staff - buy this gear because its good, 2. 'commercialization' of the brands into more mass merchandise product, and 3. even though the separate area of the BB store is unique, there is not really a listening room. They put the "fancy/high end" gear out front to attract attention like a carnival barker, imho.

And at the end of the day who am I to criticize given the state of brick and mortar stores. I worked for an ecommerce co. selling mobile devices. We ran the ecommerce storefronts for Target, Radio Shack, Dell, Walmart, etc. Margins are tight and these kind of sales require specific expertise and patience.
 
So these wealthy people that actually spend $50,000 on a home stereo..

Will they be one day dropping it all off at the local salvation army for us?? :banana::banana::banana:
 
I do like audiophiles who upgrade often. I built my system on buying 3 to 5 year old gear at about 50% of list price. From audiophiles who took great care of the equipment. From my perspective, it was essentially new gear.

It is a good thing when people buy high end audio equipment. The manufacturers benefit, the stores benefit, the economy benefits, and some of us get good deals on the used gear.
 
reddog48 said:
Heard the Mac/ML (summit X) at the "Magnolia" store within a store. Very poor sounding to these ears - thin, without any "body" to the music and rather distant. Then heard the full up Mac "stack" with the B&W "80x" speakers. Again rather underwhelming. Better than the ML but still not much. Lumpy and incoherent sounding.

Color me unimpressed by the "Magnolia" offerings. Not much to the sound. Should be close to blenders, washing machines and cheap printers. Same quality items.
Click to expand...

Maybe it was the room or the setup?.. I've been a couple of times to the local Magnolia to listen.. The one thing that really stood out about the B&W 801s was the definition in the bass, truly excellent.
 
I also heard the Mc gear at the BBY in Scottsdale over the weekend. I was also somewhat shocked at the amount of McIntosh gear they had on display. MC601s, MC452, D150, C50, MX121, MC8207, etc. The salesman I spoke to was very nice and did his best to make my time there enjoyable, allowing me to listen to anything I wanted to. Once he figured out that I knew a whole lot more than he did about Mc and audio in general, he began asking me questions in an effort to learn how to better demonstrate the equipment - from optimizing vinyl playback to system design. He and I spoke for about 20 minutes and I even helped him to pick a Mc amp that would best suit a pair of speakers that a customer of his had already purchased. He thanked me repeatedly.

Our hobby is dying on the vine. AK is not a reflection of it, it's a reflection of we super enthusiasts. With very few exceptions, forever gone are the days of walking into the local brick and mortar stores in your market and having well educated audio enthusiasts at your disposal. BBY stores with a Magnolia Design Center will be carrying Mc, B&W, ML, etc. If you've got one near you, go in and meet the salespeople. They're young and excited. They lack the knowledge we have as they didn't grow up in the heydays of audio - they've grown up in the heyday of the smart phone. I see nothing at all wrong with providing a little guidance to them.

Oh, and they had the MC275 VI driving some ML speakers set up prominently in the very front of the design center. Nearly everyone that walked by stopped to marvel at it and point at the glowing tubes.
 
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The good old days--when I started getting some decent gear (in the 70's) had it's full share of sales people who knew little beyond the price.
 
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