I dont know who's toes im gonna step on but ill let you guys in on some stuff. The audio industry is based roughly on a 60 to 90% markup. Buy your equiptment from mom and pop shop establishments (make fully sure about your warranty information beforehand) and stay away from those big chains. They offer no room for bargaining and they charge a grip. All audio equiptment except the high end products are basically comparable to each other when you get down to sound quality. What you are paying for are features and little extras that DO NOT make the quality of the music any better. The radio is a source unit and their built in amps all sound like crap. That is why all high end radios do not include high power. The debate of whether eclipse, nakamichi, or alpine sounds better will never be answered to everyones liking.....audio is a matter of personal opinion. Some people like flashy, some people prefer simplicity, etc.etc. its the same thing in any industry. Opinions come down to what the dealer is trying to sell at that moment, remember all shops do not get the deepest discounts on all brands, so whatever is gonna leave the largest profit is gonna be the " hottest brand." The audio industry is in a giant mess at the moment and everyone is struggling to stabilize the market. Sorry about the rambling......im bored at work. Anyways, let me know if you are looking at any particular product and ill get you the wholesale cost......that way youre in a better position to justify if that head unit is worth buying over a beautiful header or some cams!

 

Nice, an ad in two hundred words or more.

I would like a Brax amp.

I also live near the McIntosh factory but they won't sell directly to me. Can you help?

Seriously though, if you can get Soundstream Class A's below what I'm paying now for them, I'll buy from you.

 

i agree that the markup is huge...i have a friend who works at a stereo place, and for example, he can give me an eclipse unit (i think it the 5441?) that they sell for $499 for $367, and he is still making a profit on it. they do this ALL the time too.....

 

nice post. When i am looking into buying some audio stuff i will hit you up!

 

I'm intrested, I also sent you an IM.

 

Hey people, this is not an ad~! im NOT selling anything. just lettin people know the wholesale cost of audio stuff~

 

I think some people mistook this statement as you can sell them something at cost.

yoshi - who knew he meant wholesale pricing

 

dj equipment is the same for the most part since its still in the "audio" realm....only thing not marked up like crazy is the Technic turntables....guitar center was selling em for $425 and was losing $20 on each one they sold at that price in hopes of the purchaser buying things like a mixer/needles/mats etc. but i bought $150 Sony Headphones at like 5% above cost and i paid $47.60 or something absurd.

 

buy your audio stuff from your friends that work at CCity unless you want elite stuff. its all 50% or more off.

 

Although I strongly agree with your post about 60-90 percent mark ups, I have to disagree with the quality differences in various components. Being in the stereo industry competitively I competed almost all of the IASCA, USAC and DbDrag Racing events I could from 96-00. There IS a significant difference between speakers and amplifiers. When you break down all the frequencies that a speaker can read and the clarity of it (IE: SOUND QUALITY) some speakers just outdo others every time. I've never seen MB QUART or BOSTON PROs get beat by a joe shmoe speaker company for sound quality. Same goes for subwoofers - you get what you pay for. If you are going to buy some piece of crap sub with a paper cone on it, of course it's not going to handle the wattage that a 20 lb magnet dual thickness cone sub has. Quality does matter with stereo and it IS reflected through price.

 

A Jensen (if you conside them "joeshmoe") sponsored Toyota beat me in 1996 in SQ. I was using Canton speakers. I think we both know that it's not always the speaker, sometimes, the install has just as much influence.



[Modified by fangtl, 8:05 PM 1/4/2002]

 

I still get it cheaper , I paid less than $367 for my Eclipse CD8051

 

Just like anything high performance, it's all in the tuning. I spent about 12 hours tuning my 1/3 octave equalizer, my 5 band quasi-parametric equalizer, and the crossover frequencies and slopes. God do I love my Precision Power and MB Quart products, though they've been gathering dust lately.
Austin

 

im not sure where you get 60 to 90 percent off. there is not a single brand that i know of that has above 55 percent list markup.

true, you can get stuff directly from the mftcr for that much off. but there are not any shops that get their gear at that much off.

most video stuff is between 20-35 % mark up

most home audio gear is between 30-40 if that

thanks for austin chimming in

 

I work at a REPUTABLE A/V chain selling 12V. We charge full retail and will back you up AFTER the sale. If a store discounts deeply, then they are going to take your money and run. That's it. Try getting help when you run into a problem.

"Charge a grip?" Have you heard of MSRP? Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price? This is what the manufacturer suggest it be sold at to be competitive and make a profit and be fair to other dealers, Why do you think all these mom and pop stores who are cutting deals are going out of business? Why make $20, when you should be making $100? They are hurting themselves!!!

There is nothing that pisses me off more than talking to a customer about a product, explaining the technical aspect of car audio and have them pick my brain, just to hear them say, "I'm going to shop around for a better price". I have no problem with people shopping around for a better price, but if you don't plan to buy from me at all, don't come into my ******* store and waste my time. I work on commission this is what puts a roof over my head and puts food into my mouth.

So you think that all car audio products are the same? All internal amplification in decks sound like crap? For most people, a "high power 60x4W" deck like an Alpine CDA7875 with their MOSFET chip will be fine. This thing benches out 23 or so watts RMS with relatively low THD... good enough for most people. The reason why CD Tuners exist (CD Receivers have internal amplification) is because some people will automatically use an external amp right away. You don't think a feature like an Infrasonic filter on your subwoofer amp will increase improve sound? Do you not think that a class D amplifer being more efficient and less strain on the car's electrical system will free up more current to be used for musical peaks and transients, making your system sound more dynamic overall?

You're right, sound is subjective, but people in general feel that Eclipse and Nakamichi are "better sounding" than Alpine.... there's nothing wrong with that because in general, it's true. But I'd still take whatever is replacing the Alpine CDA7969 just because it has time delay and more flexible crossovers. If a deck has certain features which meet your needs, so for it.

You'll hook people up at wholesale cost? Really, how nice of you. The dealer you are getting all this transshipped stuff from must either be a total idiot, your "wholesale cost" must be marked up or must have robbed a store. I'm sure you must be doing this because you're such a nice guy.

So how do you know so much about the audio industry? Let's go.

P.S. Please don't take any of this personally, I'm just in a pissed off mood and felt like ranting..... I'm having difficultly dealing with my birthday.. I'm getting too old.




[Modified by dc24me, 11:17 PM 1/4/2002]

 

if you cant ******* handle this aspect of your job....quit and find another or quit-yer-bitchin cause its part of it. there is no rule saying "our salesmen work on commission, if you ask them a question you MUST purchase something from them" its a damned store and people if they are smart check stuff out and ask questions from numerous people and places BEFORE they buy something...