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Questions and answers
Buying home theatre gear the easy way
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Beating the buying blues
Q. How do I go about shopping for home theatre gear?
A. First up, choose to do your shopping at reputable retailers and then buy from them. There's a tendency for people to use specialist outlets to gather the information they need to select the right product or products for their needs, then go and shop around elsewhere for the lowest price for those same items where, in my experience, the cost saving is usually relatively minor.
To me this type of tactic is at best cheeky and unfair, particularly since discount houses rarely employ staff that can help people make informed increments in home entertainment gear - that's why the info gathering at specialist shops, because they know more.
This becomes uglier when these people strike a problem with their newly acquired gear, can't get any after sales service for the relevant products from their point of sale and then turn to the specialist retailers for help. It becomes downright offensive when those same people are annoyed when those specialist outlets can't give them the assistance they need (and often arrogantly demand), or justifiably need to charge a fee.
Before, during and after sales service are costs and those costs are built into the margins of the products being sold - and those margins are often not all that wide. Remove some of those services and you reduce costs and the associated margins, so you can then sell a cheaper product, but you can't afford to offer the levels of service required long term in the home entertainment market. It's the so-called bucks for boxes industry and it's not specific to home entertainment.
With that off my chest here's a 5-point plan to easily negotiate the selection process via specialist retailers:
1. Demonstrations should be conducted in rooms designed for viewing and listening to home theatre gear.
2. Choose stores with relaxed, comfortable atmosphere that conducive to making the right choice of equipment.
3. Spending as much time as you need to be comfortable with the investment decision you intend to make.
4. Use familiar source material (DVDs and CDs you know and love) to do your auditioning.
5. Maintain an open mind about products and their synergies because there are a lot of effective home entertainment solutions out there.
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