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Disappointed in SACD player

Well, there I was yesterday. At the chain store who Sony has designated as their retail point of attack for SACD in the Philadelphia, PA region. Tweeter, formerly known as Bryn Mawr Stereo and Video. Formerly, Bryn Mawr Stereo(but we all know what happened there). Since my recent misfortunes with CD players, I was considering a jump to a Sony SACD player. One thing about Sony, their stuff is reliable. I found one player, the 5 disc changer. It was hooked up in a HT setup. Not even prominently. There was also another CD player in this system, along with a DVD-V player. As no salesman came into the room, I didn't pursue. I found no other player in the store. Finally, when we were looking at tv's, someone asked us if we needed help. I asked about SACD, and was told two players were on display. I asked to see the one that I didn't see. I was taken to a wall of DVD players, and sure enough, the ES9000 was there. Not hooked up, sitting there like all of the other DVD players. And in fact, THAT IS HOW THIS STORE IS MARKETING IT. As a DVD player! The guy gave me the big spiel on it, from a DVD perspective. 12 bit scan, instead of 10, etc., etc., etc. All of which is meaningless to me. I am not a HT or DVD guy. I spend my time on two channel audio. The guy left me less interested in the player than when I came in. They could not even find any SACD material in the entire store. Not even a sampler. I came in wanting to be impressed, wanting to leave with the desire to buy an SACD player. Needless to say, I probably won't be buying very soon. Wasn't this supposed to be Sony's summer of all out SACD offensive? Players starting at $350(which still will probably come), creating interest with the general public and lifting the new format to something beyond the niche of the lunatic fringe. As it is now, it is not even as recognizable as DAT, and miles behind MD(which was very prominent in the store). Both of which are monumental flops in the words of Sony.
trelja

Showing 4 responses by lornecherry

lornecherry
135 posts
 
Although I concur with the abysmal in-store knowledge with respect to SACD and DVD-A, HMV.com has one of the best on-line specialty sections for these two formats. My AMEX has got a good workout at HMV.com and the prices are far better than in any specialty audio store in the Toronto region. Worth checking out.

The biggest problem with SACD and DVD-A is the wide quality gap between recordings --some are good and some are no are barely better than Redbook and clearly inferior to the better XRCD or HDCD discs.

Thanks for the Toronto Towers Tip (try saying that real fast!) Stereokarter, I'll be heading down to Towers to see what they have. --Lorne
lornecherry
135 posts
 
Checked out Towers, HMV and Sams in downtown TO today. Rather disappointing, although I was able to depart with about $250 in SACDs that I hope I like. The biggest store, Sam the Record Man, told me bluntly that they don't carry SACD, even though they carry a small selection of DVD-As. Towers so called 'high end' section is little more than 30 discs, mostly the Sony remasters and none of the better small lable stuff. DVD-A is still a joke with respect to selection --I believe multichannel SACD will soon overtake it.

HMV.com is still the best source by far and the prices are better than the store by at least 10%. Shipping and delivery times are also very good, at least if your Canajun. By the way, I'm finding that JVCs XRCD sound as good as SACD and sometimes better on the SCD-1 -- seems there is good synergy between the Sony and this format. But I can only take so much Jazz, and the xrcds selections are skewed towards Jazz and Blues.

Still can't stand many Redbook CDs in Sony SCD-1, no matter what filter I try. And I'm unsure if I should buy a good DAC (seems a shame that the big Sony requires a DAC) or wait for the new EMC-2 with 24/192 and use that exclusively for Redbook. --Lorne
lornecherry
135 posts
 
Thanks Leafs, the AA Capitole and Mephisto II, along with the EMC, are on my CD short list -- they're also damm expensive, and as I've been so severly underwhelmed at the dealers I visited today, I need to be blown away before I'll part with my next $10K on audio or HT (Bay Bloor Radio has really turned into another Future shop.)

I'm going try to get out to Hamilton in the next month, as I think the same dealer you mentioned also has Merlins set up and some other well reviewed stuff I'd like to hear. Perhaps, they may even take me seriously, unlike my experience(s) today.....

.....funny thing about the high end dealers in TO. Today, I was dressed in sweat pants and T-shirt. The salesmen at Bay Bloor Radio wouldn't even look at me, even though I was about to lay out 9 large ones for a Pioneer 710 Big Screen. Same crap at Audio Excellence -- salesman showed me a pair of $36,000 Sonus Faber -- but never even offered me a listen, thinking I would never buy them. Hopefully, the dealers in the West End and Hamilton you've suggested will be better. Today, I was so frustrated that I'm giving serious thought to opening my own high end shop -- shouldn't be hard to steal business from the overpriced, underserviced downtown mid-fi shops.
lornecherry
135 posts
 
Yes, the dealer has a right to bluntly "not discount" if demand exceeds supply (this happens with cars all the time when a new model comes out --i.e. try to get a discount on a Honda S2000 or Plymoth Prowler.) But the real issue here is how the dealer handled the customer when he could not accomodate the customer's needs. A simple explanation such as: "Maggies are in very short supply at the time and therefore unlike many other of the lines we sell, I can't discount them." But I can .....

If the dealer leaves the customer with "a good taste in their mouth" (no matter what the pricing structure is at the time or whether any sale is made) both the customer and the dealer benefit. The dealer benefits when the customer returns to buy other stuff that may have been sitting around for a while, or some high margin stuff, such as cables. For example, my local dealers all know that I buy on eBay and audiogon, and two of the three except that and work hard to fill the gap with respect to convenience and stuff that is not available on the net. I may not have spent $10K with my local dealers, but I have bought a lot of high margin cables, SACD's, etc. and over the course of the year, have spent more than some of their mid-fi customers buying complete setups.

In the case of the Maggies, when the dealer handles this more professionally, as per the examaple, the customer benefits by knowing the dealer couldn't help him this time with respect to the current purchase, but the door is open for the future -- a true win-win situation. This Maggie dealer clearly blew it, as he has lost much more than a Maggie sale -- he has lost a customer forever. And customers, unlike Maggies, are always in short supply.
--Lorne
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