speaker dillema

[derekwwww]

Ok so heres my dillema...

I bought a Yamaha RX-V1500 receiver and a pair of psb image 4t towers and really liked it. So one of my psb's sounds bad on some frequencies now and I have to take it back to a&b sound on warrenty. They dont have anymore of those speakers and cant get anymore so I am stuck with getting something else that they have their. I paid $400 canadian for the psb's on boxing day and now I know when I take them back and get something else worth $400 I wont beable to get a speaker that is as good as these psb's were. Thats my dillema. Am I stuck getting a non-boxing day deal on myboxing day deal that I thought I got which I did on the speakers. But I paid $700 canadian for the amp which i could have gotten cheaper online that I noticed after I bought it

[jasmit]

If the speaker is under warranty, will they not either repair it or send it back to PSB to be repaired?

If, in the final analysis, you are faced with replacing your PSB Image 4t speaker, you can always try looking for one or advertising that you want one on e-bay or audiogon. It's a long shot, but may be worth a try.

Also, there are still some retailers who advertise online that they sell PSB Image 4t's, but if they are normally sold in pairs, you'd end up having to buy two. For example, Upscale Audio in Upland, California is currently advertising N-I-B PSB Image 4t's for $479. I don't know if they are an authorized dealer and/or whether or not they come with a warranty, but I gather that's not a bad price. Sound City in Denville, NJ advertises them for $399 a pair. I don't know if any of these stores have them in the finish you want.

Good luck!

[RGA]

A&B sound screws a lot of people - they always play victim to FutureSHop's bully tactics but A&B Sound is bad.

They are in cahoots with the insurance folks as well - if your speakers get damaged the insurance directs you to A&B sound so if you have Quad speakers you are sent to A&B sound and are stuck buying what A&B sound carries. And nothing they carry is in that league.

I would start raising some hell - they MUST either give you your money back or replace the speaker with the current model of the speaker you purchased or of course have the spekaer you purchased repaired - they CAN NOT under any circumstance give you any other speaker including PSB's that are not from that line - don't let them pull that BS tactic.

As for the receiver there is not much you can do on that - most of these companies like Future Shop raise the price a few weeks before Christmas and their sale price on Boxing day is no deal at all - this of course is illegal in Canada but the governement is understaffed and no one follows through on these practices - it would be nice if the government would fine Future Shop and A&B Sound say $1billion dollars for every infraction they find - honest mistake?(doubtful and tough luck). There is also a law tha indicates a Sale Price can only be in effect for a certain number of days related to the regular list price. I bought Schindler's List boxed set when it cam out at around $75.00. The regular price was $89.00. At no time did Future SHop EVER sell the dvd at $89.00 - a month later they changed the regular price to $44.00 and the sale price to $39.00. At no time have they sold the DVD at $44.00 either. This is of course illegal in Canada but no one other than me and some other people who got screwed over are going to care - and it's not worth the hassle to fight it - they have the big lawyers after all. But I no longer buy any boxed sets - sooner or later I will get it the disc for at least half of what they sell for. I have noticed the $169.00 Star Trek TNG seasons are now $99.99. Patience.

The Receiver - you MAY be able to get a price match from them - so if it's within 30 days and you see it advertised at futureshop for less you can bring that advert back to A&B and they will give you the difference back. Future Shop will give you the difference plus 10% of the difference.

Heck the A&B Sound here doesn't even carry PSB - so they must be telling their customers to take JBL - man I hate big box chains - it's bad enough they screw people for those added warranties.

[derekwwww]

A&b talked me into buying a 6 year warreny on my receiver for $100, I shouldnt havedid that? I am heading to a&b right now I will let you guys know what I come back with!

[RGA]

A&b talked me into buying a 6 year warreny on my receiver for $100, I shouldnt havedid that? I am heading to a&b right now I will let you guys know what I come back with!


Some people believe in warranties and some believe in the 1/5 rule that if the warranty is 1/5 the purchase price it's worth buying. I believe both are a scam.

Audio product come with a 1 year warranty some come with 2. For amplifiers cd players etc - The highest point of breakdown occurs within the first week you use the item. For cd players an item will break down either in the first week or sometime after SEVEN years. Between those two points it is highlyunlikely you will have a unit failure.

Note that this averaged across all cd players so of course there will be the odd ones that crap out in year 2-6. The reason warranty makers are in business is because they are very good at statistics and most consumers are not.

They are basically providing a warranty during the very period where items are LEAST likely to fail. In the case of cd players year 2-6(Though I doubt they will give you a warranty on the cd player past about 4years.

Now let's say they collect their $100.00 from 100 people who bought Yammie receivers. They may get 3 failures during the warranty period (and I suspect that is high with regards to amps) - they collected $10,000.00 of free cash. They could replace the 3 receivers completely with brand new units - (They no doubt have struck a deal to get the units at the manufacturer's cost and receivers don't cost more than about $50.00. All I can say is it might be the one area that's more profitable than selling cables - the house always wins.

Now let's say you've bought ten items over a 5 year period all of which have $100.00 warranties - you've spent $1000.00. Chances are none of the items will break down in that EXTRA warranted time - but even if the $700.00 reciever goes up in smoke - you could buy a brand new one and still be $300.00 ahead of the game.

I go by a simple rule - if it lasts one year chances are it will last at least 5 years - most warranties other than the amp and some speakers will cover more than 3. ANd generally after 3 years the replacement is cheaper.

FS was trying to get me to spend $150.00 on a warranty for a 4.0 mega pixel SD 300 Canon $500.00 digital camera. It would go from 1 year to an extended 3 years. Let's say the camera broke down a month before the 3rd year. Oh aren't you smart for paying $150.00 - trouble is by then an equivlant camera will be right around $150.00 brand new. And maybe 1/50 will break during that "extended" period - most will fail right out of the box or not for years. So you chucked out a $150.00 - I'd rather use the money to buy lotto tickets - at least they're a bit amusing.

[derekwwww]

Ok so I am back and I now have a pair of Pro-Linear Euro Series PTX50T towers. They were $700 and I got them for a straight trade with the psb's that i paid $400 for but were original $800. I cant seem to find much info on these speakers anywhere on the net except their site:

http://www.pro-linear.com/euro_series.htm

anyone got any info? They sound alright so far havent turned them up though.

[Feanor]

Are hugely profitable for vendors. That's why they plug them so hard. And for the reason that RGA indicates, i.e. units aren't likely to fail in the 2-3 year time frame. I totally agree with him that you ought to "self-insure" under almost all circumstances.

Of course there have been a few times I wished I'd had the warantee, but overall I'm away ahead for declining them.

[Vegabond]

man, RGB, everything you said in BOTH posts are completely un justified and have no fact behind them. I have my doubts that you have ever worked in retail. A&B's warranty is an insurance policy through Walker Group Inc., check them out, A&B pockets as much as a DVD player sale. $50.00 cost on a receiver!? you have NO idea do you? The A&B Claims in cahoots? wow, conspiracy theorist mabe? Its a service, and A&B Claims has the ability to source stuff the stores can not. Been to an A&B lately? They don't carry games but people walk out of claims with armloads of them. Oh yhea, SUPPLIERS set the costs of product (ir. Schindlers List). The cost that movie was higher at release, the suppliers make their money, then drop the cost to spur more sales. Retailers get no notice thats going to happen. Let me know your sources on all this info, like the highest point of breakdown is the first week. I was the Warranty co-ordinator for a retailer. I was a very busy man, its a full time job. Oh yhea, and a high percentage of my warranty stuff was extended service. Just remember, retailers are still just PEOPLE doing a job, with all the rules and restricions of any other job. Manufacturers could usually give two bits less about the consumer, so everyone goes at the retailer citing that seemingly magical phrase, "customer serive" ( I loathe that phrase btw). You said in another post you work in Accounts Payable. When someon is missing a couple of hours off their paycheck, they come to you to get this fixed. Does that happen instantly? no, didn't think so. So why do people expect instant results from retailers? We can still only do so much. There are usually one or two people who can get in contact with manufacturers, and there are usually 2 or 3 silly people with outrageous requests every day, and believe me, each one is more important than the other, so his HAST TO BE done first. I'm not ragging on anyone specifically here, and I do know what I am talking about, not spouting half truths and random thoughts, but try to understand that retailers DO want you to be satisfied, but not at the expense of the all mighty bottom line that everyones jobs lie on. Think about that next time you feel the need to throw a goofy looking fit in the middle of a store. Customers usually look at that person like they are a fool. Its actually humorous, yelling at someone over SPEAKERS! posessions are fleeting, your dignity can last as long as you. Make the choice, try to bring someone else down because you feel you have been cheated by the world, or keep you cool and get it resolved in a simple manner. The latter usually yields better results and you don't burn any bridges. think before you act, the worst thing that can happen is you return the unit and get you money back.