Best Buy Magnolia

[blackraven]

Has any one been to a Best Buy Magnolia store lately? The one by me has Mac tube gear, Sonus Faber and B&W Nautilus speakers along with REL subs and Pro-Ject TT's. They said that they price match as well. The salesmen that I talked to knew his stuff to boot!

[JohnMichael]

I have one about 30 miles away. I was going to go and listen to B&W and Sonus Fabers. Sonus Faber now has a more affordable line that I hope to hear. I wish I had visited when they still carried Vienna Acoustics.

[Mr Peabody]

I haven't been in a while, when I was in there they sure didn't have Mac or anything comparable. Even though they all may be magnolia it seems to vary in what equipment you might see.

[frenchmon]

One guy I know said he listen to some Marantz REFERENCE integrated amps at a Magnolia.....this guy lives in Chicago. So I hustled over to the Magnolia by my house only to find nothing new at all....same old home theater stuff and B&W speakers....I asked the sells guy about it and he asked me what was Marantz Reference....so he asked another employee and he too said what is that?

[Mr Peabody]

We should get JM over to Missouri to hear some Canton, Revel or Dynaudio. In the one demo Frenchmon and I were at neither of us liked the Vienna Acoustic,FWIW. Oh, we also have Totem and Harbeth. One dealer also has Monitor Audio Gold. Neither of us are impressed with Sonus Faber either but I understand they have some new models coming out and are getting away from the wrapped leather look. Depending on how you like your bass my pick with Krell would be Dynaudio or Revel Performa. Not to discount the Canton, the Vento Frenchmon has is excellent, I'm just not as certain on synergy with Krell as I am with the other two. However, the Canton was the best speaker I've heard on the Onkyo Reference which I've also heard on the same system the MA Gold and JBL Studio floorstander. Seems like we might have heard something else as well but I can't recall it now. All of that said with the understanding we all have different tastes, just my opinions.

[blackraven]

The guy I talked to at BB said only a few stores are going to carry the high end stuff. I live in a relatively newer affluent suburb of St. Paul so I think that is the reason we have the better gear at our BB. I think that there are 1 or 2 other stores like ours in the Twin Cities. Our BB also had some Marantz gear.

I can tell you though, that they had some Martin Logan speakers hooked up to some Mac gear and there was no synergy. Even the salesman didn't like the combo.

[Mr Peabody]

If the Martin Logan were their electrostats I wonder what the issue was, typically the ML electrostats are magic with tubes, providing an erie realism to the presence. The trade off electrostats lack the air movement to provide the physical impact of the music. Mac can vary in character too, I've heard one of their tube preamps where they must have been going for the "golden glow" sound, the highs were noticeably rolled off. Overall though I would have expected the warmth of Mac, and ML, to be a good match.

[mlsstl]

I've heard various models of Martin Logans for many, many years and have just never been taken with them. They have, in my opinion, never sounded right in the lower mids. I've always attributed that to difficulties in the transition between the cone woofer and the electrostatic panels.

When I mention that to a ML owner, fan or salesman, I inevitably hear that "they fixed that in this model". And, when I listen, I still hear the problem.

I wonder if it isn't something genetic, rather like how different people perceive the taste of cilantro. Some people love it, others say it tastes like soap. (This actually has been traced to a gene....)

More likely is, if a person likes the upper mids & highs of the ML, it sweeps them away to the point that they really don't care about any flaws present. Conversely if you're in the camp that wants the lower midrange right (where the fundamentals of the voice and many instruments lie), then it is tough to get past that deficiency to hear the speaker's strong points.

Taste in speakers varies radically -- probably the reason that there are well over a thousand makes & models on the market!

[Mr Peabody]

LOL, you know the song. For me, the part about if one part is so good you can get past the rest is true. I think that can also apply to other components as well. It happened to me again when I went from Krell to CJ.

I've heard various models of Martin Logans for many, many years and have just never been taken with them. They have, in my opinion, never sounded right in the lower mids. I've always attributed that to difficulties in the transition between the cone woofer and the electrostatic panels.

When I mention that to a ML owner, fan or salesman, I inevitably hear that "they fixed that in this model". And, when I listen, I still hear the problem.

I wonder if it isn't something genetic, rather like how different perceive the taste of cilantro. Some people love it, others say it tastes like soap. (This actually has been traced to a gene....)

More likely is, if a person likes the upper mids & highs of the ML, it sweeps them away to the point that they really don't care about any flaws present. Conversely if you're in the camp that wants the lower midrange right (where the fundamentals of the voice and many instruments lie), then it is tough to get past that deficiency to hear the speaker's strong points.

Taste in speakers varies radically -- probably the reason that there are well over a thousand makes & models on the market!

right.

[Woochifer]

You'll need to specifically look for a Magnolia "Design Center" to find the higher end components. Previously, these locations were all standalone stores, with more demo rooms and equipment lines than the Magnolia Home Theater locations inside of Best Buy. But, now it looks like these Magnolia design centers are starting to find their way into some Best Buy locations. I have no idea if these are ministores like the existing home theater stores, or if they are bigger and higher end.