Quote Originally Posted by nightflier
Have you considered one of the Best Buy stores with Magnolia departments inside the store? They have much higher-quality stuff.

Take it from someone who's had to try and spend BB gift certificates several times now: tell your friends and relatives that BB is anathema to decent selection - refrigerator salesmen/women can't tell the difference between Bose & Martin Logan, nor do they care to. It's insulting the way that "friends & family" just presume that all electronics are alike. If I wanted to really irk an audiophile, I'd give them a BB gift certificate just to watch them wander the store in utter frustration and disgust.

Ask for a Visa gift card next time.

(Sorry about my rant, but the walmartization of the electronics industry is just appaling and somebody has to say something)
Best Buy is simply supplying people with what they want. To be completely honest I'm a little shocked that such things, which are a natural result of free-market economics BTW, would be appaling [sic] to you. There's also a free-market explanation for the educational level of Best Buy sales people. If you thought about it for a few minutes, I'm sure you could figure it out. And why bring Wal-Mart into this? What in the hell has Wal-Mart ever done to anyone? Blindly following the I-hate-Wal-Mart crowd is just weak. People need to think for themselves. If you don't like Wal-Mart, don't shop there. It's as simple as that.

By the way, it's interesting that you should compare Bose to Martin Logan. My wife and I were at the Tweeters on North Michigan Ave. a couple of months ago, and we were able to listen to a pair of $3,000 Martin Logans. They were a complete and utter disgrace compared to my 30-year old, $275 Bose 901s. Even my wife (with out any influence from me) commented that the music sounded like it was coming out of a tin can, and it really did.