Macintosh doesn't make the MC275, McIntosh does .. ;-)
How much discount typically for a new MC275 to expect from a dealer?
I'm not interested at this time going used. No stock in my area, I'll have to order or go out of town. McIntosh has a pretty tight grip on their dealers, so I imagine not finding any here on AG. Just curious what to expect when making an offer. I'm not going to pay full retail. Ideas, thoughts? I'm not interested in other brands or amp ideas. I'm just researching Macintosh at this point in time.
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I know a dealer who is willing to haggle a bit on McIntosh gear but that was for one of the turntables and in a scenario where they were going to take off the stock cartridge and I was looking at a $10K pair of speakers. They were willing to give me 5% and 90% of the value of the cartridge. Another dealer I talked to showed me the list and said that is the price. They wouldn't even give me free shipping. With a brand like Mc who will pull the business if they find out a dealer is discounting nothing is likely discount you will get If that dealer sells a lot of Mc gear, I am certain it will be nothing. Be prepared to pay retail. |
I think the best way to get a discount from a dealer is to call and make sure you let him know that if he gives you a good price you will purchase from him and most importantly you will not be using his price as a bargaining chip with your local dealer. So tell him where you live and you have no dealers and you are in fact ready to purchase the amp, from him, ask him if he takes credit cards, if you intent is to use one. Give that a shot |
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Another point...McIntosh actively prevents dealers from selling outside of their home market. If you haven't been to a store and gotten a demo, they cannot sell to you without risking their (very valuable) franchise. So "calling around" for a discount is usually a waste of time. I agree with Miner that the best way to get a deal is to have a dealer who you patronize over time, who feels invested in your ongoing pursuit of your hobby and is willing to work with you. |
I ALWAYS like to buy a demo piece when available. You still get the Warrantee, which you occasionally need to use. But that can happen with sealed-in-box components. The most common issue could be used speakers with very small cosmetic flaws. If there's a few small marks made by speaker cables in the back, I'm not concerned. Or there's a small tear in the grills, but the dealer will replace one or both at no charge. A tube amp could be bench-tested for 3-5 days under a load, and if it meets ALL of its specs, who's to say its "used"? I can't comment on vintage tube amplifiers sounding better, but Night-and-day or just "different"? |
It’s the way you work it. I’ve always received 20% off of McIntosh gear from my dealer. I also don't pay sales tax if I pay cash. The deals are there and don’t let them tell you otherwise. I won’t buy any new audio with less than a 20% discount, as if I want to sell I’m not taking a major hit. As others mentioned if you can get the demo model it’s much easier to get a discount as well. I recently purchased a pair of speakers and had to take the floor model to get the price I wanted. But with original boxes, pristine condition and already broken it was a better deal than new. |
If you're worried about price, why don't you just buy a Bob Latino M125 monoblock (120 watts each) pair for more than $1500 less than it would cost you for the Mac? And you can save another $700 or so if you buy it in kit form and build it yourself. You can't begin to get that kind of satisfaction from buying any commercial product. http://www.tubes4hifi.com/bob.htm#M125 |
Its obvious to me that many people here are totally ignorant in the art of wheeling and dealing. I always get 20-30% off everything depending on the brand. I would NEVER buy anything at Zero - 15% off MSRP. Do your homework, get quotes from various dealers just like when you purchase a car. Then use those prices to get your best deal. In this Shrinking "hobby" no dealer is going to turn down a sale if he knows you can get the same product cheaper elsewhere. And YES this works with dealers that you have never dealt with before. Im glad some of the above posters dont manage my stock market portfolio.....Clueless!! |
I bought an MC 275 from Magnolia several years ago as a "customer return" that was taking up space in the central warehouse. I bought it, but when it arrived it was brand new-not the customer return. I thought that the retail was around $5500, but I had paid $4000. I didn't use it immediately, and couldn't even move it, so I sold it for what I paid for it. |
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You can expect 0% discount from an authorized McIntosh dealer on any piece of new McIntosh equipment. Why? The way audio is sold today is much different than in the past. In the old days the percentage of profit on audio was much higher than it is today, we could discount 35% to 50% on almost any equipment and still make a profit. Japan was manufacturing huge amounts of cheap equipment and we were selling it as fast as they could produce it. Audio stores littered the landscape from east to west, and we predominately carried all the same brands, the competition to sell was keen, hence the deep discounts. Well today is different, audio stores are scarce and how they sell is different also. Most high-end manufactures only allow there equipment to be sold in brick and mortar.(there are some exceptions) To become a dealer for these manufactures a store must commit to buy an agreed upon amount of product (they like it if you buy one to show and one to go on most of the product line) and also to sign a contract. In that contract one of the terms you must agree to, is not to sell the equipment at a discount or to contract someone else to sell it elsewhere (internet usually) at a discount or to sell the equipment outside of your restricted territory. Any violations in the terms of the contract will result in the store losing it's dealership for that manufacture, all new inventory must be returned to the manufacture (return shipping must be paid for by the store) only demo products can be sold and are covered by manufactures warranty. Any new products that are sold after the store has lost its dealership will not be covered by a manufacture warranty. These contracts are just one of the ways manufactures protect their dealers, they also constantly monitor the internet to catch people who are selling at a discount or out of there territory. For dealers there are a few tricks that we can use to reduce prices, one of them works like this. You buy a system from me, I can not give you a discount on the equipment but I can sell you at dealer cost all the power cords, interconnects, speaker cable, stand, acoustic panels and etc. We do not exclude tax on any sale for cash, tax evasion is a federal felony, we are not about to go to prison so you can save a few dollars. If you are hurting that bad we will loan you the money. |
Total BS. I can go to my local Mac Dealer 10 minutes away and get at least 20% off any gear I want. I always got 20% off at OVERTURE in Delaware on all my previous Mac gear (452, C52 etc)...and No sales tax to boot. No other products were purchased at the time. If I was willing to make the haul to a dealer in Tenn (9-10hours each way) I am guaranteed 30% off MSRP |
Yeah, akdm I think OVERTURE can kiss that franchise goodbye! What I wonder is: what motivated any Mac dealer to take 20% off within the first 20 minutes. I worked in some of the biggest Mac dealers in the country and know that NO retailer does that just because there's that much extra profit. Maybe hire a stripper to go in with you to sweeten the deal? |