B&W in best buy

from what i've read, best buy is trying to salavage its magnolia investment, which has foundered, by taking it further upscale in terms of both products and shopping experience. their earlier iterations of the concept flopped because of the economy, bad customer service and the brilliant strategy of axing their higher-paid, more knowledgeable salespeople. frankly, i'd be surprised that even if properly executed this version is successful--there's too much price competition in an quickly-shrinking market + high-end buyers may be unwilling to wade through the cacophonous din to get to the fancy goods. fwiw, everytime i'm at best buy the high-end section is virtually deserted--i've never seen anyone actually buy anything there.

I was astonished, a few years ago, to see a pair of KEF-branded bookshelf speakers on display at a Super Target, for somewhere between $300 and $400. They were actually hooked up, along with a number of pairs of less expensive speakers, and so I listened -- they sounded so much better than the others that it wasn't even funny. As I stood there, a Target salesperson came by and asked if I needed help -- when I explained that I was admiring the KEF speakers, she said "well,if you want them, better buy that pair -- they are the last ones we have, and we can't hardly move them, so we aren't getting any more. Too expensive."

I can remember when KEF was THE prestige speaker brand in the U.S. -- now nobody talks about them and you can hardly find them here at all -- not even at Target. Infinity and Klipsch were prestige brands, and now they're just more mass-market mediocrity. Maybe it won't happen to B&W, but I wouldn't bet against it.

I agree with the comment that there is almost nobody in the Magnolia section of BB.

Back when Tweeter was flying high, they sold Sonus Faber speakers (the home series), along with Vienna Acoustics. Because of the SF Tweeter deal, many independent dealers dropped SF and, in my mind, they have not recovered. Most independent dealers want a somewhat exclusive line and most high end companies make sure there is not a great deal of overlap in dealers in a given region. I think B&W is making a mistake in letting BB/Magnolia carry a significant portion of the line. Since Classe and Rotel are part of the same line, they could also be hurt. Time will tell.

You can bet they won't have the top of the line in their stores in smaller markets. They already have Martin Logan in their major markets. I don't know what they are driving them with but in recent times many of them are being driven with very good receivers from Marantz, Pioneer, Onkyo and Sherwood. From what I have heard they have specialist that know their product relatively well. If they have the top of the line in any store hopefully there will be some options for better electronics. Their main focus is Home Theater and that's what B&W is banking on to increase their sales. An independent store here in my area has B&W line and he is featuring them in a Home Theater setting only. I guess a 2 channel system to these guys are out of the question. But it's all good.