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Why does the Magnolia Room at Best Buy sound so bad?

104.5.254.48
Posted on November 9, 2014 at 08:41:57
LA mitchell
Audiophile

Posts: 19
Location: Los Angeles
Joined: November 28, 2011



FACTS:

New Magnolia room at Best Buy in Louisiana this past weekend

Sales guy was nice and very accommodating

I listened to Sonus Faber and B&W hooked up to McIntosh equipment (see pics)

I'm not super critical, nor an audio-snob type, but I know when something sounds bad/good


THOUGHTS:


Guys, it was truly awful sounding. There's no getting around it. For speakers to be in the $13k+ range, and being how much I truly LOVE good sound, I should have had the impression of "wow, I must sell my soul in order to get that system!!"

But, it sounded like a typical LOUD sound system that you would hear ANYWHERE: bar, roller rink, fair.... the highs were shrill and nothing about it was pleasing. I'm not the type who could afford to get $13,000 speakers (let alone the entire system which would be around $50k), but I wouldn't have even wanted this for any price.

I guess what I'm wondering is: how is this possible? Equipment this nice (McIntosh, Sonus Faber, etc), it should sound decent even if it's just played at a low volume in ANY setting in my opinion.

Thanks for letting me vent :)

 

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Could it be the electronics behind the guy in the photo ?, posted on November 9, 2014 at 08:59:17
AbeCollins
Audiophile

Posts: 46280
Location: USA
Joined: June 22, 2001
Contributor
  Since: February 2, 2002
I once auditioned a very nice looking and expensive MA2275 75wpc McIntosh tube Integrated amp on B&W speakers at a store. It was tonally warm but sounded veiled and compressed to me so I had the sales guy swap out the McIntosh and replace it with an inexpensive Musical Fidelity integrated he had in another room.

Presto! Problem solved. The relatively cheap 'mid-fi' Musical Fidelity opened up the music with clarity and dynamics that the pretty McIntosh couldn't match. Problem solved.

See the link below that I stumbled upon. The guy buys a McIntosh MA2275 tube integrated and is disappointed that he sold his 'cheap' AES/Cary SixPacs. Scroll down to the heading in the article titled: "The MA2275 Arrives and all is NOT good!"



 

My gut reaction, posted on November 9, 2014 at 09:25:49
Condorsat
Audiophile

Posts: 1909
Location: NE Ohio
Joined: January 13, 2003
 Was it set up right to play the room?

 

RE: Why does the Magnolia Room at Best Buy sound so bad?, posted on November 9, 2014 at 10:32:34
fantja
Audiophile

Posts: 15518
Location: Alabama
Joined: September 11, 2010
 Best Buy does not design these rooms- they simply place the gear in that given space (not acoustically sound.

 

Others like them, , posted on November 9, 2014 at 12:25:25
johntoste
Audiophile

Posts: 459
Location: New England
Joined: March 20, 2004
 and that's cool with me, but I have never enjoyed solid state Mac or any B&W speakers.

So I'm not surprised.

Of course ymmv and fwiw.

 

Bad sound, I expect, posted on November 9, 2014 at 15:54:01
jedrider
Audiophile

Posts: 15166
Location: No. California
Joined: December 26, 2003
 Just when the salesperson looks at you with a smile, indicating: "Doesn't that sound fabulous?"

When, in fact it's making your ears feel like they're bleeding. Still, at that point I would try to do a comparative judgment between the various gear and try to guess what would sound good in your living space -- a long shot choosing the right one, I know.

Like someone already said: Their spaces are WAY too small for the really good loudspeakers and there is too much other junk going on as well.

I once took my wife to a Bose dealer and let us compare two systems and the salesman had to ask me 'Which sounded better now?' I had to choose between a boxy sound with no highs and a sound that made my ears hurt from the highs, so I looked at the price tags and mistook the $3500 for $1500 and choose the $2500 system instead. WRONG: The most expensive system ALWAYS sounds better to a dealer! It was the ear bleeder.

 

RE: Could it be the electronics behind the guy in the photo ?, posted on November 12, 2014 at 23:03:28
pictureguy
Audiophile

Posts: 22597
Location: SoCal
Joined: October 19, 2008
 First, the reviewer is an idiot.
Tube Watts? SS Watts? A watt is a watt.
His comments about the new frequency balance is just the LACK of higher frequencies, so he turns it UP and STILL lacks highs. That's what I get from his description.
I suspect some unfortunate interaction between speaker and amp. Maybe the output impedance is too high for the speakers being used? Or, as likely, the speaker impedance is all over the place and causes the frequency problems he notes.
Did he try the different output taps?
I've got little sympathy for someone who seems to have more money than brains. I've never been rich and always try to conduct myself, including my stereo purchases, as someone with more brains than money. As poor as I am, that's not too bad.
Too much is never enough

 

RE: Could it be the electronics behind the guy in the photo ?, posted on November 13, 2014 at 04:15:11
fantja
Audiophile

Posts: 15518
Location: Alabama
Joined: September 11, 2010
 Agreed-

BB, Costco...etc., are all warehouses filled w/ stuff. They are not acoustically sound by any means.

 

It's the McIntosh, posted on November 13, 2014 at 04:44:40
Lt Einhorn
Audiophile

Posts: 155
Joined: August 16, 2011
 No doubt that it is. I sold B&W 800 series and McIntosh for years. It was never a good combo IMO. Also the opinion of all the staff. However, for some reason it sold. I have given McIntosh many chances, not only in the stores but at home. Other than the MC-275 I was let down every time.

At the stores I worked at we had certified McIntosh electronics technicians(one was an electronics engineer). They were 2 older guys that had been doing it long before I was born. Both of them greatly disliked the sound quality and in many cased to circuit design of McIntosh.

We use to joke that McIntosh customers were sheep or flies blindly attracted to the blue lights and meters that bounced around lol.

We found that most Mac customers were middle aged to older gentlemen whose dad had a Mac when they were kids and how it was the best stuff ever and there is no reason to listen or shop for something else.

 

Maybe it's not the room., posted on November 13, 2014 at 08:04:53
Inmate51
 Maybe it is.

Maybe it's not a good marriage of amp and speakers.

Maybe it's not a good marriage of phono cart and preamp.

Maybe not a good marriage of speakers and room.

Maybe they're just shrill speakers.

Maybe it's a shrill phono cartridge.

Maybe it's not a good recording.

Maybe a combination of things.

Lots of variables.

I was in a Best Buy the other day, looking at computers, and they had a Magnolia "room". Unimpressive. It was dark-ish and the speakers were too bassy. Not at all conducive to making sales.

 

Re: All is not well., posted on November 13, 2014 at 08:22:01
Inmate51
 "Its built like a tank. Literally. I can see this outlasting me easily and I can pass it down to my son."
"As for build quality of the McIntosh, it's built to last 100 years and from the looks, it will."

OTOH:

"Two of the 12AX7 tubes died within 2 weeks and the amp has blown 2 fuses in the last two weeks. I am soon re-tubing with some quality tubes and I expect this will solve this issue."

Whichever. As long as he keeps repairing it, it will "last" forever.

$7,500 is A LOT for a 75 wpc amp that goes haywire that quickly.

 

Re: All is not well., posted on November 13, 2014 at 08:45:08
Mechnutt
Audiophile

Posts: 17
Location: Woodbury MN
Joined: October 15, 2014
 I was at my local BB Magnolia store the other day looking at headphones. I struck up a conversation with one of the sales guy's and told him about my BAT preamp and Pass amp. He then took me into a room to listen to a pair of Martin Logan CLX speakers with MC 601 mono blocks and matching preamp, about $60K worth of gear. I was astounded by the sound. It sounded great. They had the room set up well. I also appreciated the ceiling which had a night sky full of stars and an occasional shooting star. It was a great effect.

 

Very impressive equipment, posted on November 13, 2014 at 11:01:37
jedrider
Audiophile

Posts: 15166
Location: No. California
Joined: December 26, 2003
 in NOT so impressive space. You have to expect that they just hook up what they wish to sell and that's it. I am ALWAYS amazed how many phono setups they have. I REALLY have a tough time thinking that they sell any. I hope I'm wrong, though.

The amps I see are are McIntosh and Arcam, which I don't care for. Their loudspeakers, though, look to die for, however! No idea what they sound like, though.

It is possible that there just ain't no synergy in their combinations and the room, loaded with loudspeakers, doesn't help.

 

RE: Very impressive equipment, posted on November 15, 2014 at 10:53:20
Raymond Leggs
Audiophile

Posts: 748
Joined: November 25, 2007
 big empty room = bad sound

 

RE: Why does the Magnolia Room at Best Buy sound so bad?, posted on November 15, 2014 at 23:16:26
BubbaMike
Audiophile

Posts: 650
Location: Left Coast of the USA
Joined: January 4, 2002
 Magnolia is dead. It used to be a real hi-fi shop in the Seattle area. Started by Len Tweten as a camera shop in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle. It gradually became a regional giant with stores throughout the northwest. In 2000 they sold to Best Buy and now Magnolia is dead. They have closed their last shop and all that exists is the "Magnolia room" in Best Buy shops. A terrible abomination that has cheapened the name and destroyed it's legacy.


When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it. ~ Bernard Bailey

 

RE: Why does the Magnolia Room at Best Buy sound so bad?, posted on November 16, 2014 at 05:27:48
genungo
 Most likely the problem was speaker/amp synergy (or lack of it). No one could never figure out why, but the Big Mac SS amps that my local hifi shop used to keep for demo purposes simply sounded *wrong* with certain types of speaker loads.

This was perplexing because those Mac amps looked robust enough to drive anything. But, the fact is that a much smaller and cheaper Marantz amp drove inefficient speakers much more authoritatively than the Big Macs ever did.

 

RE: Why does the Magnolia Room at Best Buy sound so bad?, posted on November 20, 2014 at 14:40:39
ErikM
Audiophile

Posts: 96
Location: New Jersey
Joined: November 13, 2004
 The tip off is in the first line of the post: New Room equals new gear.. I'll bet the speakers and the rest of the gear was pretty much fresh out of the boxes..

 

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