Buy active speakers online today, or local a month from now?

[seattle-michael]

The Seattle-area Genelec dealer Lift AV is out of stock on 8331a for a month. They're available from an online dealer immediately.

I haven't had any problems with passive speakers, but with expensive active speakers I'm more worried about something going wrong and needing dealer support. But a month without good sound kinda sucks also.

What say ye?

 

[sweetchaos]

Patience…grasshopper.

 

[DJBonoBobo]

If you want the local dealer to stay in your area and not have it close at some point, it's probably wise to buy there.

 

[Midwest Blade]

+Patience

 

[seattle-michael]

A bit more background: Previously I bought a KEF KC62 subwoofer by appointment from Hawthorne Stereo, a well-established reputable HiFi store in Seattle.

While it was great to use their listening room for almost an hour, I wasn't super impressed with the salesman. He made some statements I'm not expecting an expert to make:

• that the KC62 doesn't have a high-pass filter (it does -- its DIP switch is right there on the panel),
• that the DAC in the Bluesound Node 2i is the best available without spending "hundreds of thousands of dollars" (per Amir's tests, it's on a par with an HP laptop and underperforms a $9 Apple dongle)
• that the little Reisong tube amp I bought for fun from Amazon would sound "holographic."

So that curbed my "buy local" enthusiasm a bit. But the Genelec dealer may be different.

 

[LTig]

But the Genelec dealer may be different.

If it is a pro dealer he might be able to offer a loaner for the waiting time.

 

[seattle-michael]

If it is a pro dealer he might be able to offer a loaner for the waiting time.

Why didn't I think of that?

I called back and discovered they had a number of loaners available. Then I found out they have the 8341 as early as next week. So I think I will pop for those instead of the 8331.

 

[stevenswall]

Concerning your fears about active speakers and something going wrong:

A: How many blown passive speakers have you seen in your life? (Cars, home theater, the speakers your college roommate abused, the overdriven PA ones at your community theater that didn't have protection, the old pair your parents have that your sibling destroyed.)
B: How many active speakers have you seen dead in your life?

My A: Around a dozen.
My B: Zero. Any decent active speaker won't blow itself (Watch out for the JBL 7 series and Rokit speakers and you should be good.)

Since you're talking about Genelec, I'd put that right up near the top for reliability. I have a pair a decade old and they still work and measure correctly, and I've seen older pairs then mine sold for thousands from college studios replacing gear or private sales. Haven't seen a sale for one as-is that is dead.

 

[seattle-michael]

A: How many blown passive speakers have you seen in your life? (Cars, home theater, the speakers your college roommate abused, the overdriven PA ones at your community theater that didn't have protection, the old pair your parents have that your sibling destroyed.)
B: How many active speakers have you seen dead in your life?

That's an interesting way to look at it. Of the speakers I've actually owned, I don't think I've ruined any. I did have a Carver/Sunfire subwoofer start acting strangely, then up and die around the five year mark. At the time it did not seem practical to repair. Also a little standalone class D amplifier (I'm embarrassed to name the brand) quit working on me after a similar amount of time. So I guess that's what makes me nervous. Also software going out of date.

31 years ago my NHT SuperZeros were considered good sound. Now they aren't ... but they still work.

I read that Genelec is still servicing their stuff from the 1980s, so that's reassuring. Also the used market seems robust.

 

[seattle-michael]

Follow up on this: The local dealer (Lift AV) went dark after my initial contact and my followup attempt. So I guess I'll buy these online. Only Sweetwater seems to carry them, shipped via FedEx Ground (which has been slow in my experience).