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Master "deals" (massdrop, ebay, Amazon, etc.) Thread on Audio Product Sales

JJB70

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Very intriguing. It appears the same speaker is called both VL5 and VL550, and that there is a smaller VL350 that can be TWS paired with another VL350 for stereo. I will keep an eye out for them in the U.S.

These models seems a bit mysterious, Samsung brought them in here but then didn't really appear to make any serious effort to sell them. Marketing was pretty much zilch, high street presence very limited and the initial SRP was over the top. Sort of begs the question why they went to the trouble of designing them and distributing them to local distributors if they had no real urge to market and sell them. I know a chap who bought one (paying double what they go for now) and it really is a nice good speaker. Unlike many of these speakers it is quite balanced and not bass heavy, and it is pretty powerful. Given the popularity of the pricier Sonos and Bose speakers, not to mention Bluesound and Naim at higher prices or the slightly cheaper but very excellent Apple homepod it seems odd that Samsung went to the effort to make a pretty good product in the class then never made much of an effort to sell it.
 

GGroch

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For U.S. audiophiles looking to spend $200 on a streaming device, Amazon has a lightning deal for the next 3 hours on the Como Audio : Solo - Wireless Music System with Internet Radio for $199. Its priced above $300 everywhere, so a deal. Como was is the brainchild of Tom Devesto who co-founded Tivoli audio. I have no idea whether their products are worth the price but they look nice and have lots of inputs and outputs.
 

GGroch

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JBL's new compact coaxial monitors Professional Series 1 Model 104 are discounted to $99 including shipping at Circuit City using Coupon Code STUDIOPRO at checkout. MAP price everywhere is $130.
Intriguing little desktop monitor that are discussed in detail on this ASR thread.

UPDATE: As soon as I order from Circuit I get a promo email from ProAudioStar who has 25% off 80 models of select JBL Pro gear including the Model 104. Use Coupon Code: HM25 This comes to $96.75 with free ship. Circuit charged me no tax. I have dealt with ProAudioStar before, they are a reliable authorized dealer.
 
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Veri

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SMSL D5 going on sale:

index.php
 

SMc

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The NHTs are now $499.99 at the website but the list is $624.99 each. They've been well-reviewed and measured at Secrets of Home Theater and the preceding model (Classic 3) at Stereophile. I find them quite smooth, with enough bass by themselves and not too finicky about placement. It's easy and inexpensive to match them with SuperOnes for surround.
 

GGroch

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The NHTs are now $499.99 at the website but the list is $624.99 each....

They look like very well designed speakers...but the current discount is a bit less than implied above.

Price history: The C-3 was first sold by Amazon (Amazon is the vendor, not a third party) in April 2016 at $500 each and was never higher than that. The price dropped in October 2017 to $376, never going higher since. From January 2019 the average price has been about $328. So the current $279 each price is a nice $100 a pair drop but not a giant fire sale discount. This is close to lowest Amazon has sold them for.

Brands like NHT ( and I have heard good things about them) are hard to evaluate in terms of pricing because almost none of their dealers sell online or advertise price. A lot are custom installers. Whether they sell to their clients at full price or discount...no way to tell. When judging value, that of course is another thing, and the speakers look very nicely constructed.

Keepa and Camel Camel Camel track Amazon historical prices and is a useful site if you are trying to determine discount levels.
 
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GGroch

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GGroch

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Excellent review, with in depth measurement, which is difficult to find these days. There are several reviews with measurement of the LSiM 703 as well including ones from Stereophile and Audioholics. I have never heard the NHTs, but own a set of the Polk's. They are really excellent, and comparable to other $1000/$1500 speakers I have auditioned. What really stands out is the build quality and design, they weigh nearly 30 pounds each and are gorgeous. They have a bit too much mid bass warmth in my relatively small and shallow listening setup. Now that I have a Paradigm PW-Link I may bring them out again and listen with room eq.

It seems like it would be a great time to be speaker shopping.

True, particularly for passive speakers from legacy brands (founders Mathew Polk and Ken Kantor left years ago) aimed at the mid market. I deal with custom installers in my work and hear there is some market softening this summer that they had not experienced in a while, plus active/smart speakers are the trend.

If you are in the market for a bargain passive monitor type 3 way, you should consider the HiVi 3.1 DIY kit at $290 a pair. There is a Review with Measurement of the 3.1 here. The 2.2a 2-way HiVi kit is what replaced the LSiM 703 in my setup. They sound better to me in my room; that's subjective and certainly influenced by the time I put into making them. The 3.1 reviews, particularly with crossover mods, are extremely competitive with the Polk and NHT choices, except of course, for their appearance (if I build them).
 

Biblob

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They look like very well designed speakers...but the current discount is a bit less than implied above.

Price history: The C-3 was first sold by Amazon (Amazon is the vendor, not a third party) in April 2016 at $500 each and was never higher than that. The price dropped in October 2017 to $376, never going higher since. From January 2019 the average price has been about $328. So the current $279 each price is a nice $100 a pair drop but not a giant fire sale discount. This is close to lowest Amazon has sold them for.

Brands like NHT ( and I have heard good things about them) are hard to evaluate in terms of pricing because almost none of their dealers sell online or advertise price. A lot are custom installers. Whether they sell to their clients at full price or discount...no way to tell. When judging value, that of course is another thing, and the speakers look very nicely constructed.

Keepa and Camel Camel Camel track Amazon historical prices and is a useful site if you are trying to determine discount levels.
Unfortunately no love for Europe.. :)
 
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