From the other posts and photo sets I read while researching for this set, the audio area seems to be a real highlight of Fry's to many people. It didn't really stick out to me, but that's probably just because there was hardly anything to see back here! It's also a bit ironic to see an electronics store still using Windows 7 in 2019! Off behind the salesfloor is where the various demonstration rooms were, all offline by this point.
I'm not surprised to still see Windows 7 at a Fry's in 2019. I think they might have still been using Windows XP on some of their computers towards the end!
ReplyDeleteFry's did have a pretty good selection of audio equipment at one time. About a decade ago, they had many major speaker companies' products in those demo rooms like Klipsch, Polk Audio, Sony, Pioneer, Yamaha, and stuff like that. They often had good prices on those products as well. Since speakers, and audio equipment in general, are things which need to be heard to see what one likes, having the demo rooms weer great.
Back in the 1980s and prior, almost every store that sold Hi-Fi had listening rooms which were fully enclosed from the rest of the store or semi-enclosed at the very least. They were usually carpeted and left very dark. They would be full of speakers, amplifiers, and stuff like that. One could use switch buttons to change which speakers were playing so that one could hear them free from the sounds of the rest of the store. It was a great way to buy audio gear, but those rooms and audio gear are both mostly gone now. One chain store exception would be Best Buy stores that have Magnolia stores-within-a-stores in them. They sell some pretty high-end stuff including speakers which cost well over a thousand dollars.
But, yeah, Fry's audio offerings started to thin out just like their other departments. Towards the end, they were mostly selling Jamo and KLH speakers. The KLH speakers were a bit strange in that KLH had just started making speakers again. I think KLH had high hopes for big sales with their acoustic suspension speakers as compared to the ported design that's common now, but that didn't happen and I suspect they sent their excess inventory to Fry's to sell on consignment. Who knows what happened to that inventory after Fry's closed.
Ha, yeah, you do have a point with Fry's! But XP? That's just embarrassing...
DeleteYeah, those demo rooms would be nice to have these days! I didn't realize Best Buys had them, but my tastes aren't high-end enough for me to get any use out of them if that's what they sell! I recently got a new speaker system, but my price range was around 100 dollars, not 1000!
Not all Best Buy have Magnolia stores in them. The ones that don't will still have some audio equipment, but it'll mostly be pretty standard, inexpensive stuff. That's not to say it's bad, but it won't be fancy. At least in this area, we do have a few Magnolia stores so at least there's that.
DeleteThe pricing for high-end audio can be insane. For example, here is a pair of KEF speakers sold at Best Buy's Magnolia stores that cost $225,999.98! Yes, you read that correctly, these speakers sold by Best Buy's Magnolia cost as much as a house! I'm sure that price won't get one a very big house in Seattle, but still, lol.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/kef-muon-10-passive-4-way-floor-loudspeaker-pair-aluminum/6383320.p?skuId=6383320
The reality is that one does not need $1,000 speakers, much less $225,000 speakers, to get good sound. Like with just about anything else, paying more only gets you significant performance gains up to a certain point. Beyond that, the price goes up significantly only for very small performance gains. It's no different than a car I suppose. One can pay $25,000 for a Toyota Camry or $50,000 for a Lexus, but the Lexus won't be twice the car that the Camry is. Beyond some small improvements, the rest of the price difference is just prestige. I've often felt that the Camry, Accord, Altima class of cars probably represent the best value in cars in the sense that buying anything above it often requires paying a lot more for small improvements (and sometimes sacrifices in terms of fuel economy, reliability, etc.).
Your $100 speakers might well get the job done perfectly fine. Since you live in a condo, I'm sure you can't listen to anything too loudly anyway!
Speaking of music and the NW, I was recently listening to Portland's own Nu Shooz and their 1986 hit I Can't Wait. This might be geezer music to you, but it's pretty good I think. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ1tBVtYOBc
Wow, that's insane! You're right, though, that wouldn't buy you much in Seattle -- I bought one of the cheapest condos on the market, and it was still considerably more expensive than that. And what I bought was more than good enough for me -- I don't even like listening to music loudly, and I have to keep them pretty close to the lowest setting for the volume to be what I want. I doubt I'd ever notice a real difference between the ones I have and ones that cost thousands of times the price! But hey, I guess you have to have something for the wealthy to burn their money on...
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