I always come to this board and look for speaker cable questions. The best chuckles are from the folks who bought the Brooklyn Bridge as far as cable sales hype is concerned.

I guess we should be grateful there will always be humor available on this subject.

I have a few friend who are recording engineers here in Hollywood and when we get together we regale each other with stories about the fantastically absurd claims sales folks make even to the engineers.

We have decided that Best Buy sales kids are the best at trying all the corporate BS tricks to sucker potential customers.

Ive been a "best buy sales kid" since 4/08, and i resent your statement. Ive never actively sold monster anything, but i suppose that makes me a bad salesman...

Dont blame the "sales kids" for giving you what you deem as bad information, Salespeople at bby get served pitcher after pitcher of the koolaid from the higher up's... that kid making sub-$9/hour is just trying to make some money while in HS or College.

And it isnt as if BBy stocks HDMI cables for $4 is it? (well, they do... but their retail price is $50+, and I personally do not make the prices)

shurgs*

If you have never deliberately sold Monster et al accessories then congrats.You are the exception. I meant nothing personal to you as obviously I do not know you.

I was referring to the vast majority of the BB sales force, whether they buy the corporate lines or not. I have many years experience with clients buying from BB and carrying home all the silly stuff. When I show them the vast savings available from actual industrial suppliers, they get rather irate that they had been sold a "bill of goods" under questionable expert advice.

For instance we have had to follow Geek Squad installers on many occasions and reinstall flat screens etc as many of these goes know zilch about construction, live loads, structural support etc.

I always come to this board and look for speaker cable questions. The best chuckles are from the folks who bought the Brooklyn Bridge as far as cable sales hype is concerned.
Actually, you see less of that here these days. Better consumer education, plus intimidation of the true believers, who don't like being called scientific ignoramuses. (Try Audiogon, where half the posters are dealer sockpuppets.)

Of course, just today, some guy on the CD forum here admitted to spending $100 on a USB cable, so there's always fresh game.

100.00? geez I buy mine from Jameco for about 4.00. Of course

I don't need to have bragging rights, just get data from point A to point B. They work every time too go figure!

Maybe we should start an online store for the uber suckers.

You could try, but you'll never top this (http://www.machinadynamica.com/).

Priceless!

Originally Posted by mcnarus
You could try, but you'll never top this (http://www.machinadynamica.com/).
Brilliant Pebbles (http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm)

http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww330/mzterylady/laughing/rofl.gif

I tried a coming up with a mat you sit your speakers on that would broaden your soundstage and extend your lows. :p

And I stayed in a holday inn express last night. :D

so just out of curiosity what was your purpose in starting this thread?

Oh yes, always fun to belittle others as a means to bolster one's (apparently fragile) self-esteem.:cool:

Educate them, don't laugh at them. Most people know about as much about audio and electronics than I know about brain surgery or corporate taxation legislation. Laugh at the salesman who knows he is selling snakeoil and has been denied one more sale because of a response on AVS.

The problem I think is they have no idea. With most things you buy, quality is improved if it cost more and the extra amount can be justified. A Lexus is a better car than a Chevy in many ways. The holes that sell Monster HDMI cables for $100 knowing it does nothing better than a $5 HDMI cable is ridiculous. I am sure some companies offer an incentive to sell that junk.

In my field (fertilization), there are so many idiot workers that people think are experts. I blame the companies that parade these employees in front of their customer base. No excuse. Not everyone at BB is trained correctly, and the ones who seem like they are usually do their own homework. When I run across these people I find a Manager and let them know how good that particular employee is. I wish more people would care about their jobs.

On several threads on this and other sites, if the word Bose is mentioned and someone does not share the "anything but Bose" mentality, they are frequently demeaned as the scum of the gene pool.

As I said, I get a chuckle reading all the supposed experts who are only parroting what a salesman told them and since these same folks do not have personal actual technical backgrounds themselves, they fall prey to cleverly based sales pitches.

There have been about a hundred posts in just the last 2 weeks. Some claims are so preposterous that one cannot help but also offer the Brooklyn Bridge as an incentive to the cable sale.

What is most amusing is that these same folks will grab the sales hype (BS) hook, line and sinker and yet actively fight researching the scientific data from legitimate labs that would save them hundreds to thousands of dollars.

The BB salesmen are pawns trying to make a living. Cables, extended warranties and the like (NOT the actual electronics) are the main profit item for those stores. These guys are often monitored by a managger, and if they don't give you an obligatory spiel about the cables and stuff, they might get the "I am not happy, Bob" trearment. Geek Squad is not a repair service aimed to properly fix your stuff - it is yet another sales arm tasked with pushing expensive upgrades on you.

Proper thing to do is to educate the consumer. If you are known as somewhat a tech wiz, you probably get a lot of advice requests. Next time someone asks to recommend a TV, be sure to tack on the 'Monster warning'.

On several threads on this and other sites, if the word Bose is mentioned and someone does not share the "anything but Bose" mentality, they are frequently demeaned as the scum of the gene pool.

As I said, I get a chuckle reading all the supposed experts who are only parroting what a salesman told them and since these same folks do not have personal actual technical backgrounds themselves, they fall prey to cleverly based sales pitches.

There have been about a hundred posts in just the last 2 weeks. Some claims are so preposterous that one cannot help but also offer the Brooklyn Bridge as an incentive to the cable sale.

What is most amusing is that these same folks will grab the sales hype (BS) hook, line and sinker and yet actively fight researching the scientific data from legitimate labs that would save them hundreds to thousands of dollars.


I agree with You. I Have actually heard Bose's Over the ear Portable headphones (Not the Big noise canceling ones) at a local TARGET store, the demo was of a song by Matchbox 20 and they sounded deep and rich to me, I'd buy em if I had the money and not give a rats behind what anyone says.

I am weary of Bose's other products which I really don't care that much for but thats all. At least I listened to them to confirm weather I liked them or not.

As for the demeaning behavior on forums, that's nothing new, if you say you like Michael Bay movies or even ONE Uwe boll movie you get attacked for liking a MOVIE of all things, Movies are meant to be entertainment nothing more.

The Internet makes things taste bad because everybody's so negative about things that are subjective, whether it be movies, Music, Audio equipment and even PORN of all things, when watching said content, do your business wash up and go about your day. :rolleyes:

People that attack people on forums need to go outside and enjoy life and stop worrying about what other people that they will never meet choose to watch, Buy or do. (if it is legal).

One is not likely to get attacked just for *liking something*. It is when someone tries to impress upon others that a given product is measurably better than competition and is actually worth the sticker price(when it is not). So you liked the Bose headphones? Good for you. They are likely good headphones. Problem? They were marketed to you as 'truly high end' and the price was around $180-200? Well, I'd wager you could get a $100 pair of Grado or Audio-Technica phones sounding every bit as good if not better. Hence 'anything but Bose' mentality - not getting your money's worth. People often come to these forums cause they actually want to learn a thing or two and they want to get good value for their money. Therefore certain brand names will produce the proverbial knee-jerk reaction.

Really? Thats what you do for a good laugh?

Must be boring over at the Giz's house. Maybe you should hook up with penn, he's had more fun than 99.99% of us. :D

Thank god I wasn't eating rice, Easy.

Things here are never really boring as the posts here and other places about cables, specs, systems, etc have given me great conversation starters that have resulted many times in rather well paying contracts for installs, consulting and construction.

Laughing all the way to the bank.