Quote:
Originally Posted by
yamatosoul 
This is a little advice for those of you waiting for the 9100 to come back into stock.
I work for Onkyo, and I can tell you that our refurbs are just as good as new. At Onkyo, refurbs are usually units that customers returned for dented/blemished boxes. When such units come back, Onkyo brings in a QA team to inspect and repackage them into a box that indicates "Refurbished". If any problems with the components itself are found, it is disposed of immediately. I bought a refurb myself, and I can attest to the quality.
If you are choosing between a refurb 9100 and a new 7100, the 9100 is the way to go. One last advice: try looking for "Factory Refurbs" from reputable retailers. Because Onkyo cannot compete with its own distributors, the prices on shoponkyo.com is rarely discounted. If you are lucky, you may find it for less than $699.
Hey Yamatosoul, thanks for the insight on what happens at Onkyo. It's very interesting that you actually bought a refurbed one... I thought they would give you a 50% employee discount
I do have to disagree with you a bit. When a unit gets returned I usually expect that the 1st buyer would have opened it up and played with it a little or the damage to the exterior box was substantial.
Option 1: The system has already been played with and I'm getting a lightly used box. I'll pass on the sloppy seconds.
Option 2: Although the receiver and speakers may not have been dented, when the styrofoam box is broken that indicates a pretty nasty fall. So even though the overall system may still sound the same for now, the electronics and components on all the systems took a decent bang and the overall life of these components may have been decreased significantly (although not evident now).
I'll admit if I was rich enough before Christmas I would've pulled the trigger on 749 with free shipping. But being in the predicament we are now (by the way how many of these can you make per day?) I'll be patient on the sidelines and buy other toys that are real cheap. That way when it does come back down a couple hundred bucks it would be like getting the new DS-3ax iPod dock, 4 mounts, and 12 gauge speaker wire all for free with some extra cash to boot
), the fronts are on Sanus bf-31's.
