Where to by Pro audio equipment?

March 4, 2005 1:33 PM

ProAudio Filter: I'm looking to purchase the new portable Marantz CF recorder. What's the best online retailer for this kind of gear? There are so many to choose from that it's hard to decide.
posted by aladfar to shopping (6 comments total)

Well, I bought my M-Audio Firewire 410 from zzounds and found their services to be pretty good. No complaints at all.

My brother swears by sweetwater, and I know there's a lot of "pro" types who will only buy from them and not a discount house like AMS.

I guess.... well.... what do you mean by "best"?
posted by fake at 3:16 PM on March 4, 2005

Reliable service, good prices, decent customer support, etc. For some reason places that sell audio equipment - unless their extremely high end - often seem a bit sketchy.
posted by aladfar at 4:29 PM on March 4, 2005

I've used sweetwater a few times - I think they're pretty good. When I've had to return stuff they were great about it. Very easy to work with.
posted by soplerfo at 4:33 PM on March 4, 2005

Lovely device, I hadn't known such existed. Damn it, now I want one, but its too expensive for my purpose (bird calls, outdoor ambience).

Professional music stores are extremely competitive. If you want to get your hands on the device before you buy, find one that has it, then buy from them. Don't expect to pay much, if any, more than at Sweetwater. (dicker)

It is highly important to support such meatspace stores, and if they can make the price, why not? Such places usually offer great support as well as providing jobs for members of the local music industry.
posted by Goofyy at 9:20 PM on March 4, 2005

It's going to be a while before they'll be readily available. I wouldn't be surprised if sweetwater has a longstanding client list that will get orders filled first.

Even the (inferior IMHO) Roland/Edirol R-1 has apparently been moving fast. When I last talked to the folks at Sweetwater, they had sold them, but I couldn't speak to anyone who had touched one.

The point being, it might be a bit longer before you can even get one from the more reputable sources. I visited sites that let me get all the way to the "confirm order" on the R-1 before anyone else had it. Did they have them? Probably not. I'd stick with Sweetwater, they really are pleasant to deal with. Just don't give them your home phone #, they like to stay in touch. B&H and Musicians Friend are also honest.

and yeah.. what goofy said about shopping local, true, true.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 9:48 PM on March 4, 2005

B&H got 100 of them two days ago, and sol 80 yesterday.

So it goes, so it goes..
posted by Jack Karaoke at 4:17 PM on March 15, 2005