Comments on: Where to by Pro audio equipment?

Question: Where to by Pro audio equipment?

aladfar — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 13:33:55 -0800

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.

By: fake

fake — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 15:16:57 -0800

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"?

By: aladfar

aladfar — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 16:29:31 -0800

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.

By: soplerfo

soplerfo — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 16:33:44 -0800

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.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 21:20:10 -0800

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.

By: Jack Karaoke

Jack Karaoke — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 21:48:05 -0800

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.

By: Jack Karaoke

Jack Karaoke — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 16:17:17 -0800

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

So it goes, so it goes..