Interesting experience at MA B&W dealer

[mafoo]

I was at my local dealer's today to pick my 750 sub to round out my 700 series HT and was part of a discussion between a sales associate (not mine) and a customer who was bringing his 603's back to replace them w/ a bookshelf pair due to WAF.

The sales guy was thoughly discouraging this guy from the 705 in favor of CM2 or 601/602. Direct quote "B&W really shot themselves in the foot w/ the 700 series". Of course he didn't know I had just bought 704's a month earlier. I read a number of possibilities into this statement...

a) they're attempting to move the old 800 series (impending replacement in Jan w/ the new stuff)

b) the CM series is going to be discontinued (strange disappearence on the B&W website at one time)

c) the 700 series is selling well and there is a supply problem and/or margins are shrinking due to increased manufacturing cost (Danish cabin makers?)

d) the dealership really feels that B&W didn't hit a good price/performance ratio w/ the 700 series between 800 and CM (maybe they think it replaced a series that was cheaper and just as good if not better)

I know the sales guy didn't know what the customer was willing to shell out so he wasn't just attempting to make him feel better by not upgrading to the 705. This dealership has been generally well regarded on this and other forums.

Any thoughts on this?

[sikoniko]

The CM series is gone.

Some people like the 700 series, while others do not. From my understanding, until they are broken in, they sound raspy. I can't speak from personal experience though.

My thought is that the sales guy was being stupid and should keep his opinions to himself. I thought the idea of retail is to upsell, not undersell.

[Parsonsk]

What do you mean the CM series is gone?
I noticed along with Mafoo that they had removed them from the website a few months back but i didn't think they were going to remove them for good?
Even with this said i'm not suprised as they don't really match the rest of the line up. I like them but i like the N800 even better.

[mafoo]

He explicitly stated the CM series as a better alterntive (price/perf), but I actually only inferred that he was also pushing the 602 alternative as well. I had once thought of the CM series as 600's w/ nicer cabinetrey (however several have stated this isn't so). It would make sense if both CM and 800's were going away that dealers would want to downplay the 700 series for a few of months, and get people thinking CM and 800 as the alternatives.

I definitely notice my 704's don't sound as good as the dealer's broken in pair on their big McIntosh amps, but my expectation is that over time and w/ an amp upgrade from my low end Onkyo rcvr that they'll certainly get there. I'm waiting to see what comes out of CES before shopping for amp/rcvr.