Where do you purchase Rotel gear ?

[Tapesh]

I am planning to buy Rotel 1090+1095 and 1098.

I am finding it very hard to find any online dealer, there are none. EBay do get one or two auctions occaisonaly. Audiogon is another option.

I am in Alabny, NY, there is only one dealer and he wants MSRP. I dont want to pay full retail price. Thats the case with evry shop I talked to.

Any help ?

Regards

Tapesh

[george king]

I am in the same boat. I would have to drive to dallas for another rotel dealer. Rotel does not allow internet sales. So, either you buy used, off audiogon or ebay, or you find another dealer somewhere and drive there to see if you cannot get a deal.

Hope this helps.

[spiffnme]

I have the RSP-1066, RMB-1075 and RB-1070. I bought all three used from Ebay and audiogon. Saved a ton.




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[maddog]

Forget about getting a deal on a new Rotel, tapesh. Rotel and B&W do an excellent job of keeping their products from unauthorized dealers (mostly on the internet), which is where you usually can get a good discount. I don't know why they are so successful and others (like NAD, Marantz, and Denon) are not. But, they are. The dealer near me also never sells anything from Rotel for a penny less than MSRP.

The only exception to this might be if a product is being discontinued and being replaced by a new line. The reason that I mention this is because I was recently offered a very good discount on a brand new (in an unopened box) pair of B&W CDM9 NTs, since they are being replace by the 700 series and the dealer wanted to move them out to make room for the new line. But, other than that, I don't think you are going to have much luck getting a discount on a new Rotel. But, if it makes you feel any better, almost no other Rotel owner got a deal either.

[zpanky]

Actually, check out AUD19's thread. He got over 20% discount. Mind you, this is in Canada. In $USD a 20% discount would result in a price of about $1,160. If it can be discounted in Canada, I'm sure it must be discounted in the US as well.

[Mark Paquette]

My advice is to keep shopping until you find a dealer willing to deal. The first Rotel dealer I visited in Ann Arbor Michigan would not budge from MSRP, so I said thanks and moved on. The next dealer in Toledo Ohio offered me 16% w/o much arm twisting. He had to order the gear and I had it in about 10 days.

[maddog]

Wow, 20% and 16% off are some pretty good deals. I knew that you could not find any internet dealers, which usually have good discounts. But, I did not think that you could get a deal like that from an authorized brick-and-morter Rotel dealer. I do think, however, that if you have to drive quite a ways (in my case it would be over 200 miles) to the next nearest Rotel dealer to get a discount, that you should consider the extra time and money involved in that and weigh that against what you are actually going to save with the discount. You also should make sure that it is an authorized dealer giving the discount; otherwise, the warrenty will not be valid. Moreover, if you have to take the unit back for some reason, you are going to have to make that drive again. Of course, Rotel states on it's website that it's authorize dealers are not allowed to sell via mail order. Although, I suppose some dealers might bend those rules. But, I guess it's worth a try to call around just to know what your options are.

[zpanky]

The store in Vancouver Canada is definately an authorized dealer. You could always try using a LOT of the salesman's time and being indecisive. Also, try to deal directly with the owner if its a small shop. I find that senior sales staff have more ability to make deals than junior ones. And if you get to know the owner, there is more room still.

[Tapesh]

Thanks a lot for responding.

This is really annoying and as well as funny that they don’t have Internet dealer in these days. Possibly they care more about dealers rather than consumers. Possibly this is to maintain their high-end status.

I don’t understand when I am just doing pickup & pay, why should I pay for their so called know how or whatever infrastructure they have. These people are earning at least 40%.

I would love to hear from Rotel what’s their rationale behind this policy.

Thanks again

Tapesh

[twitchie]

I'm sure there must be more than the 1 dealer near you, but I have to disagree with many of your comments.

I don't know where the 40% markup comes from, but I don't think it's anywhere near that high. There are other comments that I think were said unfairly, but what I'd really like to say is that you cannot look at one business model and expect other manufacturers to follow the same.

Sure you can get HK or Denon from just about anywhere, but please don't bash Rotel for not following that route. Rotel is a family owned business, so they can do whatever they please, but make no mistake about them being high-end (you'd have to tack on another 0 to the end of their prices to join the really arrogant club) and snooty.

[aud19]

Well I indeed did get just over 20% and they are indeed an authorized dealer. The way I usually do it is, know as much as you can before you go in, usually more than the salesman and don't waste any of their time. Go right up to them and say I wasnt to buy this, will you take "X" dollars. I always lowball the "X" having already figured out what the approximate cost with say + 5% is. So they are at least making a little money with next to no work having been done. Usually they come back with something close.

The reason I think Rotel keeps a tight lid on un-authorized dealers and e-tailers etc is to keep the value of the equipment high. Hence one of the reasons you can get such good re-sale prices when selling used Rotel gear. Also their quality is fairly well known.




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