I was in Detroit on business the other week, but took a day aside for Christmas shopping. It would've been rude not to take a look at all the HiFi shops I could find, so I went looking for subwoofers.
I found a CHT-15 for $475 in 'Circuit City', an electrical chain store. This was a display model though and it had a few scratches on it. Around $500 seemed like the average post-haggle price for a boxed model in the other specialist shops.
I worked out that I could purchase and import the thing for around £400-£450 ish depending on exchange rate, taxes and duties (I can get a good personal shipping deal through the American side of our company
but I would owe a few favours due to the hassle)
The guy selling for £815 is obviously making a healthy profit, but of course has taken a hit on speculating that he can sell the stock he bought, can store the huge things somewhere and can market the fact that he's selling them. I think you are right to question the difference in price though Dimmy - I don't know much about profit margins in this industry, but I'll guesstimate that he (or she) could be making over £300 per unit.
Anyhow, I almost bought it, as I've been looking for a subwoofer for a while, but...I deceided against it for a few reasons: it looked a bit tatty; it's so imposing
; I wasn't too impressed with the build quality - it just seemed a bit cheap looking. I'd been kidding myself that the missus wouldn't mind it, but it was just too large for our room.
I heard the sub in the demo room with X-Men 2 and it sounded awesome. Really awesome. I was left to my own devices and I had a little play with it and wound it up...
...it is a monster. I'd never heard anything like it i.e. I realise now that most bass I have heard in the past has been noise rather than detail. Very deep, but no woolyness - the clarity of delivery at volume was fantastic. It was this though that finally put the nail in the coffin for my purchase - it's just too much for my room. If I had the space, I would love something like this. I speculatively made an offer on the forum a short while ago on one of these. If I'd got it, I would've kept it and made it fit, but I'm happier with something that fits the room for now.
So, what have I done after messing around for so long? Well, I've just bought a nice little 6.1 speaker setup - 5 Keff eggs, a Q9c and an MJ Acoustics Reference 100. Tried it for the first time last night hooked up to the projector and watched Pirates of the Caribbean (minus the Q9c, as it's on order) and I think I made the right decision for the room size - just enough from the eggs and the sub is quality in every respect. I haven't set it up properly yet, as I'm waiting for my sound meter, but I am soo looking forward to playing around with it. Besides, doing it this way lets me have more fun next year when I can build the extension on the house and upgrade the whole system
I am due back to the USA in the summer and may just well have a rethink about importing.
Neil.