Gary A. Edelstein wrote:
The recent thread about Monster cable alternatives prompted me to post
this.

I was helping my father and stepmother with a home theater purchase at
a Milwaukee, WI high end shop this last weekend. Here's what they
picked out for a fairly small (~13'x13') den:

Sony 37" Plasma HDTV
http://www.plasmadepot.com/sony_plas...de37xs955.html

Yamaha A/V Digital Receiver
http://www.avperfection.com/scripts/...?idproduct=657

Jamo 5.1 Speakers (and Stands)
http://sales.concert-systems.com/sales/JAM-A305PDD.html

Sony Progressive Combo Player
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...ature-SLVD560P
or http://tinyurl.com/cvupm

They will be getting the local cable co. HDTV DVR box as well.

The shop will do the install at $70/hr. When the final sales
paperwork was shown to me, they had added $300 for 'wire'. I said
that was awfully high and asked what it included. They said it was
standard for their installs to use all Monster cables and that was
their estimate for the component connects and speaker wire.

I took a quick look at their connectors display and sure enough, they
basically only carried Monster.

Despite my recommendation against accepting this, my father said he
trusted the shop's sales person and would accept the deal as written.

So, in this instance, it appeared their only choices were to accept
the shop's way of doing it or get their own connectors. Since I live
out of town, I couldn't go shopping for the connectors myself (I
didn't have time that day to do it either) and my father and
stepmother don't know what to buy.

If I had the time to go to Radio Shack, we could have bought something
equivalent (IMHO) for a lot less:

2 ea. - 50' 14 Gage Speaker Wire - $44
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...Fid=278%2D2761

3 ea. - High Quality 6' Component Cables - $90
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=15%2D1563

The combo player probably comes with a A/V cable with composite vid
and L/R phono audio plugs for the VCR portion. Some 75 ohm cable TV
wire connectors might be needed too, so add another $20-$30 for misc
connectors, if needed. Perhaps put the difference saved towards some
sort of universal remote.


Comments?


When you can save money by paying retail at RS versus what the HE shop
is asking, you know you've been, er...."monsterized". :-( (For example,
you can get 100' of 14AWG speaker wire for far less than the $44 at RS.
And, yes, I know the Monster crap is even more.)


Is this standard practice in high end shops?


IME, yes, it's all too common. They make far more on the "accessories"
than on the electronics. Did they pitch an extended warranty, too?


Should it be?


IMO, no.


Any other suggestions on what I should have done and can do now?

At this juncture, the only suggestion is to avoid that shop.