nice sq amp for around 300?

...until you have to replace the amplifier the first time... What happens if your stuff is stolen? Can you afford to replace it (600 dollars) when insurance only pays for what you actually paid for the item in the first place (300 dollars)? What happens if the amp dies or disappears just one time? You'll be buying it twice, mang, and it's not likely to be today's online price forever!! Not to mention the "craze to buy online" is half of the issue when it comes to mom-and-pop, brick-and-mortar stores not being able to stay in business in this country anymore... But that's just my opinion.It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

well if you read zapco's website carefully they say it must be INSTALLED by an authorized dealer to get the warranty. "Zapco product has a 3 year warranty if purchased and installed by an authorized Zapco Dealer." my closest zapco dealer is about an hour and a half away. so i would be paying MORE for the actual amp, PAYING some guy at a shop to do something which i am 100% capable of doing myself. i do feel bad for the local mom and pop shops that do go out of business, and it is partly the internet's fault, but it is also the shops fault for not being unique enough with their inventory. most M&P shops around here sell what? thats right, KICKER! a brand thats everywhere on the internet. you cant visit an audio website without seeing something from kicker. when you sell something that that the market is so saturated in you are bound to lose sales because of it and most local shops wont survive on installs alone because they in turn need to charge so much for installs just to make up for the difference in lost sales to the internet. thats what made me want to learn how to do it myself because i got tired of walking into audio shops backwards with my pants around my ankles(figuratively speaking). if a local shop is struggling they need to de-commonize their inventory a little bit, because lets face it most people do not care where they get their product, they just want it the cheapest possible. especially now in this economy. and if a customer walks into a local shop and sees the exact same stuff that they just saw on the website they were looking at before they left home, but the price is much higher, what do you expect them to do? they will come in, play with the displays, then go back home and buy on the internet. but if a customer walks in and sees a bunch of cool stuff that isn't as common on the internet they are more likely to justify paying a little bit more for something more unique, something that not everybody and their mom has in their trunk. i hope you dont think i'm being hostile with this response but this is just something that i think about a lot but nobody seems to ever get it. if anybody else has anything to add to this, lets start a new topic.

No hostility read... I just really feel strongly about the brick and mortar support plan. I know too many people, seriously, that have had to close their doors. These, I might mention ARE people that "bucked the system", and offered brands that COULDN'T be ordered on the web. McIntosh, Linear Power (when they still existed), ADS (when they were good)... Others as well. You are completely correct about the over-commonality of [kicker especially] a brand and the (over-)saturation of a market by a single brand name, I remember the same thing happening with Rockford Fosbreak and Fryin' Orion about 10 (?) years ago... Now it's Kicker and Alpine's turns... Next will be JL, etc. Your opinion is noted, and I assure you there are no hard feelings... Our opinions, and our abilities to express and respect them as adults, makes THIS the best electronics forum on the web! /<shameless plug>It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

haemphyst wrote: ...Your opinion is noted, and I assure you there are no hard feelings... Our opinions, and our abilities to express and respect them as adults, makes THIS the best electronics forum on the web! /<shameless plug>

Shameless plug noted and appreciated ;)

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haemphyst wrote:    These, I might mention ARE people that "bucked the system", and offered brands that COULDN'T be ordered on the web. McIntosh, Linear Power (when they still existed), ADS (when they were good)... Others as well. Your opinion is noted, and I assure you there are no hard feelings... Our opinions, and our abilities to express and respect them as adults, makes THIS the best electronics forum on the web! /<shameless plug>

well, they also ignored another another fact of American consumerism. most people want their stuff as cheap as possible, but they dont want it to break either. its funny you mention McIntosh, which is some of the best/most expensive equipment you can buy. it really is a delicate balance that the shops have to maintain with the quality and price of their product against what MOST people are willing to pay. if you offer cheap products like jensen and boss, yes you will get business at first but you will also get massive amounts of returns. and sooner or later your valued repeat customers will just go away. capitalism is a double edge sword, and because of this, its not always the quality brand that wins the sales battle. kicker is nothing more than a triumph of marketing, they maintain just enough quality to keep most people happy, and they constantly upgrade their equipment with a new look to keep people interested. having products that CANT be ordered on the web is not the key here. because this stuff is usually too expensive for the average joe to consider. its about selling the well known brands but not necessarily their most well known product. but in the end, you cant predict what a customer will go for and what they wont. all you can do is sell it for a while and find out. that was probably the fatal flaw in those shops that had to close. they stuck with a few brands and were not as willing to change to something else. if i had the chance to open my own shop, i would sell a few main, medium to high quality, brands that get people into the store, like alpine and MTX, but i would also have floating brands that i would just sell from time to time (McDonalds uses this same strategy with their McRib) if i found something that really sold well, i would keep it. this also would keep my shop fresh because everytime someone would come into my shop there would be something new to check out. i would stay away from low quality garbage because then your shop gets the reputation of a dirt merchant who only wants your money and couldn't care less if you are happy with what you get.

i would also have a Term-Lab meter on hand. for just $600 i'm surprised more shops dont do this.

I can agree with both sides on this one. I my self bought from a local store at 2 times the cost when i could have got it online. I sometime regret it now that its only a few months later and i am wanting to double what i have in subs and amps. And we are not talking a small sytem that i have now lol. There is a great up side to buying local though. You get an easy spot to just drop off bad equipment for warrenty, all the tech support you need most of the time and you get to see who you are dealing with face to face. Sure you can save a lot of money online. Sometimes it is worth it. But sometimes it is also best to just poney up the extra money and help the economy by supporing the little guy.  

I agree 100% J.Reed. there are too many advantages to buying local over buying online. and for the average person who needs tech support or warranty repair it is indispensable.