Eleven Rack available at Bestbuy.com

[nst7]

I don't think they started stocking this until just recently. Just thought I'd mention this for a couple of reasons.

Best Buy (and Bestbuy.com) will now match online prices, so you can show them the low price at B&H Photo.

For frequent Best Buy shoppers, this is cool because:

1. You'll get Reward points for it.

2. You have the option of using your Best Buy credit card and getting no interest for 18 months on it.

[musicman691]

Yeah - Best Buy has had a music department in their stores for a couple of years now. One by me in Princeton has a separate room towards the back of the store with a full Marshall stack, a couple of other amps, about a half dozen keyboards, a few guitars, some stomp boxes, strings, cables and guitar straps.

[Bill Denton]

Always kind of a tough call...

Places like Guitar Center and local music stores are what are called, in retail parlance, destination stores. In other words, people set out to specifically go to those stores.

So, unless those stores happen to be in an otherwise high-traffic location, such as a shopping mall, a non-musician may well never be aware of their existence. And there is very little opportunity for cross-selling...the Guitar Center shopper would probably never visit the "appliance department" even if GC had one.

Best Buy is also, to some extent, a destination store as they tend to be free-standing locations, but with a large number of merchandise categories, they would tend to draw in more of the "happened to be in the *neighborhood" traffic than would a music store. (In this instance, "neighborhood" refers to a "shopping area")

So, the "Music Department" at Best Buy may be the first chance a kid has to actually see and touch a guitar, an amp, or whatever. And, as nst7 noted, Best Buy offers a number of purchasing advantages that can lead to more "impulse purchases".

So, while Best Buy might not be part of what we normally think of as the "musical instrument ecosystem", they are, in fact, a very important part of it. Had he/she not seen the guitar (or whatever) in Best Buy, where the parents can make a somewhat "painless" purchase, they might have never begun playing at all.

Then, a year or so later, as the kid's skills improve, they'll talk Mom and Dad into taking them to Guitar Center where they'll pick up a Line 6 amp and an American Standard Strat.

Another year or so and they'll be heading to a locally-owned music shop for a Soldano amp and a PRS guitar.

So, while the initial guitar and amp purchase at Best Buy might not have directly benefitted the "musical instrument ecosystem", because of that first purchase at Best Buy, the "musical instrument ecosystem" has gained by selling two guitars and two amps to someone who might not have otherwise begun playing at all.

And there's also the ancillary purchases...picks, strings, stomp boxes, etc.

Don't get me wrong...I personally try my best to support my locally-owned music stores. Since I've moved to Pittsburgh, at least 95% of my drum related purchases have been at Drum World (<= shameless plug, ask for Anthony and they also sell online).

So, to my way of thinking, getting a kid to start playing in the first place will eventually benefit the "musical instrument ecosystem" even if the initial purchase didn't...

[CME]

And correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe best buy bought guitar center a couple of years ago. And shortly after is when they started carrying musical instruments. Mostly lower end beginner gear. So yes I believe the plan is to get young ones started in best buy and then they'll move up to guitar centers.

[CME]

I stand corrected. My apologies.

[nst7]

Good points by everyone. Keep in mind that Guitar Center was privately owned, then went public, then had troubles, and then was bought by Bain. Because that's what they do, buy troubled companies and try to turn them around. Only in this case it doesn't seem to be working.

As for Best Buy, they've been carrying Avid's consumer products for a few years now, but this is the first time I've seen the 11R.

It's only recently that they've started matching online prices (used to be just physical stores), so that makes things more flexible for those who want to buy.

Considering how much Guitar Center affected Mom and Pop music stores, I don't think you'll see much sympathy for Best Buy giving them some competition.

As for the support and knowledge aspect, considering how clueless many Guitar Center employees are, I don't think Best Buy will be much worse.

Besides, these days no one is bothered to research or read manuals. I can't believe some of the questions on this site even from HD customers.


I was mainly pointing this out for loyal Best Buy shoppers. If you're buying TV's, appliances, or even computer parts to build your music computer, maybe you can rack up those reward points to get an 11R.

By the way, they also sell Komplete 9 and K9 Ultimate, as well as KRK monitors, among other things.

[TieDyedDevil]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Guitar Center is a private company owned by Bain Capital (remember Mitt?). It is in deep financial trouble.

Nah, they're doing fine. What they lack in profitability, they make up for in volume.

[TieDyedDevil]

The Best Buy presence is simply bizarre for Avid. There's really no other way to put it. Eleven Rack is not a "my first recording studio" product. This reeks of Avid trying to flush their inventory...

[Deansy]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Stuck selling on discounts is no way for a technology/innovation based company to exist.

" it probably appeals to many folks largely as a cost effective way to purchase a Pro Tools license than as a guitar processor"
If they're able to continue selling Pro tools bundled with Eleven for 650-700 and Eleven continues to Sell at 350-400 brand new, I think they're in a win win situation. More pro tools users who will certainly buy plugins and when enough Eleven Racks are out there they can ask Chris Townsend to consult for them and develop new models.

They can make money on another expansion pack, much more than they will ever make by adopting Fractal or Kemper models where a small niche target market that has minimal potential for growth if compared with the sub $500. Line 6 sells thousands of pods..

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Deansy

" it probably appeals to many folks largely as a cost effective way to purchase a Pro Tools license than as a guitar processor"
If they're able to continue selling Pro tools bundled with Eleven for 650-700 and Eleven continues to Sell at 350-400 brand new, I think they're in a win win situation.

Other than upgrades, where are you seeing PT11 for $350-$400 new? Most vendors I see are still in the $699 range for PT11 by it's lonesome.