I'm looking to purchase a Yamaha RX-V1500. I found a couple for around $500 US but after speaking with Yamaha, the manuf. warranty wont cover these as they aren't purchased from an authorized Yamaha dealer. If I were to purchase it from an authorized dealer, the price jumps up to $800 US. My question is how much should I be concered with the manuf. warranty? The two places I'm considering are shopsunshine...which is an elec. store in NY with an instore warrenty and I live in Canada. The other is a guy who has his own co. doing custom installation and does not offer a warranty. What do you think...should I bother with the warranties? Are receivers these days good enough to get by without one?
Thanks Paul (I posted the initial message - I'm registered now
Yeah...I'd generally prefer to save money. But receivers these days are packed full of stuff that I can't imagine what could go wrong. My old/current receiver works fine...for a 2.0 system and I've had that for probably 8...maybe 9 years now...but there's nothing on it...no DTS, Dolby Digital, etc. Anyway, it's apples to oranges comparing what I have now to what's available...which is why I was wondering how durable/reliable electronics are (in the Hi-Fi arena) these days.
how does a custom installer not offer the company warranty? that is kinda sketchy if you ask me. any new item with a real serial # has a warranty. i would ask why the guy does not offer the warranty cause that sounds bogus. i would look for a different local guy, possibly a dealer and not some guy.
No...the guy doesn't know. Technically, and I called Yamaha US and Canada on this, NO ONE can offer a manuf. warranty unless they are a lic. authorized Yamaha dealer. Lots of stores will offer their OWN warranties, that is, in the case that something goes wrong in the period of 1, 2 or 3 years, or extended warranties of up to 5 years, you send it back to whom you BOUGHT it from...not Yamaha. Sending it back to Yamaha will cost you money to fix.
In this guys' case...he said if anything goes wrong, send it back to him...but I'd rather not. Nor would I want to send it back to any internet site that is NOT an authorized dealer.
Again, this is only IF something goes wrong...big if.
ah yea. i forgot about the little detail of authorized. i see what you delimma is. well, i personally would feel better knowing that the company itself has some liability for their products and i can send it to them for repair. plus what happens if the guy disappears or the internet company doesnt respond.
I think you made a pretty good acquisition. The HK will drive the Polks very well, however, the Rti12's are very power hungry, when budget permits, you might want to add a power amplifier to drive your fronts, you will be rewarded. I know many will disagree with me but those Polks are very good. You really need to listen to them with good electronics to really appreciate them. Some guys here do not give them credit because they are sold at Circuit City where it is almost impossible to do a fair audition.
Anyway, looks like a pretty good set up to me! Congrats
As for the question about where to buy, only you can decide that. Things these days have so many gadgets and bells and whistles that a warranty is a good thing to have. On the other hand buying from a non-authorized dealer may allow you to stretch your dollar a little further. The middle ground is to buy from an authorized dealer selling refurbs/b-stock. You still get a warranty, but save money as well. Sometimes items are returned but not defective for whatever reason, and this is a great way to buy if the item being new does not matter to you. The manufacturers website should list for you who their authorized dealers (internet included) are. I bought my Marantz sr7500 from a local authorized dealer, and he met me halfway on the price. I brought him my unauthorized internet price and he came down on his which was way higher. did not get it all the way down, but was able to save a little and still get the piee of mind.
Anonymous-if there's anyway to bump your center speaker up to the CSi5, you'll get better results. The CSi3 was made for those of us with bookshelves as fronts and the CSi5 was made for those with floor standing fronts. The CSi3 may sound weak against your 12's. Other than that, you've got a great system for home theater and a very good system for music.
