Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Advice choosing receiver / pre-pro

Update on my receiver purchase...

The Denon 4311 is now available locally (in Canada) for $2200 CDN MSRP vs. $2000 US MSRP. I can purchase one from a US retailer who's willing to sell and ship to Canada for $1500 plus shipping - so probably around $1600 CDN after factoring in shipping and exchange. They don't have it in stock so I'd have to wait plus I might get charged around 6% for duty charges (which, according to NAFTA, should be 0%). Plus, the 1 year manufacturer warranty would be voided.

Or I can buy it locally for $1900 CDN (all-in, no shipping required). The 1 year warranty would still be valid and I can pick it up immediately as they have it in stock.

What do you guys think? Should I save myself $300 and order from the US or purchase locally? I don't think I can get them below $1900 since they've still got quite a bit of old stock (Denon 4310s) that they are trying to sell and they don't want to provide too much of an incentive to buy this year's model over the older discounted model.

Help!

Bryan

Personally I would go with the $1900 and be done with it, but first try to get them down a little more and walk out once or twice on them to be sure they won`t go any lower

My advise is to be patient....the CAD$ is heading north which you should consider if buying through the US. Unless you'll definately save a good $250 or more, I'd probably buy locally. As the scary turbaned fellow said, try to get a better deal first.

What do you get by going from the 4310 to the 4311? Maybe they'd make you a sweet deal on the older model.

Yeah, given what you've said, I'd buy it locally.

Audyssey 32bit I beleive is the greatest benefit.

With the dollar virtually at par with the US the prices on this stuff vis-a-vis Can./US is in now quite unacceptable. I have a couple of friends in the CE retail business who state quite clearly that the distributors/manufacturers in Canada will not accept the low markup that exists in the US, hence higher prices, despite the dollar. The worst of these is Onkyo(these clowns won't even allow their authorized resellers to sell in to Canada).

Incidentally, NAFTA and the rules re: duty exemption, only applies to products actually manufactured in the US. Pretty well all this stuff, regardless of the company, is manufactured in the Far East, including Denon, so you will have to pay duty(usually around 6.5%) plus the brokerage charges(based on the value of the item) and , of course, shipping, plus the sales tax which you would pay anyway if you bought it locally. Then there is the warranty issue purchasing it from the US.

Unfortunately, when you add it all up, even with the significantly lower initial price offered from the US based shipper, you, more often than not, end up spending as much or more as opposed to just paying the higher price locally. Usually now I will only import from the US if it is a product that I just can't get here at all that has no distributor.

I have done quite a bit of importing from the US over the years and you really have to do your homework here to determine if it is worth it.

Thanks for the advice - it is appreciated.

I ended up purchasing it locally and was able to negotiate it down to $1800 CDN (before taxes). Plus, it was in stock at the store so I was able to pick it up today.

I figured the best I was going to do from the US was $1600 after shipping and more likely $1650 to $1700 depending on duties (I still think the duty should be 0% but figured I might get dinged for 6%). And this would have been without warranty.

So I felt comfortable buying locally and paying $1800 CDN with full 3-year warranty - plus I could get my hands on it immediately which was worth something to me as I have the house to myself next weekend to set everything up.

So - if anyone in Calgary is looking for a Denon 4311 I think $1800 is the benchmark. The MSRP is $2200 so I got it at an 18% discount - slightly less than my stated goal of 20-25% but close enough. And, to be honest, I didn't play hardball too much. I'm sure if I was willing to wait it out and negotiate a bit more I could have gotten it for a bit less.

But I'm happy - saved myself $400 of MSRP which will easily pay for my next purchase - Sony Playstation w/ Move hardware bundle!

Cheers!

Bryan

Very Good!!

I bet you might have only been able to get them to drop another $50 before the wall went up and it would have been painful to get them there, nicely done!