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Did I get ripped off? Concerto 901 7.1 Surround Sound (2 Viewers)

daryl133

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Hi all,
I was hoping someone could help me out here. I bought a surround sound system and at first it seemed like a great deal, but when I got home I started researching the brand, but I can't find anything on it, im starting to second guess my purchase. The brand is Concerto. Below are a few pictures of all the specs. Can anyone let me know if this is good brand, the box says MSRP is $2,499 (which I did not pay that much) regardless I was wondering if anyone could let me know if they know of this brand.
Maybe I should have done my research ahead of time! oops, live and learn.

Anyway, I would appreciate any insight on Concerto 901.

thanks!
 

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Mike Frezon

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Moved this thread from the Beginner's forum to the Receivers forum...hoping some of our resident gear experts will chime in.
 

DaveF

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I can say this:
I've not heard of the brand. Which means little by itself; I've not heard of many of the smaller bargain brands out currently.
I can't find anything about this brand or this system after 20 minutes of googling. For me, personally, that means it's not anything worth buying unless it's half the price of the cheapest version of what you want to buy.

I can go to BestBuy and in minutes find a budget Def Tech surround sound kit for $600.

And here's a cheap bluetooth 5.1 system for $80! No doubt it's garbage, but still.

So, $2500 MSRP for a 5.1 surround in box from a no-name brand? No way. Maybe if it was $100 or less.

Hopefully someone who actually knows what the product is can comment with some actual knowledge :)
 

Mike Frezon

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Daryl:

Can you tell us more about where you purchased it?

It wasn't from a very nice man driving a white van in the parking lot of a Best Buy store, was it? (That's a rather obscure reference to a practice of some con men who sell rather cheap gear preying on people outside of electronics stores.)

Knowing something about the place of purchase might help us out. And was it in the USA?
 

PhilAR

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According to the internet, this product doesn't exist. Google Goggles had zero results. Yahoo search had one match.... a link to this thread. Same with Bing.

Assuming you haven't returned it, how does it perform?
 

Gary Seven

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Based on no search results and the rather generic labeling and packaging, looks like a white van scam. Did you hook them up? Do they work?
 

Alf S

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I think the OP bailed. Hasn't been seen since the above two posts.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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I would say...rip off for sure.

I thought the White Van guys were gone. I had an encounter with them about a year or two ago, it was pretty funny. I was in a grocery parking lot and the van pulls up next to me. It has some kind of magnet label on the door for Audio/Video sales and installation specialists. Two guys get out and walk up to me saying they are done for the day and they have this "really high end audio system" left over in their truck and they want to get rid of it. They ask if I want to have a look at it. I say "OK" because I think this will be amusing because I already know what is about to happen. They open the van doors and there it is all boxed up, similar to the box above, a surround sound system with a hefty price tag on the box. The box appears brand new and sealed and I think "Well, a lot seems to go into this scam because somebody is actually packaging these things up."

It has a brand name on it that looks very familiar but if you look at the name something seems off. It says that the speakers and receiver are in the box. We chat for a bit as they continually drop the price for me to buy the thing. Finally they get down to $100.00.

I know I now have them so I say, "Well, even though I don't need it I guess I could give it to somebody as a gift."

The two of them immediately brighten and then try to get the price up saying that it would be great if I could give them $200.00 so they can each go home with $100.00 and how that would help their family holidays and that I am saving "thousands" on this thing. I agree to the two hundred and point to the cash machine across the parking lot. Then I say "Well, since I am buying this thing can I open it and take a look at it."

They make the mistake of saying "Sure."

I violently rip open the box making sure to tear it down the side so it is ruined. Then I begin pulling all the stuff out of the destroyed box. Oddly, there is no receiver in the box. I grab the outer box and literally tear off a piece that says there is a receiver in it. I hand to one of the guys who now look really nervous and say "Where is the receiver? It says there is a receiver in here!"

They start telling me it must be some kind of mistake. I now have all the speakers spread out in the back of their van and the box for them completely destroyed so they can't now try to pawn this junk off as new. I say "Hang on, let me look up this brand on my phone." and whip out my cell phone.

I punch in the brand and do a search and the first thing that comes up is WHITE VAN SCAM!!! I laugh and show them the phone. The two guys stand there saying nothing and I say "So, you're going around trying to rip people off with this junk? I think I saw a cop at the other end of the plaza."

Suddenly, the two guys say "Hey, you can have this stuff free. We just want to get going."

I say "Free! Are you kidding me you asked me for a grand for it to start?"

I yell out to some people nearby "Hey, these guys are giving away free stereo equipment!"

People of course ignore me but I yell it again anyway. The two guys ask me to stop that and tell me to please take the speakers they have to go. I say "I'll take them for $25.00."

One of the guys says "No, you can have them for free."

I say "No, I'll take the speakers if you give me $25.00."

They look at each other and then at me like they have no idea what is going to happen. So, I yell out to more people coming out of the super market "Hey, these guys are giving away free stereo equipment and $25 dollars in cash!"

One of the guys starts stuffing the speakers randomly into the damaged box and then sets the box down next to my car the other guy is back in the van and has it running.

I say "Hey, wait a minute where is my $25.00?" as he runs away to get back into the van. They quickly drive away.

I'm left standing in the parking lot with a mangled box with cheapo speakers in it. A guy walks over to me and says "Were they really giving away free stereos?" and I point to the box and say "Yup." He looks at it and says "Hey, not a bad deal!"

I say "Hey, you can have these!"

He looks at them, they do appear brand new, and says "Really?" and I say with a big smile "Absolutely, I kept telling them my wife would kill me if I brought more stereo stuff home."

He says "Watch them for a second while I grab a carriage." and I say "Sure."

He grabs a carriage from the grocery store and quickly comes back and loads them in. He thanks me profusely and I say "Merry Christmas!" and get in my car.
 

Edwin-S

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Hard to say if he got ripped-off, since he never mentioned how much he paid for it. Unfortunately, he probably did get hooked since it looks like no-name brand knock-off of the BOSE Acoustimass system.
 

EP!

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I have been following this thread since the beginning and had to get in on this haha.

So I purchased this same exact thing, around the same time and same exact scenario and the OP. It was just before Christmas and two guys going around a grocery store parking lot in a white car... they had 3 of these Concerto units in the back seat, still sealed and banded.

At first I said no then drove away. Because they also asked for $200 so they could split it $100/$100. I was curious how low I COULD get them to go, so I turned back around and found them again.
I told them $80 bucks was the best I would do, IF I could see it plugged in and working first. I was shocked they agreed and I had them follow me down the street to my place where I plugged it in and it actually does work. So I ended up buying it.

I still use it, and I will say the quality is 'OK'. It's not "$2,500 MSRP" good, but it works, and it has bass. I use it in my. Bedroom with the Bluetooth on my phone to blast music mostly. Only thing I don't like it the range of the. Bluetooth is about 10 ft, if it's clear straight reception.

Anyways yeah I came on here doing the same thing googling the brand that day and couldn't find anything on it. But I didn't really mind spending $80 on it as long as it worked, I was thinking about buying one of these anyways. I just knew I wasn't spending $200 on it that was for sure a NO.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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I actually don't find anything surprising about how this happens or that people buy these things. I mean you get offered a "surround sound system" for a ridiculously low price...basically they are willing to drop to $100.00 to get the sale and so I can see a person thinking "Hey, for $100 even if it is not the best system in the world I am risking very little to find out."

So, I understand why people do it. A guy that works with my wife bought one, he loves it, uses it every day. The guy I gave the stuff to at the market when he saw me again...and apparently he had been looking for me...was thrilled with the one he got for free...which was only speakers he told me he went out and bought a new receiver to hook them up to. So, whatever, if you are happy that's great.

The thing I honestly do not understand is how whoever makes and packages these things makes any money off of them. Obviously they sell them cheap enough to these white van parking lot guys for them to take just about whatever anybody offers...although their target price seems to be $200.00 they will take $100.00 for them. So, what do they pay for them?

$20.00? $40.00? It can't be much. I mean why would they drive around trying to sell them to people in parking lots if all they might make on one is $60.00?

So, how do the people making these and packaging them up make any money on this? The one I tore open was very nicely packaged with speaker wire and connectors in nice cloth bags with the fake brand name printed on the bags,everything nicely bagged and protected in the box and all this packaging was also branded...hell, I know from having to pay for packaging and printing for my own company that none of this comes cheap. So, to build everything, print boxes, cloth bags, packaging materials, all of the actual stereo equipment, pay employees to make and package everything...they can do all that and still make some kind of money selling them to the guys that sell them in parking lots?

How is that possible? I mean that just does not seem realistic. Who is making and packaging these things?
 

PhilAR

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Chinese sweat shops? These aren't systems that got "diverted" from market destined shipments... stolen units would come at no cost to the white van ringleader, other than paying his goons to sell them. At least they don't seem to be, as they aren't available on the open market....
 

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