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How much interest is there in executive style radios?

You're right StephanieNYC, but Rat Shack ain't what it used to be when it comes to component parts!

I've always loved tinkering with building speaker-building projects, and Radio Shack was damn handy for that. Not any more!

They used to carry some surprisingly good audio gear (among the junk). Their 15" 3 way Optimus speaker with a horn tweeter was legendary among high-end audiophiles who loved to experimenting with teenie, tiny triode amplifiers (where 5-7 watts is "superpower").

I still visit Radio Shack often, but not because it's a great store. Because it's an ELECTRONICS store in my small town, and I love gadgets. My nearest Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. are an hours' drive away.
 
StephanieNYC said:
Rat Shack can still be useful. When you need the odd resistor or connector at the last minute for something, it's the only place left you can go to. :p :-[
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In NYC surely you can do better. I know we can here!
 
Radioman100 said:
Mike Walker said:
Yeah...names like Accurian have been replaced by names like Sony, Yamaha, JVC and Alpine. Direct Sales have largely been supplanted by sales in retailers like Wal Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, J&R Music World, Crutchfield, JC Penney, Costco, Sam's Club, Target, and The Sharper Image. How will HD Radio survive this sad turn of fate?
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Agreed. Who shops at Radio Shack these days anyway? The company is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and has been for quite a while. I'll gladly take all the major players over Rat Shack, though we do still have them too.
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I don't have Rat Shack's 2007 numbers handy, but in 2006 they had $4,777.5 million gross sales with a gross profit of $2,233.1 Million. That translated to a net profit of $73.4 million. That is no where as good as it used to be, but a lot of companies would like to do as well. Call me crazy, but it doesn't look to me like they are "teetering on the edge of bankruptcy."
 
Radioman100 said:
In NYC surely you can do better. I know we can here!
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Believe it or not, all the places to get run of the mill components (not exotic or discontinued-vintage stuff) are gone. They were all priced out of existence. :'(
 
Interesting to hear Chuck. I guess their massive restructuring, layoffs and store closures paid off. It sure seemed like they were just about done for a while.
 
Radioman100 said:
Interesting to hear Chuck. I guess their massive restructuring, layoffs and store closures paid off. It sure seemed like they were just about done for a while.
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I have to admit that, generally speaking, I find Radio Shack to be pretty useless. It's always been that way. Even back in their hay-day. most (but not all) of their products were either inferior or simply over-priced. At least, that’s the way it was in the 35 or so years I lived in Dallas. There were simply better places to get stuff than Radio Shack, yet the chain flourished.

Oddly our local Kilgore, Texas store (which is an associate store) does stock a few components like resistors capacitors, switches, common IC's etc. They also have a fairly decent selection of handy accessories and gadgets that you just can't live without. I find I actually buy things from them from time to time. It is probably due to convenience more than anything. They are also pretty nice people and actually know something about the products they sell.

The RS stores in the local malls are fairly useless, unless you want a cell phone or satellite service. Even then, there are a million other choices out there. Even so, every time I go into one, there are quite a few customers in the store. Evidentially, the general public's concept of consumer electronics is quite a bit different from what is expected by us radio geeks who haunt this forum. That difference in perception might explain their seeming indifference toward HD radio too.
 
I agree with you Chuck. Most people don't look at technology the same way we do. They're not so much interested in what technology can do, but what it can do for them.

This is why the pathetic HD Alliance marketing up to this point has been so completely ineffective.
 
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