Review Of E-Zone Chennai

flanker.r

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There has been a lot of talk about e-zone that has opened in Chennai. I was busy with other things and could never find time to visit it until last week. There was a big hype about this place and I wanted to know what the place was all about. When people said it was an audiophiles haven I simply could not resist. I had to cancel all that I had planned on a Wednesday morning, excuse myself from work that day and visit e-zone.

The place looked nice from outside and is spacious inside. It has 2 floors (ground + 2 floors).

The ground floor is dedicated to Plasma, LCD screens and HTIB setups. Since I am a stereo fan and primarily a music guy I did not even bother looking at this section. I saw a dedicated section for LG and Samsung and knew right way these guys were playing it to the gallows and were targeting the not-so-quality conscious, me too, technically ignorant average consumer. Hitachi, Panasonic and reputed brands were tucked away in a corner and were not even switched on. The second section on ground floor consists of PS2s, PS3s and xbox stuff, CD storage covers, headphones, Cell phones, etc

I climbed to the 2nd floor (I never take the lift in places like these. I have seen good products being placed in bad locations like stairways and taking the lift denies me the chance of seeing these) and told myself this is the reason I was here and this is where I was going to find what I was interested in. First brand on display here was Samsung. It was disappointing but I continued. There were demo rooms for LG, Samsung, Onkyo, Philips and Sony. There was another room for some other brand of speakers that looked pertinacious and they were being promoted by the firm with a dedicated display area and were the only speakers that had their grills off (the drivers had shiny reflective powder on them similar to the ones found in speakers manufactured by Pro-FX). On closer look they were some Korean/Chinese brand. Ezone was supporting and endorsing these speakers whole heartedly. Only decent speaker brands I saw were Klipsch and Jamo but they were all switched off and demo rooms locked. The LGs and Samsung were playing at full level generating odd, odder and oddest harmonics. Distortion of 1st order, 2nd order and 100th order were everywhere. Its a wonder how these speakers play with so much distortion all through their life but nothing happens to them. I could not take it anymore and asked a sales guy if they had any stereo systems. He gave me a strange look and asked me '2 speaker system sir?' He continued 'Sir they don't move at all these days (?????) but we have few for people like you'. I got skeptical when he said that sentence and wondered what he meant when he said people like me. Somehow it did not sound positive but this was my last hope and I was optimistic. He took me to one of the shelfs and there was a Philips midi system lying there. I said thank you and started wondering how people had killed good old stereo

I walked up to the 3rd floor and saw microwave ovens, grinders, coolers and did not even bother walking further. While in 2nd floor again I scanned the whole place again to see if I had missed something (this was such a big place and people on forums and papers were sating this is an audiophiles (I shrug these days when I hear that word) haven. No 2 channel hi-fi separates. Not a single amplifier, CD player or even cable and this was supposed to be an audiophiles haven

Almost more than 10000 sq feet of swanky showroom and not a single decent hi-fi separate system was a big letdown for me. This is just another vasanth & co, viveks, or ABC enterprises or one of the firms who are into everything but into nothing specific

The disappointment was not about e-zone but the revelation the visit gave me. Stereo is lost. Nobody wants it these days. Or in the salesmans words it does not move. Guys, if you get a chance get back to stereo, do it. Listen to a good stereo system before you go for multi-channel. It has all the power to move you emotionally and make music what makes music so enjoyable. No home theatre, multi-channel setup can bring you as close to the music as stereo can. Unless there is a market there is no point in manufacturing them. The few who do listen to stereo end up paying exorbitantly as most manufacturers have stopped making them and the few who do, do not have volume sales

Ya I was disappointed that day but at least made it to work and shared it with my colleagues. A few agreed with me but then after about 10 min one guy asked me to evaluate a new nokia phone he had purchased and claimed it had extreme fidelity and wanted my opinion on how the effect was. Well, nothing more could be said!
 
ezone is just another big bazaar of electronics...
People there do not know answers, do not have the knowledge to explain...have no view on products... all they want to do is push the standard Sony and LG products (blame it on the commission :D )

I bought two items in Blore ( both mobile phones) and it is more than a coincidence that both suck big time...

I wanted an ipod docking station...they had one on display...asked for a new piece... standard reply.."no stock.Leave your number and we will call you on receiving stock"... it is 8 weeks now :rolleyes:

I bought if finally at Croma at 2000 INR lesser than ezone price :D
 
Which make is your iPod dock? and Price please...

ezone is just another big bazaar of electronics...
People there do not know answers, do not have the knowledge to explain...have no view on products... all they want to do is push the standard Sony and LG products (blame it on the commission :D )

I bought two items in Blore ( both mobile phones) and it is more than a coincidence that both suck big time...

I wanted an ipod docking station...they had one on display...asked for a new piece... standard reply.."no stock.Leave your number and we will call you on receiving stock"... it is 8 weeks now :rolleyes:

I bought if finally at Croma at 2000 INR lesser than ezone price :D
 
Flanker..to further test it out, I walked into one of these retailers to check on stereo systems...

He proudly (I could feel his chest pumping up that few cms) mentioned that he has HT and the regular grotesque looking audio players...

when I asked for stereo amps, he looked at me like I was from a different lost planet... he said we have SONY HT ( effectively stating.."why the heck are you looking at anything else... "if it is not SONY... then you don't really have the MONEY" types)

I walked in ..only to not disappoint him...and all he had to show was LG, Philips and some obscure stuff...

I walked out in less than 4 mins after that
 
ya. I can understand how it would have been.

Have been through similar situation many times.

Have you walked into BOSE showrooms? That is an experience that will be second to none and takes the cake as far as ignorance of audio salesmen goes.
 
Hi:

I visited e-zone one week after their opening as I live close to that place, but as said above LG, Sony, Samsung music system rules there, a big let down. But, I would strongly advise all to visit their plasma and lcd section if you're buying flat screen tv's, any model any brand are available side by side for that comparison. This one section I liked.:)
 
Agree with all here, have been thru similar situations. But to see from the other side, these retailers are in cut throat consumer durable market where all they care about is their margin money and cuts. So obviously LG & Samsungs rule here. Just think about it how many retailers would allocate any of their prime real estate for a decent stereo set which has not many takers and which doesnt move. It doesnt make biz sense. Its best not to expect too much from them. They are driven by their own motives which may not align with our passions in hardware. One should go to a propah hifi store to check such things out. no offence to anyone!
 
The worst shop i have ever seen, i bought a washing machine from these guys and they were not able to deliver me a single good piece !! It was the third time when they delivered a damaged machine that i said ,"that's it give me my money back and dont pester me with your second hand stuffs" .Then it turned even much complicated they said they will transfer the money back to my credit card account but it has been 15 days but so far i havent got even a courtesy call for not transferring the money.
So I strongly recommend that E Zone is not a good place for you to shop if you value your money:confused::mad:
 
Well, to add to this, I did visit ezone a couple of months back and they did stock up on some proper speakers and amplification. If I remember right, I saw speakers from ELAC, Jamo and some other brand. The Jamo section had nobody in sight. If there had been, I would have had a demo then and there.

There is an Onkyo demo room. These demo rooms are swanky and showy in construction - all glass and plush sofas and what not. But I am not sure how they would sound.

What needed to be mentioned is that proper HT equipment can also be found there at ezone. I dont know how they are doing now with the industry downturn and all. But 2 months back they did stock these equipment.
 
You can try ProFX at Spencer Plaza

ProFX is utter waste, last month I travelled 320km for an audition

They did not even had a TV in the demo room, They played some music DVD,
I don't know what they were playing. Then I gave my dts audio CD, the BPL DVD could not decode dts audio CD, then I gave another dts demo CD, it could not play this also.

Then they played Ghajini Hindi Songs DVD, The display in the AVR showed
Neo:6 (neither DD or dts) , I dont what kind tracks (DD or dts) available in that DVD. There was no punch or bass just sound coming from all speakers.

Decibel is the best one I have heard, Raghu and Venkat are very courteous and I thank them for the demo.

Regards
Gap G J
 
Yes. Decibel is really good. Its run by a true enthusiast and is a place every audiophile definitely needs to visit.

Keep up the great work Raghu.
 
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