Audio Video News

Amazon’s super hyped “Prime Day” sale extravaganza begins today and ends tomorrow (Tuesday, July 16) at midnight. Yep, last year’s event was so successful that the online retail king decided to extend it to a second day this time around. Click here for a page of deals for S&V readers.

Of course, there’s a catch. You have to be an Amazon Prime member to take advantage of the deals. Membership costs $119 a year and is discounted if you’re a student or hold a government-issued EBT or Medicaid card. But don’t worry, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial and cancel it before you get billed — unless you decide you like the benefits of Prime, which include free two-day shipping on “over 100 million items.”

The question then becomes what, if anything, should you buy? And are Amazon’s discounts on AV gear bona fide deals as opposed to paltry 10-15% discounts?

To help you get started we spent a few hours perusing Amazon to see if we could uncover real discounts of at least 25% off. To maximize our search we included Best Buy’s Prime Day-inspired 48-hour “flash sale.” Here’s what we found.

Best Buy Flash Sale

First of all, if you’re looking for lots of great deals, prepare to be disappointed. Plenty of discounts are highlighted but there are not many true deals. Here are a few that might be worth a look...

• 50% OFF! – Klipsch Reference Series R620F two-way tower speaker: $175 each ($350 list). Visit klipsch.com for product history and details. Also 50% off: R-51M two-way bookshelf speaker ($125/pair) and R-100SW powered subwoofer with 10-inch driver ($175).

• 38% OFF – Samsung/Harman Kardon Dolby Atmos-enabled 3.1.2-channel HW-Q70R soundbar with wireless bass module: $500 ($800 list). Visit samsung.com for product details.

• 36% OFF – Bose SoundTouch 300 soundbar: $450 ($700 list). Visit bose.com for product history and details.

• 33% OFF – Samsung UBD-M8500 4K Blu-ray player with Wi-Fi-based streaming: $200 ($300 list). Visit Samsung.com for product details.

• 25% OFF – Vizio Dolby Atmos-enabled 3.1.2-channel SB46312-F6 soundbar with wireless bass module: $600 ($800 list). Visit vizio.com for product details.

Amazon Prime Day

Prepare to hunt. There are loads of dead ends with $50 in instant savings but in terms of true deals, we found only a few, some of which are last year’s models (or older). And a 63% off deal on Amazon’s standard Fire TV Stick that showed up early in our search disappeared later. WTF…

• 50% OFF! – Sony 70-inch XBR-70X830F 4K LCD TV with HDR (2018 model): $800 ($1,047 regular price on Amazon, $1,999 list on sony.com). Visit sony.com for product history and details.

• 50% OFF! – Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K streaming player with Alexa voice control: $25 ($50 list)

• 50% OFF! – Amazon Echo (2nd generation) smart speaker with Alexa voice control: $50 ($100 list)

• 41% OFF – Definitive Technology SuperCube 4000 powered subwoofer with 8-inch driver: $469 ($800 list). Sound & Vision 2012 Top Pick. Visit definitivetechnology.com for product history and details.

• 41% OFF – Pioneer Elite SC-LX901 11.2-channel AV receiver (2016 model): $1,750 ($3,000 list). Visit pioneerelectronics.com for product history and details.

• 33% OFF – Marantz Slim series NR1609 7.2-channel AV receiver (2018 model): $500 ($750 list). Visit us.marantz.com for product detail.

• 31% OFF – Bose SoundLink wireless around-ear headphones: $159 ($229 list). Visit bose.com for product details.

• 30% OFF – ELAC Uni-fi UF5 tower speaker: $350 ($500 list). Visit elac.com for product details. Deal is also available on crutchfield.com.

Vizio has announced its own Prime Day-inspired deals, two of which standout:

• 36% OFF! –Vizio 65-inch PX65 4K LCD TV with HDR: $1,400 ($2,200 list), available at Costco through Thursday, July 18.

• 34% OFF – Vizio 75-inch PX75-G1 4K LCD TV with HDR: $2,300 ($3,500 list), available at Sams Club and Costco.