SOUND ON SOUND

[rikki rivett]

Hi, I want to order a mike & stand for my son in the UK (I’m in Germany) & figure delivery will be cheaper if I order in the UK. What are the best online dealers in the UK please?

Thx

RR

[desmond]

You haven't tried thomann.de?

Some UK I've used:-
andertons.co.uk
gak.co.uk
www.pmtonline.co.uk

[blinddrew]

I use gear4music but mostly because they're also my local music shop.

[rikki rivett]

Thanks!

[zenguitar]

Some UK I've used:-
andertons.co.uk
gak.co.uk
www.pmtonline.co.uk

I've used all three in recent weeks/months and had excellent service from all.

Andy :beamup:

[Music Wolf]

Thomann charge approx £8 uk delivery on orders below about £200. I've got orders in place with both Thomann and Gear4Music at present. Cheapest delivery from G4M was £3.49.

I often find Thomann to be cheapest overall and have the biggest range of product.

I ordered from Thomann late last Wednesday evening, delivery is due this coming Wednesday. G4M ordered Thursday with delivery scheduled for Tuesday but I did have the option to pay more and get delivered sooner.

[James Perrett]

Also worth looking at Studiospares

https://www.studiospares.com/

(although I don't think I've bought anything from them since they were taken over by JHS) and CPC

https://cpc.farnell.com/

who always seem to deliver much quicker than they say they will. CPC's mic range may be more limited than others though.

[rikki rivett]

Thanks all. In the end I used Music Store, they had everything on the list, and also because I can claim the VAT here. Prices are good so shipping costs for orders under 100 are ok

Cheers

[w oxo cube]

Thomnan have good prices but if you are unlucky enough to have a problem you are unlucky indeed. In 44 years of life, the worst customer service I've ever had the misfortune to endure.

[desmond]

Thomnan have good prices but if you are unlucky enough to have a problem you are unlucky indeed. In 44 years of life, the worst customer service I've ever had the misfortune to endure.

I haven't used them for while, but I've had no complaints when I did, and I bought a fair amount from them. I remember one time, I ordered a patchbay, one of the Behringer ones, but they sent me a Neutrik one by mistake. They apologised, said I could keep it, and sent me the Behringer one I'd paid for.

(The Neutrik is still in the rack, the Behringer ones are gone...)

[w oxo cube]

Try getting them to understand the concept a manufacturing error. I bought a Genelec speaker in June that couldn't receive a screw to due to paint in the threads and now they want to charge me £35 to send the defective speaker back.

I've sent videos, pictures long descriptions, you name it. Every time you email them someone different picks up the case and you are back to square one. The amount of time I've spent on this when a replacement speaker should have been sent out at the start, excites my chagrin somewhat.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I don't buy much from Thomann, and I especially avoid anything with external mains power supplies because I have had trouble in the past with inappropriate mains plugs and adapters.

But of the stuff I have bought, I've not had any problems at all apart from once when I bought some K&M 21431 'mini boom arms' which I mostly use as 'drop arms' from boom stands. I bought two, one of which was fine while the second had a stand fitting that was drilled but hadn't been tapped for the 3/8-inch thread.

I sent an explanation of the problem with a photo and the person I dealt with understood without any problem and send out a new one immediately. I later bought a suitable tap and cut a thread in the defective unit myself, so now I have three... And very useful they are, too!

[Mike Stranks]

When I'm ordering for installs I almost always use Thomann as a convenient 'one-stop-shop'.

The very few problems I've had with ordering literally £Ks of gear have been quickly and efficiently sorted. This included arranging a different pallet-delivery firm when their usual was closed for an extended Christmas break.

[RonanMcDermott]

I lived in Switzerland for seven years and ordered from Thomann.de - never had a problem. One issue with out-of-stock connectors was swiftly resolved.

A Swiss domain musix.ch is also musix.de [CORRECTION https://musix.com/de/en] - I can highly recommend - I suspect they're the same company. Excellent prices (consistently cheapest in Europe - but Swiss VAT rates are lower), excellent customer service. Excellent range and large stock.

I have also ordered from Thomann.ie and Amazon.co.uk (and another company in Liverpool whose name I forgot) for delivery in Ireland. Thomann and the Liverpudlians were always fine.

I had major issue with Amazon.co.uk - their delivery courier in Ireland completely dropped the ball. Zero communications, no delivery in the agreed window. Amazon did cancel the order and refund. Then the goods showed up a week later - dropped behind debris in the driveway. Zero email, phone call or SMS from the courier. Found the items completely by chance. Their comms were so poor, I didn't contact Amazon to offer payment. It wasn't a high-value order. But my conscience is clear. They messed me around for days.

Now I'm living in Ukraine - and can get most things locally, in well stocked bricks-and-mortar stores. Hard to get small items, I can order from Switzerland and have posted.

Good luck!

[FrankF]

Let's not forget the Dutch, aka Bax Shop.

https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/

Free delivery above 20€, 120-day free returns, and they're often cheaper than all the usual suspects.
They have warehouses in France and the UK (at least) so delivery is as good as John Travolta's car.
I just returned a very disappointing Beatstep, FREE, and the refund went as smooth as Marlon Brando's butter.

They have also been known to do specials on the Behringer X32, where the smaller models can be had for under 1k euros, which is about £900!