Buying electronics - big-box vs online

This probably isn't a surprise to anyone: Consumer Reports tells us that you're going to get a better deal buying electronics online than you will in a big-box retailer.

I don't think there's any doubt about that, if price is the sole deciding factor. Depending on the equipment you're buying, that may or may not be true. I have a few personal case-studies to illustrate the point.

Recently, I've bought a digital camera, a digital audio player (DAP), and a TV/home theater. The first two were purchased on Amazon, the TV/home theater was bought at Fry's Electronics (sorta like a super Best Buy).

For the camera and the DAP, these are relatively straightforward devices. Very little set-up, a small learning curve when it comes to usage, not very complex. In this case, price was my only differentiator between retailers.

In the case of the TV/home theater, a much more complex set of products, I made the decision to pay a bit more to deal with some humans in the purchase, delivery, and set up processes. I wish now that I had spent a bit more an gone to a smaller, more specialized retailer like Tweeter or Hillcrest High Fidelity. The reason: While Fry's did send a crew out to set up the equipment, they did an incomplete job. Since then, I've had Fry's out here twice more and I still have problems.

I'm in the market for a major home theater setup for my media room. This will represent a much larger investment than the starter set I bought for the family room. For this one, there's no way I will buy anything online OR from a big-box retailer. I'm going to make damn sure that the store I do buy from is there to support me past the initial installation. I'm willing to pay a premium for that kind of service.