Not a store for pro gear (Maplin)

Member Name: mousedadrummer

Product:	Maplin
Date:	10/08/09 (52 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good for leads, spare parts and electrical components

Disadvantages: Rubbish gear sold as "proffesional"

Maplins is a large chain of stores that mostly specialise in electrical items such as computers, components, sound and lighting equipment and other electrical domestic equipment. I have found Maplins to be usefull for things such as leads and spare parts like light bulbs etc. It is one of the few actuall offine stores you can go to to buy things such as audio lead connectors (XLR, Jack etc) or electrical components like resistors, IC chips etc and for this it is very useful as most stores (CPC and RS etc) are usually mail order or internet based and aimed towards business purchasers. In my experience of ordering from the website aswell, the delivery was made the very next day! However, the guy delivering it turned up in a normal car and didnt seem to be from a delivery company which was strange. Maybe they dispatch items from local stores instead of posting from a central distribution centre, Im not sure if this is the case or if so whether its a good or bad thing.

I think the disadvantage of Maplins is its prices and quality of items. I mean, why would you go to Maplins to buy computer components at the top end of the price scale, when you can go to a specialst computer retailer or the internet? Alot of the items, esecially in the sound and lighting department are not all what they are cracked up to be. The lighting products they sell are really only suitable for bedroom djs and house party kind of use, and in fairness the price does reflect this. The sound equipment (Maplins own brand "Prosound"), although labelled as "proffesional PA system" is just not worth the money. They sell a "200 watt power amp" for £129 which will really only provide 50 watts RMS per channel into 8 ohm speakers (most speakers are 8 ohm). They are not built well and sound quality from them is not brilliant. You can get an amp which will provide 240 watts RMS per channel, so 480 watts although for £103 from the company Thomann. These amps are far superior to Maplins, are well built and have much better sound quality. Another example of over pricing is the Shure SM58 microphone, Now this is a well know pro mic, which should not cost anymore than £80, but Maplins have it on sale for £100 which is not worth it.

So overall, I think Maplins are a good store for bits and bobs, things such as smoke alarms, ariels, spare remote controls and extention leads etc and the staff are usually very helpfull and friendly, but just dont think of buying any proffesional gear from there because it will almost certainly be rubbish.

Summary: Mixed views about this store