When D&M Holdings recently put 49% of the company up for sale, consumer audio brands like Denon, Marantz, Snell, McIntosh, Boston Acoustics and Escient seemed primed for the picking. These are top-tier audio brands sold in some of the most prestigious consumer electronics retailers in the nation. The price for that slice? $700 million. The possible suitors? Consumer electronics brands Kenwood, Harman International and ... Best Buy Stores, Inc. (NYSE: BBY), the largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S.

Philips Electronics, who holds 12% of D&M Holdings' shares, indicated that it would also put its shares up for sale, as well, to the same bidder group, giving one company access to 61% of D&M Holdings' shares. Kenwood is owned by Bain Capital, and may be looking to re-enter the home audio field. Harman, which owns the Harman Kardon, Infinity and JBL brands, may be looking to expand. But Best Buy buying a top-tier audio manufacturer? Isn't it a retailer, not a brand owner that could compete with the brands it already carries?

Best Buy is already D&M Holdings's largest customer, but there is a fine line between a Best Buy-owned brand (which is seen as entry-level and with inferior quality) and a top-of-the-shelf brand such as Denon and others. I would posit that Denon and Snell customers are audiophile-type customers who would scoff at the idea of having a Best Buy brand in that audio equipment rack, even if nothing but the ownership of the brand changes. Harman dropped out of the bidding already, so it could come down to Bain Capital and Best Buy soon. Should a mass-market electronics retailer really get into high-end consumer audio? That's a gamble, although the price wouldn't be exorbitant (just over $1 billion if you do the math).