Scarce Brick and Mortar Hi Fi Stores
DON73
Posts: 516
When I moved here 34yrs back there were at least 10 stores that sold 2 channel audio components. A few were high end, some mid fi and a few that sold mostly good consumer components. This year there are two stores left. One sells high end products but they are almost totally involved in HT installation. The other changed ownership a year or so back but prior to that they always had an excellent selection of electronics ranging from Mark Levinson to Pioneer Elite and several in between. Their speaker lines were mostly B&W and Paradigm and they always had several displays set up for listening and 3 rooms with large screen tvs and one projector. Every time i went in there were several customers and 3 employees. I visited the new store last week and they had one display set up for listening and one room with a projection screen. There was only one employee and for the three hours I was there no customers. I felt as if I were in a store that's about to fail. If it does there will be no place within 120 miles to audition audio gear. We have a population of about 350,000 which includes maybe 20,000 college students. Although we're probably not representative of other towns in Tx. I'm concerned that interest in components purchased primarily for listening to music is declining and the emphasis from manufacturing to sales is on HT.:frown::frown:
TO ERR IS HUMAN. TO FORGIVE IS CANINE.
Post edited by DON73 on
Comments
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Don, we have only one in Charlotte. It's called Audio Advice. Raleigh is the next closest HI-FI shop. About 15 years ago, we had 4 or 5. It bites, doesn't it?~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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Don, I to have the exact same situation as you. we have with in 5-7 miles of each other a Best Buy, PC Richards, 6thave electronics ,and an Electronics expo. I live in mid Jersey 60miles out of the biggest city and not a mom and pop store anywhere.Like I asked over on the Klipsch site I'm interested in certain models and nowhere to hear them. I got my
InfintysSM112s on C/L for a steal but that's not going to happen that often sorry to say.
Also in that mix was Circuit City but there out but you get the idea.I think it's a form of eminent domain the big eat the little and so it goes.....LW2chl- Adcom GFA- 555-Onkyo P-3150v pre/amp- JVC-QL-A200 tt- Denon 1940 ci cdp- Adcom GFS-6 -Modded '87 SDA 2Bs - Dynamat Ext.- BH-5- X-Overs VR-3, RDO-194 tweeters, Larry's Rings, Speakon/Neutrik I/C- Cherry stain tops Advent Maestros,Ohm model E
H/T- Toshiba au40" flat- Yamaha RX- V665 avr- YSD-11 Dock- I-Pod- Klipsch #400HD Speaker set-
Bdrm- Nikko 6065 receiver- JBL -G-200s--Pioneer 305 headphones--Sony CE375-5 disc -
What? Walmart's electronics section isn't "gittin er dun?!"
Do you hear that buzzing noise?
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Monster Jam wrote: »What? Walmart's electronics section isn't "gittin er dun?!"
At least KMart sells Adcom:biggrin:...The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
Support your local Hi FI shop. Even if it's just a cable purchase. If you really feel bad about this stop buying things on line and support them.
The only way for us to survive is to have support from our fellow Audiophiles. I invite anyone who would like to come down to my store and give some gear a listen.
I'm here for you guys.Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
Yep.... Only one in San Antonio too!Pioneer Elite SC-35, Polk RTA (Real Time Array) 12's,
Polk Monitor 40 surrounds, Polk CSiA4 Center,
Polk PSW125, Sharp LC-46D62U,
Panasonic DMP-BD85, Harmony One,
iMac streaming an Apple TVII, or Squeezebox Touch
Bedroom Rig~Sony STRDG-920, Polk Monitor 60 fronts, Polk RM6750 Satellites and Sub, Panasonic DMP-BD85
Rabbit Hole Rig~Yamaha CA1010, Yamaha CT1010, Polk SDA 2A's, Teac A1500 R2R -
I always bought stereo gear from a local store. I never even thought of buying on line until there were no local stores that had what I wanted. WDGB thanks for the info on San Antonio. I would probably have to drive to Dallas, Fort Worth or Austin and even then I'd call ahead first. The local Best Buy has about 4 speakers on display and it's hard to find anyone to demonstrate them. Before they moved into this location they had a large room full of speakers and a customer friendly way of playing each one. They even had a full line of receivers. There is no retail market here for used components. About 75% of the components I started with were used bought from a local audio dealer where I spent about $18,000 over a period of 10yrs.
Now I buy from Amazon because of their no hassle return policy and I pay $75 a year for "free" shipping. Right now I'm looking at an Integra 50.2 receiver available locally but I'm not sure the video is as good as what I could get on a Pioneer Elite that's not available locally.. Yeah it bites:mad:
And K mart isn't selling Adcom yet but when they do I'll take a look.:biggrin:
Whenever I need anything I look first at local stores. I never go into a local store and look at something and then buy it on line!TO ERR IS HUMAN. TO FORGIVE IS CANINE. -
I prefer to support the local shops but they are becoming more scarce. It is very helpful and much more fun to actually lay ears on the equipment than it is to rely on user reviews on the web.
In order to increase awareness of the existing shops, perhaps we should create a directory listing by state of our favorite local shops (or at least the ones that we know still exist).
StanStan
Main 2ch:
Polk LSi15 (DB840 upgrade), Parasound: P/LD-1100, HCA-1000A; Denon: DVD-2910, DRM-800A; Benchmark DAC1, Monster HTS3600-MKII, Grado SR-225i; Technics SL-J2, Parasound PPH-100.
HT:
Marantz SR7010, Polk: RTA11TL (RDO198-1, XO and Damping Upgrades), S4, CS250, PSW110 , Marantz UD5005, Pioneer PL-530, Panasonic TC-P42S60
Other stuff:
Denon: DRA-835R, AVR-888, DCD-660, DRM-700A, DRR-780; Polk: S8, Monitor 5A, 5B, TSi100, RM7, PSW10 (DXi104 upgrade); Pioneer: CT-6R; Onkyo CP-1046F; Ortofon OM5E, Marantz: PM5004, CD5004, CDR-615; Parasound C/PT-600, HCA-800ii, Sony CDP-650ESD, Technics SA 5070, B&W DM601 -
One day I expect to see Walmart Audio Center. They will sell all the high end China products. I bet they will even have a tube tester there!Vinyl, the final frontier...
Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want...
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Support your local Hi FI shop. Even if it's just a cable purchase. If you really feel bad about this stop buying things on line and support them.
The only way for us to survive is to have support from our fellow Audiophiles. I invite anyone who would like to come down to my store and give some gear a listen.
I'm here for you guys.
where are you located in PA?Main Rig-Realistic AM/FM Record player 8 track boasting 4 WPC
Backup Rig-2 CH-Rogue Audio Zeus w/Factory Special Dark Mods,Joule-Electra 300ME Platinum Preamp,OPPO-105 w/Modwright Tube Mod, Auralic Aries G2.1,Polk 2.3TL,3.1TL's,Dreadnought,RTA-15TL's,1C's All Fully Modded,2xRTA-12c's ,Benchmark DAC3 HGC,Synology NAS,VPI Scout w/Dynavector DV-20XH and Rogue Audio Ares Phono Preamp,Sony PCM-R500 DAT,HHB-850 Pro CDR,Tascam CC-222SLMKII Cassette/CDR,MIT S3.3 Shotgun Cables,Shunyata Hyra-8,Shunyata and Triode Labs Power Cords
I’M OFFENDED!!!! -
+1 ^^^SDA-2BTL with custom IC
Adcom 565 monoblocks--Monarchy Audio M-10 preamp
Theta Data Basic Transport--Stello DA100 Signature DAC--Camelot Dragon Pro2 MK III
Harman Kardon T-55c TT
DH Labs Q-10 Signature Speaker Cables With Furez silver plated copper bananas
Revelation Audio Labs Prophecy Cryo-Silver Reference AES/EBU
Revelation Audio Labs Prophecy Cryo-Silver i2s digital cable
4 Furutech FP-314Ag with FI-11cu Plugs/FI-11AG IECs--- Power Cords
DH LABS REVELATIONS ICs-amps
Revelation Audio Labs Paradise cryo-silver ICs-Source to pre -
I'm surprised there are any left at all outside of the very large population centers. Mom and pop shops in general are significantly less efficient than the larger chain stores and have thus greatly diminished in quantity. Ones that specialize in $1000+ luxury items desired only by a tiny fraction of the population would appear to be in even worse of a spot.
TBQH, I'm not particularly sad to see them go. The couple I have been in were not competitive with either the prices available from the "factory direct" sources or the used market. The benefits over the two, listening before buying and a warranty, respectively, have little value to me. -
Don, we have only one in Charlotte. It's called Audio Advice. Raleigh is the next closest HI-FI shop. About 15 years ago, we had 4 or 5. It bites, doesn't it?
There are a few up the road from you, very close!
There is one in Newton, take the Hwy 16 exit off of 40, turn left off of the exit, and take your first left, about a mile down the highway before you get into Newton. Found it! Tri-City Electronics, http://www.tricityelectronics.com/index.htm.
Second is Foothills Home Audio in Conover, http://www.foothillshomeaudio.com/.
I haven't been to Foothills, just found it tonight when looking for Tri-City's website. They had some neat stuff, pretty nice stands for cheep, lots of bookshelfs and floorstanders to demo, and good rooms. I need to get back there with some time.
There may have been one in the Foscoe area (outside of Banner Elk) but I think its closed down in the last year or so. Hope that helps anyone near our area! -
None in Spokane WA.
Bites"Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then." Bob Seger -
Eh - B&M Home Audio stores deserved to go out of business from what I saw...
Just saying- Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit. -
Thank you. I will have to go and see them all. Road trip!!! :biggrin:There are a few up the road from you, very close!~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
intangible wrote: »I'm surprised there are any left at all outside of the very large population centers. Mom and pop shops in general are significantly less efficient than the larger chain stores and have thus greatly diminished in quantity. Ones that specialize in $1000+ luxury items desired only by a tiny fraction of the population would appear to be in even worse of a spot.
TBQH, I'm not particularly sad to see them go. The couple I have been in were not competitive with either the prices available from the "factory direct" sources or the used market. The benefits over the two, listening before buying and a warranty, respectively, have little value to me.
WGDB said there is only one left in San Antonio and there are 1.3 million people living there. I think it's the trend toward HT and away from Stereo systems for listening to music. If I didn't know better and just dropped in here for some info I'd be scared off by the price of the gear that's popular among several people here.
I really hate to see them go. I can't listen to what online retailers have for sale even if I can return whatever I buy. It's a PITA.TO ERR IS HUMAN. TO FORGIVE IS CANINE. -
Small, retail hi-fi is going away and nothing will stop it from happening. It's a shame but trending from online, and new online retailers is becoming more lucrative depending on the business model used. Even Audiogon has cowtowed to the E-tailer which is the last bastion of quality resale for some of us.
"If I didn't know better and just dropped in here for some info I'd be scared off by the price of the gear that's popular among several people here. " - DON
What's this comment all about exactly? so it's kept in the proper perspective.CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint. -
In the Pittsburgh Tri-State Area we have a tremendous asset with the Vintage HiFi of Pittsburgh store. Although true to it's name there are a lot, and I mean a lot of vintage electronics. The Proprietor (Tom) Carry's some new products most notably many Carver products including that huge Carver tube amp that costs around $7 or $8K.
Check out his site Here
Take note on the home page that he has some Maggies and the Marantz Holy Grail trio, Model 7C tube preamp, 10B tuner and the 8b amplifier. Prices below eBay and Audiogon prices. He probably has the largest stock of Carver gear and products. Does a stellar repair business with a world class electronics tech to fix or mod your system.
He also has a Forum that attracks members from all over the Country. Check it out, I am sure that you will see many familiar Polk members. The best part, Tom won't mess with trolls. The are banished quickly. You won't find many of the familiar forum freaks from here and some of the AV Forums.
Tom also sponsors Audio Geek parties every other Saturday night, beer and cigars, tunes, food, good people. I learn more and more audio everytime I visit Tom's place. Come on in the water is fine!Carl -
He also has a Forum that attracks members from all over the Country.
Must have violence on my mind....when I first saw this, I read it as "he attacks members from all over the country....":biggrin:
Kewl place Carl! Love to visit it. It would be like a trip back to the past.Salk SoundScape 8's * Audio Research Reference 3 * Bottlehead Eros Phono * Park's Audio Budgie SUT * Krell KSA-250 * Harmonic Technology Pro 9+ * Signature Series Sonore Music Server w/Deux PS * Roon * Gustard R26 DAC / Singxer SU-6 DDC * Heavy Plinth Lenco L75 Idler Drive * AA MG-1 Linear Air Bearing Arm * AT33PTG/II & Denon 103R * Richard Gray 600S * NHT B-12d subs * GIK Acoustic Treatments * Sennheiser HD650 * -
Same here...was like damn, he's serious as a heart attack when it comes to audio.CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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I'd imagine hi-fi shops going out of business will be inevitable because the number of audiophiles is on the decline. If you talk to your average teen/20-somthing year old, your conversation would probably go something like this:
Q: "What kind of CD player do you have?"
A: "Uh, dude, I listen to MP3's... DUH!"
Q: "What kind of speakers do you own?"
A: "Hello?... (pointing to his ears with earbuds in them)... These are all I need bro."
Q: "Ever had an amp or pre-amp with tubes?"
A: "Tubes? What are those? ... Oh, yeah, huh huh, I got a tube (grabs crotch)"
Q: "Have you ever heard of high fidelity?"
A: "High fidelity? Is that like cheating on your wife while you're stoned?"
Q: "Do you own any vinyl?"
A: "Vinyl?! No way dude, I only wear blue jeans!"
...... -
audio_alan wrote: »I'd imagine hi-fi shops going out of business will be inevitable because the number of audiophiles is on the decline. If you talk to your average teen/20-somthing year old, your conversation would probably go something like this:
Q: "What kind of CD player do you have?"
A: "Uh, dude, I listen to MP3's... DUH!"
Q: "What kind of speakers do you own?"
A: "Hello?... (pointing to his ears with earbuds in them)... These are all I need bro."
Q: "Ever had an amp or pre-amp with tubes?"
A: "Tubes? What are those? ... Oh, yeah, huh huh, I got a tube (grabs crotch)"
Q: "Have you ever heard of high fidelity?"
A: "High fidelity? Is that like cheating on your wife while you're stoned?"
Q: "Do you own any vinyl?"
A: "Vinyl?! No way dude, I only wear blue jeans!"
......
How true! -
28 years young here...
And unfortunately, last time I walked into a "Hi-Fi" shop I was greeted by a whole lot of nothing.
Two "workers" were sitting around reading books, and another was slurping a soda behind a counter and didn't even so much as acknowledge me. I walked around a bit, listened to some of the gear, and then when I sought out some help they all sort of looked blankly at me until one put down their book and asked me what I needed.
Disapointing to say the least.
I understand a lot of people in the industry have gotten a chip on their shoulder from people's lack of interest in hi-fi due to the digital craze, but for someone like myself who is seeking out more info in the hobby and wants to buy new gear I was very put off. Why would I spend the extra money to buy from a local dealer when that's the reception that I get. I can't imagine how someone less forward then myself would ever get interested when this is how customers are treated.
More often than not I get the "I'm better than you" vibe from people at the shop's that are still around when I would hope there would be more of a "Let me share my passion" attitude.Main Setup
Fronts - Energy RC-50's
Center - Energy RC-LCR
Rear - Energy RC-R's
Subs - Gone...
AVR - Pioneer SC-37
Blu-Ray - Sony BDP-S360
TV - Vizio E550I-B2
Media Server - Mac Mini -
The first time I went to my local shop,I was treated like crap,so I do all my shopping on line.I don't expect anyone to kiss my **** for coming in,but I do expect some respect as a customer.These guys could of cared less if anyone came in so never again will I go to that store.
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Brick and mortar stereo shops that actually help people are still around. I have a little something to do with Vintage HiFi of Pittsburgh. Any question of problem can be handled. Ask away. Carl, thank you for the review. We have equipment here from tight budget to very new Bob Carver gear.
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We actually service and upgrade vintage equipment as well.:biggrin::eek:
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Tom, I corrected this for you. Wouldn't want to mislead folks, would you?beemers417 wrote: »We have a plethora of equipment here from tight budget to very new Bob Carver gear.
~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
Moon audio in NC is said to be pretty good..Private Appointments welcome.
308 Chrismill Lane
Holly Springs, NC 27540
http://www.moon-audio.com/SDA-2BTL with custom IC
Adcom 565 monoblocks--Monarchy Audio M-10 preamp
Theta Data Basic Transport--Stello DA100 Signature DAC--Camelot Dragon Pro2 MK III
Harman Kardon T-55c TT
DH Labs Q-10 Signature Speaker Cables With Furez silver plated copper bananas
Revelation Audio Labs Prophecy Cryo-Silver Reference AES/EBU
Revelation Audio Labs Prophecy Cryo-Silver i2s digital cable
4 Furutech FP-314Ag with FI-11cu Plugs/FI-11AG IECs--- Power Cords
DH LABS REVELATIONS ICs-amps
Revelation Audio Labs Paradise cryo-silver ICs-Source to pre
