Audio Shops in Baltimore Area (of old)

skrol

Seeing the thread about Sound Scape made me think of a shop that I used to frequent... Stansbury Stereo in Dundalk. I had learned of Polk Audio through Audio Magazine but Stansbury was where I first experienced them. It was always nice to be greeted by Jim Disney, who new me by name even before I was a paying customer. That is where I bought most my Denon equipment and RTA11TL's which remained in my collection still.

In the early 90's Stansbury was bought out by Bryn Mawr Stereo and later bought by Tweeter. I guess between the lack of interest in HIFI and the emergence of internet stores, places like these had a hard time hanging on. It is sad when going to lay ears on equipment and supporting brick and mortar stores means Best Buy, a place which I had once avoided like the plague.

Stan

[Deleted User]

Stansbury was where I started to work right out of the Air Force in '71 in Dundalk at the intersection of Merritt Blvd. and Wise Ave. It was jointly owned by Milt Schwartzman (who all the older customers called "Doc") and Bill Edgeworth, both good guys. It was a combination audio and photography store and pharmacy. We sold cameras and movie gear mostly on the first floor and huge Magnavox consoles and separate components on the second floor.

mhardy6647

I have trouble remembering which was which at this late date :- (
Here's a little recollection I once posted elsewhere, some years back, of a couple of fringe-ier places:

There was another place on Hartford Rd near the city line that sold excellent stuff but had a pretty snooty staff - I won't mention the place's name -- but AFAIK it's... long gone.

The funkiest store in Baltimore was a little shop on 25th St called (IIRC) Custom Music. Full of fantastic vintage gear in the 1970s - wish I knew then what I know now; I'd have bought one of those Marantz 8Bs they had! I did buy my first good tt there, used, ca. 1976 - a Philips GA-308. It served me, and later my parents, well for decades.

There was another funky place downtown ... I believe it was called High Fidelity Centre -- that sold a unique mixture of junk and wonderful stuff. The proprietor was a guy I'd met on the CB radio He introduced me to the Transcriptor Skeletal turntable, Grado cartridges, and the Shahinian Obelisk speakers. Note that JA Michell (a descendant of Transcriptors), Grado & Shahinian are still alive and well -- heck, Shahinian still makes the Obelisks, AFAIK.

Myer-EMCO in the DC metro area is, sadly, no longer with us.

There was also Gordon Miller Music (they were, I think, an established "music store" but they also briefly had a hifi store and sold records at good prices, too).

GMMcatalog by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

I am slowly but surely :-P uploading scans of a catlog of theirs from the late 1970s; the scans are at: https://flic.kr/s/aHskjaNkuL

EDIT: I remember making the trek, once, to Dundalk (or... ahem... "Dumbdalk", as it was known on the CB in those days) to Stansbury. Listened to some Infinity loudspeakers (which I didn't like) using Mannheim Steamroller's "Fresh Aire III" as source material. Liked the record, so I bought a copy then & there (which, not surprisingly, I do still have).

[Deleted User]

In the late 60's there was an audio store on the west side called House of Sound. They had a big JBL Paragon speaker system on display and carried Audio Research. When on leave from overseas I bought a replacement Sure stylus for my V15 there and got into a heated discussion with a sales guy about high and low impedance headphones. Years later I bought my ARC SP3 from them while I worked at Stansbury.
Later on the building housed a retail piano store, now I'm not sure what's there.

mhardy6647

They (House of Sound) -- I think -- were sponsors of one of the radio stations my father worked at way back when. Drawin' a blank on which -- but I think I have an "air check" tape from him with a blurb for them... somewhere.

[Deleted User]

They were the high end shop of that era, fitting since that was an affluent part of town. I learned later that Brian Hudkins, who later owned Gramophone, started working there part time when he was a kid.

F1nut

There was another place on Reisterstown Road about a mile north of the Beltway, but I can't remember the name.

F1nut

Remembered another one, Spaceway Sound.

[Deleted User]

Both Kim Jasper and I worked at Spaceway Sound for Don Schloss, right next door to Henry's Liquors very convenient on payday. Kim was store manager.

mhardy6647

Drawing a blank on both of those (FWIW).

[Deleted User]

Don Hoatson has operated The Listening Room in Pikesville since the late 70's, he has a sterling reputation and is a good person. I think my partner Lance modified his Dyanaco amps way back in the DKL days.

skrol

I don't go back quite as far as you guys. I do remember a shop on Harford Rd that was full of reconditioned speakers. It was he first I had heard of reconing and refoaming speakers. It was right across the street from Coopers Camera Mart (another favorite of mine).

I got my first experience with Denon and Luxman at the Discerning Ear, also on Harford Rd but I don't think they were there long. Farther south in Laurel I used to enjoy Audio Video Solutions. They might still be around in Jessup but more custom installers than show room.

I got my first SDA experience at a little shop in College Park which is also long gone.


Gramophone is still in Columbia. What other places are still around?

F1nut

Audio Video Solutions is no longer in that shopping center. Other than that I don't know.

I got my first SDA experience at a little shop in College Park which is also long gone.

I bought my 2B's there. That was a second location of Spaceway Sound.

mhardy6647

Ahh, yes, the Listening Room -- forgot them, d'oh.
The Discerning Ear was... interesting. They sold some great sound (ads, Magnepan/Magneplanar, Nakamichi, DCM, Audio Research, conrad/johnson, e.g.) but compared to my benchmark of the time (Soundscape) they were rather snooty, from my perspective. My apologies if an ex-Discerning Ear staffer reads this! ;- )

Now, in fairness, we were a bunch of scruffy college kids, and for many of us, our reach exceeded our grasp(s), but, still...

My friend Ron Bond bought a Nak 600 cassette deck from 'em. Great sounding two-head deck with unassailable cosmetics. Finicky as all getout, but in tune it was superb.

Discerning Ear was the first place I heard DCM timewindows, Magneplanar Tympani (which, for whatever reason, were distributed by Audio Research rather than Magnepan), ads loudspeakers and the venerable Denon DL-103 LOMC.

At this late date, I own examples of all of the above except the Magneplanars -- no room for those!

strider

Man, you guys are old...

I remember Stansbury, IIRC didn't they have ads in the Sun paper? Bryn Mawr, Tweeter of course.

mdaudioguy

You guys were way more upscale than me. My first stereo purchases were from Luskin's. A little better than Sears and Montgomery Wards...

mhardy6647

I still have a Zenith "Circle of Sound" AM-FM clock radio that we got at Luskins (Where Jack you know will save you dough!) when I was about 13. It's a great radio -- but the lights have burned out in the 'digital' clock.

skrol

I used to make rounds to all the more budget oriented too: Luskins, Bernie & Harry's, Stereo Discounters. I got the same impression of Discerning Ear. That is why I liked Stansbury. They knew most of the time I was just dreaming of owning but it worked. I eventually bought an entire Denon system, Onkyo TT, Polk speakers; not to mention the car audio stuff.

F1nut

Ah Stereo Discounters, I forgot about them.

mantis

Love these kinds of threads.
I purchased my first pair of Polks at a stone in Nw Jersey called Nobody Beats The Wiz. I loved that place. This is when Bryn Marw Dropped Polk and brought in Boston Acoustics for a while.

mhardy6647

StereoD by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

I'm not necessarily proud to admit it -- but I used to enjoy the annual Stereo Discounters "Show and Sale" at the Timonium Fairgrounds... and bought a few odds & ends there over the years.

Indeed, we still have, and I still sometimes use, a Zenith VHS HiFi "Audio/Video" VCR that we bought at the sale ca. 1986 (give or take). It makes excellent audio recordings (using rotating heads to record FM wideband hifi stereo audio with ca. 90 dB dynamic range). Up to eight hours on a T-160 tape, too. Whoo-hoo!


holidaydubbing121209 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

mhardy6647

sooooo... I am going to make a feeble attempt to resurrect this thread (because, as an Old Guy from Baltimore, the topic is near & dear to my heart).

I 'remembered' that the last couple of pages of the Gordon Miller Music catalog I have has pictures of the GMM staff of the time (ca. 1977). I was just wondering whether any of the folks here ('specially those with long-time Baltimore hifi roots) remembers or knows of any of 'em? :- )

And, no, the guy in the inset photo on the middle of the first page doesn't count -- we all remember him...

Scan0022 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
Scan0023 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

Polkaguy58

We had a place in Western MA. in the 70's called Seiden Sound (spelling may be wrong) where I heard my first Maggies and ended up buying a pair of more affordable Bolivar 3 way speakers, an Onkyo A5 integrated amp and a Pioneer CT2121 cassette player.
I already had my stepdad's HeathKit tuner that he built in the 60's.
Most of my stuff over the years has been found at flea markets to be honest and I like it that way.
Nothing more fun to me than stripping an old unwanted receiver down and cleaning the pots, scrubbing the face plates and changing the bulbs.
My latest is a Harman Kardon 330C, combined with a small pair of KEF C15's, a Denon CD player and a NHT sub.
The whole system cost me under 300 dollars and I love that 70's warm sound.
(it's actually my kitchen set up)