New Store Vs. Old Store

audiobliss

Well, I went to a new Audio/Video store today to check it out. I thought I'd share what I found.

First, though, some background information. Here in Winston there was a Now! AudioVideo store. It was real nice with an extremely friendly/knowledgable salesman. Well, as you know, Tweeter just recently bought Now! AudioVideo. When that happened, from what I understand, Tweeter cut pay and lots of other stuff, so practically everybody left the store.

Well, the aforementioned extremeley friendly/knowledgable salesman went out and started a store himself, Elite AudioVideo. So, that's the store I checked out today.

Today was their Grand Opening, and I got there about 2:30 or so, I guess. There was a pretty good crowd there, so I hope it'll do well. Anyhoo, when you walk it (it's wider than deep), you see TVs with small HT set-ups against the backwall. To the left is a separate room with equipment, and there are 4 more similar rooms to the left. Straight in front of you and to the left of the aforementioned TVs is a HT room.

Now, for equipment. I probably can't really tell a lot about their lines, because I was told that a LOT of the stuff was still waitin' to get there, so they didn't have all their stuff. However, they did have Monitor Audio & Definitive Techology speakers, as well as Yamaha, Denon (hmm; I think), B&K, Monster, and Pioneer Elite electronics. In addition to having the B&K receivers, they had some separates and are expecting to get a lot more. When I think about it, I know I'm forgetting another speaker they carry, but if I stop now to think about it I'll forget what else it is I'm going to say. Oh shoot; what was I talking about....?

I was very impressed with the staff. Everybody seemed to know a LOT about all the equipment and was exceptionally nice. A very nice plus there. I guess that's about all I can say about it. Very great experience.



Now, onto my next experience. After I left Elite AudioVideo, I went the the Tweeter that used to be Now! AudioVideo. I walked in and NOBODY greeted me or anything! I started looking at the car audio and still nobody spoke to me. Two teenagers came in and looked at the car audio, also, and it was then I realized that the place had changed; it is now for the punks who think loud is awesome. Then, I went to the next room. It had some Martin Logan speakers powered by some B&K gear, I think. Now, Norah Jones sounded absolutely awesome on those, but still, nobody helped me and the room was a real mess. I ventured farther into the store where the employees were hanging out and talking with one another. They ignored me. When I rounded the corner, there was a new guy sitting in a chair watching TV, and he greeted me and said he could help me if I needed anything. Finally! Someone acknowledged me! The whole store was a mess with all the halls full of clearance junk. The usually dedicated TVs had all the equipment ripped out and was bare. Next, I went into the room with all the speakers. I first noticed a Monitor Audio bookshelf speaker when I walked in. The woofer was pushed all the way back and hung on the center metal cone. (You know how the Monitor Audio woofers have the metal cone in the center?) Then, I foudn a pair of, umm, Mirage floorstanders. They caught my attention, so I took off the grilles to take a peek. Well, they were definitely interesting with the woofers facing forward/up, but the tweeter was punched in.

After all that, I just left. It really is amazing that someplace could sink so fast. Elite AudioVideo definitely has no competition, that's for sure. I never plan on going back to Tweeters.

If you're interested, the website for Elite AudioVideo is www.elite-audiovideo.com.

Anyhoo, I hope that lil' review had SOME coherence and got some points across. That's all!