A do it right B & M

[Takeereasy]

I've noticed a couple of threads recently discussing how well or poorly people have been treated at local stores and how this impacted on their shopping. Some people went as far as to say they felt discriminated against by the store's staff due to age. I went to my local specialty store today, looking to pick up a demo DVD player that was on sale there last week with my income tax return (the little of it I get to blow on myself). Oh course the player was gone, but I still looked around, because there is something always on sale there, wether it is someone trading in their, gear, demo equipment, clearouts, etc... and I'm also looking for a sub. I went with a buddy of mine who really enjoyed himself, so many shiny things to look at including in wall dimmers and volume controls. I was helped today by what I believe to be the owner of the shop. I've always thought it was another gentleman who'd helped me there once before. The service was excellent as always. The man was more than happy to talk shop, and didn't try to force a sale, although he did let me know about options. He approached us and spoke with us for at least ten minutes, but the conversation was mutual. He asked me what I wanted in a sub and I asked him which of the paradigm subs they carried could hit 20HZ. He said that if his memory served him it was only the PW2200 and up, but he said that his suggestion to most of his customers on a budget was to go with th PS series. That was the more popular model and was a couple hundred cheaper. There was no upsell, no pressure to buy now and I'll knock off 10%, no unneeded annoyances in other words. I have to this point only seriously been considering the HSU STF or VTF 3 series. Now I am considering buying a Paradigm sub from this shop. I feel that I know the service will be there, and I can audition the sub with my speakers before I buy them if I want. This shop is 10 minutes from my house and the last time I looked the nearest HSU dealer was over an hour away through crappy traffic. The reason for this post is that I've been thinking: "How about we make a list of dealer's that we've used that we'd trust to reccomend to others?" I don't know if this is allowable, and it should be noted that the list will be opinion only, but people keep asking where to shop, and they should be directed to reputable B & M's by their own homes. This is not to take away business from the advertisers, merely to point out that there are some good small shops that are great places to shop. I'm going to start first and do it in a new post directly below this one so that if the post has to be deleted then it will be easier for the mods. Oh well here goes.

 

[Takeereasy]

Local Shop I'd Suggest

For me the shop would be Whitby Audio Video. They are less than an hour outside Toronto and have a new website that must have only opened this week. Whitby Audio Video . I have never been treated unfairly by this shop. Low pressure and a knowledgeable staff. Best selection of Paradigm around. For you Americans those prices on the demo gear are in Canadian $.

 

[Dumar]

My little no name shop.

There has been a lot of discussion lately about service (or lack there of) and big-box stores. On a recent trip to Vancouver Island I found myself in a Future Shop killing time while the wife and daughter shopped for (more) shoes. I was browsing through their CDs and DVDs and picked out a couple titles when I remembered that I'm still in need of an A/V calibration disk for my system (like Avia). I thought what the heck, I'll ask and see if they have something. I approached the first sales person I could find, a young woman of perhaps 25 years who was restocking DVDs, and asked if they carried such an item. I could tell right away by the look on her face that she thought I was from Mars, and proceeded to tell me she had never heard of such a thing. "OK ... Thanks" I said, and made my way over to their receiver area. I was eye-balling the HK gear when a young salesman approached and launched right into his well rehearsed script. I waited for him to finish and then asked if they had any calibration software. He looked puzzled so I said "you know ... it's a disk that puts out test tones for speaker calibration and has test screens for TV calibration". He ran off to get his manager who assured me that "it depends on what kind of system you have". It took some time, but when I finally got through to him what I was after, he just used the same line the saleswoman used and said he'd never heard of that before. Call me old fashioned, but is it too much to expect the manager of a fairly large audio/video department would know something of this type of software?

Back home in our little hamlet here on the beautiful Sunshine Coast there are two options when it comes to shopping for home audio/video gear. The new player on the block, London Drugs, carries a lot of Sony and a few other "name brands". I don't shop there too much, but I did purchase my HDTV sat system from them. There is, however, a small shop tucked away beside a furniture store that has convinced me to spend my money locally rather than take it to the big city. The owner carries names like Toshiba, Paradigm, Yamaha, Pioneer, and others and is very knowledgeable about his products. He'll also match the best prices I can find in the city, which is a huge plus for me considering I'm looking at a healthy beer tab and ferry fair every time I go in there. I've done a lot of shopping in that store over the years and the one thing that always impresses me is the enthusiasm of the owner. All I have to do is tell him what I have in mind and right away he gets this big smile on his face, takes me into his sound room and sits me down, flips a few switches and says "check this out" (smiling all the time). I have learned over the years when I see that smile, I'm in for a treat. Then he might just leave me there to enjoy what ever it is I'm enjoying, or sit down and take it all in himself. You really get the feeling you are in this guy's man cave, and what an awesome cave it is. This guy is the epitome of the "no pressure" salesman: it's purely his enthusiasm that sells gear. It really is a pleasure to shop there. I won't mention the name of the shop because anyone reading this from my neck of the woods knows exactly who I'm talking about anyway.

By the way, Takeereasy, my last purchase there was a PS1000 sub. Without a doubt one of the best decisions I have ever made to improve the sound of my system. I can't get over how good it's sounding in my little cave! The PS1000 will take you down to 22Hz and his big brother (and I do mean big), PS1200, will go to 21Hz.

 

[Takeereasy]

I'm looking at the PS1200 for about $700. I'm tempted to save up the extra $300 and get the PW2200, it goes down to 18hz. We'll see when the time comes I guess. I'm going to demo them side by side with my speakers as mains and see if I can tell a difference between the two. I'm still so impressed with Whitby Audio. When I left there with my friend all he could say was, "Man, that guy knew his stuff" (substitute other word for stuff)! With no pressure and competence he is drawing me to do business with his shop. He also let me in on the real reason his shop doesn't carry PSB's and Marantz very often anymore. I won't go into it but it was nice to get an inside scoop and I was left very dissapointed in Lenbrook, PSB's and Marantz's distributer. Even though the guy doesn't sell Marantz receivers unless a customer asks for one he told me I would be thrilled with my receiver, and that at $451 US it was the best bargin he'd heard of in years.

 

[claudermilk]

I like your idea here, takerereasy. We all spend so much time complaining about the bad apples it almost sounds like there are no competent, honest stores or manufacturers left sometimes.

I have a couple of good shops. Tops is my Paradigm dealer in Corona del Mar; no pressure at all. He was not only happy to demo the speakers even after I told him I couldn't buy a set for a while--but actually enthusiastic to show them off. After I listened, I dragged my wife in to listen & buy into the idea of $800 speakers. And finally, I went back to compare the Tannoys to them. Several months later I did go back to buy the speakers and got the same kind of attitude; though the original salesman was long gone. I really wanted him to get his commission. I'm not planning on looking anywhere else for the rest of the speakers, I'll just drop by there & put in my order.

I also have gotten good service at Audio Video Today where I ended up getting my DVD player. They even made some recommendations of gear I was looking at that they didn't even carry! Now there's customer service!

And amazingly the local Tweeters has done pretty well. I'm almost disappoined the don't carry any of the stuff on my short list any more.

 

[Dumar]

I'm looking at the PS1200 for about $700.

I've heard lots of good things about the PS1200. I almost brought one home myself, but the physical size of the think scared me off. My guy had it on sale for just over $500. If I had known you wanted one I could have picked it up for you and shipped it out.

 

[20to20K]

I agree with your Tweeter comment...

I like your idea here, takerereasy. We all spend so much time complaining about the bad apples it almost sounds like there are no competent, honest stores or manufacturers left sometimes.

I have a couple of good shops. Tops is my Paradigm dealer in Corona del Mar; no pressure at all. He was not only happy to demo the speakers even after I told him I couldn't buy a set for a while--but actually enthusiastic to show them off. After I listened, I dragged my wife in to listen & buy into the idea of $800 speakers. And finally, I went back to compare the Tannoys to them. Several months later I did go back to buy the speakers and got the same kind of attitude; though the original salesman was long gone. I really wanted him to get his commission. I'm not planning on looking anywhere else for the rest of the speakers, I'll just drop by there & put in my order.

I also have gotten good service at Audio Video Today where I ended up getting my DVD player. They even made some recommendations of gear I was looking at that they didn't even carry! Now there's customer service!

And amazingly the local Tweeters has done pretty well. I'm almost disappoined the don't carry any of the stuff on my short list any more.

I bought most of my initial gear from Tweeter...you can probably tell from my signature. I went back a couple months ago to see if I could successfully upgrade my Polk LSi15's with my tax return (sound familiar?) to take advantatge of their upgrade policy. Anyway...with $1500 to use on an upgrade the salesman at the Tweeter in Columbia, Maryland was very helpful, understanding of my desire, and pretty much let me alone in the sound room to myself and showed me how to use all the switchers and what not. He said come and get me if you have any questions.

After about 45 minutes of listening to my Polks and an assortment of Sonus Fabers, Martin Logans, Fluences, and a couple of other models I came to the conclusion that I could not find any speaker there that would give me noticible improvement for an additional $1500. Just then he strolled back in the room and before I could tell him that (assuming I would disappointment him for not getting a sale) he said: "Couldn't find anything in here under $3500 that are better than your Polks I bet!" I was like:"...uh, yeah!". He said he knew I wouldn't...but he wanted me to listen for myself to figure it out.

He had a pair of $3500 Faber Grand Pianos that were better...but that was
$2000 more....and I don't think they sounded $2000 better (if you can quantify such a thing).

Anyway...if like the convenience, customer service, and great policies that a large national chain retailer provide...I can certainly recommend Tweeter. They don't carry the snobby high end gear that the audiophiles demand...but for the common folk they carry great mid-fi gear. slightly discounted, but have great policies and service.

 

[ducker]

A lot of those mom&pop stores really do rule!!! That's where I picked up my receiver. I called a number of places looking for it. Many no longer had it in stock and could order it or I would have to buy it from a place that wasn't driving distance. I found a small shop in Shrewsbury, MA that had it in stock called: The High Fidelity House.

They had no problem with me lugging in my 2 AS-F2's and hooking them up to the system, as I wanted to hear the receiver with the speakers. I showed up about 15-20 minutes before closing on a Saturday to listen to the speakers/receiver. He played through a bunch of music, and some of my own, about 30 minutes pas the store's closing; on a weekend. When I told him I'd take them, he took off another 10% or so.

In the end, I payed very little OVER what I would of payed for the receiver online, from a local B&M shop, with a full warrenty, and customer support I could call upon at a drop of a hat.

 

[Takeereasy]

See not everyone's bad. And thanks Dumar, now I know I can get them to knock the price down to I hope around $600 or $650 taxes in. I'll just bring cash, that always gets the price dropped. I wish we had Tweeters or one of those BB's with Magnolias inside like you Yanks get. Shopping locally is the way to go if you can get the right price/warranty/etc..

 

[SilverMK3]

If anyone is ever on Vancouver Island, check out MadMan McKay. They've treated me very well with both my home theater and car audio stuff. Even though they're only a small franchise with 3-4 stores in total, they're more than willing to deal on their prices and will beat any advertised price in Canada. Best of all, they actually know what they're talking about when you ask them a question.