Andrew Singer Of "Sound by Singer" passed away yesterday

@czarivey

That was my experience. I disliked him immensely. I did go in the shop for FOMO, and I did once buy something, my VPI HW / Sumiko MMT / Koetsu Black combo there, in 1985. But he was not helpful: I knew to know what I wanted before I went in, I went straight to the item(s) and with no discussion I pointed, said “I’ll take it!”, I was in and out within 30 minutes

I shopped mostly at Stereo Exchange, run by Dave Wasserman, a genuinely friendly, nice and always helpful guy. I got my Futterman OTL3s, my Beard P505 there.

nevertheless, R.I.P. Andy.

@frogman

And your inference is?

I stand by my comments.

Stereo Exchange was a much more welcoming place. Steve Wasserman is genuinely warm and friendly, and he has an amazing memory: he would greet you by name every time you walked in, and he knew the status and composition of my audio system at any given time and was always prepared with an appropriate suggestion for the next improvement to make to it that was suited to my budget.

@frogman
I went in there at least twice a year for well over 15 years. I never felt welcomed. Not once.

Not the case at the other two shops I frequented, especially Stereo Exchange which was just the opposite.

theaudioatticvinylsundays.com

It is always sad to see a member of our community leave us.

I used to visit Andy’s shop - off Union Square - frequently during the late 1970s to mid 1980s, back when NYC was edgy, interesting and fun.

In 1985, it was time to replace my college era Dual 1229 with a real turntable. I shopped around to over a half dozen stores including Stereo Exchange, Park Avenue Audio, a place out in Brooklyn … was it Innovative Audio? - they tried to shove Lyn Sondek down your throat (VPI stood for Very Poor Immitation 🙄: I was having none of it as a friend had a Lyn and he was constantly fussing with it because it was constantly falling out of allignment), and a few others.

Though the Sota Sapphire was in the running until the last minute, I settled on a VPI HW MK II / Sumiko MMT / Koeztu Black combo for a nice price of $1,700. For that, I would get the Sota only. It was at Sound by Singer.

Unless you were wearing a $200,000 watch around your wrist as you walked through the front door, Andy - nor his staff - never paid any attention to you. Kick the tires? Heaven forbid! So I went in there singularly focused on not wasting his time, just get in there, by the damn table and get out. Even so, it took 45 minutes to get anyone’s attention.

Once I did, it was another hour to get it disassembled (it was the floor model) and packed. But we finally accomplished that, put it carefully in the trunk of a cab and off I went with it for the short trip to my loft on Cooper Square, where Jerry my super helped me get it out of the cab and upstairs.

I never went back there again.

Later that year, I bought my Futtermans OTL3s and my Beard P505 from Dave Wasserman at Stereo Exchange, at his Broadway location. I have bought most of my gear from him. Dave is sort of the polar opposite of Andy. If he’s in the front of the store, he always greeted you by your first and last name - even if he’s with another customer, even if it was a year or more since he saw you. He remembered the - exact - configuration of your system and therefore knew what you were in the store for, because he knew what the weakest link in your chain was. Dave was - and is - just a great sales guy, knowledgeable on audio and a great person.

I am still using this equipment, or upgraded/refurbished versions of it.

theaudioatticvinylsundays.com