audio stores in Albany, NY

I'm not familiar with Albany but I do know that there is a Vandersteen dealer(Audio Video Design Group) in Pittsfield Mass which is about 50 miles away. From what I could find out, they are the only dealer in the Northeast that actually have a pair of Vandersteen Fives in the store.

Lwatson- How's it going neighbor! There are a couple of shops up here but nothing truly high-end. Depends what you are looking for- I am surprised we haven't run into each other on these forums before, as I am sure you are aware there aren't many audiophiles around these part. But if you must look in this area there is Clark Music in latham, Audio Oasis(also in latham) and Mom's stereo in schenectady(more mid-fi then the other two). My choice of these three would be audio oasis since they are the only guys that give me even the remote impression they know what they are talking about-and even that I am doubtful of. Clark has some OK gear(though NOT in stock) but the guys who work there know as much about audio as I do about brain surgery. There are a couple local guys who are pretty serious(I am one, check my system out on virtual systems), and even more who are more on the mid-fi plane though equally as enthusistic about the hobby. If you want shoot me an email and we can go over some audio oddities from upstate NY- Cheers! ~Tim

LWatson,

Ditto the "neighbor welcome"! You too Tireguy, I'm from E. Greenbush. I was going to mention Clarke and Mom's (with same comments), didn't know about Oasis. Slim pickings in Albany. In Pittsfield, There is a Vandersteen, Arcam, BAT and Paradigm dealer, I think they are called TRL Audio or something like that. Kind of a messy place. The best I have gone to is Spearit Sound in Northhampton, about an hour's drive. Lots of product, and great guys to deal with. Finally, on this site there is a dealer who advertises, LLC Audio????, who lists Latham Village as their address. I believe that is a residential address so it must be some sort of outta-their-house set up.

I also drove down to Audio Outlet in Mt. Kisco. Nice stuff, expensive, but they had an attitude. I got the feeling they didn't want to deal with us little guys who wanted to only spend $1-$2k on an amp.

Hope to see you guys out. Ever run in to Barnes and Noble to pick up What?HiFi or TAS?
Regards,

Matty

PS - Oh, Tireguy, by the way, what exactly do you do??????:>)

The outfit that sells on this site fom the Albany area is
eAudionet, not LLC like I said.

Double ditto neighbor welcome. Clark audio is alright for auditioning B&W stuff, listened to the 802's there before buying my Avatar OBX's. They have some incredible piano's though. Never heard of the oasis store though. The place to go is NYC, Avantegarde just opened an audio store there and you have sound by singer and innovative audio. I have considered opening a retail high end audio establishment in Albany but in the final analysis I didn't think the market would support it. People who are serious about audio would gladly drive the 2 1/2 hours to NYC.

Hello folks,

I'm from NYC, Manhattan to be exact and you are much better off staying on the outlying areas then coming into the city. If you thought The Audio Outlet didn't want to deal with you, although I've rather enjoyed going there and have never gotten any attitude from them. Just wait 'til you try and get into Lyric Hi Fi and they don't ring you in because they don't like the way you look. You can check other threads pertaining to this subject (audio shops in Manhattan and the lack of customer service) and you will find many similar experiences mentioned by other members that have unwittingly stumbled into Manhattan looking to audition or purchase gear. It does sound as though you guys have very slim pickings up there. Good luck......John

Hey tireguy, let me know how you like the aero capitole mk 2. Looking for a new front end and was considering your player or the new musical fideity tri-vista cd/sacd player. Also, where exactly is audio oasis in Latham?

Gee I didn't realize there was this many upstate'rs at audiogon(hudson river valley that is). Matty that is weird I am in Schodack(which is RIGHT next to EG), I live between 150 and Rt. 9. Audio Oasis is in The Peter Harris plaza in latham on Troy-Schenectady road it is owned and operated by none other then Audio Al, Kevin previously from Clark and John P. Its worth checking out but they didn't give me the impression of any discounts- and to hell with paying retail. The new guys at clark are pretty much a joke and that is giving them credit for being funny- they are pretty clueless now and have even less in stock- I wonder how that place makes money!.

As far as the audio aero is concerned I am convinced it is among a small handful of the finest digital sources available today- that being said the only thing I would even consider to replace it with would be the Burmester 001 or Linn CD-12 and I would have to be very convinced they were better prior to purchase. You are welcome to come and check it out if you are in the area- I am just very busy this time of the year and it may take us a couple of days/weeks for schedules to line up.

There is another 'local' audiophile in Roterdam who doesn't have computer access but is VERY serious about the hobby and Upstateaudio- who lives in Niskayana(sp?) who is into vinyl and has a very respectable system. Then we move down state and we run into Lakefrontroad who is in the Northern tip of Westchester county(about 2.5 hours from here about 30 minutes from Manhattan). And in the big bad apple there is of course John and his plinius:) and many others who don't like coming out into the light. Going west there is David99 and Rmstl who moved from the Nassua area to Ithica. There are some of us up here but we aren't that close so I am just shocked there is someone like 5 minutes from me!

Happy listening everyone! ~Tim

I'd love to come check that out one day tim, if you're ever in ballston lake you can stop in and check mine out as well. Pretty respectable with a Mcintosh mc 2102 tube amp and my beloved living voice avatar obx-r's speakers. Looking for a front end though. Didn't know Kevin had left Clark, had some good conversations with him and had similar tastes in music, namely the flecktones stuff. Had some real bad health problems not long ago.