I've owned the Cary SLP05, their superb mono blocks, the 211s as well as their SACD player. Never a problem with anything over the past decade, except for a socket/short problem which was my fault. Great customer service. Friendly and prompt. Excellent value to cost.
Best audio companies and dealers
I've thought about doing this over the years, but never seemed to get around to it. But I'd like to list the audio dealers and companies I've dealt with over the years that have offered consistently good products and customer service way beyond the average.
Two companies come immediately to mind: Cary Audio in NC and Reference 3A in Canada. Cary offers superb equipment, like the SLP05 pre-amp. And they have delivered excellent customer service throughout the years, and it's always been a pleasure to deal with them. The same goes for Reference 3A speakers. I owned the MM Decappos- great speakers, esp. for midrange, and you cant find a more attentive, professional person than Tash to deal with.
Two companies come immediately to mind: Cary Audio in NC and Reference 3A in Canada. Cary offers superb equipment, like the SLP05 pre-amp. And they have delivered excellent customer service throughout the years, and it's always been a pleasure to deal with them. The same goes for Reference 3A speakers. I owned the MM Decappos- great speakers, esp. for midrange, and you cant find a more attentive, professional person than Tash to deal with.
119 responses Add your response
Ellington HiFi in Loxley, AL. Tony Barnette was a pleasure to deal with during my recent Lyngdorf purchase. The Music Room in Broomfield, CO has always been very fair when I’ve sold them used equipment and purchased equipment from them. Goodwins in Waltham, MA was the source of my first high-end system and still represents many of the finest manufacturers. |
| Post removed |
| Post removed |
In my experience over 4 decades Ive found that its not just about the customer support (though that is the primary consideration)...it is also immeasurably about long term serviceability of great products 15 -30 years down the road. With that in mind, I nominate the following companies for the reasons listed: * BRYSTON: 20 yr transferable warranty, no questions asked...they track the initial sale of every serial number...so it doesn't matter if you are the 3rd owner without any paperwork....add to that quality servicing after the 20yrs. SILNOTE: There is no customer service rep...you are on the phone/facebook/email with the Owner, his wife, or the lead Technician. They are each and everyone personable and genuinely wanting to help you for the sole purpose of audio nervana amd the live of music. * BOB CARVER: not only can you speak to him directly on the phone or email about ANY of his past and current products with service and even advice on how to improve on them, but his primary engineers will also pick up the phone or respond to emails...not just some customer service rep. The techs from his past products have set up shop servicing, upgrading, or straight repairs for amazingly affordable prices relative to what typical manufacturers charge just to service old products. Additionally, his product fan base makes for tremendous amounts of easily accessible advice online for every product he has ever built, to include upgrading. *MARTIN LOGAN/PARADIGM/ANTHEM : Simply put, talk about a large company that Truly Cares! Very hard to find in today's world Between all of our posts here are sooo many companies being listed, it almost seems as if NONE are poor. Might be interesting to hear warnings to one another of bad experiences with customer support. With that, here follows: OPPO: I whole heartedly disagree with a prior posters assertion they are great. In my view they WERE great. Just 1 yr after issuing a product with major sales (udp 203 and 205), they have cut off live phone support for those and prior disc player products....email ONLY folks! Good luck with how many weeks of back and forth emails you'd have to do to get to the bottom of a problem or an authorizarion to send a product back for warranty repair, ESPECIALLY if you are not tech savie...how much fun would that be explaining a problem by email? ESS (British Speaker Company & owner of the original Heil Air Motion Transformer design/expired patent): This company has now been reinvented 4 times since it's birth in the 70s when John Heil patented the AMT, now mimicked by Golden Ear, Emotiva, Legacy, etc (rebadged as the folded ribbon tweeter). They constantly offer lifetime warranty on their speakers, then go under, only to be refinanced or bought by someone else, without honoring of the prior products/company of same name's, lifetime warranty. Interestingly, and even worse, the current ESS says they'll repair the original issue of speakers from the 70s (not 80s or 90s, etc), for straight PR, yet they do that full well knowing it was a US only company at that time, of speakers that weighed 110lbs (AMT 1A Thru AMT 1D) and were huge....good luck with the shipping charges to send those to Britain and back for 'Free' repair! SONY: Talk about a company that goes out of its way to avoid honoring warranties! Consumer complaints everywhere on the net from Televisions, to disc players and beyond. Throw in, that while they may be hi quality visual/sound/etc for the money, and feature packed, they too often seem to have annoying shorcuts or omissions in features that you don't realize until you own it. I've been seeing this since the 90s over and over again. |
Audio Connection, Verona,NJ Owner, John Rutan, who I have known for over 20 years is tops in the field. I purchased Vandersteen 5 speakers, still own them, from John. As I ordered the Birds Eye Maple finish, they took several months before delivery. This was 1999-2000. We we had moved to Tennessee during this time. John drove down to set the speakers up! An 1800 mile round trip. NO CHARGE! Try try to find this kind of service anywhere in the audio industry. John is the best. THE MAYOR OF VERONA, NJ |
- 1 on Rogue Audio. My experience is the exact opposite of lradder. They were not very helpful and their Stereo 100 is an overpriced boat anchor. Their dealer Wolfsong audio is a poor excuse for an audio dealer, or I should say wheeler-dealer. Conrad-Johnson on the other hand, is fantastic, attentive and responsive. Their products are among the best that money can buy, albeit pricey. +1 on Upscale Audio. They are very good with service and Kevin won't steer you wrong. The Prima Luna amps I bought from him are dope. I also bought a BAT phone pre from him. When dealing with BAT you are talking to Victor, the man. For on-line, my experience with Audio Advisors is mixed. It seems they don't have a place to setup and audition equipment is what I was told by one of the sales people. So when they give advice it is not from personal experience, just the company line. Music Direct is very different. Everyone in sales has some in-depth audio experience plus they can listen to what they are selling you. At the top on my list is Sound-Smith. Peter Lederman is a genius. The products are incredibly good, extremely high quality and a terrific value. Peter Green the support person is attentive and thorough. |
Emotiva located in Franklin, TN. They give you a 5 year warranty and are happy to discuss any issues you think you may have. Joe Laliberte (repairs) is the best. As an aside, I have their XPA-1L monoblocks (discontinued) driving KEF LS/50s and they are giant killers. With the money I saved, I bought a car. SVS subwoofers, outside of Chicago (?). I had an issue with one of their products and Ed Mullen came up with a fair solution. I now have two of their new 4000 series subs. Tight and musical subs. |
As a relative newcomer, I have yet to experience anything but positive experiences with all companies I’ve dealt with. I’ve even been pleasantly surprised to get answers from some top dogs; Aric of Aric Audio, Mike Morrow of Morrow Cables, Richard Schram of Parasound readily come to mind. But I’ve also communicated with and bought from Music Direct, Audio Advisor, Needle Doctor and just last week Zu Audio. If somebody doesn’t do something negative to slow me down, I’ll be broke before I know it! |
My first high end dealer, Walter Davies (in ’72 at Audio Arts in Livermore, CA), now known for his fantastic LAST line of record/stylus/tape preservative products. Brooks Berdan (R.I.P.) and his widow Sheila/Brooks Berdan, Ltd. Brooks’s son Brian, now at his own shop in Pasadena, Audio Elements Randall Cooley/Optimal Enchantment in Santa Monica, CA Roger Modjeski/Music Reference, RAM Tubes Bruce Thigpen/Eminent Technology Ralph Karsten/Atma-Sphere Tim de Paravicini/EAR-Yoshino Keith Herron/Herron Audio Paul Laudati/Clear Day Cables Ray Kimber/Kimber Kables John Wright/London Cartridges Max Townshend/Townshend Audio Harry Weisfeld/VPI Industries Magnepan |
Shure (SM 58, 57), Schoeps, Neumann, Yamaha (pro and instruments), JBL, DW Drums, Magnavox (MDV 2100), Steinway, Marantz, Fender, Pioneer, Teac/Tascam, Studer, Technics, Rotel (early), Superphon, BK (early), Music Reference, Audolici (A25-M), Conrad Johnson, Magnum Dynalab (tuners), Parasound (early), Abbey Road Studio/EMI, MoFi (Shawn Britton), Ray Kimber, Harold Cooper (RoomTune production), David & Ron Chesky, Crown, Victor Goldstein, Ray Shab, Bill Johnson, Kenny Stevens (CAT), Paul Klipsch, Quad, Richard Shahinian. My list is a little different and like all you guys the lists never end of great audio companies and personalities. For me, the list goes back to the beginning of the audio chain. I would add a few thousand more who have influenced me, but then I wouldn't have enough time to enjoy your lists :) great thread MG |
Jeff Rowland...truly outstanding customer service. I've talked to Mr. Rowland several times. Although I haven't purchased anything from them yet, www.suprahifi.com. Suprahifi is very down to earth. |
I have or had their products, or needed their services. Even if I just had questions that they took the time to answer. I found all of them, in no order, good to do business with and very helpful. Glen @ Aesthetix Audio (and crew) Lee@ MG Audio Doug @ Coda Mike @ Audio Archon Peter @ PBN The Music Room TC Tubes |
There are many best and most famous audio agents today such as JBL, Nexo, RCF ... You can consult those brands. Ensure quality products and relatively cheap prices. I have invested in a system of light sound systems used for stage at this website http://amthanhsankhaupro.com/dan-am-thanh-hoi-truong.html you can refer to the audio equipment at here. |
