Cincinnati, OH, any audiophiles?


Any Cincinnati, OH -based audiophiles on this forum? I have found only one truly high end dealer here, and they are leaning more and more towards high end home theater so they tend to be quite busye, and no longer set up truly "reference" systems one can listen to for calibration. Would love to get into touch with other fellow maniacs in the area Hard to know what else you "need" unless you can hear it and covet it in someone else's set up!
128x128alexc
Hi I live in Dayton{yuck}.The land of bose and polk >I am an x-New Yorker Thats where i got my first taste of Hi End
Harvey Kushner
Alexc, I Live in No. KY (Cold Spring). Call me at 442-9981 Current line up is krell transport, theta d / a, reference line passive pre, krell amp, ml quest speakers. Lost internet use at "work". E-mail is jeff_d_clark@mail.tmmna.com I would like to see / hear other systems for comparison / discussion. So long for now.
I agree with Musikdok and Kriek on Audible Elegance. I felt a bit slighted by them. In 1994 I was looking for my 1st real audio equipment. The only guidance I had at the time were audio magazines and the folks over at Audible Elegance and some other Cincinnati stores which now escapes me. At the time, I only knew enough to know that Bose Accoustimass was not the best thing on the face of this planet. They led me to a pair of Thiel SCS's and eventually an Audiolab 8000A to drive them a few weeks later. As alot of people know about Thiel, they are usually very hard to drive. This was particularly the case with the SCS's. Its obvious that the 8000A was not the best match. Even though I bought them at demo prices, for the money I could have gotten a more optimal match. As customers we partly rely on advice from high end dealers to guide us. I wouldn't mind getting this kind of advice from a place like "Ovation". They simply don't know better. But, a place like Audible Elegance does! At the expense of looking naive, I felt it would be good for folks in the Cincinnati area to get a feel for the type of people who work at Audible Elegance and what you should expect based on my experience.
Another excellent hi-fi shop in the Columbus area is Genesis Audio(Gahanna,Ohio). They carry many of the top brands- Levinson, Revel, Sound Lab, etc.- and guys like Art, Chuck and Steve are longtime audiophiles who still love "vinyl"! Check out www.genesisaudio.com
I have purchased almost all of my gear from folks on Audiogon. I live in Cincinnati, and was treated like dirt at Audible Elegance. Ohio Valley at least treated me decently, and helped me get a good deal on a Aragon 8008BB amplifier. Give them a shot.
Thank you all for you replies. Tom, I will reply directly to you via e-mail. I have known about Progressive Audio and almost bought a pair of ProAc speakers from them - but ultimately decided they would overwhelm my smallish room. A "pilgrimage" is definitely in the (future) plans when upgrade fever hits again. As far as the Cinit BAsed store, I've been ot Ohio Valley a couple of times and was never too impressed by the gear and the set-ups. I actually bought my first system (all Linn electronics, because they offered switchable 120/220 power and I was moving to Europe) from Audible Elegance, and still maintain a cordial relationship with Lou. I ALMOST bought a pair of Maggie 3.6's from them, but after three listening sessions in which there was no magic (poor set up, underpowered amplifiers, etc), I gave up an bought stand-mounted monitors. I wll definitely check out the Synersound site....
There are two places that i know of in cincy... Audible Excellence in Kenwood and Audio Valley East in Norwood I'm more of a budding audiophile Nad preamp, Rotel amp, Paradigm Titans, Music Hall Turntable, and soon an Nad cd player
I'm from the Cincinnati area, now in Indy. It's disheartening that the 'classic' (if you will) hifi shops are giving way to those that emphasize home theatre (and higher profits I presume). One long time dealer here in Indy went out of business last year. If you're talking about Audible Elegance in Montgomery, they were never really accessible nor accomodating to me back in the 'lean years,' so I never went back when I had more scratch. Anyway, there is a pretty good hifi dealer here (Wadia, Pass, BAT, VAC, to name a few) called Synergistic Sound, Synersound on Audiogon as they have sales and occasional auctions on the site. I have no vested interest in giving them a plug other than to help preserve the traditional 'bricks and mortar' hifi shop.
Hi Alexc, my name is Tom and I am one of those hard to find Cincinnati audiophiles. Nice to hear that someone else in Cincinnati is into the Hi-End. If you want to get in touch with me on line to chat, you can reach me at audiostud@dellnet.com If you want a good Hi Fi dealer, make the trip to Columbus to Progressive Audio. That is where I get my goodies. They are great to deal with.
Up here in Cleveland, most of the dealers are home theater oriented, as well. If you're up for a couple-hour drive, try Progressive Audio in Columbus. They carry a ton of two-channel stuff.