Does anyone know anything about the audio dealer True Audiophile ?


Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with True Audiophile ? I never heard of them before and was wondering if this is a legit dealer.
robert53

Showing 5 responses by bdp24

Exactly, @robert53. I really hoped True Audiophile would prove to be up to my expectations in regard to turntable/arm/cartridge setup and alignment. But being told I would be met at some location in the area (I'm in Vancouver, just over the river from Portland) to take receipt of my table, and that the cost for a mere cartridge alignment would be $400 (absurd, imo. How 'bout you?), I'll do it myself. I'm no Brooks Berdan (or his son Brian, whom Brooks trained, and who now has his own shop---Audio Element---in Pasadena, CA), but I have the tools and experience to do the job. I don't have that Audio Technica machine, but neither does True Audiophile!

In the name of clarity.....when I asked via email if I would be dropping off my table/arm/cartridge to have it aligned, I was NOT offered an in-home visit, but rather was told, as I stated above, that they would meet me at a to-be-arranged location for them to take possession of the gear. I found that unacceptable, and still consider it highly unprofessional.

An in-home set-up of a table is actually the best arrangement of all (with a couple of caveats---see below); no chance for anything to change during the car ride home. My long-time turntable man, the late Brooks Berdan, did that with some of his clients, including Bill Johnson of Audio Research. Bill's winter home was in Desert Wells, about an hour-and-a-half drive east of Brooks' shop in Monrovia.

However, that made impossible a few things Brooks routinely did with all his turntable set-ups: 1- after initial alignment, Brooks "ran in" the cartridge for a number of hours, until the cartridge suspension had relaxed and stabilized. Brooks would then redo the entire alignment. 2- Brooks had the state-of-the-art Audio Technica Phono Cartridge Analyzer and it's related LP, which he used on every cartridge he aligned. The analyzer considered every parameter involved in cartridge alignment, an amazing piece of diagnostic gear. By the way, when one purchased a cartridge from Brooks, the installation, alignment, run-in, realignment, and Audio Technica computer analyzation (with printout of results) were provided free of charge. 

@jetter, no, there's no way I would do that. Not only highly unprofessional, but fishy. Why doesn't he (or they) want anyone to know where he/they are? Besides, he quoted me a price of $400 for table/arm/cartridge setup and alignment!

@robert53, @viridian, and @folkfreak, I sent them an email, and received a very quick reply. They don't have a storefront, and are not open to the public. I inquired about dropping off a table/arm/cartridge, and was told we would have to meet at an agreed upon location for them to take the eq. Weird!

@viridian, so there's a Portland audiophile community? I need to send you a pm!---Eric.

Hmm, folkfreak (who lives in Portland, and has a very high end system) didn't mention them to me when I was at his place. Hope it's legit---nice to have expert turntable/arm/cartridge setup available locally.