My audio buying experience in NYC is as follows:
- Innovative Audio, 1985: I was shopping for a turntable. The salesperson was demoing a number of tables for a group. He insisted that if you were not buying a Lyn Sondek, you were an idiot. He said that VPI stood for Very Poor Imitation. As I was not going to buy a Lyn Sondek because a friend was having a poor experience with it (to fussy to set up and keep set up. I pointed this out to the salesperson and he said my friend … you guessed it: must be an idiot)
- Sound by Singer, 1985: Still looking for the turntable, but since I wasn’t dressed like a Wall Street investment banker….
- Stereo Exchange, 1985: I bought the Very Poor Imitation, a HW MK II, with a Sumiko MMT arm and a Koetsu Black, the floor demo model. I got the whole shebang for $1800.00.
- Stereo Exchange, 1986: I’m looking to upgrade from my Dyna III tube monoblocs. Dave Wasserman, the owner, listens carefully to my approach to building up my system, and I walk out with a pair of NY Audiolab Futterman OTL3s.
- Stereo Exchange is now my go to place. I don’t shop much, but when I do, I go there. In the mid-90s, I go there, I haven’t been there in 5 years. I’m looking for a cartridge to compliment my Koetsu. Dave’s not there, I talk to a salesman who seemed distracted half the time, I walk out with a Grado. I came back with it two days later. Dave sees me coming in and says “Hello Michael! Haven’t seen you in years! What can I do for you?” Dave seems to have a photographic memory: he remembers where I live, my phone number, what I’ve bought from him, and the configuration of my entire audio system. I tell him that “I bought this cartridge here two days ago, and no matter what I do, it just bounces across the record. By bounce, I don’t mean skidding, or little hops. I mean bounces, big scary ones”. He asks “What is this, a Grado?”, shouts across the showroom for the salesperson to come over, and asks him if he asked me what tonearm the cartridge was going onto. He said yes. Dave yells “Then wtf did you sell him a Grado for? He’s getting the Grado Bounce! (apparently the MMT-Grado mismatch is so infamous that it has a name) Go get him a Benz Micro!” Dave apologizes and gives me a 10% discount for the trouble. Dave’s store was once on 8th Street, was on Broadway in SoHo for the longest, I think he now has a showroom off Union Square and does mostly consulting work. Dave does not have a soft voice, but he’s not loud unless he’s shouting across his showroom at a salesperson who doesn’t know what he’s doing. Dave is the nicest, smartest and most knowledgeable guy I know in audio.
- In Living Stereo, 200-2015: By now, my system is set. I bought some moderately high end cables for my turntable-to-preamp connection here, heard no meaningful difference if at all, but the store “didn’t take cable returns”, which to me was a tip-off that the cable thing was a sham and turned me off forever to cable upgrades. But the manager here is nice and tolerates my once every year or so visit to see if there is any reasonably priced product that might cause me to see a need to upgrade. This is where I auditioned a pair of Altec 604C drivers inside Shindo cabinets. I paid $3,200 for my Altec 604Cs, including factory spec cabinets and Mastering Lab crossovers, whereas these Shindo versions were going for $33,000. Did I say “reasonably priced”? That cost more than I’ve spent on my entire system over 50 years. I asked the manager for the contact info to Shindo, and I write to them asking what they did the Altec 604Cs to justify the price differential, since they sounded no better than my pair. I got crickets as a response. But the store had sold them a week later, no doubt to some dumb Wall Street investment banker who knows how to make money, but doesn’t know how to spend it.
- About 10 years ago, I thought it time to upgrade the VPI. I notice a change in design philosophy. I call VPI and ask to speak to an engineer. Instead, I get Harry himself. He says that the EPA won’t let him sell products with lead in it anymore, that I should save myself $4,000 and simply upgrade to a HW MK IV, it will be as good as or better than a Classic. I followed Harry’s advice. What kind of salesperson talks you out of spending $4,000 with him? An Awesome salesperson.
- I went to Lyric once or twice, Park Avenue Audio the same. I didn’t find the staff there to be helpful.
- I still have all the gear that I bought at Stereo Exchange.
- As far as dealers being frustrated with shoppers “kicking the tires”: well this stuff ain’t cheap. Of course we are going to be cautious.