Jay’s Audio Lab is shutting down

I bought a few things from Jay. He was honest,pleasant,promp,and friendly.we do not have a brick and morter store like the big cities and no time to go to the big audio shows. His prices were the lowest at the time. Have not had any problems with his merchandise and was as advertised. Wish him well and still watch some of his reviews. Enjoy the hobby.

He's just moving to Texas. He'll be up and running again. But in a larger space. 

Been following him for a few years.  Unfortunately, 100% of what he covers are priced more than an automobile but I am simply curious.. His presentation style is a bit off-putting to me (I feel he is LECTURING ME but that’s me) and has the tendency to drag on and on... Youtube algorithm inspired?

I do wish him the very best.  The audiophile HiFi market is so small, the ultra high end is even smaller.  Not sure how he can sustain this if he does not go down market...  

I just hop that he stays far,far away from Danny's you tube program. He has nothing to add to that and I'm pretty sure that Danny's smart enough to know that.

Jay needs a YouTube channel to sustain his personal lavish audiophile interests. If he can afford all that gear, that’s all good and well. But why must he then constantly flaunt his gear for all the world to see and brag about being into ultra high-end gear, which he needs a YouTube channel to sustain? The editorial in the latest edition of The Absolute Sound alludes to him not being an audiophile “expert” and questions arise as to how he qualifies to be a recognized reviewer.

There is a real sense he is learning as he’s going and taking us along for the ride. I take it all for what it is.

Ive followed and enjoyed Jays content for a few years

Recently noted my questions on his live streams being ignored and the disappearing.

I am respectful when  I ask the question (it’s about speaker cabinet material )

But he will not engage. I can only think it’s because I’ve purchased stuff from OCD Mikey. This is something that has repeated itself over a few livestreams

Whatever it is, it is a thing,  I think it’s petty so I can no longer support his channel. I’ve even paid him $$$ to consult with me about my system

Wish him the best in Texas. I admire him for tossing the 9-5 thing and going for his dream .

Posting this to highlight something is off with him and not quite right.

Just from my dealings with him

I wish he discussed how he purchases his items he reviews....Is he getting new units from dealers he has connections with at a steep discount so he can always sell them used and recover his money? is he buying his gear used? he always says he uses his own money so they aren't loaned from the manufacture for review unless he is lying. There is def no way he is paying full retail for any of this stuff or he would lose his tail on it because he doesn't make enough off of the videos alone to eat up that depreciation loss every time he opens a box and makes a product used.

Does he really make hundreds of thousands of dollars from his YouTube channel? I could be wrong, but my guess is that he's got other areas of income as well. 

I checked out Jay’s website to see if any of his gears being sold off before his move and there’s only like one speaker and a few pieces of very high priced gear but not much else. I thought he would sell the tad speakers but no. 

Maybe they’ll be a sale before he moves.  Maybe He’s going into a partnership with an audio dealer.  His famous name will mean a lot to that dealer. 

I also think Jay is a good honest guy, much more so than those reviewers in the magazines. Jay will tell you a room he didn’t like at an audio show where up until a year ago, you would never hear a magazine reviewer state an expensive gear room sounded bad. I personally think that Jay’s comments about bad sounding rooms at axpona made a magazine review of axpona have a section on bad sounding rooms. 
I don’t think 6 digits is too much to spend on a piece of equipment nor do I think 6 digits is too expensive for a car. A decent Porsche is $150k on up, it’s the price you pay for quality. But, after covid, I went to the Tampa audio show and a company was asking a fortune for a 2 way speaker that my small revels in my 3rd room would crush for 1/8 the price. I haven’t seen that company for a while so maybe they aren’t around anymore.

@larsman 

There’s no way he’s making that amount of money from his YouTube channel.  My only guess is that he his wife is VERY understanding and probably has a good job.

When I saw this video I thought he was ending his videos.  And now I see he’s got more videos coming out. I thought he said jay Audiolab was coming to an end.

He’s a marketing person and he’s just moving to another room.. It’s like taking your family on vacation, it’s just a change of scenery that’s all, it’s not a vacation.

So I watched another of his videos just coming out today and it’s all about preaching about what you need to do to create a better sounding room. 

You need to spend a lot of money on every single facet of your Soundsystem.  he said it all makes a difference.

Jay is a marketing genius. I’m not sure how much he really knows about the equipment he is talking about but he does keep things interesting.

@emergingsoul - he's right about the better sounding room; that can have more of an impact on your sound than any piece of gear besides maybe the speakers.

^ I concur ✌️

When he heard music in New Record Deals listening room it looked like Jay had an epiphany. 

I may have. heard him wrong, but I think he said he only makes a few hundred bucks a month from YouTube. He only has 36,000 subs, so can't be making a living from YouTube. I assume-don't know-he gets some sort of accommodation pricing on the equipment in his room and makes a decent dollar when he flips it. Not a lot of overhead-works from home, no employees, probably does all right. 

In the last video I saw, Jay was talking about packing up everything and he never said anything about selling anything.  

I really like tad speakers that jay is recommending.  I would really like to know if he's receiving compensation for his promotional efforts. I do not think he's bought those speakers otherwise he'd say that. But then who really knows when he does say he bought the speakers.

are not you Supposed to say whether or not you're being compensated?

I mean he is really falling in love with these speakers.  I know he has lots of affairs but maybe this is different. 

He lives pretty close to me and I asked if I could come by and listen to gear I could not afford.  He said no, not unless I'm going to purchase something.  It rubbed me wrong.  OCD Mikey welcomed me into his home and Danny said come on over while visiting my daughter in Dallas.

I was also shocked how much Danny and NRT schooled him and made him look uneducated about speaker build and room acoustics.  It showed how superfluous he is about gear.  But, hey, that's what we are known for in South Florida!  All flash, little substance.

Once these kids get out of college and my audio budget increases 10x, you can be assured I won't be visiting the Lab.

@emergingsoul 

I’d love to have the money and the room to enjoy those TAD speakers.

Jay’s milking this for all it’s worth!

Just saw a video of a UHaul guy hooking up a trailer to a huge Ram pickup truck and you hear Jay thanking the guy.  That’s the whole video.

Jay is just “being real here on the record”!  Poor guy dropped a ton of money in his used retail audio business in Florida and lost his home.  Now moving to Texas to make lemonade out of lemons.  He’s selling these footers to make income to get the move started.  “They make $90,000 speakers sound acceptable”, he said.  Wow, some people never learn.  They just dig deeper into a hole of BS and think no one is really listening.  Being real Jay, I think not my friend but wish you luck. 

Why I like Mike Lavigne ? Because with the system he created? I bet if I will make an appointment to listen to his system? He will let me get in to his barn to listen to his system. Only if I decided to visit my friend in Seattle. In return when he attend axpona ? I will treat Him a deep disc pizza ?

Gruvjet though you can’t afford those gear now? But you are prospective costumer ? Who knows one day you will make a lot of money? 

@daytrader

TAD speakers are probably one of the premier speakers being offered. He sells a lot of gear with no doubt very nice margins. Texas is a very nice place to live and he's gonna have two listening rooms.

I agree with you about TAD speakers.  He makes the claim his footers ,which are on sale on his website, make the TADs now more listenable with his footers. He’s dreaming. .  

@daytrader Ihaven't heard TAD speakers - what are your listening impressions of them with and without aftermarket footers? 

Sure…My audio dealer is House of Stereo they had them in-house when I was there to make my pick up of my new KEF Reference 1 Meta purchase.  The dealership , super nice guys, reside  in Jacksonville FL. I’m in southwest Fl. so i  had to drive up.  As I was there and being curious as to how my KEFs would stack up to TADs, both the Reference 1 Meta and the TAD share the same lineage, through the hands of Andrew Jones I just had to auditioned the TADs for a reference point comparison of the concertic circle design, (tweeter/midrange - if you are unaware), that Andrew is known for in development of both models.   I’ll save you the audition details, as I don’t think you care much  but I will say they had the TADs on isoacoustics Titans I believe?   Oddly the bass was all over the place with flat highs.  So I ask why the IsoAcoustics and the reply I got , “we sell more when they are seen under the rather high end stuff, more so than speakers themselves. We shared a laugh., I digress. Anyway, I asked if I could hear them with stock feet, which were not anything to sneeze at, as they were well built and looked all the part as a TAD product.  Well, surprise surprise the sound cleaned up considerably, bass became right and the highs had sparkle.  Now back to Jay…
 

I can understand why he feels maybe these feet helped him out to enjoy these speakers, they tamed everything!  If you do not use the right gear with speakers of this caliber, they can be super finicky in the wrong set up, I see how one could think tthe TADs  are bright, as he claims in his video, unless you buy my feet.  Wrong!  But again an example of how he knows little of ultra expensive gear, as only to impress but not how to carefully match such with other specialized ultra high end audio gear.  I do wish him well with his next venture.  But one needs to remember the old saying of “do no harm”. 

@daytrader  Thanks for your response and putting your original comment on the TADs into perspective. I take his commentary with a grain of salt  like I do those of  "reviewers" in general. 

You are most welcome.  As to TADs on their own, they are an extremely clean sounding speaker, the driver design gives them a stage presence of width and depth that is enjoyable from any listening position.  One does not need to sit directly in the center to have a centered focus stage.  Sit left of or right of center and you still get a cohesive stage presentation.  This is what I experienced mostly about these, where with other speakers one might have to sit center to get the best it has to offer of this. For me and I’m far from anything like a reviewer, was their strongest attribute which didn’t even get a mention in Jays review.  He was all about the fit and finish (which are and should be exquisite) as his focus point. Again style over substance.  
 

$90k is a rich playpen, all the above along with everything else that makes speakers like this special are in the end, just music tapestry.  d/t

Jay’s got a set of HT/Atmos speakers he’s looking to sell.  

My mind was just wondering.  His listening room used to be a two car garage.  Can you imagine explaining all the holes where everything used to be?  The in wall and ceiling speakers were as well as all the sound absorbing panels were.  Do you think he’s going to take the electric box all the outlets and covers with him?