A shop here in Chicago that has come and gone long ago used to ask you what gear you wanted to hear and / or what price range you were looking in and then configure a system of your desire. If this meant wiring up something other than what they currently had configured, so be it. When you decided what speakers you wanted to hear, they would bring them into the room and set them up as best possible. As such, the only speakers in the room would be those that you were auditioning. If you wanted to hear the speakers with a different amp, no problem. While one could drop by and do an audition in this manner if they were not busy, they typically prefered to do things via appointment. As you can tell from the very customer oriented service and attention to detail, they did not want to be rushed nor did they want you to walk away with the wrong impression of the gear. One never left the store with the typical "here it is, listen to it and then pay me" type of attitude and experience that one normally finds in a "high end" shop. Nor were you talked down to as if you were an imbecile if you liked other brands that they did not carry or asked "dumb" questions.
For the record, that store was Victor's Stereo. Victor spent a LOT of time with me on the phone when i was only about 12 - 13 years old. While he truly was a patient and sincerely good guy, i think he got a kick out of talking to a "kid" that wanted to discuss and understood slew rate, rise time, power bandwidth, etc... While he did carry some "fast" gear ( AGI, Spectral, etc.. ) and believed that spec's could tell you some specific things about the product, he always stressed that it was the sound and system synergy that counted in the end. As such, he used to recommend some out of the ordinary combo's ( fast preamps with turtle-like amps, buying two amps and then only running one channel per amp, etc.. ) that truly did sound good. By the time i was 15 ( 1979 ), i ended up buying a couple of phono cartridges and a preamp from Victor. When i was 18, i was taking some of the "older" people that i worked with to his shop to listen to gear. Many of these people were looking at "rack systems" and did not understand the meaning of "quality over quantity". After auditioning modest systems with Victor's guidance, they found it quite easy to differentiate between various components, speakers, etc... Needless to say, those people were amazed to learn that they too had "golden ears" once they opened them and paid attention.
Having said that, i miss that shop and the attitude that went with it. I'm sure that you can understand why. There aren't many brick and mortar dealers that will go that distance, let alone spend time nurturing young audiophiles. If you can find a shop that offers this type of service, PLEASE do your part to keep them in business. It is this type of dealer that keeps the hi-end business and "audiophilia" alive. Sean
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PS... Sorry for the rant, but the basis of this thread brought back a lot of memories.
