I would like to contribute to the discussion about Dave, the “Audio Doctor.” I live in California but, after many phone conversations and texts where he provided advice about my system with no promise of any return, we decided a trip here from New Jersey would be worthwhile and worked out an arrangement. Dave brought a lot of accessories for me to audition. First, we repositioned my speakers (KEF Reference 5s), which really improved the sound. We tried a DAC (Aqua) to compare with my current Auralic Vega (first generation), wireworld interconnects and several other things. I already had purchased an Innuous Zenith server from Dave and we set that up. Dave was very enthusiastic about my speakers (which he sells but I already had purchased elsewhere) and my electronics (Audio Research amp, pre amp, phono stage) and never suggested buying new ones.
At no point did I feel he was pressuring me or trying to sell me something just to make a sale. My system is definitely sounding better now and I may move ahead with some other improvements he recommended. Of course, Dave is in the audio business and makes his livelihood that way but I think he was genuinely interested in helping me get better sound. I know that some have objected to him and other dealers posting on this board. Personally, I have found his postings very helpful. Those who don’t can always skip over them—no one is forcing you to read anything.
Finally, I met Dave for the first time when he came here and have no connection other than as a recent customer.
Audiogon began and for many years until more recent changes, was run for the benefit of individual audio enthusiasts and had little if any chatter and advertising clandestine or otherwise from vendors and dealers. It should have remained that way!
That stated, if dealers and vendors are to be the chosen ones due to ad revenue, etc...that this site generates from their enhanced participation, threads like this should not take place and existing dealer should not self promote to the extent I've seen some do so thinking their choice of brands is the only choice of high-end brands out there. As we've seen, many come and go, others stay and prevail.
Purely IMHO...and not targeted at any particular dealer on this thread.
Mr. Feil: You had a very good dealership from what I saw over the years and you represented fine and true high-end brands at various price points and represented them well. Enjoy your retirement! For the record, I never had occasion to purchase anything from you so I have 'no horse in this race...' as they say.
Another animal joke. A man goes home with a chicken unde his arm. When he gets home his wife is waiting impatiently at the door. The man says, this is the pig I’ve been sleeping with. His wife says, that’s not a pig, you idiot, it’s a chicken! The man says, I wasn’t talking to you.
Please remember what this thread was started for and try to keep your posts on the topic itself. Bashing and insulting other members will not be tolerated. Use the "Report This" Tag in the bottom right hand corner of any posts to report it to the moderators.
I was hesitant to indulge our overweight chest thumping rooster but for the record, here is a partial list of the brands I carried: Pass Labs, Esoteric, Basis Audio, Transfiguration, Dynaudio, Manley Labs, Dynavector, Lyra, Stealth, Audioquest, Silverline, Atma-Sphere, Triplanar, Zu Audio, Koetsu, ATC, Audio Note, Cartridge Man, Parasound, and on and on.
Was it the finest and most exotic product mix? No, there were many other dealers at the time with a broader and more complete portfolio. However, it served my customer base perfectly and the niche I created. My feedback is testimony to it. Once again, my business has been closed for almost 5 years. I see little sense in lalin’s retrospection.
Go ahead lalin, now demean and/or ridicule any of these manufacturers so you can further alienate the posters and readers who own or have owned these products.
Stereo5 Mr Feil started this not us lets be clear.
As per brands he carried sorry we disagree i remember one of his ads and his gear was mostly smaller esoteric lines he did not sell the top brands such as Arc, Wilson, Kef, B&W etc.
Our store his $1.2 million worth of gear on display with Kef, Dali, Paradigm, T plus A, Mytek, Naim, Nad etc
As per feud we never started it he has been attacking us in every way possible and we have insulted him by calling him old he is the one who started by calling me chubby.
I am sorry you have been turned off by this so are we.
Mr Feil should refrain from being the self appointed monitor of Audiogon. If he would there would be no juvenille exchanges.
For the record, when I purchased from wcfeil, it was one of the smoothest transactions I ever had. Before he retired, he carried some of the best and expensive brands available. I see no reason for audiotroy to mock him as he has closed shop and retired. I was all for audiotroy in the beginning as I felt he brought much information to the table, but his ongoing rants that go on and on and his childish argument with wcfeil is too much. Also, calling wcfeil old and irrelevant annoys me as I am also old and retired. I certainly wouldn’t want to purchase from someone who felt like that about me! To audiotroy: stop the nonsense as you are driving away potential customers with your long winded BS and your feud with wcfeil. If you must continue, do it via private email please for everyone here. Peace.
My company can talk about products because we sell many of the brands that people are interested in.
I make the compairison to your now closed business to prove a point about you. You have 0 to add and the proof would show up if Audio Feii was a major shop there would be a legacy on the internet.
The reality Audio Feii international was a tiny store in the middle of NY state with mostly B and C list lines.
This gives you 0 credibility on these forums especially to discuss modern products.
For the umpteenth and final time Lalin, and please read this slowly as I know you’re not very bright, I am no longer in business. It ended in 2014 almost 5 years ago. It’s over. Finished. Gone. It doesn’t exist anymore. What happened then is over. Got it?
However, my interest in high end audio which began in 1959, is sustained today. I am a hobbyist. An enthusiast. An audiophile. Get it? I hope so. Again, I’ve read your posting history and it’s clear you’re not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
I am retired spending summers in western New York and winters splitting time between homes in Paradise Valley AZ and Princeville, Kauai. Life is good for me but it must suck being you based on your posting hysteria
Grgr4blu as usual you are clueless. I never said Audio Doctor was better than either of those dealerships. If you look at what we carry the brand selection is better at Audio Doctor and in tems of constantly testing new gear it is a fact that we are always evaluating new brands and products.
Personally we sell some of the best brands in Audio as well, Kef Reference, Kef Blades, Paradigm Persona, Legacy, ATC, Elac, Anthem, T+A, Mytek, Aurender, Lumin, Innuous, Conrad Johnson, Manley Labs, Light Harmonic Naim, Quad, Dali, Rega, and many many others.
Our shop is 2,000.00 squre feet with four dedicated sound rooms, which makes our shop larger than Andy’s current shop, Innovative has five sound rooms with about 3,000 square feet.
You also prove your ingorance in talking about $250k Dagastino Amplifiers on some mega Wilson system how many people do you know that are spending a $500k to $800k on a system and then is Eilliot going to floor these amplifiers? You are talking about a presentation event, and yes Elliot is good at doing that, we will be presenting many major manufactuers in 2019 our biggest impediment was our out of date website which is about to go live which now shows all of our current brands and showrooms.
Here is our beta www.audiodoctor.com/wp
ou equate dollars with sound quality, our $150k Reference Paradigm System is one of the most amazing sounding systems you will ever hear, howerver, with your attitude I wouldn’t let you step foot in my shop.
We compared our $33k T+A amplifier vs a $90k set of Boulder amplifers, the T+A stereo amplifier was better in terms of bass and the Boulder was a bit cleaner with a slightly wider sound stage, if the Boulder was a 10 the T+A was an 8. One was $90k the other $33k. which proves our point about testing and rather than looking at the price tag to determine sound quality.
I can’t tell you how many really expensive mega buck systems I have heard that were over blown sounding that didn’t sound like real music. The art of tunning is more than just putting the most expensive stuff together.
As per selling at SBS in the 2,000s Andy’s store did have a huge selection of the best gear, and I recommended the products that I felt were the best that he had depending on sound quality and not just price.
Audiotroy: Of course. You are the best. The two dealers you claim are not in your league. I can assure you, they are far above it. Elliot only carries Wilson, MSB, D’agostino, B&W, Avalon, Meridian, Lyra, VTL, Lamm, Naim and other top brands as well as many mid level brands in extremely expensive and beautifully treated dedicated sound rooms. I have not been to Andy’s new shop but I purchased BelCanto, Shunyata and HRS from him. He also carries Focal, VAC, Soulution, Ypsilon, Zanden and others. When you worked there and tried to sell me his stuff, you told me it was the best. Apparently, you’ve had a change of heart. Please do not try to tell me that you are better than these fellas and that they don’t experiment with new products as I have experienced products which they contemplated carrying in their shops--some of which they decided to represent and others of which they did not. Unlike you, they do not jam a million products into a few rooms in their home and try to sell them there. I am not a best friend to either of these fellas, but they deserve infinitely better than your comments. Once again, you prove my point every time you write. You simply have no idea how to speak without attacking other dealers who are in fact better and more qualified to sell gear than you and to criticize the critics some of whom know infinitely more than you. I know. I’ve met you many times when you tried to sell me stuff. (You struck out everytime.) Maybe you can meet me tomorrow night at Innovative when Elliot previews D’Agostino Relentless monos with Wilson Alex and MSB digital presented by Dan himself. Poor Elliott--he doesn’t know what he is doing, what the best products are and how to get manufacturers to preview their gear there. Maybe he can learn something from you. LOL. Although--I don’t think so as I have purchased gear at such presentations. Perhaps you should change your moniker--let’s see--how about "Shameless"
Gpgr4blu, I will keep this brief. Your statements are very different than what I experienced workino at both SBS and Innovative two really big dealers.
Most of Andy’s or Elliots product accquisitions were not based on rigorous testing and evauating of products.
When i worked at SBS and Innovative it was me who begged Andy and Elliot to try certain new brands and products.
In terms of trying the latest and greatest gear, most of the NYC dealers whom you seem to love, most do not constantly try out new brands.
It is for this reason that we actually have the largest collection of gear in the NY metro dealer.
If you look at our line list you will see what I mean
When a product line peaks my fancy and if I think it might be excellent it is brought in and Troy and Myself do a listening session if the product is good it comes in if not it is sent back.
Look at our history in cabling, we started with Harmonic Tech, then Acoustic Zen, Audience, Kubala Sosna, Soundstring, Audioquest then Nordost and finally Wireworld. Out of all of these cables the Wireworld was the most balanced in the majority of our systems with Enklein being the best reference grade cabling.
In terms of vibration isolation again we started with HRS, then moved to Stillpoints and then Critical Mass. Those were our major lines, we also sold Black Diamond Racing, Symposisim and Acoustic System footers.
You want to talk power conditioners: we sampled Shunyata, Audience, Silver Circle, Isotek, Running Springs, Audioquest and Audio Magic.
Do you think SBS or Innovative tested all of those products. The answer is no. Andy sells HRS wether or not they are the best he has sold them for years, same with Elliot.
I specifically seek out posts by dealers on A'gon because I value their audio opinions more than a regular poster (for the most part). Someone who spends their life in audio are likely to know a thing or two about audio.
Of course, the opinions of the dealers are going to be biased along the products they like and sell. Just like the opinions of regular posters skewed towards gear they put money on. I have no problem with either, what I need from this site is audio knowledge. I like music and I can have a quality experience using the knowledge I gain here. Gear for me is just a way to get to my destination.
I have spoken with a few dealers recently, on the phone and in person, because I am going to be buying a lot more gear soon. A lot of those dealers are posters on this site. I wish they would post even more but they are usually too busy or do not want to deal with the histrionics of posters who feel violated by this. A shame for someone like me since 'experienced' knowledge is not being spread out as much as it could be.
I am very familiar with Dave having met with him at Sound By Singer on numerous occasions and had personal sales dealings with him. I have never suggested that he does not know what he's doing or that he does not carry good and sometimes excellent products (ie T&A). However, having a system that has morphed over many years and having substantial experience with literally hundreds of brands (and having built some kit myself)--it is his constant salesmanship here that is troubling. He claims that he carries the best of everything because he has personally listened to all of the competitors and his stuff is best. What about the dealers who would not permit him to represent them because they do not like sales out of a room in his house crowded with tons of equipment? What about the brands who are happy with other nearby dealerships and will not hurt them by letting him carry the same equipment? In NY, there are at least 10 high end dealers that carry prominent brands so it is not like other areas of the country where a manufacturer would love to have representation of any kind. As one who has gone to dozens of audio shows and knows every owner of each major dealer in NY personally (having made significant purchases over the years at virtually all of them)--I can say that any one of them can do what Dave does. They all genuinely believe in what they sell. They all carry excellent, well regarded and well reviewed gear and have on display in dedicated rooms signature systems that sound incredible--although each such system is not to everyone's tastes when compared to the others. Most have more experience than Dave (and he has a lot). So I am happy for those who appreciate Dave's work with them. I am unhappy for the rest of us who tire of his constant, self serving, long winded self promotion here. If all of the dealers I knew did what he did on this site (and any of them easily could), Audiogon would be less fun and have a lot less members. I hope Dave doesn't respond with his usual blabber about how many people he has helped, how he genuinely wants to help people but other dealers are just in it for the money, how he is performing a public service and why some people here are happy with his advice and should not be deprived of it because of people like me, etc,---- which is his usual response to criticism.
+1. Well said, will. The Audio Doctor has helped me a lot with equipment recommendations, system setup and troubleshooting, His recommendations have been excellent. He has not suggested replacing equipment that doesn’t need replacing, just to make a sale. My system sounds much better as a result of his advice. He continues to provide help if issues arise. We can debate the issue of how far a dealer should go on this board to recommend products he sells. As will says, dealers are in a competitive business. But I also agree with will that the Doctor genuinely tries to help and, because he is familiar with so many products, he is a great source of knowledge. Some of the critics on this thread seem to overlook the positives in expressing their personal opinions about his product promotion.
i live in Arizona and have valued the Audio Doctor's insight into the audiophile world. In fact i ended up visiting him and his store in Jersey City. He has never and I say never imposed his merchandise on me. He offers me options. I don't mind him mentioning the products he sells in this forum. I don't have a lot of options in Arizona other than Mac / Wilson / Sonus Faber / AR to name a few. i trust his judgement. And even though many are bothered because you think he is trying to hawk his products on this website, I would have to say he is the smart one. I probably never would have purchased anything from him if I didn't read this site. It's a competitive business and he wants two things: One, to help people make informed decisions on what they buy and what is available and two, obviously to sell product. It's the American way!
everyone has a bias.. or what they believe to be the best.. you read it constantly from the same folks pitching their brand of speakers that are favorites for them. Whenever some one makes the case for a pair of speakers they feel is best there is never a 100 % consensus on agreement. i recognize a sales pitch and that does not bother me, i view it as a similar bias really. It's all good.. There are probably people in sales whom do not make that known when posting. One thing is you can drive yourself crazy second guessing what to buy, so much so that you never buy anything and continue to miss out.
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