Wonderful visit and 5-star customer service at Audio Doctor in Jersey City, NJ!
For those interested in auditioning the new Paradigm Persona series, as well as other high-end brands, with the benefit of highly personalized attention and 5-star customer service, I would like to recommend a visit to Audio Doctor in Jersey City, New Jersey- they have some of the largest showroom space in the NY/NJ area, and such great customer service, period!
Audio Doctor is currently the only dealer in the NY/NJ area allowed to demo in-store/sell the Paradigm Persona speaker series, so I trekked there yesterday to audition the Paradigm Persona 3F and flagship 9H stereo speakers, which both proved stupefying and extremely impressive for their price points in as far as clarity, detail, and sound stage are concerned.
The owner, Dave, is such a wonderful guy. He gave me a personalized tour of his well-built home theater room (100+ inch projector set up with KEF speaker system, excellent room treatments, very comfortable seating, etc.), and also a tour of other five-figure speaker brands on display.
Crucially, for the Paradigm demos, Dave allowed me to bring my own interconnects and speaker cables, and also to use identical separates to what I have at my place so I could ascertain for sure what the Paradigms would sound like in my home setting. I was also pleased to see many low-budget speaker/separates set ups for those on a tight budget- all on display.
Last but not least, Dave and his wife prepared a wonderful dinner for me while I was speaker-auditioning- the tastiest Mexican Tacos I have ever had! I spent a total of 4 hours at the store, and Dave even gave me a lift back to the PATH train station (I live in NYC)... so without a doubt, I would rate the customer service at this place as the best I have ever seen in my years of visiting audio stores on both coasts.
So for the NY/NJ area audiophile crowd, Audio Doctor merits an in-person visit and comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
Peter it was a pleasure to have you over to demo the Persona 3F as well as showing you the amazing potential that a pair of Persona 9H's can do when setup with serious audiophile components and cabling!
I was delighted to see that you enjoyed our demo 3F setup and that is sounded fantastic on your components.
I was also impressed with that combination of Anthem Pre/Pro and Paradsound A23 amplifier which I never tried before myself on the Persona 3F in that room, sounded so good together, so yes an old dog can learn new tricks.
We really enjoyed your company and we hope you can come back again whenever you wish, and it was fun having you over for dinner.
LMAO ph2 signed up today and this is his first post. It reads like ad copy. Nice try but sorry not buying it, nice bit of role play though. "No wait you be the customer I'll be the owner this time!"
To JOND: This is no ad copy. I am a real person, a diplomat in fact, residing in LIC, New York, and the proud owner of a pair of Paradigm S8s, a Paradigm C5 center, Parasound A21 amp, AVM60 pre-amp, and Morrow cables/interconnects.
I had not met, and did not know the owners of Audio Doctor until yesterday. They are not friends of mine, and I am not beholden to them in any way. This was simply a heartfelt account of what I experienced.
You are right that I just opened my Audiogon account today- however that does not negate the veracity of my experience at Audio Doctor. I have, for a while now, been frequenting Audiogon threads w/o opening an account, but felt compelled to do so because I wanted to share my experience with the audiophile community.
But then you don't have to take my word at face value- as they say, "trust but verify".
My suggestion: visit the store yourself and ascertain whether anything I said was made up or just "role play". I suspect you will be impressed by their service.
I too have heard great things about Audio Doctor from associates that have purchased from them. BTW, I have been on Audiogon for many years with over 1000 posts. I do not doubt what ph2 posted. I believe an apology is owed to him.
Thanks for the kind words if you are in the area, please give us a call for an appointment. I would love to check out your system as well if you are on our coast and time permits and you allow us to.
If you haven't seen our you tube video you can see our selection as of about 1.5 years ago, we still have the Polymer speakers but now feature the Personas as our go to new reference speaker line.The T+A reference electronics are new, ATC loudspeakers are now on display, and we added a Naim electronics stack and the new Uniti line, the Micromega M100, and a whole lot of new gear.
Excellent write up! This kind of service makes it worth buying from people like the Audio Doctor! The value from being able to thoroughlytest equipment is priceless.
FYI I had an Anthem pre-DSP about 15 years ago. The AVM 20. I was extremely dissapointed as that pre-DSP is the only device I have encountered that audibly improved with a power conditioner. It was one of the best pre-DSP in terms of functionality I have owned but the power supply design was obviously 2nd rate.
Obviously, I upgraded and I am reticent to try Anthem ever again. Of course some people prefer gear that is finicky and unreliable but for me I got rid of this component as soon as I had the opportunity to do so. My philosophy is that if it isn't working properly in a normal set up then how can you ever know that it is performing 100% no matter how many conditioners you try!!!
I have been doing this as my main vocation for over 30 years.
High end retailing in the late eighties to the ninties was so different.
Customers were treated like royalty the salespeople were excited to be seeing people and demoing and talking about audio and music was fun and exciting.
Once the industry started allowing internet sales, rampant discounting, and started treating hand made limited production products like a commodity here is why stores are disappearing.
The Luxury goods model needs to be followed in all price ranges for high end to work. Stores need to exist to allow for neophytes to be educated, and to gain the experience of actually hearing what music can sound like when played on all manor of systems.
In our shop we have a large assortment of inexpensive really good gear, from the Micromega myamp $600.00 the Nad C368 $899, the Nuprime IDA 8 $995.00 to the $50k T+A gear.
The problem the industry is facing is the internet, if company A sells direct to customer B that customer may never get a chance to be introduced to better systems and the journey becomes a one way trip and growth is limited or curtailed. Its like in Fight Club got that wardrobe issue solved.
Look at the success of Sonos, too many people that could afford a simple easy high end system such as streaming amp/dac and a set of speakers for $300-500 a pair are being led down a path which doesn't embrace the experience of actually reproducing music and educating the customer to how their appreciation and joy of music can be radically enhanced by buying better gear and then introducing that starter customer into the entire gamut of great gear.
One of the products we really recommend is the Naim Muso and the Uniti line, because they represent an easy step into the world of quality audio so we can take a Sonos buyer and show them a better streaming speaker and then show that same buyer that a high quality streaming amp/dac with a set of real speakers sounds so much better and boom we have now created a person with an interest in high quality music and whose eyes and ears are awoken into the possibilites or what an entire industry can offer.
Allowing interenet sales is dooming many industries into a downward spiral getting people into stores all stores needs to be embraced, for the only way for people to purchase better anythings is to be introduced to them in a meaningful way.
My last point is that the experience of shopping for high end luxury goods needs to be just that, an experience.
Women and signifigent others needs to be brought into the stores and educated that high end audio can be a fun hobby for them as well.
Far too many stores especially in the New York metro area are all about closing the sale rather than finding out just what product or series of products is right for the client, for this reason Audio Doctor displays many different lines so we can find just the right product for that client.
I personally loved being given a glass of wine when I was in a famous New York high end clothing store and experience was fantastic.
Our store offers extended hours from early morning appointments to late night ones. I remember working for a big NY store and I had to escort out a potental client for a $40k system because the store mananger was in a rock band and had to leave for a band practice. The customer never came back.
When you are in this kind of business you need to treat your customers like friends and family members because that was what worked in old time retail sales it was about creating a relationship that transcended just the sales process.
Troy It is possible to promote your store without trashing others. You posit that many dealers, especially in the NY Metro area, are all about closing the sale rather than finding out what is best for the client. You have made this self promoting assertion in other posts. To whom are you referring? For example, just in the past decade I have purchased items at Stereo Exchange, Innovative Audio, Audio Connection, High Water Sound, Lyric Hifi and many others, some of which did not survive the market crash. With rare exceptions, I have encountered knowledgeable owners and salespeople who care about the needs of the client. I have received many courtesies from all of the above including visits to my home, loaners of expensive gear to try in my system, insights into why a particular component might work well in my system and open ears to my suggestions of brands they may wish to carry. In addition, I have maintained personal friendships with the owners of all of the above. On the other hand, I did not receive the same courtesies from Dave Lalin. The few times I have encountered him, he seems to have been more interested in making a sale of what he claimed to be the best product for me--without actually determining what my needs were. So--promote your dealership as you are wish, but leave the integrity of other NY Metro dealers out of your comparisons. Many, including those mentioned above, have integrity in spades. All of them have been in business longer than Audio Doctor for a reason.
A certain famous NY audio store owner used to march his sales people down to his basement to show the sales staff which products to sell based on being in stock, if that isn't trying to shoe horn a potential client into what is good for the retailor then what is?
I frequently got in trouble with that owner for selling the products and sytems which weren't necessarily in stock but I felt were the best ones for my clients.
Another famous NY City store owner, had when I started to work in his Brooklyn store sold only Linn tables, didn't sell subwoofers other than Definitive, and had almost no selection didn't even sell any tube brands.
You have never been to mystore or worked with me directly, so you base all of your opinions on your dread of salesmanship, my loquacious nature, and having strong opinions, and my extolling superior value to dollar products.
My store stocks O we order in whatever the client wants to purchase. If customer A likes Paradigm great, if they prefer Legacy great or ATC great, or Kef? This is the reason my store has a lot of great choices in all different price ranges.
Check many of the forum posts about many peoples experiences with other NY CIty stores and then come back to me, as someone who worked for two of them, the perspective on the other side wasn't allways rosey.
How about storries of customers being ignored based on their dress? Or customers not allowed to stay in the store after "closing hours." wether or not they were taken care of? Or how about people being sold systems that were too big for their rooms or pocketbooks because it made the store money?
Grgr4blu you may have gotten good treatment from some of the stores you mentioned but I am willing to bet there are others who would not mirror your experiences. Caveat emptor!
I too had a very good experience at Audio Doctor.....
I drove an hour + to Jersey City and called AD not knowing that it was by appointment only. Dave said although he had others scheduled it wasn’t a problem and for me to come by.
At this point in my audio journey I was still trying to figure out what sounds were pleasing to me. I was very much in an information gathering mode. Even though my budget was small, at no point did I feel that I was being rushed. Dave listened to what my needs were and made appropriate recommendations and imparted a ton of information to me which was invaluable in my audio search.
He was very hospitable and offered to make me tea a few times. The showroom is very comfortable. And the selection/variety of gear is second to none.
Ultimately, I decided to go in a different direction (Vandersteen/ Belles). But I would not hesitate going back or recommending their shop to anyone.
Allowing interenet sales is dooming many industries into a downward spiral getting people into stores all stores needs to be embraced, for the only way for people to purchase better anythings is to be introduced to them in a meaningful way.
It seems to me that the best brands in audio these days are those that succeed in preventing any internet sales. No BS about allowing exceptions if no dealer is in the customer's so-called territory because the exceptions get abused into rendering the purpose meaningless. An example near and dear to me are DeVore speakers. Try buying a set over the net; I don't think so. In fact, if you go to Don Better's website I don't think you will find a single product (save Vandersteen that you can buy direct) that can possibly be purchased over the net. Correct me please if I am mistaken. Now, I do realize that offering budget gear that can not be purchased over the 'net is a real challenge. But Croft, Sugden, Line Magnetic, maybe Falcon Acoustics...
The reality is that there are two distinctly different markets when years ago there was only one.
The mass market in the 50-60-70-80-90-2000, everyone owned a TV and a stereo device of somekind.
The fact that most houses played music and watched TV were a given, and you went to a store to purchase those items.
Many stores had higher quality devices, from a table radio you went to a better boom box, to a compact stereo, to separates, there were stereo ads in many magazines that were not audiophile magazines.
The point is people were exposed to options.
Take for example the Sonos buyer, reads articles, see ads, goes to website purchases product, receives product, Done. There is no journey of exploration. There is no comparison of a Sonos to a Naim Muso or to a set of real speakers plus a streaming amp. It is click and done, there is no education
The Amazonation and Walmartization and the millenials who think that a set of Apple Air Pods and an Iphone is a stereo is what is killing our industry.
What we should all be ashamed of is how poor a job our entire industry is doing to enlighten non audiophiles and show them how emotional music can sound on a good system and their are tons of affordable options.
So you see there are the audiophiles and the non audiophiles who like music but are uneducated who could enter our world.
Market one is small, market two is vast and untapped it will only open up when we find a way to get more people to find out about quality audio and how music can make a real difference in their lives.
This debate has gone on for decades. I don't agree with this constant harping on Sonos and the blaming of lazy-minded Millenials. There have been easy cheap alternatives for thirty plus years, probably more. The truth, in my very humble opinion, is that only a small segment of society is sufficiently geeky about audio gizmos so as to shop for and drool over not only expensive pieces of audio gear but then devote a section of the home for it. The latter-devoting valuable living space for a listening area-is the greater impediment of the two. I have friends who find sophisticated audio gear interesting but know that their wives wouldn't tolerate for one second a set-up in their home. And then comes the hurdle of price acclimatization. Let me give an analogy. I have been into cycling for forty years. To most of my friends just getting into cycling, spending $1000 on a bike seems hard to swallow. But once they get the bug, they get more and more acclimated to price and before long they start splurging on better and better gear. The same goes with audio and in reality, again in my very humble and very possibly wrong opinion, the relatively new popularity of headphones bodes well for you audio dealers. As music lovers work their way up the price chain of headphones and headphone amps, they get interested in more expensive ancillary gear like DAC's and turntables. Once they obtain that gear, how long can they resist getting into loudspeakers? And don't forget the fondness headphone enthusiasts have for tube gear!!! Jack Wu of Woo Audio has done more to rekindle the fires of tube amps to burgeoning audiophiles than anyone else and this will pay dividends to manufacturers and dealers of high end tube amps in the future.
“Take for example the Sonos buyer, reads articles, see ads, goes to website purchases product, receives product, Done. There is no journey of exploration. There is no comparison of a Sonos to a Naim Muso or to a set of real speakers plus a streaming amp. It is click and done, there is no education”
@audiotroy
There is plenty to learn about SONOS on their website. It’s a lifestyle product and sounds darn good. Not to mention plethora of streaming options with a excellent app. And their customer service is top notch.
I am sure you will gladly educate us and sell SONOS if they ‘pad’ dealer markup by selling PLAY3, say for $600 through dealer network :-)
BTW, I am not against B&M stores that continues to provide excellent service. I am just as concerned to see the speciality Audio stores going out of business. I am sure you would agree that one of the reason for downfall is their less than stellar customer service and lack of products available for demo.
Audiotroy: Good luck in your continuing attempts to smear other dealers to prove Audio Doctor's ethical superiority over other NYC audio dealers. Based upon my personal experience and the experience of each member of my listening group which includes a well known long time NY studio engineer, Audio Doctor remains firmly in last place in that regard.
No smearing required you can read many people posts lambasting many of the dealers you often mention.
You can read here posts from people who love our approach which is:
1: Very available store hours and custom appointments including late nite and early morning appointments. 2: A wide selection of gear in all catagories 3: We will play any gear that we have and will allow people to bring in test gear, etc. 4: Great after sales service 5: Commitment to finding very high performing products as often times lower pricing. 6: Tracking new and exciting brands in the marketplace.
You also don't have personal experience you have never been to my store nor purchased anything from us, so whom is slandering whom?
Gpgr4blu you really need to get a real hobby, this isn't one of them.
Lalik you miss my point about Sonos, it isn't the product per say it is the fact that many people believe that once you have a Sonos product you have handled your music needs.
It is not about an exploration it is about buying and getting out.
Take the Amazon vs real brick and mortar bookstore, on Amazon you search for what you want, pay for it and you are done, many people fondly remember the experience of going to a book store or record store and just roaming the isles to find and explore
The Amazon model is the anthesis of this it is not really about exploring products and new ideas it is about quick comoditization or everything.
On my summer break I was in Rhoade Island and went to a small local bookstore the experience was fantastic and I bought a book that I would never have purchased, on Amazon I don't think I have ever been turned on to anything new.
Many Thanks! for sharing your story. It is imperative to post both positive and negative experiences when visiting these dealers/retailers. Good to read that you had a positive venture. Happy Listening!
“Lalik you miss my point about Sonos, it isn't the product per say it is the fact that many people believe that once you have a Sonos product you have handled your music needs”
@audiotroy
Unfortunately, the world has changed. In present economic infrastructure, it’s all about the convenience and seeking best bargains across the board in person or online.
I get what you’re referring to in your example of Amazon vs book or record store. Technology has changed all that, we are now more detached from the nature than ever (which is quite sad). I am a very aggressive online shopper, one cannot simply overlook the fact that it saves people time, money and not to mention the wealth of information at your fingertips.
About SONOS example, people have a choice to make informed decision through in-home trials. There are many online retailers that offers the convenience of free shipping and 30-days home trials.
FWIW, there are times I do miss going places and interacting with people.
It boggles my mind that some so called members attack instead of encourage folks who share their experience with the few still remaining brick and mortar places to actually touch and feel the audio gear before putting down our money. What do you have to gain by insulting someone who does share their experience? If you don't believe it, just shut up and ignore the post. There're plenty of other subjects to read....
Ok let me address this, I have no issues with brick and mortar stores or Audio Doctor or ph2. I am a brick and mortar audio retail customer myself. However look how this looked when first posted, ph2 signed up the day of his post and it was his only post here ever. That is classic shill behavior not to mention reading a bit like ad copy. Also AudioDoctor has been extremely aggressive self promoting in these forums. That is what prompted my post. No offense to ph2 if he is a real person but perhaps the Audodoctor guys could try toning it down a notch?
Thanks again for commenting on my post Jond- I AM a real person, and everything I said was true. If you care to visit the Paradigm Persona website right now, and enter any zip code in the NY/NJ area, you will see the Audio Doctor are listed as the ONLY dealer for the Persona speaker line. So I was just trying to alert those audiophiles who would like to audition those speakers in person, as well as to share what I believe was an outstanding customer service experience. I am so sorry that you misinterpreted my aims.
Jond, the problem with these forums is that way too many people have issues with intended slights such as trolling or comming in to an post with an off topic sugestion.
Most people here are actually looking for opinions to help them make up their minds. For many actual customers, they don't care if the discussion started at I was thinking of a Magico vs a Rockport and someone suggests a Magnaplanner, or Wilson or Vandersteen or a Persona.
The issue some of you guys have is the fact that we are actively promoting the Persona series or the T+A electronics.
The answer is simple both of these brands are new to the US market, and most people are not considering them because they don't really understand or have been exposed to the speakers or the electronics.
Take for example one post which started the Grpgu4blu meelee, my friend and part time employee Troy wrote an Wilson post, that this guy consider checking out a set of Personas.
The thread then devolved between a pissing match of us trying to prove our points and Grgr4blu attacking us.
What if the OP who was thinking of possibly spending $58k on a set of speakers found the Personas to be better and would have saved $22k would that have been a good thing to have saved him $22k and found a speaker that would work well in his small room?
Right now we are testing a new round of power conditioners, we are going to test Isotek, vs Audio Magic vs Torus.
Do you think if I made that post and someone suggested a brand or a model I wasn't aware of I wouldn't find that helpful and maybe add that brand or model to our seach?
The point is everyone needs to take all of these suggestions for what they are, Do you think that even a dealer with our wealth of experience can't be turned on to something new?
We found out about the T+A gear after reading a review in the Absolute Sound, If we didn't see that review, we might never have pickup this line.
How many reviews do you miss in a magazine or don't fully comprehend just how good the product is until you experience it.
Regardless of the friendly retailer act this is strictly a business based on making a profit. By appointment only is just a way to better lock in the possible future customer under the guise of superior service. Providing food and drink helps create a minor sense of obligation on the customer side. This all helps the salesperson build a sense of trust that some customers forget is based on them paying rent and bills. If he/she is trying to sell you something they are a salesperson, no matter how they carry on about their love for good sound. Unless the retailer is also the manufacturer they are not responsible for the good sound, it is all just trial and error until the right source, amp, cable, speaker and room combo is found. Of course they will also explain the gear they carry is what they found to be the best, usually followed by saying they used to carry the competitors brand but it just didn't sound as good.
Anyone with common sense can see through the BS if you dodge the thousand word responses/explanations. For the record I support B&M stores whenever possible but this sales pitch littered all over the forums is ridiculous.
For what it's worth...I've sent private messages to Dave several times. He has taken his time to provide advice on ways to improve my system without changing my main components. Its not all about sales to me.
Kalali It boggles my mind that some so called members attack instead of
encourage folks who share their experience with the few still remaining
brick and mortar places to actually touch and feel the audio gear before
putting down our money. What do you have to gain by insulting someone
who does share their experience? If you don't believe it, just shut up
and ignore the post. There're plenty of other subjects to read....
+1
@audiotroy Your posts are very informative and not aware of T&A until your post. Thanks!
Well said Kalali. There are those members that are so negative no matter what the topic. I read this forum daily for information and ideas but I'm turned off by these individuals who turn these forums into a venting platform. Take it from one who is retired, life is too short so chill out.
I have no issue with a dealer trying to promote a product or themselves on this forum. What's the big deal? You have the option to read it or not. For some it may be the opportunity to connect with a particular product and the dealer. I remember my brother and I spending many Saturdays in the early 70s visiting store after store in Manhattan. Back then we had the opportunity to compare many brands before deciding which system to buy. BTW- We both choose KEF speakers.
Today there isn't that luxury so promoting products and making potential buyers aware of the existence of these dealers is great for our hobby.
I must confess that its a big turn off to me when one b&m store puts down another one regardless of the reason. If I owned one of these stores, which I wish if I could, I would go out of my way to even promote other stores, particularly if they carried the brands that I don't. It's the key to the survival of an ever shrinking group. Just saying.
Kalali, you are right. The issue however, can be that too many store owners do not have the latitude or attitude to make adjustments to their stores.
One famous NY store has a 2.5 rating on Google, to me that says a lot about the reality of what the store is doing.
Sometimes if you constructively make a comment even a negative one it can help if the owner wants to improve their store and their customers experiences.
A certain annoying poster makes me raise points to shut down his arguments, none of us store owners, salespeople. customers are perfect what we should all be striving for is too make our clients happy if you are a store owner, and shopping honrably if you are a customer and try to patronize the stores that help you.
To All: I am a long time participant at Audiogon and many other forums for the last decade. I champion B&M stores which we audiophiles desperately need. As I've said, many owners of B&M stores in the NY-Metro area are personal friends. I spend time and money at many of these shops and see these gentlemen at many audio shows. I have spent over 250k in the last decade at B&M stores in the NY Metro area and I consider myself lucky to live here amidst the greatest selection of high end B&M stores in the U.S. I never see these reputable dealers on this site promoting ANYTHING they sell. Audiotroy takes outrageous advantage of our time and energy by always posting how great he is, what great gear he carries ( I do not dispute that much of his gear is quality stuff) and how he is superior to other dealers because he knows (he has the best ear) and he cares and others don't. And he is famous for hijacking threads. By way of only one example of quite a few, Audiotroy today mentioned a "meelee" [sic] I had with his partner (who also posts as Audiotroy) when he hijacked a Wilson thread. In that thread, the OP asked whether he should purchase Sashas or Alexias based upon his room dimensions. Simple question. NOW--imagine if every dealer who sells excellent speakers other than Wilson (there are scores if not hundreds of such dealers in the US who are familiar with this forum) did what Audiotroy did. He hijacked that thread to tell the OP all about Paradigm speakers which were better for the OP's application than Wilson Sashas or Alexias at less cost. Imagine how long and uninformative such threads would be if we had to hear the same self promoting verbosity from the scores of dealers who sell Magico, Rockport, Focal, Nola, B&W, Elac, B&O, MBL, Martin Logan and many others even assuming those dealers subjectively believe that they are providing valuable information about their products to this forum. Are there members here who would be happy to hear all of the dealers' sales pitches for their products when posting a simple direct question? Is that the educational aspect that draws this community together and makes it enjoyable? I think not. With Audiotroy, it's never a --"by the way Paradigms are excellent and you should check them out". It is hundreds if not thousands of words in support of himself and his brands over others. NOTE that I am not suggesting dealers cannot or should not post here. Nor do I seek to be the guardian of Audiogon propriety. But there is a time to post and a way to post. Audiotroy does not understand either.
As usual Grgr4blu, you take a nice conversation and pervert it and you don't ever really read our posts.
I have seen many dealers including Rhapsody, Audio Connection and others chime in and mention their products or sometimes suggest their product on an entirely different post.
As per your imagine every dealer line, most dealers including ourselves know when it is appropriate and when it is not
Have you ever seen one of our posts about the Personas on a thread about horn speakers and 3 watt amplifiers? Or the converse ]]ly if a person has a giant room do you see us or any other sane dealer suggesting a mini monitor vs a giant floorstander?
The reason we post about some of our products is they are NEW to the market and many people haven't heard them or they might have heard them at the wrong location.
For example a client who I talked to last night heard the Personas at another dealer and was told directly to purchase Magico, do you know why? The client actually said that this famous dealer sells a lot of Magicos when the client prefered the Personas, and I heard that from our client who drove four hours to purchase from us. This means this dealer is not allowing the client to make up his mind they are trying to guide them into a product they may have preferential terms with.
On the other hand, dealers such a myself don't care if someone purchase a Kef Blade, a Dali Epicon, or a Legacy as we sell all of these brands and the reason is that although we think the Personas are amoung the best speakers at or near their price point, someone might perfer the warmer, more bass heavy sound of a Legacy which are also wonderful speakers.
Does any Wilson dealer or Magico have to enlightene the public about their models these are established brands. However, if you turn back the clock and look at the original Magico mini nobody new about this product it took several years of reviews and shows before people started talking about them.
Although Paradigm isn't a new company they have never built a reference speaker to compete with Wilson, Magico, Focal etc. Nor do they have many dealers for this product.
Again you protect the world from nothing and you don't read the other peoples comments.
Please grow up and show some maturity, if you had ever been to my shop and heard our products or worked directly with me then you would know the truth that the other people are saying.
Dave More words? You just don't get it. So anytime a dealer carries a new product that he thinks is special, he can promote it across Audiogon to introduce it to the public? There are hundreds of new audio products launched every year. Please stop justifying your posts as "educational". Remember Dave--there is a time to post and a way to post.
Dave More words? You just don't get it. So
anytime a dealer carries a new product that he thinks is special, he
can promote it across Audiogon to introduce it to the public? There are
hundreds of new audio products launched every year. Please stop
justifying your posts as "educational". Remember Dave--there is a time to post and a way to post.
Neither you nor I are moderators here, @gpgr4blu. If you have a complaint about Audio Doctor, take to to a moderator. As best as I can tell, he is not violating the forum's rules, so he's entitled to post here without
your permissions.
I think you are the one being impolite here. This thread was about a good audition experience at Audiotroy's store. All too often I have been ignored in high end stores and I was made to feel like it was a big imposition to get a demo. Sometimes the sales people notice my rose gold daytona and then I get swarmed upon and that is just as unpleasant. I will definitely check out Audiotroy's store next time I am in the area. This thread was useful to me and no doubt others.
If you object to Audiotroy's comments on other particular threads then I recommend you should make your comments on those specific threads and not rain on his parade here. Your criticism maybe warranted on those threads but in the context of this thread you just seem to have a childish gripe and desire to spoil a positive experience.
By the way, who are you to tell anyone how to post anything?
Oh I forgot you are the self appointed guardian of good taste and propriety.
Words, you seem to write more than I do and you always seem to want to get in the last word.
If you read what many people on this thread acutally said they found our posts to be beneficial, while others just advised you to stop your self rightous behavior and just stop reading, while others people who have actually been to our shop have been delighted with the experience.
And lastly, you have NO DIRECT EXPERIENCE WITH MY SHOP YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN HERE, NOR HAVE YOU DIRECTLY WORKED WITH ME TO KNOW FIRST HAND IF MY GUIDANCE WOULD HAVE HELPED YOU SAVE MONEY OR CREATE BETTER SOUND!
So your opinions are based on not liking my "salesmanship" or the fact that we have for years been promoting products such as Nuforce, Usher, and Scaena that consistantly challange the status quo.
Just as you challenged our assertions on the Ushers which both the BE and DMD version were universally lauded as being amoung the best speakers especially for the BE and DMD 718 now you are denying the truth about the Personas, which is they too can challenge any of the major brands that are so bandied about here including Rockport, Magico Wilson Focal and others.
The sonic signature of any speaker or any component will be based on the entirty of the setup so to presume that based on one demo you like or don't like a product is specious reasoning and also presuming that dealer x knows what they are doing just because they have a product or that their setup is going to be a good one is also wrong.
I am also not saying that I am the only one to get good sound from the Persona or any of the other products that I sell.
What I am saying is that for many of our setups we painstakingly seek out and find matching components that really create synergy.
Our 2012 New York audio show room one feature the Scaeana Line Array with the CJ Art and Gat, Kubala Sosna Cabling, and EMM Labs Digital this was a very well received setup which Johnathan Vallen also found to work like magic together.
Our Kef Blade setup featured the Chord Reference electronics, Esoteric Digital and Enklein cabling, also a great setup. We used Stillpoints racks, Running Springs or Audience Power conditioning, Shakti holographs, Acoustic System resonators etc. Our room was setup with the kinds of reference level gear that the Blade deserved not by their price point but by the level of their performance.
Compare our setup of the Blades to what KEF routinly showed them with, Parasound JC 1 and JC 2 preamp with ? cabling. We are a Parsound dealer JC 1 monos are decent amplifiers, but got their butts kicked by the Electrocompaniet AW 400 and the Chord mono amps.
So do you think if you heard the Kef Blades on system one vs system two you might have a different opinion of them?
So how do you actually know how good our setups are other than what you were exposed to at an Audio Show and if you actually heard our store setups they were usually far better than what you can get out of a sub optimal hotel room.
@gpgr4blu...you are coming off as an Audio Doctor stalker. Personally, I enjoy audiotroy's forum comments. BTW, the forum is also about learning about new products
To Cleeds and Shadorne, THANK YOU! As per PH2 allready thanked him, he is a great guy and a delightful person.
Obviously my last rant was directed as Grp4blu,
What is totally distasteful is the man is biased not about what we say but he doesn’t like "salesmanship." He is also biased to say that he is friends with other dealers and is not a friend to us, should barr his from even posting.
This is not about being objective.
There are plenty of NY dealers with excellent products that we do not sell, we do not denefgrate any of these dealer for their products, but I am sure some of the people in the area might find some of these dealers practices questionable.
The story Shaordne said is a perfect example being mobbed when wearing a Rolex and ignored at other times. I have sold tube systems to women, as well as big high end systems, I have worked with celebrities, and young kids buying their first systems, the moral is we should strive to treat everyone fairly, and as I said our shop is located in a private home, so we have a Kitchen, a Bar, an expresso maker, it is not an imposition therefore to extend hospitality to one of our guests.
It should all be about the desire to create something meaningful and beautiful. Music should be something we all enjoy.
What one person thinks is a sales pitch the other person finds as possibly enlightening, helpful of beneficial.
The reason I do this is not just as a business, and yes it is a business, over the 30+ years I have seen way too many people make mistakes that sometimes could be remedied by just changing a cable or adding a power conditioner or moving speakers, while sometimes the advice is to throw the baby out with the bath water.
The idea is to create synergy.
So many good intentioned people sometimes offering great and sometimes not great advice.
We like ATC speakers if we post on a Harbeth thread the OP may find out that the ATC may be better or not, but that is not up to me or Grr4blu,
The idea is that perhaps the OP wasn’t thinking of ATC or perhaps has perfered the Harbeths over B&W and KEF, and was therefore thinking the Harbeth were the best choice, when maybe the OP had only thought that ATC were studio speakers and not really a great high end speaker.
The idea which is erronous is to think that everyone is now running to Audio Doctor to purchase X Y or Z. There are territorial restrictions and sometimes that person is close to another store which has that product or on another coast or country.
The idea is to sometimes make suggestions that the OP may find benefical.
This is the way we all learn, and even after 30 years in the industry I am always learning about some exciting new product or tweek.
Again thank you to all the nice people who are sticking up for our little company and if any one wants to visit us please give us a call to do so.
I would be delighted as hanging out and meeting new people discussing music and gear is what drives us all.
Sincerely,
Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ
if you guys want to see our old video which highlights our store and our selection of gear and to actually put a face with the words here we are:
This video was shot before the arrival of T+A, the Personas, Light Harmonic, ATC, Legacy, Micromega, Naim 272/250, the Anthem STR and lost of other stuff that we are now selling or lines we have dropped.
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