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What happened to all the highend stereo shops

What happened to high end stereo shops I mean real high-end stereo shops. I am 78, my father bought me my first stereo when I was 12, I have been hooked ever since. I remember the days when you can go to a nice audio store and not just audition what they had in the store but if you saw a couple of tuners, preamps or some cables that you liked, you could give them a blank check and take the equipment home to audition on your system. Bring one or both back Pay for what you want to keep or get your check back. I don’t understand how someone can buy an expensive piece of audio equipment and not audition it in their system first. Many places today, you buy it and your stuck with it. OH yes you can sell it on Audiogon or eBay. Reviewers are nice and give good reviews but the problem I have is the equipment they are auditioning  is on their system in their treated music room which is going to be different than what you have. 
 

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jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,610 posts
 

yes indeed

the internet, mainly...

then covid

brewerslaw's avatar
brewerslaw
35 posts
 

I’m experiencing issues with this right now.  Posted a bit ago looking for speaker suggestions and received lots of great feedback.  Fast forward a couple of weeks and I’ve gone to several relatively local (within 100 miles) dealers hoping to audition some of the suggested speakers and I keep hearing that they don’t move enough speakers of that caliber to keep any on the floor to audition. I understand not wanting to tie up 25k+ in a set of speakers they might not sell but I’m not sure who’s dropping that kind of money without being able to hear them. It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

thefile's avatar
thefile OP
40 posts
 

The years I am referring to are the late 60s, early 70s 80s and 90s, since the 90s I believe California lost about 70% of the high-end stereo shops. If I tried now I might be able to find 5 that are within 80 miles from my house, when they were around I could get to one in 15 or 20 minutes. 

oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
3,465 posts
 

When I was young there was a HiFi store on every block in Boston.....  maybe not every block but there were a number of great dealers.  Now only a few survive.  

Goodwins High-end,  Natural Sound ,  Audio Studio,  and Q Audio is all thats left 

A new dealer called BlinkHigh End is open in Boston , need to check them out.   Also want to check out Holt Hill Audio in Lawrence MA.   Nice collection of used gear and they make speakers also. 

 

theo's avatar
theo
2,662 posts
 

Agreed, at 67 I remember the small city I live in back when it was about 50000 population. At that time it had 3 shops that carried at least 3-4 higher end brands and a few lower priced. They had passion for music and wanted to help the customers understand equipment and the increased reproduction of music. Now that same city exceeds 100000 and no shops exist. I have to drive 50 miles to Denver to try the same number of hifi shops. Blame the internet and the customer that goes to the brick and mortar shop to audition and decide then buy on the internet. But along with hifi shops so has the same fate befallen the corner grocer, local hardware store etc.

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