Good Audio Dealer in San Francisco

No mention of Century Stereo. They used to be great back when their shop was in the ghetto. Now that they've opened their "state of the art" shop in Saratoga, it's not the greatest place to go. Plus their listening rooms are horrible. Nice home theather though....And I suppose therein lies the problem.

Oh...You also can't listen too loud 'cuz the folks from REI next door will come over and complain. Yep, they shoulda' stayed humble in the ghetto.

But, if you HAVE to listen to B&W and or Revel, you're still better off here than anywhere else that I know of.

Dan, you are right on the mark. When Century opened in El Paseo in Toga, I thougt, great, some high-end near my home. But, alas, another HT emporium. Guess I can't blame them if that's where the money sits. But you're also right, the rooms SUCK, the staff is about as knowledgeable as my dog, and they don't even try as hard as ole Arrow. :-)

There is another place just down the row called "Paradise". Much smaller, much more limited product line. Again, they focus on HT but the guys there do offer some help in two-channel, are freindly, but know little beyond their product line.

True enough 4yanx. I stopped in there one time to see if I could get a listen to a pair of Soliloquys and a pair of JM Labs monitors. The salesman wanted me to listen to them through an HT receiver. When I told him I was only interested in 2-channel, he tried to hook them up to a SimAudio integrated that was sitting out in the hallway. I guess I was supposed to put the listening chair out near the cash register!! I told him if that was the best he could do, then forget it. He seemed befuddled. I had forgotten about that place.

Take me back to the days of Elite Audio in Saratoga and Sound Goods in San Jose. They both carried some excellent gear had INCREDIBLY knowledgable sales people and were fun places to hang out. Bay Area Audio is the closest that I know of to the "old days" of hi-fi.

One more place to stay away from is Stereo Unlimited in Walnut Creek. I stopped in there to listen to some Magnepans. I figured that they HAD to be better than the only other BA Maggie dealer I know of (The Audible Difference). Was I ever wrong! The owner(s) sell their own aftermarket cables that are connected to everything. They also connect these funky tweeters to most of their speakers to increase the "ambience" or some such thing. The guy even wanted to demo the 3.6s with the speakers setup facing eachother. He said that it "sounds more like real music". When I finally convinced him to set them up in a more traditional orientation, he had his son drag them into position. He manhandled the speakers, leaving the external crossover hanging off the back of the speakers, dangling by the homemade wire and then dropped them onto the hardwood floors. He even bumped the 20.1s that they had sitting off to the side with the foot of the 3.6. I just cringed. On the plus side...they deal strictly in two-channel and carry some interesting tube gear such as Viva.

I went to Harmony Audio. They were great! I spent 2 hours in a room without interruption auditioning the Totem Mani-2's, Model 1s, and B&W N805'2. Frank and Smitty were generous with their time and information. Only several speaker lines represented, but if you are interested in these lines, well recomended.

My Comparison of the Above-Mentioned Three Speakers

I can not believe that Stereo Unlimited has managed to stay in business. The most unpleasant retail audio experience I've had, except perhaps for Lyric in New York.