the man that owned the hi fi fo fum stores in st. louis and colorado recently passed away. ron bliffert was a very interesting man and i will never forget seeing the blue meters of mcintosh amps for the first time in his store in 1970. he opened some other stores in the midwest and may have been associated with the wisconsin store but i,m not sure. the st. louis store is still in business.
I'm partial to "Tech Hifi", one of the larger chains in the NE away back, and "Audition", an audio specialty store in Birmingham, AL also a few years back.
We have a small local shop nearby called "Listening Room". I like that too!
Nuts About Hi Fi is my local store. I think it's a good description of what type of person it takes to purchase most of the gear they have in the store. Very friendly staff and are very happy to let you listen to just about anything you request.
The Hi Fi Fo Fum in St. Louis treated me to the *worst* retail experience I have had in my life, *by far*, in *any* industry. My understanding is that it is now out of business.
Lyric in NYC. A place that will quickly put you in your audio place, and never will you want to go to another audio store in your entire lifetime. Lyric people have been reserved a special place in audio hell where they will hear the subway that runs along side the store.
My favorite was 'Audition' in Birmingham, Alabama. (Actually, as their commercial used to advertise, 'On the Curve in Homewood', which was a suburb). Use to go there back in the late 80s. They always had cool specials and interesting demos and parties, etc. Bought my first pair of high speakers there (Thiel CS2s) that I saved up for. No longer in business but they were a fun place with a great name!
"The Music Box" in Wellesley ma.....shopped there for many years till they closed...Bill,the owner was a piece of work..They sold greeting cars in the front of the store and the best hifi gear of the day in the back...Not sure if it was true, but I was told it was the oldest hifi store in it original location in the country
I founded RSL (Rogersound Labs) in 1970 and my office was in the Van Nuys store for a number of years before going to Canoga Park. We recently revived the speaker company and have a new line that uses a unique tuning patent. We’ve been working on these new speaker concepts for 3 years and we think they are a game changer in bringing down the price of high end audiophile sound. If you want to know what happened to RSL Speakers, you can go to our new website http://www.rslspeakers.com and click on ‘about us’
I used the name "Alternative Audio" for my own business starting in the mid 70s. Quite a popular name, I once had a shipment of gear go to a California store of the same name; conversely, last year I received some parts VPI had intended for "The Audio Alternative" ; close, but no cigar. While I was out of the business I often stated that I would rename it "PBS Audio" in honor of the Biblical injunction and of a certain segment of my "customers". I sometimes wish I had.
I believe it was your personal pair of Magnapan Tympani speakers that I bought. It was during a sale and they were laying against a wall at the back of the shop. I paid about $600 for them and loved them for years until one of the panels went south on me. I called them "my wall of sound".
Profound Sound had two stores in Denver around the early eighties. What a cool group of guys ran the shops and worked there. One of the first truely high-end stores in the region. Unfortunately, their demise came about as quickly as their rise in popularity.
I'll second the "Sound Seller" in Marinette Wisconsin. It started out in the "cellar", of a local bar. (Actually in Rogers bedroom back in high school). The cellar was the first real business though. It was kind of a play on words, and just stuck. He's still alive and kicking, and I post items for him everyday here. We've been great friends since I bought my first good speakers from him. (Dahlquist DQM 9's back in 1985) Still have them to this day, and still love them, although I have much better. Obviously I'm prejudice, but it's cool to see our name mentioned. Thanks wideload!!
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