Yes Audio Fail it is
The Audio Doctor makes a house call
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.
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.
Showing 36 responses by audiotroy
Hifiman, there is a fine line between promoting your products for the sake of promoting your products and the possibility that said product in discussion is being offered as being perhaps a better or well suited product for that person. You will note that when we discuss products that we carry in a post we tailor the product we are suggesting to the discussion, this is very different than many posters who are always suggesting the same product in every situation. We carry many different loudspeakers, Kef, Quad, Elac, Paradigm, Dali, Legacy, ATC, and a few others for that very reason. Each person has an idea of what they are looking for which includes, finish, bass output, total spl output, resolution, imaging, etc. In one contentious thread Troy our weekend help, mentioned how the Persona 9H sounded fantastic in a small hotel room because it has room correction and that speaker was $30k less expensive than the other set of loudspeakers the gentleman was considering. Boy did we hear all sorts of nasty comments from people who said we were trolling a "Wilson thread." Hifiman we can all learn from one another we just picked up the best vibration/isolation product we have ever tested because one of our clients was raving over it. If we didn’t have an open mind we would never have gotten to the Critical Mass Center Stage footers which are just plain amazing! So Hifiman don’t judge an Audio Doctor by just what you’ve gleaned on a forum. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
Tomic it has nothing to do with Alma, it had to do with our gracious offer of doing a full system setup and tuning session for free if the client paid for our expenses, plus a few other reasons as noted below. Alma audio is an 8 hour drive from San Francisco, the distance is rather long, San Diego might as well as be in a different state from San Franciso. Also Brownsf reached out to us with specific questions based on reading our posts and being a full line KEF dealer with experience with his KEF Reference 5, which started the process and we also gave him a nice trade in on an older Naim serer which Alma may or may not have done, the bigger of the two distinctions is we are KEF dealers, and Alma is not. Would have Alma packed up a giant assortment of tuning products: Isoacoustics footers, Stein Harmonizers, Acoustic System resonators, Audio Magic power conditioner, Isotek Syncro power cord, Wireworld interconnects, Audioquest Power cabling, does Alma even sell all of those products? Lastly how much experience does Alma have in system tuning? Just because you sell expensive gear doesn't mean you have the experience to tune a system correctly. We personally like Alma and have nothing but respect for them, in Brownsf's opinion we were the best place to assist him in his quest to get his KEF Ref 5 sounding great. Gpgrblu, even in the face of numerous clients having more then positive experiences with us, your negativity is a wonderful example of how petty some people truly are. It is not a matter of self promotion facts are the facts either we deliver on creating superior sound and our products are tools we use to do so, good luck to you. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
Stereo5, we are actually interested in being Technics dealers for the turntable which we too thought was wonderful and has nothing in common with the original SL 1200 series other than the look, also the Technics monitors are really good. I have no doubt that the Technics is a better table than the VPI, as the machining and tolerances on the Technics are fantastic. As per Golden Ear we finally got a decent demo of the Triton Reference at the New York audio show by Sandy himself and we are entertaining bringing in the line especially for the fact that the Triton 3 are great for the starter home theater buyer. Thank you again for your nice comments and if there is anything we can do to assist you getting better results out of your system please feel free to PM us. Please check out the Critical Mass Center Stage Footers they are amazing, not inexpensive but mind blowing in how effective they are. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
Mr. M. First of all, there were days of work setting up this clients network and drives, so aside from the system tunning there was quite a bit of work done prepairing for the installation of the server out of seven days there were perhaps two days that were not spent doing actual work Also most system setup guys such as Sterling Trayle charge $1,500 or more per day to do a system setup and tunning sessions, which was not charged for. Then was the time to be away from being on the floor and running a business, so yes it was kinda of like a mini vacation except for most of the time work was being done, the system tunning took two days to complete. System tuning consisted of repositioning the loudspeakers, then using system tunning accessories that we use to focus the sound, these include footers, power cables, power conditioners, intererconnects, dacs, room tuning devices such as Acoustic System Resonators and Stein Harmonizers to illustrate the product catagory. I doubt that most people with real training would do the amount of work that was done for just the cost of the airfair. Brownsf was a terrific host and has a fanatastic home, it was a great trip both to visit CA for the first time, and both he and his wife were lovely and a joy to meet and work for. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
Wcfeil the only LOL is your inane comment. There is an art to creating great sound, obviously you don't know a thing about that or you wouldn't be chimming in. Creating great sound is about finding synergy with the loudspeakers in the room, synergy with all the components that you are currently using and then maximizing the qualities that you are trying to acchieve , tonality, bass response, dyanamics, treble clarity, sound staging with the existing components and then making educated equipment substituations to bring out the qualities you are trying to augment or ameliorate. Anyone who knows anything about crafting great sound would know this I am LOL that you don't. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
Grgr4blu the feelings are mutual, you and Mr. Feil are golden examples of contributing nothing to further any discussion. You are free to not read and not comment about anything we post, however given the opportunity you come down with nothing but negatives. You are more then welcome to discuss your experiences with system tunning and what products were used and how your system was improved. Invictus if you think it is that easy to tune a system by all means go into business and see what you can accomplish. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
Bjesien, your point is rather silly, we had to mention what room tuning devices we used, or no one would understand the specific type of device we were using, when room tuning devices run the gamut of absorbers, diffusors, hemoltz resonators ie tube traps, Shakti Hallographs, acoustic resonators, active bass traps and other devices., Most people actually want to know what products we used, no one would learn about if said product was effective or not unless it was named. We learned about a new super effective footer because a client of ours told us about the product and then we got a sample and it was indeed mind blowingly effective, our reference system sounds dramatically better because we used this product. We read the forums to learn as well, we have found new products that we were interested in trying because people posted about them, never was it an issue if it was a dealer or an end user, also how do you know that some of these posters are not secretly dealers which is why you are supposed to announce that you are a dealer to keep it transparent. Now is that better that you are naming the products you are using, or are you now pissing off people who might actually want to seek out that product which also doesn’t mean they would.necessarily purchase these products from us by not naiming them. Can you imagine a post that wouldn’t mention a products name how would that accomplish anything, yeah I tried cable x and it was fantastic compared to product y. Vs I demoed a Wireworld USB vs an Audioquest and one cable was better in this particular way. Bar81 your perspective is hardly one we would agree on, we have quite a number of people who contact us on a daily basis saying that they follow our posts because they learn from them. The OP was in a quandry after having purchased a pair of Kef Reference 5 because they weren’t sounding the way he wanted with his equipment and how his system was setup, after having contacted us and working on our sugggestions he is much happier with his system. It is shame that you as well as a few of the other naysayers have never taken the time to talk with us and find out if we could make a difference in your system’s ability to make music more real. We are all here to learn from each other, if we mention specific products it is because we have found that those products many times outperform others, as we have tested many of the competiting ones. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
mes if keeping up witht the Troydashians means keeping up with the audio Joneses then yes. Recent product additions, ccommerical forthcomming, how is that are we promoting enough now? Dali Oberon, Critical Mass QXK Rack Critiical Mass Center Stage Footers Naim NDX 2 streamer Dac Naim 282/High Cap Preamp Naim DR 300 Power Amplifier Audio Control Savoy Power Amp Epson LS 10500 Laser 4K Projector Audioqust Thunder, Tornado, Hurrican and Dragon Power Cables NAD Node 2i Parasound P6 Preamp/Dac Parasound A23 Power Amp Innuous Zenith MK III KEF new R Series If you want to know the point, the point is that we are constantly sampling the latest products which is why many people find our posts valuable, we have gone through HRS, Stillpoints and now we have found Critical Mass whose vibration/isolation products seem to be in a class by themselves, and for less money the Isoacoustics footers which are amazing for their price point. PS. Mr Feil it is great to see one of your former clients realize that you are a sham. Thank you Stereo 5 Personally we feel that both Grgr4blu and Mr Feill should be banned for their improper behavior. Neither of these gentleman adds to the discussions and are just promoting their anti-Audio Doctor agenda. If either Mr. Feil or Grgp4blu want to chime in with tuning experience, protocalls or experiences they have had in setting up systems then that would be considered proper behavior. As per the gentleman who doesn’t like "our promotion." most of these people are the first to bemoan there are no brick and mortar dealers left yet in their minds don’t understand the business realities of today’s market. Do we promote on Audiogon to some extent anything that brings our name to the forum is self promotion howerver, any other dealer or manufacturer that announces they are a dealer is doing the same thing. We may be more vocal then some but the reality is not that many people have purchased from us because of our contributions on Audiogon. We started a thread on Micromega’s superb M100 and M150 because the product is fantastic and nobody purchased anything from us. We started a thread on Elac and Naim because the combo is great and guess what nobody contacted us from that one either! One of the reason’s we write on these forums is because there are so many audiophiles giving other audiophiles bad advice or advice based on what may be limited experiences and extrapollating those experiences to other people’s needs and wants. In the case of the OP, his Kef Reference 5 look like they are out of a magazine shoot, his room is setup without room tuning, drapes of paneling, in an elegantly appointed white room with matching blue couch and upholstered chairs which are also blue, his Ref 5 are Artic White with the Blue cone. Long story short, you had all of these people commenting on how the OP should now start the auditioning process all over again and perhaps have to take a bath on his brand new speakers and then move to another loudspeaker which would not have worked well visually. Our solution was to work with the excellent Kef Ref 5 reposition them, add footers, add a warmer dac, discrete room tuning accessories, improve the power and the main cabling and a few other tweeks. The final setup with the new products sounded extraordinary, even though the ARC electronics were close to 20 years old. The OP was extremely happy with the sound and he could keep the set of speakers that were visually the most amazing of matches, how many companies make pure white loudspeakers with a single Blue colored midrange? So the final point is our advice worked like a charm to assist this cllient in getting both the acoustical performance and the visual look that worked. Mission accomplished. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
Sorry Stereo 5 we dont like being attacked by this gentleman. Personally it is the moderators fault comments attacking other members should be banned. It is really that simple if you dont have anything to add that is constructive then you shouldnt bother reading or replying, Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
Grgr4blu, just read the posts again and quite frankly I can see one of the points you raised about promoting our new discovery. If you actually spent anytime to understand how I work you would understand that I am effusive and talk to everybody when I find something that is magical, in this case footers. I do agree that there is a fine line between discussion and promotion, howerver the only way any of us find out anything new to discover is when someone promotes the product via a review, an advert or a discussion. So yes guilty as charged, we found a game changing product that makes us very excited by the peformance potential that this device adds. Sorry to be so excited and want to let people know about this product. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
Happy thanksgiving to Brownsf, we really appreciate your nice comments and we are delighted that you are enjoying your new server and retuned speakers. For those that think we are promoting just our products, have a happy Thanksgiving to all even our detractors. We should all be happy that we here on the forums all have the opportunity to enjoy such a wonderful hobby and can all be passionate about music and equipment. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
No Feil you are the one trying to deflect, We know you closed Audiofeil international in 2014 but how come if you google your company nearly nothing comes up? Now google Audio Doctor and notice the difference. It is clear we have both the products and experiece to talk flequently about audio and to add to these discussions When asked about your professional audio experience you conviently clam up. We wonder why that is Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
Roxy your point cuts two ways, first you or anyone else can just not read or reply and its as simple as that. Two if you didn't have people attacking both us and other posters again there would be no need for rebuttal. We feel that if we are attacked that we have a right and a duty to respond to such allegations and we will back up our points which then lead to long posts. If you notice Roxy most people who have acutally picked up the phone and talked to us or have purchased products from us have been extremely happy with what they have purchased and how their systems have progressed. It is really as simple as that. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
Feil, our old moniker each post said we were dealers, such as we just put out X product in our shop, we were later told to announce in print that we were dealers, and then finally we couldn't restore the password,we never hid the fact that we are dealers. As per guise of providing information, again we sell products, these products are designed to work to improve a system either via acoustical tunning, vibration/isolation or other such devices. When a person starts a post that X brand fuse or a replacement outlet has made a difference in their system it is an open discussion. If we or any other person or dealer has tested that same product vs any other product and states their opinions on the differences that is furthering the discussion and again it is up to the reader to either contact the dealer or the manufacturer or their local dealer if they have intrest in said product. In the case of our new footers of course we are going to mention them for the simple reason that the difference they made in our reference system was huge. It is up to the reader to see if they want to learn more about that product and that also doesn't mean that anyone has to contact us to do so. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ And again Feil please add to the discussion on your experience with system tunning and what products and methodolgies you use. We leaned speaker postioning via Dave Wilson and then from Mark Goldeman, as well as John Hunter of Sumiko. Please elaborate on your thoughts on the subject. |
Sorry Mes, as mentioned above. Most people find our posts informative. If you don't like what we say you are free to stop reading. As per shilling, many people are interested to what products are working and what are not working as well as another type of product. To date we have tested vibraton isolation products from: HRS, Stillpoints, Isoacoustic, Critical Mass, aSymposisium, Acoustic System, and Black Diamond footers. We have tested power products from PS, Isotek, Audience, Audioquest, Audio Magic, Shunyata, Running Springs, and Silver Circle. The point being these types of demos and comparisons are valuable in determining what is the most efficacious of these types of devices. If you don't mention the name of the product than the post is stupid and non sensical. You think we purchase these tuning products because they don't work? The reality is that we and other dealers who sell these types of products have to purchase them, even at wholesale these products cost us quite a bit. We can solicit clients to write on these posts that these products were highly effective and made a huge difference in the demo if you notice FAST the OP did comment that what we showed him made his system sound better. His friend from the California Audio Society was blown away by the improvement the Stein products made as well. It is up to the Audiogon readers to determine if they are interested in these products and then they can contact us if they like or any other dealer to verifiy and possibly demo them. The reality is that tuning products, footers, isolation devices, acoustic resonators, power cords, power conditioners all work and can make a huge difference in the sound of someone's system and is part of our arsenal of products that we use to create better sound. Do you have any experience with these types of products to further the discussion? Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
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 www.audiodoctor.com/wp is our new site. 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. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
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. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
No Fail you are allways proving my point. 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. |
Speaking of redundant and irrelevant why dont we discuss how fantastic your magnificent shop now closed was? Lets discuss what product lines you sold. Lets discuss how many shows you did. Google Audio Feil international even a closed business should have had some presence. Now Google Audio Doctor and see what you get I forgot the old and infirm are not good with technology |
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. |
Sorry Feil that is better line up of products then i remember you having. And we sell some of those lines and a whole lot more Your constant attacks bemean us both. For the record can you show us some pictures of your shop. I know you closed 5 years ago but you must have some pics dont you After all Feil you started these attacks. |