Regarding Seattle hi-fi shops above ... I happen to live near the old ’hi-fi zone’ in Ravenna/Roosevelt. I have bought gear and spent much time in the Audio Connection (very small selection but John is helpful and his single listening room is great), Hawethorne (outstanding selection of speaker brands but there’s a weird vibe/attitude going on), Definitive (music matters is fun but they are ALL about stupidly priced custom installs and AVR rooms - I don’t think they have a clue about 2 channel). In the past 5 years both the independent Magnolia (used to sell some fun brands like Arcam, etc) and Speaker Lab have disappeared unfortunately.
Fortunately, there are other shops in Seattle as well - Gig Harbor Audio is awesome and where I have acquired my latest pieces from (Line Magnetic & Spendor), Burt @ SeattleHiFi has tons of brands and has lent me gear for weeks without blinking (if you can track him down). There’s also Tune Hi-Fi and Olsens though I don’t know them so well. Given the demise of the brick-and-mortars hi-fi shop and what I read about other cities, I feel that we are very fortunate to have a number of shops left in Puget Sound. Some are great, some just so-so ... but many different brands can be listened to, which is the important thing at the end of the day.
Fortunately, there are other shops in Seattle as well - Gig Harbor Audio is awesome and where I have acquired my latest pieces from (Line Magnetic & Spendor), Burt @ SeattleHiFi has tons of brands and has lent me gear for weeks without blinking (if you can track him down). There’s also Tune Hi-Fi and Olsens though I don’t know them so well. Given the demise of the brick-and-mortars hi-fi shop and what I read about other cities, I feel that we are very fortunate to have a number of shops left in Puget Sound. Some are great, some just so-so ... but many different brands can be listened to, which is the important thing at the end of the day.