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Any decent electronic component shops in the Chicagoland area?

G

GSN135

New Member
Hello, I was wondering if anyone knew of any decent electronics shops with a large selection of components in the Chicagoland area. The only two places that I know of currently are Fry's and Radio shack; but they barely count!
 
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Great! The only place I knew of was chester electronics in Kenosha WI, its quite a drive from where I live. i will have tho check these places out. I thought newark was an online only store
 
You should definitely look into Saturday Audio Exchange. They do quite a bit of business online, but also have a retail location in the city.

Thanks,
Clark
 
If you're just looking for gear, and not stuff to fix gear- Saturday Audio Exchange and Decibel have both new and old gear. Nice people, too. Audio Consultants has several locations in the area, they're more 'high end' but have some used gear. Pro Musica is another High End dealer. Out on Western there is Van L Speakerworks, with a small selection of nice gear and some excellent speakers that are his own line. Quintessence Audio up in Evanston is supposed to be an excellent High End place-I've never been. There's a place up in Andersonville called EGI Electronics that has walls of vintage gear but its all pretty middle of the road and generally overpriced. Some cool things come through there occasionally. There's a little place up in Antioch that has vintage gear, "Track 1 Vintage"- not sure if they are still there but they might be.
There's probably more.
 
If you need resistors, capacitors, etc that are decent commercial quality or better, I was never able to find anything at retail in the Chicago area when I lived there. Tristate is roughly comparable to Frys when it comes to electronic parts, tools and supplies. They're good places to pick up a can of DeOxit or some decent solder, but their parts selection is average at best - if you need a 220uF/35V cap in a hurry they'll have one, but it's not likely to be a Nichicon or Panasonic, much less anything fancier.

When Triode was in the city, you could go there and pick up your order (back when Uncle Ned still worked there you could even just go there and ask him what parts he recommended) - I don't know if you can still do that since they moved out to the sticks.

When I lived up there I used to get my standard commercial parts shipped to me from Mouser and Digikey, and audiophile level parts from Madisound, Parts Connexion and Handmade. Same places I use since I moved to Houston.
 
I really appreciate all of the feedback on the shops!, It really seems that shops that sell things like capacitors and resistors are pretty rare around here in chicagoland. I always start a project without realizing exactly what I need; that always gets me in trouble! i'd order from digi key or mouser, but it is confusing how to order from them.

Also +1 on Saturday Audio, that place is great! I always make a stop at "Groovin High" record shop that is just s couple stores down.
 
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