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"Fallen Flags"- Audio store version

Cleve

Cleve

Super Member
That topic about "Stupid things that audio salesman have said" made me think of the old glory days of audio retailers in the 70s and 80s. Rail fans and railroaders reminisce about "fallen flags" - railways that have gone out of business. I thought it might be a good topic for AK

I'll start off with retailers I remember from the greater Rochester NY area...

Ron's Discount Stereo - the store I remember was in Palmyra - I bought my Technics SU8600 integrated amp (first good amp I owned!) and my Tannoy Micro turntable there, and some Koss headphones.

RDS Audio - new DBA for Ron's - they kept the Palmyra store and opened one in Greece NY. I bought my Akai GXC75-D cassette recorder at the Greece store. It was a huge place with lot of inventory. I can remember the wonderful smell of all those new receivers, decks, et al filling the air. It was like a cathedral of audio.

T.H.E. Audio Threshold - the final incarnation of Ron's (not sure if someone bought Ron's, or the ownership stayed the same). They opened a store on Monroe Ave in Pittsford. Bought my Cerwin Vega speakers there.

The Sound Chamber - Monroe Ave, Pittsford. I bought a pair of Sennheiser phones there. I don't remember that one as well.

JB Sound - Ridge Rd, Greece. I bought my Denon DRM3 there in 1983. Lots of Denon, Luxman, and Nakamichi gear. Saw one of the first commercially available CD players there - I think it was a Denon, actually - with a hefty price tag for 1983 - several thousands of dollars as I recall.

A store of which I can't recall the name - but I used to walk by it all the time - it was in Eastview Mall - down near Sears (if anyone remembers, please chime in). I bought a Technics turntable there. Kind of mid-tier equipment - I seem to recall it was a chain store .

Then all the department stores had audio sections - of various quality - Sibley's, McCurdy's, Edwards, JC Penney, Naums. But they all had a dedicated audio section. I believe my very first stereo - a Zenith Allegro all in one - came from Sibley's.

So much for my walk down "Memory Lane". Anyone else?
 
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United Audio through about '85. Where you could actually get a Teac R-to-R, a good linear tracking turntable, and decent speakers. They were not good after that and are crap now that they are 'Tweeters' (may they rot in hell).
 
Pacific Stereo

TEAM Electronics

Sound World

"Crazy TV Lenny" and American TV and Appliance

Are we limiting this to brick and mortars, or mail order too?

Illinois Audio
Wisconsin Discount Audio (which was American TV)
 
One of the things I always look back on with amusement and sort of a nostalgic grin is how, during the stereo heyday, the quality of the store and the prospect of low prices rose as the perceived sanity of the store pitchman sank.

"I'm absolutley INSANE! Look at these prices! What deals!!! I'm loonier than bedbugs! I should be locked away! We ALL should! Our salesmen are all certifiable LUNATICS!!! Look at them drool and wander around aimlessly! Get the straitjackets, we're all demented and SICK!"
 
The Stereo Buff - Where I got my first exposure to decent equipment. In business on the main drag in Jeff City, MO from about 1980 through about 1988. Got my first stereo there in 1981 with a Scott 325R receiver, a Sanyo belt drive TT, and a JVC cassette deck all playing through some StudioCraft (by Bose) speakers. Couldn't afford the nice stuff displayed in the "Back Room", but that place is the whole reason I enjoy this hobby today! 'Cause now I can afford those cool units from the "Back Room"!!
 
I fondly remember the hi-fi room at "Standard Sales" in Tampa, Fl. It was a higher-end department store, but it is where I got my first taste of real audio gear in the late 70's. I remember all the Pioneer and Technics receivers, the reel to reels, the CRT spectrum analyzer, and the cutaway HPM-100 that they had there. I can almost smell the place.

Yes, certifiable I know.

In later years, I remember "Maurice Stereo", later changed to "Stereos By Maurice". They were the premier McIntosh and Luxman dealer in Tampa for a long time until they closed in the early 90's. I ended up working for the owner's son in his hi end car stereo shop named "Monte's Rolling Sound" when I was in high school.

"Stereo Town" was a chain store that sold mid level gear up until the mid 80's.

"Stereo Etc." was also a local chain of mid-fi that too disappeared in the mid 80's.

"Luria's", a department store and 80's child, had a nice hi-fi room as well. I almost bought a Pioneer reel to reel from them, but decided on my first CD player instead (a Technics).

"Service Merchandise", same as "Luria's", though they survived until the mid 90's.

"McDuff's Electronics" was a (I think) Tandy owned chain store of mid-fi and appliances that disappeared in the early 90's.

"Audio Visions" is where I bought my first Nakamichi tape deck, a BX-2, in 1984. A real hi-end place without all the snobbery associated with it. I remember spending hours there listening to the big Maggies and the Acoustats hooked up the the big Krells. They knew I could never afford it, but they let me play with the stuff like it was my own. The Carrollwood store I frequented closed in the early 90's, but I think they are still in business in $outh Tampa, doing hi-end home theater as well as hi-fi.

"Sensuous Sounds" is a large hi-end one stop shop for top notch home and car audio (They carry a lot of McIntosh gear, home and car). I worked there for a short time after Monte's closed. As far as I know they are still doing well. That place is like Disneyland for audio. A vast old building that has been an audio store for over 30 years. You never know what you will find. Having worked there, I have seen the top of the mountain, and it was good:D.

I know there are some others, especially in the Pinellas County area, but I can't remember them now since Tampa had quite a bit to offer on it's own.

I bought gear from all of these places at one time or another, be it a stereo component, walkman, or boombox. I do miss the "old days".

Now that I think about it, most of these places disappeared when Circuit City and Best Buy invaded the landscape of Tampa. I know they were directly responsible for "Monte's Rolling Sound" closing since I have personal experience there. He was about 4 miles from a CC.
 
Let's see, Indianapolis area, 70's:
Crazy Larry's,
StereoLab,
Dixie Hi Fi,
Graham Electronics,
Heathkit,
Allied,
Ra-Co,
The Mart Discount Stores,
Olsen Electronics.
Lafayette Electronics,
Radio Shack
 
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Leonard's, Manhattan NY
Harvey Sound, Manhattan NY
Heathkit, Manhattan NY

The Heathkit store also carried Bozak in all phases. Harvey and Leonard's would take gear in trade. I loved the shelves at Leonard's with McIntosh tube amps sitting there. I bought lots of gear from those folks. I'll miss them.
 
Let`s see in Denver growing up we had.
Colorado audio: Great high end store listened to my first pair of Magnepans there and you could get Marantz,McIntosh,Luxman,Teac and any other high end .
Lets go stereo : another mid to high end store.
Listen-up: The Original not the one that he sold and is there today,they used to be the greatest customer service anywhere!!
Pro,s Audio: lomg gone high end store
Sound Advice : another get any high to mid fi stuff and great people in the store, they sold out and became Ultimate Electronics(yuck).
Re-Mac in Boulder: This was one of my favorite stores specialized in tube equipment used and new,they also had some SS great old Hippie guy I think his name was Mark.
Larry`s audio: small mom and pop shop with good gear and prices.
WaxTracks: The original had some nice equipment as well as a great record section.
Pearl St. Audio: Cool little store with lots of used equipment and reasonable prices, they would deal on taking your stuff on what they had .
Heathkit store: lots of fun.
The Vintage tube: this was a very cool store that had all tube gear and reasonable prices.

Man I miss those places when I go to Denver.
 
In SE Michigan, the old names of Absolute Sound, Stereoland, Tech HI FI all long gone. Fretters and Adray used to carry some good mid to hi-fi. Then you have older hi end stores Alma's and Pecars that are just shades of the stores they used to be.
 
Well Boston certainly was a hot-bed of stereo activity in the heyday. After getting a basic POS Panasonic stereo from my uncle (then the NYC Panasonic distributor) I graduated into a system from Denambro Hifi on Commonwealth Ave in Boston. I don't remember the receiver but the speakers were BIC Venturis. They had a cool foam grill that impressed (me at least).
Then when I went to college (Babson) and a good buddy there was an assistant manager at Tech Hifi. He steered me towards some better equipment. First it was large Advents and then Ohm Walsh2 speakers. I had a Kenwood TT with some sort of a composite (like granite) base. He also set me up with a Nikko receiver which was their "store brand". He later went on to be a working partner at Natural Sound (Framingham; still in business) and would get me great deals on trade-ins.
When he left there a few years later he hopped around working for some esoteric manufacturers, ultimately ending up starting Audio Alchemy. His name? Peter Madnick. He lives in California now but I ran into him after ~30 years at the MIT Flea market 2 months ago! He looked at me and said "I know you" and remembered my name. Go figure, I didn't realize I was that unforgettable.
JimB
 
Any Navy Exchange in that time period, late 60's to late 70's. I can still remember walking into the electronics display area and seeing the blue and green lights on the amps and receivers. It was unbelievable what some of them stocked. I bought a TEAC A4300 RtR, the Pioneer SX838 that I'm listening to right now (and regretted not going for the 1010), Kenwood 555's, Dual 1214, Pioneer CTF9191.
 
HiFi Hutch in Villa Park, Illinois...one of those places where the guys knew what they were talking about and would share with you as well as let you alone in the room with thousands of dollars of equipment and let you compare for yourself...

Simply Stereo in Hoffman Estates, Illinois is very similar...natch since some of the same guys from the old HiFi Hutch are there...

Marvin Electronics...Allied Radio...

Bill
 
HiFi SSS was the real "800 pound gorilla" of the Atlanta stereo scene back in the day. The owner, Lee Kramer, was a real character. He sold McIntosh among other brands. He was famous for selling you a component, then two years later he'd ask you what you had... you'd mention the component he sold you then and he'd say "Ahh... that's CRAP! You need THIS!"

There was also Backdoor Stereo... though, that was almost gone by the time I got to the Atlanta area. Stories abound about that place, though.

One that I DID frequent, was the rattiest place ever- Audio Exchange, in Norcross GA (NE Atlanta area). A shotgun shack of a house, with a cluttered back room and a REALLY cluttered front room. Guy who owned the place would frequently have disassembled items all over the place, as he pieced equipment back together. He's the first person I ever saw replace a speaker surround- he'd rob rubber surrounds from blown woofers and put them in place of rotted foam surrounds. Got my first good turntable from there- an AR-XA which I sold a few years later, and got back a decade or so afterwards...

Of course, the Atlanta version of the "Crazy Eddie" insane stereo salesman was HiFi Kennys... up in the Doraville (also NE Atlanta) area. I swear, his "We lost our lease!" ads ran for a solid TWO YEARS. I did find one killer deal there, though- my Sanyo D33 cassette deck, that until it died, laid waste to EVERY other deck I ever compared it to (including Nak Dragons!)...

Then, there was Julian's Hifi... otherwise known as "Fat Julian's". Not as much a stereo equipment store, as a vintage/collectable record store that happened to carry a very eclectic, strange bit of hifi gear. He was the only place I know where you could buy Fusilier speakers in an actual store, though... Julian was fast friends with John Fusilier, and you would oftentimes find John and Julian in the store, testing out one of John's new designs. That was worth stopping by for!

Regards,
Gordon.
 
CALL CRAZY EDDIE 645-1196, 645-1196, OUR PRICES ARE INSAAAANE.

I don't think I'll ever forget that phone number. Eddie went away to the Big House for stock fraud. I guess he was insane.

I miss Continental Sound on Queens Blvd where I bought my Sony ES Int Amp and cd player. It's also where I also bought my Klipsch Chorus II's, all of this stuff still works. It pays to buy quality gear.
 
I always like Brandsmart when I was growing up. I don't remember if they sold super high end gear, but it was a fun experience for me when I was a little kid.
 
B&M Electronics in the Montrose district was tremendous for years... They were full-fledged McIntosh and also carried the full line of Sony Superscope and Teac r2rs. I remember the first time I heard ELP's "Lucky Man" was at B&M on pre-recorded r2r played through Mc amps and a huge pair of Fraziers... made an impression on me when I was about twelve.

Anyone remember Sterling Electronics? It was mid-fi "discount"... sold a lot of JBL though IIRC.
 
In Buffalo NY in the late 70's to late 80's was a great place for hi-fi
Sounds Great, 2 stores and I worked in both. More mid-fi and video, JBL, Bose, Carver, EPI, Advent, Dahlquist, Onkyo, Technics, Mitsubishi, Kenwood.
I think this was Cleves other Rochester chain. We had stores in many NE cities. Great company to work for, I went to college in Syracuse and lived near Buffalo, so I just transfered for the summer and always had a job!

Others-
Stereo Plus- ADS, Denon nice lines, cool store, we could go in and hang out
Speaker Shop- High end audio and video, with atmosphere and attitude to match! They had a high end loft which you had to pass muster to go visit!
Stereo Emporium- I was never able to catch them open!
Stereo Advantage- started small but eventually buried everyone. Technics was their big line at first.
Then the chains- Silo, Service Merchandise, now Circuit City, Best Buy

Sadly only The Speaker Shop and Stereo Advantage remain from the locals.

In Syracuse, on Erie Blvd, Sounds Great was across the street from Gordon's which was our main competitor at all price points across the board. Also, 2 blocks down was Clark Music, the grand piano, McIntosh and B&O dealer. All are now gone.
 
In Portland, OR:

- Corner Audio - Quicksilver, SOTA, Rotel, and a bunch of other gear I can't remember now
- Hawthorne Stereo - Paradigm, Naim, Linn, Rega, TDL, Kyocera, etc.
 
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