Hi-Fi Shop Memories

Well I'm 30 years old now. So I'm not that young anymore

Also have fund memories of visiting Walrus Systems in London, back in 2003.

Anyway, nice write-up, Andre.

S.

Oh crap I'm old...

Early 70's there was a HiFi store in Watford before KJ got going (Hammonds?). Big dem room with rows of speakers (KEF I remember the silvery grilles), Quad amps and Sony TTS3000 and Thorens TD125 decks. The radio was playing (radio 3 of course...) and I remember how realistic the announcer sounded.. A year or two later, I visited KJ there and heard the JBL L200's and big IMF's for the first time, not realising I'd be working there not long after.

Early to mid 70's were the best years for me, before the Japanese started cheapening some of their gear, when decent speakers were BIG and before Linn and Naim got their collective mitts on our necks and strangled us into submission (I'm still grateful for the tune dem though and practise it to this day on all the music I hear, live or reproduced).

Good thread, this: My best memories are living in York, just yards from Vockers Hifi and The Sound Organisation. The latter was like a magnet to me and it has influenced my buying for life. Naim and Exposure amps, Xerxes turntables, ES14s, Isobariks, Onix amps and The Claymore. All expereinced there.

Other notables were Neat Hifi in Darlington. First heard Petites before they launched and was offered a pair at £179. As good as they sounded I thought I’d never get my money back from an unknown brand lol. Too many memories of stuff both bought and heard from there to recount.

An amazing dem for me was the Voyd Reference with Helius Orion through Audio Innovations 500 into Snell J. Amazing sound which I will never forget. It bristled with life.

Going even more back in time to the 90's.

My Dad used to take me along whenever he went to Musical Images in Houslow. Lovely shop! They sold many KEF Reference models. Once I saw a pair of used black Naim SBL's there. Back then I had no clue. But thought what strange looking speakers with those foam grills on.

S.

The bloody bastard

S.

My memories are really of the likes of Comet and their warehouse type selling. I do remember going into the local shop, having banks of speakers and using one of those switches so you could hear any pair you wanted. My first real amp was the A & R A60, purchased in Sheffield.

Oh, I think I’d like LSTs.... I just don’t think I could live with the looks.

Today, the LST would be huge even placed flat to a wall. The MST were a terrible load back then but the simpler? MST-2 was better I recall. Too 'different' for the sheeple to understand or use sadly and maybe modern tweeters 'disperse' better anyway.

AR3a 'improved' had some life to them and I adored the fugly 10 pi model they did.

No experience at all I'm afraid. Looking at pics of these, the US audio people seemed to have a totally different take on how to design a speaker once you get over a certain size, at least back then. Larger timber framed? listening spaces meant I suspect that you could sit much further away so the comb-filering effects of multiple drivers would seem inaudible - Mission 753's with doubled up bass-mid and 'mid' drivers needed 4m listening distance to fully integrate I recall.

I mean, AR3a's were *bookshelf* models apparently

I'm always reading about people going to the proper shop for a demo then buying it on line but I do wonder if it ever really happens or if it is just another internet myth.

If you are that tight then surely you are not going to pay for petrol and parking to get to the dealers (who is likely to be a fair distance away these days as there's not so many of them). And if you are going to order it on line anyway then just do so, giving you 14 days free trial in your own home and the option to send it back for a full refund.

Compared to that a shop demo is clearly second best. Added to which whenever someone on a forum mentions this supposed practice everyone pipes up to say how awful it is and how they would never do that. So who is doing it? Or is this one of those situations where everyone thinks they are an angel but that the rest of the world are nasty, selfish bastards?

I've never seen anyone post to say that they do this sort of thing. I've seen dealers say that it goes on but how would they know? The time-waster isn't going to tell them that he will be buying it on line, is he? He'll just have his demo and leave.

And finally if the product is in a dealers and at full RRP it will be a current product. And, if you check, current products over a few hundred quid tend to be the same price everywhere. It's only when they become bin-end that the price starts getting reduced.

So I suspect it is bollocks.

That's bad. I suppose you don't have the same distance selling regs as us where you can send stuff back for a full refund without having to give a reason.

Never really bothered with Demos' As i feel a Demo room is a totally different surrounding to your living room.

Did two Demo's in all my life.

First was Audio centre, Sheffield for Meridian 'MCD Pro' CD player'

Second was Moorgate Acoustics, Rotherham for Musical Fidelity 'CD-2' CD Player.

Bought both.