Some of my old, excuse me, veteran, customers have been noticing that Audio Emporium is literally bursting at the seams with inventory these days.
As they have visited they’ve commented on how rare it is to see TONS of nice audio gear in stock and on display to audition. They keep telling me to brag up the assortment and even list, by item, what’s on hand.
Well THAT itemization would be too time consuming to keep accurate. But I will give you an idea of what you’ll find when you visit.
House
First of all, Audio Emporium is a “house” I built in 1997 specifically to display audio gear. Nobody lives here. But the layout is a house with five outstanding sound rooms, each full of wonderful audio/video toys. And yep, it would be fun to live here!
Virtually all my competitors are in strip malls or on slabs of concrete where some other business was not so long ago. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. AE was in a strip mall from 1977-1997. But when I could afford to build my own store from the ground up, I DID!
AE’s sound rooms are different from the other guys. The store is wood construction with carpeting. We have a basement and an attic. The music rooms sound terrific and will behave much more like your house than a commercial room of glass on a cement platform that someone rents.
One of the advantages to having construction like a home is… the endemic noise floor is very quiet.
You can hear nuances in music that are really tough to catch in a noisy building near bustling traffic. For example, in our shop you can hear differences among amplifiers- not just speakers. You can hear how an Isotek mains conditioner can make your sound more clear.
We have a little elbow room here too. At many stores a nice system is set up to the nines. But if you want to hear several pairs of speakers or amps, it logistically isn’t possible. Or more likely, because we’re all basically lazy, nobody wants to move heavy stuff around for you. Well, we’re set up
to do far more of this than almost anyone else.
Foyer
The Foyer is about 14×24. I feature a rack of current, edge of the art performers that make sense for most people to consider. Cutting edge integrateds like the NAD M33, McIntosh MA252 and MA352 reside here with a streamer, CD transport and varying array of speakers. You’ll see sweet towers from Amphion and GoldenEar in particular. These systems look and sound GREAT! That’s why they’re out front. They’re supported by Isotek power products and Kimber Kables, interconnect & speaker.
I’ve strategically placed Zorber Panels in the room to minimize the drywall echo. They’re tremendously effective and worthwhile.
Entry Level Sound Room
Also on the main floor is our Entry Level sound room. It’s 22×18. I have racks of mid priced gear in here- primarily from NAD and Audiolab, along with some Marantz as well.
I’m a huge fan of integrated amps and they’re abundant. Also are some modest separates that bridge the world of integrateds NORTH to separates. When you listen to the NADs in particular, I think you’ll be very impressed as to how clean and solid they sound with a wide array of speakers.
I feature a dozen or more pairs of shelf and tower speakers from Amphion, Wharfedale and Klipsch. Whether you want air and space or fire and brimstone, you can’t beat our assortment.
The speaker highlight of this room is an exquisite display of Wharfedale Double Lintons! You can hear them as a single pair, or as a double stack. There’s just no better buy in our biz than a pair of well set up Lintons on their stands.
The electronics that feed them are Hegel integrateds. Hegel is a step above the mainstream electronics and I can prove it! I have a display set up where I can compare a Hegel vs a Yamaha or whatever is on trade at the time- with a flip of a switch. Yep. You’ll hear the difference between integrated amps in a legit A/B comparison that will allow you to easily hear how the Hegel is superior in transient attack and dynamics. When you hear this, there will be NO QUESTION that
all the sales hype re Hegel is true and pays huge dividends. You can compare the Hegel as a full integrated- or in its DAC upgrade glory as well.
The biggest problem you have when you start reading “everything” online is you don’t know if the people writing – even know what they’re talking about. At Audio Emporium, we’re all about the dem and proving our point. Our store FACILITY allows us to do this effectively.
Since I practice what I preach, even our Entry room is well supplied with Isotek power products and Kimber Kables.
West Studio
On floor 2 our West Studio is killer! It is 25×15 with a ten foot ceiling. Residing here are the awesome Klipsch LaScalas with a stack of Mac. It looks like the 70s yet sounds brand new.
Also featured are Klipsch Heresy 4s and Forte 4s- along with the big boy Cornwalls on occasion.
The West Studio features a scrumptious array of affordable separates from Mac, NAD, Rogue and Rega. Turntable alley includes MoFi Studio & UltraDeck and whatever array of Regas we can keep in stock.
You’ll also hear some of my favorite speakers, Amphions & Brystons, to go along with a few others we have in at a given time.
Center Studio
Our Center Studio is the same size as the West Studio. It is tricked out to be a full blown Atmos theater. I’m much more of a music guy but I have to admit, this is a blast! The electronics are usually Marantz prepros and power amps. Sometimes an NAD multi-channel amp will land here.
The speakers are usually Bryston A Series, which are smooth and capable of high power. When we’re low on those, you’ll find Wharfedale or GoldenEar pinch hitting. Subs can be GoldenEar or JL, depending on what we can keep in house.
We feature side and surround speakers from Bryston. When you hear Atmos in person you’ll realize how much fun theater can be. The immersive nature of the Atmos speakers spoils you for anything less. Hearing is believing.
Our screen is 120” and the projector can change with the wind. As you know the projector world runs crazy- from a competitive $4k to $15-20k pretty quickly. Epson is my choice.
East Studio
In the East Studio we house our BIG GUN speakers. The room is 30×20 with a ten foot ceiling. This is a massive space that befits large scale music. This is home to fabulous Brystons, Amphions, Macs, Magnepans and GoldenEars. Run with great electronics from Bryston, Mac, Rogue, Hegel and Peachtree, the systems in this room produce a bigger sonic spectacular than our other rooms.
No high end system is complete without at least considering adding in a serious subwoofer like JL Audio. We have the big Isotek gear here- Aquarius and Syncro Active. Fancy Kimber Carbon cable runs wild in our East Studio.
We can never be sure of exactly what we’ll have on display when you visit because C19 has turned the supply chain upside down. We will always have a wide array of fun gear to listen to. If you’re interested in something quite specific, call ahead. But better yet, just stop in because we’ll always have interesting gear on hand.