There’s no shortage of opinions on the topic of how to put together a great sounding hi-fi system. Why should you listen to us?
We Make It Work
Our gear has to sound good and be reliable. We have to support the sales we make. This differentiates us from magazine guys or forum contributors. When you have to make something work right, not just throw an opinion out there from the seat of your pants, you’re in a different universe.
We see lots of pieces- not just one that was cherry picked and sent in for review. We audition these products in our store “studios” which are just like normal rooms in your house. I take products home to audition all the time, because I’m a user and a pusher!
We Visit
We’ll do house calls within a reasonable distance if you buy from us. EVERY single week we have multiple visits to help people who helped us, by buying from us. Yes, even during C19.
As I’m writing this on a Thursday, we’ve already done two visits this week for customers who have bought JL Audio Subs from us- and can’t figure out how to get sound. Jacques visited and figured out within minutes that their receiver settings were eschew. He set them right. All is well.
Basis Of Evaluation
Almost every stereo store has listening rooms on a cement slab in a strip mall that they rent. Ya do what ya gotta do. But these strip mall environs are NOT like your house, with rare exception. How something sounds on a cement slab at a strip mall, doesn’t transfer at all accurately to what you’ll hear in your home. The point is, we will have an accurate idea of how these products will sound at your house. And you will too, after you’ve auditioned here.
Web Experts In Chaos
Let’s address the “internet experts.” I see video after video of fellas waxing on about various gear. Their rooms are crammed with dozens of speakers. There are amps on top of amps. The place is an absolute pig sty. I don’t accept for a minute that you can do a competent assessment of audio gear under these circumstances. Further, you cannot compare under such conditions. And yet these guys will talk for an hour about what they heard. They love to post videos and hear themselves talk. You’re not getting insightful information.
Again, I’ll brag up our facilities. We have GREAT listening rooms in our shop, which IS A HOUSE. Our gear is on audio racks with casters, so we can move gear in and out as we need. Guess what, we even have a furniture dolly! When we audition speakers we can roll everything not in use to another room. I know from seeing the web yakkers, they just toss a pair of something in front of ten other pairs of something else, listen for 30 seconds, and then here comes the review!
While they’re listening to the pair that’s connected, not in prime location by the way, they have a dozen other pairs all resonating away as radiators, obfuscating the performance of the pair in question. You don’t even get a good taste of what you’re espousing to “review.” All the chatter about roses and daffodils, imaging and spaciousness… is just hoo-ha. There’s no way to infer accurate nuances and timbres with all these speakers littering the room and gear piled atop other gear.
Audio Emporium Vets Suppliers
Audio Emporium vets companies in the process of doing research. Even more importantly, after making sales and being in the business, we know, for sure, who is solid and will come through with product, and who will service as promised. We hold our manufacturers’ feet to the fire.
It may surprise you to know there are a lot of “companies” out there that are basically one/two man bands, building products, mostly speakers, out in the garage. They buy parts from a vendor where YOU could buy the same parts. Madisound. Parts Express. They’re taking money from today’s order to pay invoices from months ago. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is a cottage industry.
Now, how could YOU know? You’re reading all sorts of wonderful things on forums. Everyone sounds good. Everyone has his story. But I’m telling you, we LIVE this every day. And we have done so since the 70s. There are plenty of instances, especially since C19, where guys are working on a shoestring. It’s not easy to run a biz out there. If you read below the surface, you’ll see a number of “companies” don’t even respond after they get your money. They don’t answer the phone or email. They can’t ship or give a reliable ship date. Eventually someone threatens on a forum and the outfit apologizes and finally replies. We don’t deal with companies like this.
We Make Them Step Up
As much as we try to make manufacturers behave and honor their promises, some, simply don’t want to. When this happens, you have us in your corner. We have leverage that you don’t. Manufacturers rely on getting paid. Audio Emporium is known for always paying, and always paying on time. Suppliers are loathe to tick off and lose a reliable dealer who always pays. They know that ducking responsibility now is short sighted. It could be very costly in terms of lost future biz. If they lose Audio Emporium, they lose a steady source of sales where they know the invoices will be paid.
Here’s an example. We are forever MAKING manufacturers cover repairs under warranty that are “close” to the end of the time period. If an amplifier has a two year warranty and it fails in 2.5-3, we can ALWAYS make the manufacturer cover it. We have relationships with these guys where we can say, HEY, come on. Six months out of warranty is nothing. Step up to the plate here! You won’t have that leverage, nor will big box. It’s because nobody knows anybody. It’s just computer driven invoices and tickets. If the warranty is one year, on day 366, TOO BAD!
I’ll Drop The Gloves For You
I look at it differently. If the warranty is one year and it breaks 90-180 says later, I say that’s close enough. It’s a joke that a product should work 365 days but 90 days later, it’s OK to fail? Nope.
The manufacturer can pony up. I’ll make them do it. I’ve done it since 1977. They know it is the right thing to do. They also know that by stepping up, they’ll make me and the customer happy. It all leads to new sales- the lifeblood of business.
We’re Passionate Audiophiles- Like You!
Beyond the financial part of this, we’re into the hobby for great music and fun! From what I hear, we’ll never get WASTED TIME back. Hence I refuse to waste my time. I think my attitude will help YOU. We recommend gear to you with this in mind. It is likely this outlook can influence and enhance your enjoyment of the hobby.
We’ll Help You Avoid Wasting Time & Money
Here’s an example, I’m not wasting my time with a music server. If you want to, go nuts. Some guys just love to fiddle fudge with saving thousands of CDs or files to a computer or server, hunting for the artwork, and typing in all the metadata. I would rather take these HUNDREDS OF HOURS of work, and spend them listening to music, practicing piano, or working out.
Here’s my take. It isn’t necessary to save music to a drive any more. There are far more valuable things to do with your time than spend it wrestling with a server or computer and its hideous metadata.
You can buy a great streamer like the Bluesound for $600. Tidal or Qobuz offers most of the music you’ll want. Just stream it. What they don’t offer, just play the CD or LP. How tough is that?!
I think it’s a massive waste of time to save music to some drive. Why? You can’t get off your tail once in a while to spin a CD or LP? You’d rather spend countless hours putting discs into the server or computer- and hours more trying to make the metadata read out accurately with the proper art work?
It blows me away when I read what some fellows do to save music. They’re extremely opinionated on the process and an insane variety of steps and programs. Mr A, who is absolutely confident that HE has figured out the best way to do this, doesn’t agree with Mr B, C or D, who are all saving music. If you got them into the same room to discuss this, you’d have a yelling match or fist fight break out, because every single one of these fellows thinks he’s right and the rest are full of baloney.
Oh, and did you know that NO server is forever? Our industry has a long list of servers that have bitten the dust.
We all have limited TIME in life. Let’s not waste it. If you took the HUNDREDS of hours these guys take to save music, maybe you could have learned to play the piano a bit instead!
New Technology
I reserve the right to get smarter. I am open to new products and technologies. For example, until 2014 I had never heard a power conditioner IMPROVE YOUR SOUND. We all needed them to protect us from damage. Our gear is sensitive with micro processors. You have to protect gear. But those boxes made the sound more murky.
Isotek introduced a new breed of mains conditioners that absolutely, positively, improve the sound of your system. Polaris at $500, or Aquarius at $2k, are must haves for anyone wanting a resolving music system. It isn’t debatable. Your system can’t sound as clear without one.
There are competitors that are good too. I’m not saying Isotek is the only good company. But the competitors cost more- typically A LOT MORE. And by the way, most of them don’t even come with a power cable, so the prices aren’t apples to apples. Isoteks DO come with fine power cables.
Law Of Diminishing Returns
I very much believe in the law of diminishing returns. We are in Milwaukee. Nobody is frivolous with his money here. Everyone wants a dollar’s worth of performance for a dollar spent. So do I! It’s right up my alley and a great challenge to find cutting edge performance for a fair price.
Here’s an example. Kimber Kable’s 8 PAIR speaker wire runs $250 for two ten foot runs with Kimber banana plugs. It sounds GREAT! It is better than anything we’ve heard for $200 on down. So, I’m happy to say, spend $250. But where’s the next step above that- where you can actually say it is worth the investment? It’s the Kimber Carbon. Two ten foot runs of Carbon 8 sell for $1580. Two six foot runs sell for $1180. Yep, it’s more. But I don’t think THAT much more for a system that delivers another echelon of air, space and control.
Here’s another example. The Rega Planar One turntable runs $525 with its Carbon cartridge. The Carbon is OK for an entry level cart. But consider tossing an Ortofon Red on it. Your investment goes up to $625. Your enjoyment goes through the roof. What else is out there for $625? Nothing that sounds as good as P1 with Red MM, I promise you that!
You have to double your turntable investment to get an appreciable improvement.
Judgments
Ultimately, I think you’ll find our judgments of performance/value are solid. I’m not saying everyone else sucks and is the evil empire. I am saying you’ll get cogent advice and a straightforward business partner you can trust in Audio Emporium.