Audio Stores in Bay Area

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Mortsnets

Audio Stores in Bay Area
« on: 7 Sep 2006, 03:18 pm »
I'm having a hard time locating audio stores; manufactures dealer lists are often out of date.

Are there any good audio stores left in the Bay Area (that carry affordable stuff)?

Any that have Spendor S3/5, Reynaud Twin, and/or Audio Note AX-2 speakers?

Any that sell and refurbish used vintage vintage gear (Scott 299)?

I'm aware of Music Lovers in Berkeley, I got my Music Hall turntable there.

The places I used to go: DB Audio and SF Stereo on 4th have moved or gone out of business.

Thanks,
Craig (East Bay)

TheChairGuy

Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #1 on: 7 Sep 2006, 03:39 pm »
Hey Craig,

Welcome to AC, my man!

Up the road from me in San Rafael is Access to Music...nice shop.  They are really two channel/vinyl guys...but make too much money on audio/video installs to go back.  Nice folks.  Easy to get to from East Bay as it's a pretty straight shot into San Rafael from Richmond Bridge/580.

http://www.access-music.com/

There's Performance Audio in SF, too, http://www.performance-audio.com/

They are the local Vandersteen dealer....I don't think they carry any analog, tho.  Another place that makes mucho dinero on aud/vid installs.

Ed Regan is either the Manager or Owner (or both) and he lives down the road from me (literally, down the hill I live on).  His Christmas displays every year are about the best in town (12 gigantic reindeer pulling Santa's sleight this year) ...I suspect that if his installs are of the same quality, they are very good at it.

Ciao, John/TCG

I'm having a hard time locating audio stores; manufactures dealer lists are often out of date.

Are there any good audio stores left in the Bay Area (that carry affordable stuff)?

Any that have Spendor S3/5, Reynaud Twin, and/or Audio Note AX-2 speakers?

Any that sell and refurbish used vintage vintage gear (Scott 299)?

I'm aware of Music Lovers in Berkeley, I got my Music Hall turntable there.

The places I used to go: DB Audio and SF Stereo on 4th have moved or gone out of business.

Thanks,
Craig (East Bay)


Se7en

Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #2 on: 7 Sep 2006, 03:44 pm »


Audio Vision SF http://www.audiovisionsf.com/

There is a Music Lovers in downtown.

Theres a couple of other nice shops (one in the Castro on Market and another one in West Portal). I just can't remember their names at this moment  :scratch:, I will post later though...

Mortsnets

Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #3 on: 7 Sep 2006, 04:06 pm »
Wow! Two replies in 30 minutes.

I work very near the bridge so Access to Music would be convenient, and they have some affordable stuff.

Audio Visions looks very good, they have the Naim Nait 5i integrated which is on my wish list.

bob stern

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 44
Nick Gowen repairs vintage gear & is Spendor dealer
« Reply #4 on: 7 Sep 2006, 05:21 pm »
I believe he used to be the repair tech for Audible Difference in Palo Alto.

He's in Campbell.  His store is called True Sound.  Tel. 408-370-7578
http://www.tsound.com

bob stern

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 44
Spendor dealer: R. B. Audio in Dublin
« Reply #5 on: 7 Sep 2006, 05:22 pm »
May be defunct.  The contact info I have is:
tel. 925-918-3714
email:  bergner33 ATSIGN yahoo DOT com
http://www.rbaudio.com

bob stern

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 44
Audible Arts in San Jose
« Reply #6 on: 7 Sep 2006, 05:32 pm »
Jeff Wells, owner, is the most pleasant and helpful dealer I know.
He concentrates on relatively affordable gear.
tel. 408-248-1196
http://www.AudibleArts.com

R_burke

Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #7 on: 7 Sep 2006, 05:55 pm »
South Bay, but good knowledgeable people

http://www.theanalogroom.com/


kmmd

Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #8 on: 7 Sep 2006, 09:14 pm »
There's also Stereo Unlimited in Walnut Creek.  Dave Hare will keep you entertained for hours.  You should see and hear what he does with Maggie speakers.  After that, you can stroll around the Creek around Main St., Mt. Diablo Blvd., Broadway, etc. to get some shopping done and then have a great meal.  Enjoy!

Mortsnets

Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #9 on: 8 Sep 2006, 12:22 am »
To summarize: store name/a few of the speaker brands carried/web url/phone

Music Lovers Audio (Berkeley and San Francisco)
Joseph Audio, Era, Paradigm
http://www.musicloversaudio.com/
510-558-1000  415-345-8111

Access to Music (San Rafael)
B&W, Dali, Linn, REL Acoustics, Definitive Tech.
http://www.access-music.com/
415-453-3936

Performance Audio (San Francisco)
Vandersteen, Gallo
http://www.performance-audio.com/
415-441-6220

Audio Vision (San Francisco)
Naim, Quad, Dali, Opera
http://www.audiovisionsf.com/
415-614-1118

True Sound (Campbell)
Spendor, Audio Note, Ruark
Vintage repair
http://www.tsound.com
408-370-7578

R.B. Home Cinema and Ultra Audio (Dublin)
Quad, Spendor
http://www.rbhomecinema.com/audioproducts.html
925-918-3714

Audible Arts (San Jose)
Dali, Reference 3A, Von Schweikert, NHT
http://www.AudibleArts.com
408-248-1196

The Analog Room (San Jose)
Sonus Faber, Quad
http://www.theanalogroom.com/
408-971-6158

Stereo Unlimited (Walnut Creek)
Magnepan, Opera, Audes
http://www.stereounlimited.com/Home.htm
925-932-5835

Soundscape (Santa Rosa)
Epos, Nola, Usher, Vandersteen, Wharfedale, Klipsch
http://www.soundscapeav.com/
707-578-4434

The Tweak Shop (Santa Rosa)
Focal/JM Lab, Nola, Audes
http://www.tweakshop.com/
707-575-8626

Audio High (Mountain View)
Energy , Epos, Living Voice, Usher
http://www.audiohigh.com/
650-964-4000

San Francisco Stereo (San Francisco)
Dynaudio, B&W, Canton
http://www.sfstereo.com/
415-861-1044

David Tonelli (Oakland)
For repair, mainly of tube equipment
510-444-1200

APL Hi-Fi (East Bay)
Digital audio player modifications
http://www.aplhifi.com/
510-972-0067

Specialty Audio Source (Antioch)
Aliante speakers
http://www.specialtyaudiosource.com/
925-565-0588

Future Sound (Burlingame)
B&W, Gallo, Thiel, Martin Logan, Wilson
http://www.futuresoundav.com/
650-342-1476

The New Audible Difference (Palo Alto)
Thiel, Linn, Gallo, KEF, Magnepan, Wilson
http://www.newaudibledifference.com/
650-328-1081

Jeff Jahnke HomeGear
Address: 1452A El Camino real, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel: (650) 323-3030   avguru@sbcglobal.net
By appointment only. A wide variety of high and low end products. Main speaker line: Pro-Ac.

Teresonic Products (speakers & cables) Mike Zivkovic   mike@teresonic.com
Tel: (408) 973-8813

Bob Bergner
Tel: (925) 918-3714   www.rbhomecinema.com
Ayre, Bruce Moore, Cardas, Genesis, McIntosh Marantz, Quad and TAG plus others. Acoustic Measurements and Speaker Setup

Beeswing Audio Video
Scott Schackel   scott@beeswing.com
Tel: (650) 474-0417
Fine audio and home theater design and installation.
Focal-JMlab, James Loudspeaker, ARCAM, Denon, AudioQuest, Sim2, Fujitsu, JVC, Sharp, Samsung, Stewart Filmscreen, plus others.
Certified by the HAA (Home Acoustics Alliance - http://www.homeacoustics.net) for acoustical analysis and optimization, and the ISF (Imaging Science Foundation - http://www.imagingscience.com) for display calibration.

Reflection Audio
www.reflectionaudio.com
(415 )479-1319      stephen@reflectionaudio.com
Address: 170 Mt. Lassen Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903
Tel: (415) 479-1319

Oritek Audio   
Ori Mizrahi-Shalom orim@ispwest.com
Interconnects, speaker cables, power amp (forthcoming).

Silent Lucidity
Jim Volpatti   jvolpatti@earthlink.net
Tel: (415) 928-2990
By Appointment only.
Bel Canto, Electrocompaniet, Manley Labs, Audio Refinement, Cambridge Audio, JA Michell Engineering, Koetsu, SME, Benz Micro, Focal-JMlab, Totem Acoustic, Amphion, Analysis Plus, Shunyata Research, Isoclean, Dream Vision;
Plus Rives Audio acoustic consulting and design.
Jim is a full in-home service dealer.

Jim Gordon   
sordidman@yahoo.com
Dealer for Blue Circle Audio (http://www.bluecircle.com).
In process of becoming a dealer for two different speaker manufacturers and a component isolation/noise reduction organization.

David Tonelli
Tel: (510) 444-1200
Oakland (lower Piedmont)
Specializes in servicing vacuum tube equipment, FM tuners (tube or solid state), and professional recording gear.

Audio Image Ltd 
Bob Kehn  bkehn@comcast.net
Tel: (510) 654-7235
Emeryville, CA 94608
Epiphany Audio, Sound Lab, Oasis Audio, Tom Evans Audio, Aesthetix, Gamut, Audio Note, Audio Logic, VPI, Transfiguration, Lyra, Benz, Koetsu, Silversmith Audio, Kimber Select, Rix Raxs, Finite Elemente.

DeHavilland Audio
George Kielczynski
Tube amplifiers and preamplifiers.

Eivind Sukkestad 
www.bybeeconnection.com
Bybee cables, conditioners, devices, etc.

Sound Application power products
Jim Weil  jim@soundapplication.com
Tel: (510) 525-1065

Ultimate Audio Tom Bourret   
Tel: (707) 953-7100  tbourret@comcast.net
Authorized dealer for Sound Lab speakers, Wolcott and Parasound amplifiers.

The Tweak Shop (Santa Rosa)
Tel: (707) 575-8626  http://www.tweakshop.com/
Elliot Kallen

Audio by Laurel Pacific Systems (Los Gatos)
http://www.laurelpacificaudio.com/
Sunil Mohan   laurel_pacific@yahoo.com
Bay Area dealer for the following brands: Bel Canto Design, Harbeth, Lavardin, Velodyne, Acoustic Zen, Denon, Adcom.

Tailored Technology   
http://www.tailoredtechnology.com/
Michael Jacobs, Sales Manager and Audio Consultant  mikej@netmagic.net
Tel: (408) 734-5164 (by appointment only in Sunnyvale)
Lines represented include: Vandersteen, Theta, BEL (Brown Electronic Labs), Aesthetix, BG (Bohlender-Graebener), Denon, Clearaudio and others.

Witchdoctor Audio
Speaker Brands: Cain & Cain, Omega, Epos, Rethm
2072 Antioch Court
Oakland, CA 94611
phone: 510-919-5104
by appointment only
www.witchdoctoraudio.com
askthewitchdoctor@witchdoctoraudio.com

Pitch Perfect Audio 
Matthew Rotunda 415-244-9310  pitchperfectaudio.com
Demonstrating the renowned LATOUR Full Field Coil Loudpeaker, meticulously hand crafted tube stereo electronics and Shindo 301 Turntable - from the brilliant Ken Shindo.
DeVore Fidelity Loudspeakers, Auditorium 23 Products, Euphya Audio Products, EMT, Living Voice Loudspeakers, Leben HiFi, 47 Laboratory

Bay Area Audio
http://www.bayareaaudio.com
408.255.0735

Triad Home Theater & Audio
http://www.triad-electric.com/

Blue Moon Audio (Pleasanton)
BC Acoustique, Epos, Trenner & Friedl
http://www.bluemoonaudio.com/
510-325-2440

Harmony Audio Video (San Francisco)
B&W, Gallo
www.harmonyaudiovideo.com
333 W Portal Ave
San Francisco, CA 94127
(415) 661-2525

The A/V Room (Fremont)
PSB, Totem
http://www.theavroom.com/
510-713-1241

World of Sound (Mill Valley)
35 Reed Boulevard
(Behind Strawberry Shopping Center - right off Rt. 101 on the northbound side)
Mill Valley, CA  94941
a/d/s, Gallo, Canton, KEF
repair facility that fixes anything - tube, SS, vintage
http://www.worldofsoundmarin.com/
415-383-4343

Taurus Audio (Newark)
JM FocalLab, Almarro, Melody Valve, modified Toshiba DVD players, NOS tubes
5680 Thornton Ave.
Newark, CA 94560
Owner: Louis Ma
510-713-9893

The Sound Well (Berkeley)
repair, used, vintage
http://www.thesoundwell.com/
510-549-2126

Audible Ear (Lafayette)
speaker repair, used, vintage
1008-B Oak Hill Road
Lafayette, CA  94549
925-284-8166
Open 10am to 3:30pm Wednesday through Saturday

Sertech Electronics (San Jose)
repair, used, vintage
http://www.sertechelectronics.com/
(408) 267-3288

NorCal Magnolia Hi-Fi locations:

Magnolia Hi-Fi are stand alone locations.  Magnolia Home Theatre are located within select (corporate parent) Best Buy stores.

Colma       650.757.4300
Emeryville  510.420.6100
Palo Alto   650.838.2500
Roseville   916.782.9880
Sacramento  916.561.2740 (Arden Fair)
San Ramon   925.242.3600
Santa Clara 408.423.5100
Santa Rosa  707.566.2680

AudioQuest, B&K, Boston Acoustics, Definitive Technology, Denon, Elan, Escient, Marantz, Matrix Audio, M&K Sound, MartinLogan, McIntosh, Mirage, Monitor Audio, Pioneer Elite, Primare, Pro-ject, REL, Sennheiser, Shure, Sonos, Sonus Faber, Sony ES, SpeakerCraft, Tivoli Audio, Vienna Acoustics
« Last Edit: 14 Dec 2007, 12:49 am by Mortsnets »

Berndt

Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #10 on: 8 Sep 2006, 12:40 am »
Maybe we sticky this and have it be a bay area retailer data base of sorts?

TheChairGuy

Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #11 on: 8 Sep 2006, 01:08 am »
Bill/Berndt,

We sure should.  You should have a button (with your NorCal Moderator superpowers granted to you)  that says 'Set Topic to Sticky' .  Hold that and it will become a sticky.

If you don't have one or find it, I can do it.  But, it's good practice for your to familiarize yourself with the controls.  :)

What an amazing list, mortsnets! - you are aptly so named  :wink:
« Last Edit: 8 Sep 2006, 02:31 am by TheChairGuy »

eico1

Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #12 on: 8 Sep 2006, 02:22 am »
http://www.soundscapeav.com/

is very cool, check out the erotic arts exibit they host once or twice a year. Worth the drive if they have what you want or like art!

Russian River Brewing is also an attraction.

steve

Berndt

Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #13 on: 8 Sep 2006, 02:32 am »
I have a set of Russian river growlers rolling around under my feet now.
Mike the tech at Soundscape is the man :thumb:
Never a bad word out of that guy, an honest tech is hard to find!
This cannot be a coincedence.

Jason Victor Serinus

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 9
Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #14 on: 8 Sep 2006, 04:17 pm »
Please add to the List:

Elliot Kallen The Tweak Shop in Santa Rosa  eektweak@tweakshop.com
  As is the case with Jeff Wells, you'll be hard pressed to find a more knowledgeable man of integrity than Elliot. He's a long-time expert in jazz and analog recordings, and used to review.

Audio High in Mountain View   650.964.4000 - 201 Moffett Blvd Mountain View, CA 94043" <michael@silver.org>   A dedicated jazz lover and promoter of jazz benefit events.

San Francisco Stereo in San Francisco

For repair, mainly of tube equipment, David Tonelli in Oakland  510-444-1200. He's out of town right now.

In addition, there are a ton of in-home dealers and mod people (e.g. Alex Peychev of APL-HiFi) in the Bay Area. Many (but not all) are members of the Bay Area Audiophile Society (BAAS). We maintain a list of these on the members-only portion of the BAAS website. Many, such as Bob Bergner of RB Audio, carry gear that the storefronts do not carry.

Gracias,
jason victor serinus
who also writes for http://www.hometheaterhifi.com and Stereophile

« Last Edit: 8 Sep 2006, 08:08 pm by TheChairGuy »

KKM

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 333
Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #15 on: 8 Sep 2006, 08:44 pm »
Future Sound in Burlingame:

http://www.futuresoundav.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1058

and The New Audible Difference in Palo Alto:

http://www.newaudibledifference.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1470

It's the same owner.

Jason Victor Serinus

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 9
Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #16 on: 8 Sep 2006, 11:01 pm »
Jeff Jahnke HomeGear
Address: 1452A El Camino real, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel: (650) 323-3030   avguru@sbcglobal.net
By appointment only. A wide variety of high and low end products. Main speaker line: Pro-Ac.


Teresonic Products (speakers & cables)Mike Zivkovic   mike@teresonic.com
Tel: (408) 973-8813


Bob Bergner
Tel: (925) 918-3714   www.rbhomecinema.com
Ayre, Bruce Moore, Cardas, Genesis, McIntosh Marantz, Quad and TAG plus others. Acoustic Measurements and Speaker Setup


Beeswing Audio Video
Scott Schackel   scott@beeswing.com
Tel: (650) 474-0417
Fine audio and home theater design and installation.
Focal-JMlab, James Loudspeaker, ARCAM, Denon, AudioQuest, Sim2, Fujitsu, JVC, Sharp, Samsung, Stewart Filmscreen, plus others.
Certified by the HAA (Home Acoustics Alliance - http://www.homeacoustics.net) for acoustical analysis and optimization, and the ISF (Imaging Science Foundation - http://www.imagingscience.com) for display calibration.


Reflection Audio
www.reflectionaudio.com
(415 )479-1319      stephen@reflectionaudio.com
Address: 170 Mt. Lassen Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903
Tel: (415) 479-1319


Oritek Audio   
Ori Mizrahi-Shalom orim@ispwest.com
Interconnects, speaker cables, power amp (forthcoming).


Silent Lucidity
Jim Volpatti   jvolpatti@earthlink.net
Tel: (415) 928-2990
By Appointment only.
Bel Canto, Electrocompaniet, Manley Labs, Audio Refinement, Cambridge Audio, JA Michell Engineering, Koetsu, SME, Benz Micro, Focal-JMlab, Totem Acoustic, Amphion, Analysis Plus, Shunyata Research, Isoclean, Dream Vision;
Plus Rives Audio acoustic consulting and design.
Jim is a full in-home service dealer.


Jim Gordon   
sordidman@yahoo.com
Dealer for Blue Circle Audio (http://www.bluecircle.com).
In process of becoming a dealer for two different speaker manufacturers and a component isolation/noise reduction organization.


David Tonelli
Tel: (510) 444-1200
Oakland (lower Piedmont)
Specializes in servicing vacuum tube equipment, FM tuners (tube or solid state), and professional recording gear.


Audio Image Ltd 
Bob Kehn  bkehn@comcast.net
Tel: (510) 654-7235
Emeryville, CA 94608
Epiphany Audio, Sound Lab, Oasis Audio, Tom Evans Audio, Aesthetix, Gamut, Audio Note, Audio Logic, VPI, Transfiguration, Lyra, Benz, Koetsu, Silversmith Audio, Kimber Select, Rix Raxs, Finite Elemente.


DeHavilland Audio
George Kielczynski
Tube amplifiers and preamplifiers.


Eivind Sukkestad 
www.bybeeconnection.com
Bybee cables, conditioners, devices, etc.


Sound Application power products
Jim Weil  jim@soundapplication.com
Tel: (510) 525-1065


Ultimate Audio Tom Bourret   
Tel: (707) 953-7100  tbourret@comcast.net
Authorized dealer for Sound Lab speakers, Wolcott and Parasound amplifiers.


The Tweak Shop (Santa Rosa)
Tel: (707) 575-8626  http://www.tweakshop.com/
Elliot Kallen


Audio by Laurel Pacific Systems (Los Gatos)
Sunil Mohan   laurel_pacific@yahoo.com
Bay Area dealer for the following brands: Bel Canto Design, Harbeth, Lavardin, Velodyne, Acoustic Zen, Denon, Adcom.


Tailored Technology   
Michael Jacobs, Sales Manager and Audio Consultant  mikej@netmagic.net
Tel: (408) 734-5164 (by appointment only in Sunnyvale)
Lines represented include: Vandersteen, Theta, BEL (Brown Electronic Labs), Aesthetix, BG (Bohlender-Graebener), Denon, Clearaudio and others.


Witchdoctor Audio
2072 Antioch Court
Oakland, CA 94611
phone: 510-919-5104
by appointment only
www.witchdoctoraudio.com
askthewitchdoctor@witchdoctoraudio.com


Pitch Perfect Audio 
Matthew Rotunda 415-244-9310  pitchperfectaudio.com
Demonstrating the renowned LATOUR Full Field Coil Loudpeaker, meticulously hand crafted tube stereo electronics and Shindo 301 Turntable - from the brilliant Ken Shindo.
DeVore Fidelity Loudspeakers, Auditorium 23 Products, Euphya Audio Products, EMT, Living Voice Loudspeakers, Leben HiFi, 47 Laboratory


jason victor serinus
BAAS, Stereophile, hometheaterhifi.com
« Last Edit: 11 Sep 2006, 04:11 am by TheChairGuy »

Bizarroterl

Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #17 on: 8 Sep 2006, 11:17 pm »
South Bay, but good knowledgeable people

http://www.theanalogroom.com/



Domain expired on 9/2.  Link no longer works.

Berndt

Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #18 on: 9 Sep 2006, 04:04 am »
http://www.soundscapeav.com/

is very cool, check out the erotic arts exibit they host once or twice a year. Worth the drive if they have what you want or like art!

Russian River Brewing is also an attraction.

steve

Erotic?
OK, I'll bite when did you say the shows are?

TheChairGuy

Re: Audio Stores in Bay Area
« Reply #19 on: 9 Sep 2006, 06:40 pm »
Wow, what a list, Jason...many thanks  :)

John / TheChairGuy (So. Marin)