[PaulFolbrecht]

I'd like to take a long Saturday sometime soon to do some listening to unfamiliar gear for the heck of it.  Am looking for recommendations for good shops on the north & west sides especially and downtown.

I know of (and like!) Holm Audio down there but that's it.

Thanks.

[arthurs]

Jam'N Audio in Lake Villa - Farther North but Joe is a great guy and will set up time to have you over (appointment only)

Quintessence audio in Morton Grove is excellent, a lot of top stuff and a great listening room

Essential Audio in Barrington I have never been by Brian's but he has been great to deal with as well

[DARTH AUDIO]

Audio Consultants

Symphony Sound

[gooberdude]

You have to put Jon Van L's store @ 5700 N. Western real, real high on your list...especially if you intend to listen to music.    I'm always in search of a good local City shop, they are hard to find.   Jon makes his own speakers & x-overs that do imaging like no other speaks i've ever heard or heard of.     AFAIK Jon is the only stereo guru in this town worth listening too & his demo room is the only one that plays music...all the other City salons blast your ears or talk BS.

Pro Musica on Clark is OK, but way snobbish & stuck on harsh Naim gear.   Get a horrid demo of some new Quad speakers...

Saturday Audio Exchange on Broadway is great IMO.   they wheel & deal but their used record selection is awesome, nothing over $5.    Plus, they have an old guy who works there & owned the Linn store here for 25 yrs, knows just about everything re: turntables.   

Not much else in the City.   If you go to AudioAsylum, in the General Asylum, about a week about Ch-town piped in & listed a dozen stores here & in the 'burbs...places i'd never heard of.   check it out.

From what i see & read, the 'burbs is where the big $ is & the nice stores...never had the chance to run out that far though.... Holmes, Essential    + a few other really hi-end places.    seems like that's where the good stuff is - far away!

I have not been the new Audio Consultants store here, but bought speakers from them in the past & had them serviced since they are the Thiel dealer here.  the new store might be cool for browsing IF it has more demo rooms than the last one.

[DARTH AUDIO]

Saturday Audio Exchange address is:


Our Address:
1021 West Belmont Avenue
Chicago IL 60657
Phone
773-935-HIFI

[Psychicanimal]

Pro Musica on Clark is OK, but way snobbish & stuck on harsh Naim gear.   

No shit!

[chgolatin2]

I have compiled a short list of stores, doesnt hurt to shop around.  Some stores are better than others, for example Promusica is ok REAL BIG on Naim gear if its not Naim then theirs nothing better "DUH, OH OK, WHATEVER!" Quintessence is for the big bucks a tad bid snobished.  Van L is a good guy to go to, Decibel and Saturday are good places to shop and deal especially with their "used" gear.  The little guys real big with their Musical Fidelity brand, they also carry Mcintosh good stuff the store is more geared towards A/V sorround sound stuff.  I am going to check out Audio Consultants shortly, oh the beauty of being semi retired, lol!   aa

Northside

High Fidelity (www.hifiavchicago.com) 1821 W. North Ave 773 278-4434

Quintessence Audio   5701 W. Dempster   847-966-4434   
 
Van L Speakerworks   5704 N. Western     773-769-0773
 
Stereo Exchange       4743 N. Western      773-784-0004 
     nice guys for repairs and the occasional used gem, no new stuff
 
The Big Picture         1211 Wilmette Ave.   847-256-1882
     mostly home theatre, they carry Revel, NHT, Jamo
 
Audio Consultants     1014 Davis St.  Evanston   847-864-9565
 
Aud Con      757 N. Milwaukee Ave.  Libertyville   847-362-5594
 
East
Promusica   2236 N. Clark St.    773-883-9500
 
Decibel Audio   1407 N. Milwaukee Ave.    773-862-6700
 
Saturday Audio  Exchange    1021 W. Belmont Ave.    773-935-hifi
 
Glenn Poor     on Grand around Michigan Ave., check website
 
Northwest
Simply Stereo    1280 W. Higgins  Hoffman Estates    847-882-2885
 
The Edge      on Northwest Hwy out in Palatine, check website
 
West
Audio Consultants    110 E. Ogden  Hinsdale     630-789-1990
 
Sounds Deluxe    433 W. Ogden  Clarendon Hills    630-887-9818
 
Holm Audio    2050 W. 75th St.    630-663-1298
South
Music In Motion    14017 S. Cicero  Crestwood    708-396-2000
 
The Little Guys    18305 S. Halsted     708-754-8844
 

[meby]

Symphony sound went out of business a couple years ago.  Too bad Evan was s really cool guy. Audio consultants has 4 locations around Chicagoland.  Jamnaudio is a good place as Joe is really cool and has a couple setups in his house so you get a more realistic listening experience.  I also like Holm Audio and Quintessence.

[gooberdude]

Thanks for the list Robert!!!     


Don't forget Essential Audio in Barrington, the owner Brian Walsh seems to be a good guy & carry the uber hi-end stuff for all them N. Shore richers...

i had not heard of High Fidelity or the used store @ 4700 N. Western...that's just a mile from my house.


Are you going to Audio Consultants downtown or in Evanston?   the store downtown is new and supposed to be great.   i used to go to the Evanston store 1x a month.  nice guys there.
they are hip on Mcintosh, Magnepan & Thiel.   they also have a good selection of hi-end racks.


have fun!!

[DARTH AUDIO]

Symphony Sound is not out of business.. I just spoke with Evan last week. He moved locations but didn't go out of business.

[gooberdude]

hey D.A.

do you have a contact # or store location?   i can't find Symphony listed...

[DARTH AUDIO]

http://www.symphonysound.com/contact.shtml

[Brian Walsh]

Don't forget Essential Audio in Barrington, the owner Brian Walsh seems to be a good guy & carry the uber hi-end stuff for all them N. Shore richers...

Thanks for the kind words, but not just the "uber hi-end stuff" although it depends on your perspective and budget... Having been on the consumer side of things for many years I seek to provide the highest performance yet with genuine value... Snobbish attitude has no place here and everyone is welcome to visit to spin some tunes...

[PaulFolbrecht]

As I just posted to the Audiogon thread of the same topic which also garnered many responses:

Thanks much for all the great info in this thread.  It would obviously take us much more than one day to check out even half these shops (considering how spread out they are for one thing).

I am actually not looking to buy anything.  I am most interested in hearing some good analog front ends and preamps that I've never heard before.  Also somewhat interested in hearing horns as I really haven't heard many good horn setups.

I bought speakers from Holm a couple years ago and yes, they are a very nice shop indeed.

I also visited Essential recently when I was interested in A-M gear - very, very nice gear, no doubt, but it turned out I'm a hopeless SET-lover, possibly for life.  I bathe in even-ordered HD.