Sound Images @ Falls Church - Out of Business?

Sonny · « **Reply #20 on:** 18 Mar 2011, 10:24 pm »

I am not surprised...

With forums like this and Audiogon, plus our tendency to buy used at less than 40% of discounts, we penny pinchers have played a huge role in the decline of the "brick & mortar" establishments.

Let us take a pull of when the last time we paid "FULL" price and sales tax for any of our equipments!

I think the days of hi-end audio stores (brick & mortar) are fast becoming extinct!

T

Pez · « **Reply #21 on:** 18 Mar 2011, 10:40 pm »

Most of them are turning to integration and HT to a very high degree. Stereo is just not an easy or large enough market to justify it being your main draw. Plus down economy and joblessness... Well there you have it.

newportcycle · « **Reply #22 on:** 18 Mar 2011, 10:58 pm »

I love McIntosh equipment, but cant afford the cost they demand to purchase new, so I do shop the used market. My past purchase's have come from private sellers, although I am thinking of my next purchase coming from Audio Classics up in Binghamton NY, they retail fully refurbished McIntosh and other equipment, many rate their service fantastic. My second choice is DIY, that satisfies two needs, my frugality, and the desire to learn something new.

doug s. · « **Reply #23 on:** 19 Mar 2011, 09:33 am »

imo, soundworks' closing was a good thing for dc metro area audio. it was such an obnoxious place to go, imo.

ymmv,

doug s.

Phil A · « **Reply #24 on:** 19 Mar 2011, 01:42 pm »

Quote from: doug s. on 19 Mar 2011, 09:33 am

imo, soundworks' closing was a good thing for dc metro area audio. it was such an obnoxious place to go, imo.

ymmv,

doug s.

I was only there once. While they seemed to have nice stuff, there were so many stories I've heard. Supposedly, they were famous for taking deposits on equipment they could not get (not a dealer) and then would not refund the money and you either had to use it on something they carried or lose it. Someone told me the owner got assaulted from such practices as apparently someone waited in the parking lot for him after hours. Their customer issues are plastered all over the internet so much of it was not a secret. You can only do that for so long. Below are four things that took me 20 seconds to find.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/audio-electronic-retail-stores/soundworks/soundworks-a-business-that-can-d283p.htm

http://www.ripoffreport.com/stereos/soundworks/soundworks-rick-soundseller-bccb3.htm

http://www.ripoffreport.com/audio-electronic-retail-stores/soundworks-rick/soundworks-ripoff-kensington-m-9fz65.htm

http://www.ripoffreport.com/stereos/soundworks-audio-and/soundworks-of-kensington-md-56yd2.htm

DTB300 · « **Reply #25 on:** 19 Mar 2011, 04:07 pm »

Quote from: wje on 18 Mar 2011, 07:12 pm

Hmm ... that's interesting. I made a trip up to Kensington a few weeks back to buy some headphones. The guy said they closed up shop and the store was now a Mexican restaurant. Now, the 2nd floor move kind of intrigues me.

I think it is a Chipotle or Qdoba eatery now. Go behind that group of stores and in the back you will find a door near the right end by H&R Block - if I am not mistaken. Very small area upstairs as it used to be their business office.

Soundworks was good when they had 4 sales people - cannot remember names sorry, but these were really great sales people. Downfall started with a sales person named Scott - what a ding dong. The other sales people started to leave one by one to work for other audio companies or stores over a period of a month or two and that is when the store went downhill.

Phil A · « **Reply #26 on:** 19 Mar 2011, 05:06 pm »

Their old website doesn't work - http://www.soundworksmd.com

I don't get up that way very often.

wje · « **Reply #27 on:** 28 Apr 2011, 03:58 am »

Quote from: nhpm510 on 18 Mar 2011, 10:10 pm

Wow, between myer emco, tweeter, sound images, and sound works going down, that takes a lot of hi-fi fun out of the dc metro area.

The ID model and the economy sure do take a toll.

Actually, I think Myer Emco is trying to reinvent themselves. I've been getting e-mails from them as I was on their mailing list from a previous purchase. It looks like they're trying to just focus on the home theater business, lighting, whole house automation, wireless networks, etc.. I'm not sure if they have a storefront or not - but, the address in the e-mail is on Airpark Road in Gaithersburg, MD. Their new name is MyerConnex.

Phil A · « **Reply #28 on:** 30 Apr 2011, 02:02 pm »

I see that - http://www.myerconnex.com/

mix4fix · « **Reply #29 on:** 30 Apr 2011, 02:07 pm »

The website doesn't even tell you anything...

Brands???
Services???
Etc...???

Phil A · « **Reply #30 on:** 30 Apr 2011, 02:12 pm »

No - it doesn't. It's probably due to the fact it is evolving. Some of the brands they used to carry when they were Myer-Emco have been snapped up by other stores.

Trover · « **Reply #31 on:** 20 Feb 2013, 08:31 pm »

I knew high tech/sound images was long gone. I was thinking about whether they are still around (soundworks). Lets face it high end stereo stores are dropping like flies. Soundworks in the 90's was'nt too bad, they got worse as they went along, and at one time they were the only place you could hear certain stuff. If you knew the guys they took pretty good care of you. Rick personally came to my house to check a driver on a KEF speaker. He was always pretty nice to me. But there is no way they could be dealers for and stock all the brands they said they carried, or be able to demonstrate the equipment for all those brands, many of them directly competing- Rega/Naim/Arcam/Conrad Johnson/Krell/Audio research. I've heard they did have a coersive stance on certain things. Namely if you bought gear you could not return it, but only get a credit towards more stuff, so it was not the venue for any impulse buying. Though it should be said that I knew people who took stuff home from Myer Emco with no intention of ever keeping it, they just wanted to try it out and then use Myer Emcos 30 day policy. Just like people would listen at shop X and then mail order. So some of these places might have given abuse sometimes, but they took it too. At soundworks I took my sweet time choosing and bought a number of things there. I liked High tech in Bethesda also, a pretty cool guy there named Brian maybe? got CJ stuff from him. Woodside audio was ok too. The various Myer Emco's. All long gone....sad. I'm convinced that a small part of the equation was also that many high end companies shifted production to China which would seem a harder sell to some high end folks.

DTB300 · « **Reply #32 on:** 20 Feb 2013, 08:51 pm »

SoundWorks was a good place (IMO) until Rick got more involved (I am shocked at the service one poster here got from the experiences I had with him). Rick is when all the good sales people started to leave. 4 of them left in a 3 month time period. Should have seen the writing on the wall. But boy in their prime, did that place move stuff.... Went in a couple of more times after the good people left and was treated very poorly by most of the staff (one person was nice, but I knew more than he did).

SoundWorks then moved from the big store on the corner back to a small, low ceiling place behind (I think this was their management office turned into store). You could barely standup and just miss the ceiling. That was the last time I was there. Just recently I see the "SoundWorks" name has been removed from the door going upstairs, so maybe they finally closed for good.

Trover · « **Reply #33 on:** 20 Feb 2013, 09:42 pm »

Maybe I was one of the few people Rick was nice to, I never had a hitch despite the reputation. I never went there when they downsized to only the back part. ..and yea they moved some stuff in their day, the early 90's was really a prime time for high end audio sales. I never got anything super pricey from them though. It's a tough business....they have audiophiles for their customers.

wje · « **Reply #34 on:** 25 Feb 2013, 08:59 am »

As to Sound Images, I get by that old location every few months. I see now that it has turned into one of those "Cash for Your Car Title" locations. Such a radical change from selling McIntosh amps and some great Focal speakers ... to making $500 "payday" loans for handing over your car title as collateral.

While a sign of the times ... certainly a sad change at that.

However, not to be too saddened by the consolidating and downsizing in the industry, IQ-AV (http://www.iq-av.com) which is in the old Fairfax Tweeter location opened up a bit over a year ago by some former guys from Myer Emco. They've taken on some of the great brands so there is a local authorized dealer for some goods at the mid-fi and up level that are still within local reach.

* I'm not affiliated in any way with IQ-AV in any way, but just want to share local outlets of interest to the members.

DTB300 · « **Reply #35 on:** 25 Feb 2013, 01:29 pm »

Stopped by IQ-AV about a month ago. The sales person I delt with was nice, and it was not too bad a store, but did have that Tweeter feel to it. They had some nice equipment out on the floor too. Some components were out on display, but not hooked up

pansixt · « **Reply #36 on:** 25 Feb 2013, 05:43 pm »

I ordered a stand through IQ-AV a few months back. They seem to be nice folks and do carry some quality gear.

Hi-Tech/Sound Images was a great place for used and new gear. We still deal with Brett, one of the owners, on occasion.
He still sells and repairs gear from his home. There is also Command Performance AV, another dealer out of his home in Falls Church, VA. http://www.commandav.com/.
jarcher here on AC can provide more info on them as he has dealt with both recently.

James

jarcher · « **Reply #37 on:** 25 Feb 2013, 07:42 pm »

Yes, at least the repair side of Sound Images lives on with one of it's former owners, Brett Mullens, doing work at his nearby home in Falls Church.

As for the sales side in the Northern Virginia area, my favorite by far is Command Performance AV. Some may feel that it being a home based business by appointment is a limitation, but actually it's work out well for me. The owner Jeff Fox has got a good large listening room and being one-to-one you know who you're going to be dealing with and get good attention. I find that Jeff really knows his gear and will really try to present & recommend gear that takes into account your listening preferences & budget. He has access to a lot of brands and carries in house a good mix of exotic (e.g. Devore Orangutan, Raidho), well known (VPI / Bel Canto / Conrad Johnson) to more budget stuff (Marantz, Rega, etc). Lastly, and unusually for a high end audio store, he's willing to do deals and doesn't insist on just selling this at full MSRP.

I've visited & bought from most of the other places past & present mentioned (Soundworks, Myer Emco, Gifted Listener, IQ Audio, Evolution Audio, The Listening Room), and have preferred Command Performance by far.

mix4fix · « **Reply #38 on:** 25 Feb 2013, 07:55 pm »

Quote from: pansixt on 25 Feb 2013, 05:43 pm

There is also Command Performance AV, another dealer out of his home in Falls Church, VA. http://www.commandav.com/.
jarcher here on AC can provide more info on them as he has dealt with both recently.

I bought a Nottingham turntable from Jeff. I also got a balanced cable from them at the first C.A.F.

pansixt · « **Reply #39 on:** 26 Feb 2013, 01:30 am »

We would also be remiss in not mentioning our own Scott Dalzell (aka Scottdazzle).
Scott is an industry participant and rep for very fine gear as well and is also local.
You can search Scottdazzle on AC to find out more.