Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

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Chicago shops...

Posted by csown (M) on February 17, 2002 at 23:22:35

In Reply to: Vienna Acoustics Bach Speakers posted by ARC Angel on February 17, 2002 at 21:15:18:

Holm audio is definitely reputed to be one of the best. Would love to go by there sometime, just haven't had a chance. On the flipside, I had quite a bad experience with Quintessence... one of those young-people-aren't-allowed-to-listen-because-they-won't-be-buying situations and it was quite a shocker, as Quintessence's reputation has been quite good.

Yes, Audio Consultants is pretentious, from time to time they can be very friendly, depends on whether a larger wallet than yours is in the store. However, I don't like their concept of good sound, so I tend to stay away from them. Everything I've heard in there has been expensive, and while objectively awesome (bass, treble, mid, soundstage, resolution), it does not sound nearly as musical good as a simple NAD/small-monitor setup. A case in point was a super expensive ML/Eggleston setup with those $20K transparent cables. Truly abhorrent sound; Esotars should not sound that bad.

Celestial Sound up here in Evanston offers great service, and great sound. I feel kinda bad going in there after I offended the owner by saying his new Avante-Garde Duos sounded slightly 'horny'. I keep wanting an excuse to go in there, because they've been great... Speaking of which, I sent a visiting friend from SanFran in there and he became a tube convert because of the experience. It was a CJ integrated with Vienna Bachs - awesome sound... if any of you SS Vienna-ers haven't tried it, you really should.

The best experience by far was with Ken C. over at Pro Musica. Very opinionated fellow, over-the-top with musical sound as the goal, but stellar service, and great, reliable sound. I was smitten by NAIM/Dynaudio the first time I visited, and that opinion hasn't changed since.

Oh yeah, don't forget Saturday Audio Exchange. Starters can go there and leave with very nice systems from time to time :). That's still where I send friends just starting out to learn about their tastes. Very noncommital visits, friendly service, and decent starter sound.

-Chris

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