another brick and mortar tale

[Gordon Gray]

Gordan Gray, do you remember Boulder Sound Gallery? I loved that place! The sales people were always very friendly and quite knowledgable. They carried, at the time, some wonderful gear. Many excellent memories from there...

Fox,

That's where my entry into high end began. They were located on Pearl St. if I recall correctly, now on the current ped mall. I always dealt with the owner (forgot his name / too many years have passed) and purchased the venerable Dalhquist DQ 10's from him along with a Denon 103D cartridge and other misc. gear.

Back then, I asked him for an after hours demo. He obliged along with providing some wonderful wine and snacks while we auditioned the 10's along with my Tandberg receiver, that I owned at the time.

It was a great store in its day. Thanks for the memory.

Gordon

 

[FoxMulder]

Gordon, the owner's name was Steve Bennett and I always dealt with David Lattimore. I remember those wine and cheese, (and other things ) that they used to do. Those were the days my friend!

 

[MiTT]

What's wild is that I also started my hi end journey there. I bought my first Martin Logan's there (Sequels) and later a Marantz CD-63se and later still a new McCormack DNA-2. Great shop!

 

[Gordon Gray]

Tim and Fox,

When did BSG close doors?

Gordon

 

[FoxMulder]

They were originally on the bottom floor in the Pearl Street Mall. Around 1990 or so they moved up to a shop on Broadway. I think they closed around 1993 or 1994. The new location wasn't anywhere near as nice and "cool" as that Pearl Street Mall location. I think they lost a lot of customers with the move. Their original location just had that special feeling. You knew you were in a different kind of store.

 

[MiTT]

That pretty much jives with my recollection too FoxMulder, although I would have guessed a bit later - '95 say. The store on Pearl Street was much cooler, I agree. I pretty much lost track of them over the years and started working with Jim Kerns in the Boulder Listen Up store - he's a good guy too. I had a good relationship with a guy at Sound Hounds in Denver too, and later did some business with Cherry Creek Audio, eventually buying my ReQuests from them, but never had the relationship with the owner (Jim Rhye I believe), that I had with the guys at other stores.

It's funny, I haven't bought any serious new equipment in years, so I haven't proweled the stores in quite some time. Right now though at work I'm in charge of moving our plant into a new building and running all the TI on a 50,000 sq. ft. office construction. I've got 5 conference rooms where we'll be installing some fun AV equipment, so I have a $50K budget to go out and buy equipment with. I'm re-establishing some of those connections.

 

[gordonmenninger]

One thing that to this day I cannot understand is when you walk into a high end audio store and they have excellent equipment / speakers etc on display and NO MUSIC is playing anywhere in the store! I leave scratching my head because If I sold something that makes noise, I sure as heck would be making noise on it all day especially when potential customers walk in and out! Most people do not want to ask the salespeople to put on a song because they don't want the sales pitch from the employee when they are just trying to listen what different components sound like.

 

[amey01]

One thing that to this day I cannot understand

I understand. Music (for me) is an "all or nothing" activity, demanding 100% of my mind. I don't want music on casually in the background when I am trying to do other things. In fact, I find it annoying.

 

[timm]

Amey. So Gordon and you agree. Since music is an all or nothing thing for you - from a sales perspective it would make a whole lit of sense to have it on if you were to walk in. Hopefully you would get into your 'all' mode and purchase based on what you heard. Now the other option is to not have anything playing. What does that get you? Mode 2 - which was 'nothing'. Not the best for sales I would think.

 

[amey01]

Amey. So Gordon and you agree. Since music is an all or nothing thing for you - from a sales perspective it would make a whole lit of sense to have it on if you were to walk in. Hopefully you would get into your 'all' mode and purchase based on what you heard. Now the other option is to not have anything playing. What does that get you? Mode 2 - which was 'nothing'. Not the best for sales I would think.

No, because high-end audio is too diverse. If it was possible for all combinations of all hardware to be set up in listening rooms, and you could walk around inspecting each one (like clothes shopping for example) then yes - what you say holds true.

But, alas - no shop is big enough. You need to go in, discuss requirements, discuss what is available, and build yourself a system to listen to. I'd rather do that in peace and quiet.

 

[Bernard]

I understand. Music (for me) is an "all or nothing" activity, demanding 100% of my mind. I don't want music on casually in the background when I am trying to do other things. In fact, I find it annoying.

Adam, you need to learn how to multi-task. My system is in the living-room, right next to the kitchen; I'm an avid cook, and love to listen to music while I'm cooking - I think the music makes me more creative. But then, as you said before, you are not a cook; all you do is cut cheese when your wife is not around. Maybe you should learn how to cook ?

 

[amey01]

Adam, you need to learn how to multi-task.

Correct Bernard. I don't multi-task - never have. I don't know if I have to learn though - It is arguable that better quality emanates when you put 100% of your mind to something.

 

[Bernard]

Correct Bernard. I don't multi-task - never have. I don't know if I have to learn though - It is arguable that better quality emanates when you put 100% of your mind to something.

Adam, can you at least have a nice glass of wine while listening to music, or do you have to drink your wine in complete silence ?

 

[gordonmenninger]

good one, Bernard! I was not talking about playing music at very loud levels, but at least at background levels. THey are trying to sell "sound" and you would think that when you walk in that should be evident.

I am also a multitasker - you have to be these days... When I sit in my listening chair i usually am reading on my iPad 2 while listening to music...

 

[amey01]

Adam, can you at least have a nice glass of wine while listening to music, or do you have to drink your wine in complete silence ?

mmm - got me there.