Happened to be in Chicago for a business trip with a couple of others from work with a little extra time so thought I would stop in at a couple of stores and see what they have on display. I was not really looking for anything at all just thought it would be good to converse with people that are in the business, listen to a few tracks on a totally different system then mine and maybe even learn a few things. Originally had three stores in mind but one is not open every day so moved on to visiting two. I've seen both at Axpona a few times now. Chicago is a big city would expect bigger assortment of products, nice sound rooms etc. Well what I saw and experienced was not at all what I was expecting.
First up was Quintessence Audio: Walked in told the only person in the room where we were from etc. and just wanted to start a conversation. The store is single story building with one main room and three sound rooms but the whole building was actually smaller then we had expected. The sales guy did not even get up, never said welcome and seemed actually disinterested. Also never asked what we maybe interested in, our systems etc. Maybe since we are from WI he had and issue who knows. Frankly not all that fond of Chicago either but hey it is what it is. So looked around they had three listening rooms one being updated and then two others with equipment. One was the higher end of the two is the one that we concentrated on. In the room were AR mono amps(these had tubes), AR preamp, dCS DAC two piece, Nordost Odin 2 cables mostly with a few Valhalla 2 mixed in and mid line Wilson speakers. So a pretty high end set up. Also the room was nicely treated and of OK size. So asked if he could play a track from Tidal and he could so he played a track I requested and very familiar with. So as you might expect I was expecting to be pretty impressed. Well unfortunately we were not at all. The mid and highs were not bad but there was a lack of bass that I know this track had in it. Very little impact and lacked the "there" feeling. Also not impressed with the imaging either. So I asked him about the lack of bass along with were these full range speakers and he immediately got defensive commenting that these speakers are real neutral (as if that somehow makes up for it) and yes full range. After that we could see what little interest he may of had previously was now completely gone. So moved on.
Next up Audio Video Interiors: Much nicer set up with more rooms but not as good as we were expecting either. Were greeted at the door and they at least showed some interest. Tons of ML: 11, 13, 15 and Neolith. Lots of McIntosh, Anthem, Paradigm etc. Reviewed all the rooms which were all pretty small but all treated nicely. So settled in on the Neolith room with 611 mono amps and D1100 preamp/Dac. They played the same track and WOW what a difference. Tons more bass and the feeling that you were there. Would of been a lot better but the room was way to small for this set up and they admitted that before I even commented. Also they had a selection of Seura TV's in a mirror that was interesting. Never got into a great conversation tried but mostly answered questions but did not offer anything much beyond. Asked about the demise of the 210 and 212 but they said interestingly enough they don't sell them yet they had tons of ML. Go figure. They offered no explanation. So a better experience and a store with more variety but also seemed like they were just going through the paces and were not sad to see us exit. Guess I can't blame them we had no interested in purchasing anything just looking for conversation in the industry which we did little.
This is such a small audio community but egos run high and apparently if you are from WI we are not all that welcome either. I had a similar experience in Japan with salespeople that just seem to be at work but busy doing really nothing. Apparently unless you wave a big check as you enter they just pretty much ignore you as they go back to doing nothing. Just thankful for running into Shawn at Da Vinci Media in little old Milwaukee.
First up was Quintessence Audio: Walked in told the only person in the room where we were from etc. and just wanted to start a conversation. The store is single story building with one main room and three sound rooms but the whole building was actually smaller then we had expected. The sales guy did not even get up, never said welcome and seemed actually disinterested. Also never asked what we maybe interested in, our systems etc. Maybe since we are from WI he had and issue who knows. Frankly not all that fond of Chicago either but hey it is what it is. So looked around they had three listening rooms one being updated and then two others with equipment. One was the higher end of the two is the one that we concentrated on. In the room were AR mono amps(these had tubes), AR preamp, dCS DAC two piece, Nordost Odin 2 cables mostly with a few Valhalla 2 mixed in and mid line Wilson speakers. So a pretty high end set up. Also the room was nicely treated and of OK size. So asked if he could play a track from Tidal and he could so he played a track I requested and very familiar with. So as you might expect I was expecting to be pretty impressed. Well unfortunately we were not at all. The mid and highs were not bad but there was a lack of bass that I know this track had in it. Very little impact and lacked the "there" feeling. Also not impressed with the imaging either. So I asked him about the lack of bass along with were these full range speakers and he immediately got defensive commenting that these speakers are real neutral (as if that somehow makes up for it) and yes full range. After that we could see what little interest he may of had previously was now completely gone. So moved on.
Next up Audio Video Interiors: Much nicer set up with more rooms but not as good as we were expecting either. Were greeted at the door and they at least showed some interest. Tons of ML: 11, 13, 15 and Neolith. Lots of McIntosh, Anthem, Paradigm etc. Reviewed all the rooms which were all pretty small but all treated nicely. So settled in on the Neolith room with 611 mono amps and D1100 preamp/Dac. They played the same track and WOW what a difference. Tons more bass and the feeling that you were there. Would of been a lot better but the room was way to small for this set up and they admitted that before I even commented. Also they had a selection of Seura TV's in a mirror that was interesting. Never got into a great conversation tried but mostly answered questions but did not offer anything much beyond. Asked about the demise of the 210 and 212 but they said interestingly enough they don't sell them yet they had tons of ML. Go figure. They offered no explanation. So a better experience and a store with more variety but also seemed like they were just going through the paces and were not sad to see us exit. Guess I can't blame them we had no interested in purchasing anything just looking for conversation in the industry which we did little.
This is such a small audio community but egos run high and apparently if you are from WI we are not all that welcome either. I had a similar experience in Japan with salespeople that just seem to be at work but busy doing really nothing. Apparently unless you wave a big check as you enter they just pretty much ignore you as they go back to doing nothing. Just thankful for running into Shawn at Da Vinci Media in little old Milwaukee.
