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From: sethb@Morgan.COM (Seth Breidbart)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: Re: American trip
Message-ID: <9938@uwm.edu>
Date: 5 Mar 91 13:58:00 GMT
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Originator: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu


>  I am going to be visiting the N.Y. area this summer.
>      1) What are the good shops to visit

Some comments on a couple of New York City high-end dealers.

Several months ago, I bought a pair of Apogee Stage speakers from Sound
by Singer.  About a month ago, I wanted to get the Apogee stands for
them.

I called Sound by Singer and asked about price/availability.  They
said that the stands were $300, and they were in stock.  I said fine,
I'd be over later that day.  When I arrived, I found the stands were
not available (they hadn't been sold in between; when I called,
someone had thought they were in stock and hadn't bothered to check).
They said they could order them for me.  They also said the price was
$350.  I said thanks but no thanks.  Sound by Singer is also a great
place to buy $200 interconnects and hear all sorts of reasons why
they improve the music that would make an electrical engineer laugh or
cry.

I then went to Innovative Audio.  They didn't have the stands in stock
(but they knew it), but they could order them.  I asked if they could
have them drop-shipped; they couldn't, but they'd send them to me UPS
when they arrived, for an additional $20.  I agreed, and paid for them.

Three weeks later, I still hadn't received the stands, so I phoned to
ask what was happening.  The stands were in their warehouse, they'd
neglected to ship them; they said they'd ship them the next day (UPS
had just left).  That's today, so I don't know if they did.

For some equipment, Uncle Steve's often has the best prices.  They
don't carry much high-end stuff, though (except for consumables such
as blank tapes).  They are purely "cash and carry", but they are
legitimate, unlike some of their competitors (6th Ave Electronics
comes to mind).

Also, you should be aware that in the US sales tax is added to the
sticker price, so something marked $100 will end up costing you
$108.25 (in New York City; sales tax varies).  I believe that in the
UK, VAT is included in the sticker price.

Seth			sethb@fid.morgan.com