Natural Sound — Attraction in Framingham

Amazing experience. Field trip to a high-end toy store for this adult.

I stumbled upon Natural Sound when reading a review for a set of speakers I was curious about on an A/V forum. Customer seemed very happy with the service received, so I proceeded to Google the name. I saw they carried brands I was interested in (Focal, Revel and more), but were located 75 miles from home. I had Good Friday off, wavered back and forth about spending a good portion of my day in the car and bit the bullet and took the ride. Such an excellent decision.

First off, don't let the outside of the building fool you. I parked in the 'back', but walked around front to the entrance. Inside, I was greeted by two floors of listening rooms (4 or 5 in total), a TON of gear and a very friendly staff. Couple of the rooms were setup for home theater, while others were dedicated to 2 channel listening. All rooms had a variety of gear. One smaller room had a number of used items on sale along with a few computer desktop audio setups.

I had the pleasure of working with Mark, who right off the bat was extremely warm and friendly and had the appearance of being knowledgeable. Looks and first impressions were not deceiving. I explained my budget, my needs and my listening preferences to Mark and he took me down the rabbit hole. Most stores would have started off at the higher end of my budget, but Mark actually started by setting up a couple pairs of speakers below my budget. Mark took the time to ensure the speakers were setup and positioned properly before demoing a number of tracks for me (started off with tracks from Roger Waters Amused to Death - great choice, Mark). Over the course of the next few hours, we bounced around rooms, talked about all things audio and listened to a variety of tracks on a number of different speakers (some well out of my budget for fun - bringing smiles to both our faces). Never once did I feel like I was working with a 'salesman'. Mark was an enthusiast doing what he loved and never pressured me into buying or pushing one product over another. In fact, I walked out with nothing more than a business card and a copy of the playlist Mark was working through during his demos (thanks again, Mark). I can tell you this though, if I decide to go with any of the brands that Natural Sound offers, I will surely be buying from them.

Bottom Line: This was an experience I will never forget and would recommend anyone in the market for audio/video gear to take a trip to this store, regardless of how far of a ride it may be for you. Truly exceptional. You...

I have been a customer at this marvelous store for probably close to 20 years. I can't begin to share with you how exceptional, especially in this increasingly homogenized retail world, Natural Sound truly is.

Whether assisted by the owner (Jim), Peter, Larry, Malcolm, or others, I have always been treated extraordinarily well, and I am a relatively low end customer, in terms of my budget and what I have purchased. Nonetheless, I have always felt "listened to," respected, and never pressured to purchase any specific products or brands, whatever the prices.

I happened to stop by the store yesterday (Saturday April 23rd 2016) to purchase a set of headphones. I thought I might investigate some other "cans," as well as options for headphone amplifiers.

I was there for probably four hours, trying on different sets of headphones, listening to speakers, chatting with Jim, Peter, and Larry about various products, and leaving--to put it mildly--extraordinarily satisfied, not just with my purchases, but also with what I learned, namely new knowledge of various options for adding to or revamping my home audio system, etc, which I couldn't possibly have garnered from the internet, despite my research before stopping by the store.

I have absolutely and unequivocally, NEVER been pressured to purchase any specific product or shell out any specific amount in my entire experience of working with the talented, knowledgeable, and always kind sales staff. I truly don't know of any other store--not just audio-related--where I have been treated anywhere nearly as well as a customer. I happen to be a physician and pride myself on serving my patients well and also communicating well with them. The folks at Natural Sound exemplify in their day to day treatment of customers what I aspire to do as a "doc" on behalf of my patients.

So I left yesterday with a bounce in my step, extremely pleased with how nicely I was treated and with what I learned, and also with a menu of options for how I might upgrade my home system in various ways if and when ready. When I got into my car, I couldn't believe the time, because the four hours there went by so quickly and were such a pleasure!

In conclusion, I cannot possibly say enough good things about the folks at Natural Sound. They are, to a person, extraordinarily well-informed, kind, patient, and anything and everything BUT about trying to sell you costly products.

It just doesn't get...

The worse customer service I've ever dealt with! I was essentially asked to leave the store because I didn't make a purchase right away. They aren't attentive and they leave you hanging as soon as another customer comes in the door and they push you into buying right there and then.

I asked to demo a few headphones with Peter whom kindly obliged my request. I couldn't make up my mind with what I wanted but he helped me narrow down what I was looking for. He invited me to come over next week to demo some speakers and I thought we had built a great rapport.

I drove the following week from my home in Fall River to Framingham (which is over an hour drive) only to be treated like a POS! As soon as I told Peter I had bought headphones elsewhere because they were cheaper he treated me like I was no longer welcome in the store. I am a paying customer! I would have found something else I liked and bought something. I wasn't there to waste anybodies time and I was treated as such. I was looking to demo something else before committing to the full asking price which was well beyond MSRP.

Do yourself a favor and go to Audio Video Therapy in Nashua, NH. They're a bit further away but their customer service is top notch. Go see Tom who knows how to talk to his customers while they're making decisions. Tom even let me bring in my reference headphones to compare to what he had in stock. There's no pressure to buy there, they're more friendly to beginners and they let you take their equipment home. This place didn't even have a way to stream audio so you could try different music!

I've never been treated this poorly by any establishment just because of a purchasing decision made elsewhere. I understand businesses like this are running on really tight profit margins but if they act this rude and unprofessional towards customers then they'll soon be out of business! Peter acted like me saving an extra $150 elsewhere was going to bankrupt them when I saw them making sales of over $7000 and selling systems under $2k their asking price/MSRP. I'll never...