Skylabs Audio — Attraction in West Des Moines

Skylabs is a phenomenal hidden gem in the Valley Junction neighborhood. The shop is absolutely brimming with immaculate equipment - turntables, receivers, and speakers spanning decades, truly original and beautifully restored console and cabinet style record player systems, and a super cool curated record collection to boot.

Kevin helped us while we were in the shop, and despite being busy with a rush of customers, was attentive, very helpful, and friendly. He took time to inform, educate, and demonstrate products for us, letting us hear multiple records on the record player we were interested in.

We went home as very happy customers with a new-to-us late 50's dual-cabinet Setchell Carlson console style record player in beautiful condition, and a little history lesson on when, where, and how this and a couple other record players were made. Kevin had personally restored ours to its original glory and added a few modern features to complement the existing system.

I've personally never owned a record player or turntable of any kind, and thanks to Kevin thoroughly showing us how to run it in-store to make sure we had it down, I left with a firm understanding of how it operated. We felt like valued customers and appreciated the...

So, I am disappointed that this place has so many positive reviews, and I hate to have to leave such a bad one. I am no slouch when it comes to analog audio - have been at it for 40+ years. I would normally do general maintenance myself, but we were in a huge move, than renovation of a house that is still ongoing. I thought it best to bring my 1250 in for a cleaning when we were moving. I brought it here. I made certain to point out all the 'noisy' parts to be addressed. I picked up my 1250 a few weeks later, but it had to go right into the box as we were working on the house. Not until now, 9mo later was I able to hook it back up only to discover that the main issue I brought up was not addressed. The 2 filter buttons require a full removal of the front and is likely why they were not cleaned. Skylabs reply took the '30-day' approach. everyone knows filter buttons do not gunk up in 9mo. Everything else was noise free but these 2 button switches. PP will not help us because of the new 180 day limit. I might as well have burned 275$. VERY...

Purchased a NAD 3120 at the end of December, I.e., about 45 days ago. Sounded great while it worked. Less than 5 hours of use and it died. I emailed the shop 5 days ago with no response. I called today and was first told to bring it in. However, the gentleman I spoke with quickly checked with Kevin and back stepped, saying that the unit came with a 30 day warranty and was not something they would service. If I dropped in they could check to see if it was a fuse, which of course I checked. Buying vintage electronics is always risky, and I am OK with short warranties. However, it is rare for a shop to sell a unit that they refuse to service, especially without telling the customer.

This has been a terrible experience, I will never purchase from SkyLabs again! I strongly recommend you get warranty and service information in writing if purchasing from this shop. Don’t be like me and assume that SkyLabs will service...