ListenUp® — Local services in Albuquerque

I want to give a huge thank you to Pierce at the Albuquerque ListenUp. I bought my Technics 1500 turntable and Rotel integrated amp from ListenUp about 18 months ago and recently found myself struggling to enjoy vinyl through my system (Klipsch floorstanders and an SVS sub). I had been using an Ortofon Blue cartridge which, while respected, never played nice with my setup. Records often sounded harsh, overly bright, and fatiguing.

I tried everything I could think of: high pass filters, extra dampening, cables, a separate phono preamp, endless hours on hi fi forums. Nothing worked.

When I brought the system back in, Pierce was patient and never made me feel crazy for chasing these issues. He fitted the new Sumiko Moonstone for me and went the extra mile to make sure it was installed and aligned perfectly. The result has been transformative. The Moonstone eliminated every problem I was having. The brightness mellowed beautifully, the “sss” sounds are smooth and natural, and even records I thought had pressing defects now play perfectly. The bass is full, the midrange is rich, and the highs are open without ever being harsh.

After months of anxiety about my vinyl system, I can now pull out any record and simply enjoy it. The Moonstone has made my collection come alive again, organic and balanced in the best old school way. If anyone out there has a similar setup and feels frustrated with too much brightness or harshness, I strongly recommend the Sumiko Moonstone. And I strongly recommend working with Pierce. His knowledge, patience, and care turned my listening experience...

I've shopped in Listen Up 3-4 times but never bought anything. On this visit I purchased two SVS SB-2000 subs. The reason for my purchase was the exceptional demo experience that Patrick provided. There was no pressure, no BS about unfounded audio theories; it was about identifying the product that met my need and explaining the way my best options differ from each other. This was precisely the right way to move a customer from showrooming to buying, especially for vendors that offer a direct sales alternative.

I want to especially compliment Patrick for his patience and flexibility. My friend and I are both electrical engineers. Patrick didn't elicit this information and we didn't offer it. Selling goods that have detailed technical specifications to guys like us is challenging. Patrick did it just right. He met all our requests. He offered product information but stayed quiet if we weren't being interactive (i.e. We already knew what he was telling us). He even left us alone for periods of time so we could talk to each other unrestrained.

I've never had this good of an experience in any high-end AV store anywhere. I'll be back to see...

Very disappointing visit. I’ve been looking to upgrade my headphones, and one of the reasons for my trip to Albuquerque was to listen to headphones at Listenup. Imagine my disappointment when I got there to be told they don’t stock any wired headphones. The person I spoke with told me they could order for me, but ordering from them and then having to drive almost 500 miles round trip doesn’t help accomplish my goal of listening to some different headphones and deciding what I like best.

As a general rule I like to deal with local (or “local” when it’s in Albuquerque) businesses, to help keep them in business so they are around when I need help making decisions like this. When you combine the 500 mile round trip to pick them up if I ordered, with the fact I can get any headphones delivered to my home within a few days, there is no incentive at all to do business with them.

Based on the other reviews, I’m sure if they meet your needs they’ll do a good job for you. But in my case they were simply a waste of...