Holt Hill Audio — Local services in Andover

The single most bizarre retail experience of my life... Found the item online that I wanted, researched the store and it didn't seem like it was the kind of place that needed an advance appointment or anything, so I drove to Andover during my lunch break. Found the place a bit off the beaten path, and walked in.

There were two guys chatting at the entrance, and me, in the entire store. Neither of them looked at me or acknowledged my presence in any way. No problem - I walked around the shop for a bit. I checked out the item I planned to buy: looked great. All I needed was someone to ring me up for an easy sale. Still though, neither of these two guys said a word to me and kept chatting away with each other. I started thinking, if they are employees, maybe they didn't see me? So I stood for awhile about 10 feet away. Still nothing. Then I realized, oh - these aren't employees... They must just be two guys talking about gear. Embarrassed about standing around for so long when they weren't even the right people, I said to them, verbatim: "Excuse me, do you know if there's someone that works here that can help me out with something?" WELL..... It turns out one of these guys was VERY MUCH an employee, and VERY MUCH did not like being interrupted, as he spun around, came up to me aggressively, and said (again, verbatim): "YEAH, I WORK HERE, AND I'M WITH A CUSTOMAH. HOW RUDE ARE YOU??" I was completely taken aback. Like in shock. This guy was unhinged. You would've thought I dropped a deuce in the middle of the showroom floor or something. Geez guy, if you're so sensitive about being interrupted (by me - ALSO A CUSTOMER), maybe give a nod to acknowledge the person's existence? Is that so much to ask? Like "hi, be with you shortly". Or even, "I'm pretty busy with another customer, do you mind waiting 20 minutes?" You know, SALES? No longer in the mood for the gear I planned to buy or this guy's power trip, I told him what to do and left. Went home and gave my money online to an out of town store.

So to recap: Neat store that initially, I was looking forward to giving a bunch of money to over the next few years. However, needless to say I will never set foot in there again. My bad for saying "excuse me" and following it with a logical...

WOW! What a service, knowledge and flexibility from Holt Hill, and pure joy at my end. 😊 I have longed for the Snell XA-Reference speakers since I became aware of their existence, but they were never sold in Norway, and hardly in Europe at all. When Holt Hill Audio announced I just had to take the chance, but was quite anxious because of the distance, shipping, and money transactions. Long story short, this went perfectly well. Brian was 100% connected and answered all my questions and wishes. I can safely recommend Holt Hill for all trade, and - yes also - across the seas to Europe and Norway. :) I even got a very good offer for the center speaker, and I bought a few sets of their own fine-tuned Prosper speaker cables. The center, Snell XA2900 is also marvelous and went far beyond my wildest expectations.

It was a sparkling cold January day with a magical bluish light. It all got even more magical when the shipment from Holt Hill Audio appeared just as I had finished shoveling a half meter of snow from the yard. The shipment is close to 300kg(!) so a big pallet was unloaded from the truck.

I've loved the sound of Snell since the 80's when a neighbor had the Ci’s (the ones with the slanted top, I still have them..) I bought these from him later on, and have worked my way up to the XA90’s which I had for over 20 years before Holt Hill realized the dream of the big ship itself. I would never believe that the XA90's should appear small in any circumstances, but as you see from the pictures, they are actually a noticeable little brother. 😊 As you also see, I have no dedicated listening room – yet. But Dirac Live makes my living room close to perfection.

Thanks again to Holt Hill and Brian and Brian, but especially Brian with whom I had the most to do. :) Strongly recommended. Here you and your needs are the first priority from start to finish. And for you out there in the big world, who are sceptic to make the final step; THIS IS SAFE INTERANTIONAL SHIPPING AND...

I met Brian remotely in 2019 when I was looking to send a pair of Acoustic Research AR10pi speakers that I'd saved from an eWaste bin to someone who could repair them; the cases were broken from being heaved into the bin. I found Holt Hill online and called them up when I learned that they restore old hifi components, and AR was a specialty. I'm sure my offer to box/ship these speakers at no cost (aside from shipping charges) may have seemed suspect at the time. But I convinced Brian of my sincerity and eventually boxed/shipped them, as well as a collection of drivers pulled from a pair of AR90s that I also saved from he bin. Since then I've purched 4-sets of speakers from him, including 2-sets received just a week ago, all shipped across the US to my home in California, all without a hitch. I'm always looking to do so again because the deals are always fair, and I trust Brian completely (and I have a speaker fetish, it seems). And it's mutual - some years ago I found a set of 10pi locally that Brian ended up wanting for the restoration of the broken pair I shipped earlier (as the cases were too damaged in the end, but drivers good), so I made a ~4-hour round trip to pick them up, boxed them, and shipped them to Holt. I like this relationship a lot and suggest it reflects the sort of principled folks I and many others like doing...