Audio Vision San Francisco — Local services in San Francisco

My search for an entry-level/mid-level turntable setup is over, thanks to Antonio and his team at Audio Vision. I have been wanting to give vinyl a try for years and after attending a concert where the artist sold his album at the merch table, I decided to buy his vinyl and finally buy my analog setup.

This led to countless hours of google searching, which ended up turning fruitless. For a basic budget system (talking less than $500) there are ample recommendations for a full system. But for anything past that, there is a void of good information. That, along with audio equipment being very subjective led me to look locally for information. This is where Antonio comes in.

Customer service is a lost art. Antonio seems to be old school in his ways. When I first walked into Audio Vision I was quickly greeted and asked if I had any questions. I had no intention of buying anything that day but he was happy to answer any questions I had and let me browse around. I must have gone back to Audio Vision 3 times in doing my research to see if they had the brands of equipment I was reading about online, as well as to get a recommendation of what he thought of the items I was looking at. He always gave me great information and pointed me to two or three different items he thought would work for my specific situation.

Finally, on my 4th trip, I had completely settled on a turntable and was deciding between which preamp and speakers to buy. I had a few in mind and told Antonio which ones I was looking at. He told me to schedule an appointment and they could set up the equipment for me to do an A/B test back to back so I could decide for myself (over online reviews) which system sounded better to my ears. I thought this was great and told him I would be back in an hour to pick up the turntable I just bought (because they had to install a cartridge for me).

Lo and behold, when I returned to pick up my turntable, they surprised me and had the full setup ready to go including implementing my turntable, so I would get an accurate impression of how everything would sound together. I was able to sit there as long as I wanted trying out different albums and listening to the speakers to see which one I truly enjoyed better. Talk about customer service! Hearing the full set up together helped me make my decision easier rather than going home and reading a million more reviews over the different products.

After I bought everything I realized the speaker stands were not in stock and would ship and be there in about a week. I asked Antonio if he knew of any stores that sold speaker stands that I could buy in the meantime until mine arrived and he let me borrow a pair of speaker stands to use until mine arrived! No other store would include this level of customer service that I can think of. And since I had booked an appointment to listen to different speakers he told me I could still come in and listen to a system that cost over 10x of what I just spent on my setup if I were interested. I definitely took him up on that offer and brought in my own vinyl to try on that setup. Let me tell you it was a dream!

During no time did I feel pressured to make a purchase or felt like they didn't want to answer my questions about any and everything audio related. I would definitely recommend anyone looking for audio gear to check them out! I will definitely be back whenever I decide to...

"F* OFF AND DIE IN A DITCH" -- Taylor, Audio Vision SF Salesman

I recently became interested in hi-fi audio and stopped in the store on 12/9/17 after finding this place on Yelp. I was interested in spending around $2000 on a starter system to start easing into this world.

I should have read the reviews in more detail, as many 1-star reviews have documented a pattern of a hostile environment with condescending and dismissive salespeople. This would have saved me some time on this Saturday.

I walked in and introduced myself to the gentleman seated behind the sales desk - a poorly kempt bro in his mid-30s named Taylor. I explained that I was looking for a system with headphones in the $2000 range. He barely acknowledged my presence and dismissively told me to wait while he came up with some ideas.

I stood by the front display and asked him what some of the vacuum tube amps on display were. He was extremely condescending and blew me off saying "Don't worry about it... that's an $8000 headphone amp."

At this point, all my excitement about exploring this hobby evaporated. I thought this was a very rude response to an obvious noob who was clearly trying to learn about audio equipment as a beginner, but was willing to spend $2000 at a business. I asked if it would be possible to see what some of these systems sounded like.

His response - "would you go into a Ferrari dealership and ask to drive a Ferrari?"

I was really not expecting this amount of attitude from a salesman when I was trying to give them business, so I asked why he was giving me so much attitude.

At this point, Taylor quickly changed from agitated to aggressively belligerent, and stood up and started charging at me. He blew by me screaming at me to "F* OFF, WE DON'T WANT YOUR BUSINESS, GO DIE IN A DITCH"

I was completely shocked and abhorred by this behavior, as this seemed like someone who had some serious personal problems and anger management issues. I would imagine in any business that this kind of behavior would be grounds for immediate dismissal.

There was another older gentleman seated at the other sales desk who appeared to be just as shocked.

Anyway, he ran off to the back and brought another guy out while still verbally assaulting me, and at this point I simply walked out.

This was by far the most shocking retail experience I've ever had. As long as they have Taylor screaming obscenities and charging at customers, their business will fail, not to mention, open themselves up to legal liability.

I'll be happily giving another store my business, and hopefully others will avoid this place and spare themselves some verbal abuse and time wasted. The ironic thing is that this entry purchase would have likely paved the way for more substantial purchases $20,000+, but this experience completely ruined any possibility of any future business at this...

Audio Vision SF is simply the best place for audiophile equipment!

Here is my reply to them after my most recent order:

Happy Holidays Gentlemen!!

I have been a customer since the Early 2000's when you were on Pine Street (I think that was the street LOL) when I purchased my Simm Audio i-3, a pair of Triangle Celius speakers with Truth Link speaker wires, a ARCAM Diva Disk Player and a Hitachi Plasma TV. When we 'inked the deal' both Antonio and Randolph sang a little song and danced a little jig singing something to the effect "the sound in Santa Rosa just got a lot better."

Now I don't know if you do those celebration song and dances any more, but I am doing one after I hooked up my recent purchase from you all : )

I must admit that I have not been keeping up on the whole cable technological advances, and was suspect that power cables could affect the sound in any discernable way, but the two 'new' Blue Haven power cables that I just hooked up, one to the REL T/9X, and one to the 'new' ifI Power Elite that is powering the Chord Qutest DAC, have changed all of that forever.

We just returned from vacation, with fresh ears, having heard a lot of lo-res xmas music etc., and found the box waiting for me at the door. Hooked it all up and put the Monday Night Football game on mute and started playing selections from Roon over my now 'older' system, and "wow" there was a very distinct improvement to everything!

I can hear more distinct staging in vocals, almost like different layers or FPA filters activating as the vocal pitch changes in range; and more of everything.

My entire vinyl hi-res rips of the Beatle's Blue Box Polydor Pressings just took flight, and even regular Red Book CD stuff (from rips and qobuz) sound great! Paul's Bass sustain on 'Something' has that superb sound we all love so much, and now it's even better.

So, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You for my Christmas Presents to myself ( yea me! ), and to Amrit for being ready to go late on the Sunday of the last day of the Nordost Sale!!

Looking forward to my 'new' retirement $y$tem that I should be ready to purchase in about 2-years if all goes well....see you then (or sooner : )

If you need any audio or vision equipment you can trust me when I tell you Antonio Long and Randolph Johnson can help you find the best sound or visual equipment that has the best sound/look for the best prices.

They root out the best and leave the rest behind so you don't have to!!

If you have not visited their store in San Francisco, CA then the next time you are in town you owe yourself a treat to go and visit the store, just spend a few minutes listening to the line of headphones they have to get started, and you will be on your way!

Enjoy, life is too short for...