Speaker Shop — Local services in Town of Amherst

I wasn’t going to leave a review because the shop and I came to a somewhat amicable resolution to our issue and I wanted to leave well enough alone, but about a month later I have to put this info out there to save someone the same experience that I had.

TLDR; the vintage turntable audio repair service is incredibly dishonest and ripped me off.

I brought a German made dual record player in that I had been working on for a diagnostic on the speed control knob. It didn’t switch from 33 to 45. Everything else was working great. I also asked for the parts to be lubed as is regular maintenance. They informed me it was $100 for the diagnostic - this $100 covered up to $150 in parts and repair IF it could be repaired. Ok no problem.

They call me a week later and say. Hey. The turntable can NOT be repaired. There’s missing and broken parts and they are unavailable. So I ask what ones and they said they didn’t know (they don’t do the repairs, they send them out). Nevertheless the turntable was in the same exact condition as the day I dropped it off and I was out $100. But they said I could pick it up. I asked about the credit and the cheapest comparable turntable was $700. So that wasn’t going to work for me. I thought on it for a couple days and I called back and I said listen for the $100 can you at very least supply me with the part numbers for the missing and broken parts and lubricate the machine as we had previously agreed on? They didn’t want to but I heard the manager/owner approve it over the phone in the background.

They call me back a week later and they tried to charge me AN ADDITIONAL $46 for “bench time” for the service that they approved the week before under the umbrella of $100 I had already paid. They never mentioned this on the previous call. They got nasty with me on the phone and I gave it right back. I told them I wasn’t paying another dime.

So I show up. I get the turntable. They DONT charge me the $46 extra and they DID supply the parts list. At this point I’m just going to leave well enough alone. Here’s the kicker. There were three items on the missing broken unavailable parts list. The first one…was NOT broken because I had previously replaced it with a brand new part. The second part was an $8 piece of metal readily available on eBay and was indeed missing from my turntable. The third part was also intact and not broken or missing. So the list was pretty much fabricated except for one part.

Let me tell you that I ordered this $8 clip spring from eBay and had it installed in that turntable in less than 25 minutes and the turntable was 100% working and fully restored to its former glory. I’m not a vintage turntable repair guy. Just a regular dude who has NEVER done this before. It was so simple to fix.

The truth of the matter is that their “experienced” tech probably didn’t want to deal with it or order the part or didn’t think it was worth fixing or was in on the scam they run at the speaker shop.

But the bottom line is that he lied about missing or broken or unavailable parts, they took my money, tried to charge me MORE money, and did absolutely nothing to help me. I had to help myself. So I guess I paid $100 for the knowledge of the ONE missing $8 clip spring that this tech couldn’t be bothered to fix. It’s actually disgusting and dishonest ESPECIALLY since I came to them after being ripped off by another vintage repair guy. And they knew it too because I told them the story. I just don’t know why they wouldn’t want to fix this since it was such a simple issue. They were happier telling me it was non repairable and either keep my money or upsell me to a much much more expensive turntable.

At any rate she is working beautifully now. No thanks for speaker shop.

So I hope that $100 was worth it speaker shop. You are extremely dishonest. I caution anyone reading this to find another shop for your repairs because if they did it to me they will do it to you. You can’t believe a thing they say. Rip...

Paul came by yesterday afternoon to get my new Anthem amplifier set up to use its ARC room correction feature. He knew exactly what to do, and had it all done in an hour or so. The system sounded pretty good beforehand, but really splendid afterwards -- my sincere thanks to Paul for making the magic happen!

In the shop, Mike listened to me, understood my audio needs right away, and pointed me at the Anthem amplifier to meet my budget constraints. I'm grateful for his expert help.

And I am grateful, too, for the time that Mike took when I was in shopping for speakers -- my new Sonus faber Sonetto VIIIs are wonderful! I wasn't sure that I could get such fine speakers within my budget, but Mike let me listen to several that would have done nicely. The Sonus fabers combine great sound with equally great looks, all packaged in a beautiful cabinet, just light enough that I can even move them around my listening room by myself -- at my age, that is no small thing!

I had fun, too, chatting with Ed about some of the old-time stereo hands in Buffalo. He also had the interconnects that I needed; one-stop shopping did it for my sound system!

All in all, I am extremely pleased with the help from the guys in the Speaker Shop, and will certainly be back when my audio system needs its...

There are very few stores today that offer the experience, customer service and know how the Speaker Shop provides. I have been a customer for more than thirty years and I've never been disappointed. They have never tried to oversell me, but they've always taken the time to make sure I am aware of various options. I've purchased home theatre and stereo equipment there through the years and I've always appreciated that I've never felt rushed into buying anything. Also, they have always been very fair when it comes to pricing and very honest and up front about what you're buying and how different pieces of equipment compare with one another. They have a wide assortment of the best (quality wise) equipment. After having also shopped at Audio Craft in Cleveland several years ago, developing a relationship with the folks at the Speaker Shop was like a breath of fresh air. I wouldn't go anywhere else. I high recommend that if you're in the market for a home theatre or great stereo you check them out first. I doubt you'll go...