Now defunct stores of the '80s,'90s to present

  This was certainly the most exciting and active period for me, I often took equipment home instead of paychecks!

     The  '80s saw many a chain store go in and out of business, Sun begat Silo begat Yes electronics, Revelations begat Sounds Great and we certainly can't dismiss Lechmere. These were the pre-cursors to the modern day Circuit City and Best Buy stores. Successful for a while, the true enthusiast wanted a higher level of information and more sophisticated choices than the local big box stores could give. Radio Shack eventually became the "Rat Shack" as the quality of their products diminished over the years.

   There were many respectable Hi Fi Salons in Rochester. To name a few:


           Ron's Discount Stereo aka  RDS Audio aka T.H.E. Audio Threshold aka Esoteric Audio (Their high end shop).  T.H.E. stood for Total Hearing Environment.

These could be closer to '70s than '80s, but I will include them here.

       I worked there from about the mid to the late '70s, the owner Ron Yestrebi was a tyrant. About 5' 4" in his platform shoes he made going to work a real chore every day! Six days a week, and you would call him with the store figures at the end of the day. Our fault if nobody came in the store that day. He was almost forced out of business by a scam artist he partnered with that promised him the sun, moon and the stars. He was going to be on the board of directors for Maxell tape! Basically trying to assume his assets he won because the guy never had a license to do business in New York state.


  Three locations, Greece,Pittsford, and Palmyra with another partner store in Geneva and Esoteric in Webster.

   Major lines were Cerwin Vega, Philips, Presage speakers, Miida turntables, Acoustiphase speakers, MX receivers (Magnavox, fire hazards!) , Audiolab/Impact (Polish speakers with a ridiculously high mark up), Onkyo and bits and pieces of whatever else he could get his hands on. There were a pair of large Advents on display that were modified to sound bad compared to the store's speakers. He also did bogus modifications to DCM Time Windows. They sounded way too good for $660., he figured out a way to get them up to $800.

  Esoteric Audio was a fascinating and arrogant store run by Lee Perkins. They had Quad, Dayton Wright, Gale, Linn Sondek, Tannoy Sae, Hartley and Radford amongst other things. I inherited this store after it closed and had a field day with selling what was leftover!


   The Sound Chamber

  Owned by Nick Desidario , they also had locations in Greece and Pittsford. Some good friends worked there, and a few other dealers got there start working there. More on this later.

   Their major lines were Crown, Bose, ESS, Dual, Sony and Advent. Pretty much the mortal enemies of T.H.E. Audio Threshold.


  J.B. Sound

This was my longest tenure in the business, owned by John Vella and Bill Kelliher. Known as the nice guys, we didn't have any battles with anyone.
  I was there right up until the late '80s,as the store manager for the last couple of years.

   We were large dealers for Klipsch, Bang and Olufsen, McIntosh, Yamaha, Nakamichi, JBL, Dahlquist, Kenwood, Onkyo, Denon,  Advent and Technics. Other smaller lesser known brands like Cizek, Apt Holman, Avid, and Phase Research Speakers. Flirting with some high end- Sota turntables, Threshold, Forte, Perreaux,  B&W, Tandberg and Snell speakers.

   I mentioned earlier in this blog how the name was decided upon, Bill basically ran the Monroe ave. store and John the West Ridge rd.. They flipped a coin,whomever won became the president. The other had his initial come first.Sadly, Bill passed on a few years back and the funeral was a venerable "who's who" of ghosts of HiFi past. Many reps that I had not seen in years were there. John was like a father to me, and I visited him many times after I left.

   A few of the previous JB employees are still in the business, more on this later.

    Stereo One

    A small specialty shop in Brighton owned by John Warren.

   Dealer for Audio Research, Dahlquist, Rogers, Hafler, Linn and Acoustat. I bought quite a fair amount of equipment from him, always gave me a great deal.


   Gala Sound

      Probably put the biggest dent in other dealers pockets in the high end segment, very aggressive!

    Jim Gala's claim to fame was as a jazz pianist and certified acoustician. Manic Depressive, he also had    trouble keeping help. Many of the people I worked with had previously worked there.

   A huge Kef dealer, he also had B&W, Nad, Tandberg, Oracle,Luxman, Belles  and his own house brand of speakers, Soundwave. He actually did quite well with the Soundwaves, later selling the brand to a Canadian company Vero Research.


     The Sound Concept


   Probably my favorite store of all time, owned by three former Sound Chamber employees: Art Perrielo, Jim Pennell and Bob Cesarini.  They had a very successful niche early on with high end car audio and installation, and grew to  very upscale and diverse product offerings. I bought a LOT of stuff from them!

   They were dealers for Audio Research, Mark Levinson, Linn, Nad, Apogee, Aragon, Acurus, PSB, Wilson Audio, Thiel, Mirage,Revel,Sonus Faber, JM Labs,Nakamichi, Project turntables, Chord electronics, VTL,Theta digital, Vidikron projectors , Proceed, Martin Logan and probably another dozen or so that I can't remember (gasp!).

    Art sadly passed on a few years ago, Jim is selling cars, and Bob is working at the Stereo Shop.


   Fairport Soundworks

             Or just Soundworks as they were known the last eight or nine years they were in business.


                Owned by Gary Gratzer and silent partner Bob King, the only real competition for the Sound Concept.

                  Gary had a bare bones basic NAD amp sitting there with the cover off as kind of a slam to them. I would swear he took even more parts out of it!

Dealers for B&W, Rotel,Classe, Marantz, Onkyo, Atlantic Technology,Integra, Totem, Cary tube amps, Musical Fidelity,Rega, Velodyne, Monitor Audio and quite a few other brands.

   Some very obscure stuff like the Scientific Fidelity Teslas and the Spica speakers made this a very interesting place. Physically the largest of the stores, a huge floor plan and three big sound rooms. Many Rochester veterans worked there through the years.



   Paul Heath Audio

             Paul was probably in the business longer than anybody, starting in the '70s and ending in the 2000's.

                 I don't think there is a product line he didn't have at least one of a one point or another! Each week you would find something new, better than what he had shown you the week before. Usually two or three of everything, then poof! Gone. Many of the products I have owned over the years had come from his store originally. Starting on State st. across from the Kodak office, he had several locations in  the area including Henrietta and eventually on Monroe ave with Mike Stroether , this is the last location I can remember. He was an importer for many of the products, and definitely a salesman. Didn't matter who you were, I was in the business and still got "the pitch" every time I went in there!

   He formed an early collaboration with Bob Palkovich with Merlin speakers when the company was in its infancy. These were extremely successful and continue to do well today.

  Paul is still kicking, still has stuff, and you will still see him around town from time to time.

                                     Ahhhhh, if only I could bring them all back.........