soulforged
Well-Known Member
I am in Chicago for a few days and since I had nothing better to do last Saturday I decided to pay MusicDirect a visit. Though they are primarily an online retailer, they have their office/warehouse in Chicago.
They are located a few blocks from downtown along with their sister company Mobile Fidelity. The place is non-descript with no signs. Just the building number scrawled on the door. I walked past a couple of times before deciding to take a chance and walk in.
The office doubles up as a warehouse and a call center. When I walked up the stairs Slash was blasting through one of the most incredible setup I"ve heard - Avid TT + Avid Phone/PS + Lamm pre + Simaudio Power + Focal bookshelves. I did not bother checking their price ( :lol: ) or the model number. Just stood there soaking on the superlative sound coming from setup that was just placed casually. Imagine what it would do when placed for critical listening!!!
There were some open eqipment lying around and then boxes upon boxes of packed exotica. There were a couple of racks with music titles. A door at the end of the office opened to one of their warehouse levels. You could see racks of droolmaal.
The staff was warm and friendly. They didn't really miind me walking around with my tongue lolling. I could hear them helping people over the phone. You could make out they were very knowledgable and passionate about this.
I spoke to an elderly gentleman named Chris and discussed the options I had for upgrading the Debut III. While he suggested the acryl-it platter, a better cartridge, better phono etc. he seemed to agree with my viewpoint that it did not make sense to spend so much upgrading the Debut III. One might as well buy a better specced TT. I wasn't very sure of my ability to change the super-delicate cartridge so he suggested I at least change the stylus. We also spoke about cables, record maintenance, recording quality and a bunch of other things. He was not in any hurry to see me off and move on.
A couple of other customers also walked in and out as I browsed. One person called that he would visit in a short while and though it was nearly their closing time, they told him to come and remained open till he did. One of their customer service person who was on his way home went back to the warehouse to bring me some CD titles that he thought I might like, just because he heard me talk to someone about my musical choice.
I ended up buying the SpinClean, Ortofon OM10 stylus, Clearaudio clever clamp, Audioquest Diamondback IC, and a couple of MoFi gold discs...Yes - Fragile and Art Pepper - The way it was.
Since it was past their closing time, all the people at the warehouse had left for the day. Chris and another colleague of his happily went up and down the racks getting the stuff I ordered while the lady manning the front desk and another customer passionately guided me on the record shops in Chicago.
The visit ended with me walking away merrily with a heavy bag and a lighter wallet wishing I had more time. An afternoon well spent, I would say...
:clapping::clapping::clapping:
They are located a few blocks from downtown along with their sister company Mobile Fidelity. The place is non-descript with no signs. Just the building number scrawled on the door. I walked past a couple of times before deciding to take a chance and walk in.
The office doubles up as a warehouse and a call center. When I walked up the stairs Slash was blasting through one of the most incredible setup I"ve heard - Avid TT + Avid Phone/PS + Lamm pre + Simaudio Power + Focal bookshelves. I did not bother checking their price ( :lol: ) or the model number. Just stood there soaking on the superlative sound coming from setup that was just placed casually. Imagine what it would do when placed for critical listening!!!
There were some open eqipment lying around and then boxes upon boxes of packed exotica. There were a couple of racks with music titles. A door at the end of the office opened to one of their warehouse levels. You could see racks of droolmaal.
The staff was warm and friendly. They didn't really miind me walking around with my tongue lolling. I could hear them helping people over the phone. You could make out they were very knowledgable and passionate about this.
I spoke to an elderly gentleman named Chris and discussed the options I had for upgrading the Debut III. While he suggested the acryl-it platter, a better cartridge, better phono etc. he seemed to agree with my viewpoint that it did not make sense to spend so much upgrading the Debut III. One might as well buy a better specced TT. I wasn't very sure of my ability to change the super-delicate cartridge so he suggested I at least change the stylus. We also spoke about cables, record maintenance, recording quality and a bunch of other things. He was not in any hurry to see me off and move on.
A couple of other customers also walked in and out as I browsed. One person called that he would visit in a short while and though it was nearly their closing time, they told him to come and remained open till he did. One of their customer service person who was on his way home went back to the warehouse to bring me some CD titles that he thought I might like, just because he heard me talk to someone about my musical choice.
I ended up buying the SpinClean, Ortofon OM10 stylus, Clearaudio clever clamp, Audioquest Diamondback IC, and a couple of MoFi gold discs...Yes - Fragile and Art Pepper - The way it was.
Since it was past their closing time, all the people at the warehouse had left for the day. Chris and another colleague of his happily went up and down the racks getting the stuff I ordered while the lady manning the front desk and another customer passionately guided me on the record shops in Chicago.
The visit ended with me walking away merrily with a heavy bag and a lighter wallet wishing I had more time. An afternoon well spent, I would say...
:clapping::clapping::clapping:
