I lived in Northern VA from 1987-2000, and during that period, I visited just about every mid-fi and hi-fi store that was in operation. I found some to be VERY friendly and helpful, some just OK, and a few to be downright hostile, especially if you're not flashing a "Platinum Card" or driving a "yuppie limo" of some sort...
Here is my take on the stores in the DC/Baltimore area:
Soundworks - Kensington, MD
These guys are a ML dealer, and have been for years. They know their stuff, but tend to ignore you unless you're planning to buy. They don't pay any attention to or offer much help to "browsers", and almost NEVER seem to have time to just "shoot the bull", even if you are the only person in the store--UNLESS you are buying something that day. The owner is VERY quirky--sometimes he's VERY witty and entertaining, sometimes he comes across as a colossal snob. All that said, they had about the best-sounding Summits and Vantages I've heard in a retail shop in the immediate DC area. They were driving the Summits I heard with Ayre and ARC gear, and all-Nordost cabling, and it sounded so amazingly riveting that I didn't even notice that there was a set of beautiful custom faux-marble-painted Wilson WATT-Puppies in the back of the room until the salesman pointed them out to another customer. And these guys are also probably the number 1 turntable authority in the DC area these days...
Gramophone - Columbia, MD
I agree with the previous statements--if you are not spending at least $5000, these guys generally won't give you the time of day. If you even MENTION Martin Logan speakers in this shop, they will instantly black-ball you, and if you mention Sunfire (which, technically, they carry, but never have in stock for audition), they immediately get all smirky and condescending. If you mention interest in McIntosh gear though, you can practically see their trousers getting tight...
Deja Vu - McLean, VA
Never been there...
Sound Images - Falls Church, VA (HT primarily)
I remember these guys when they were called "High-Tech Audio", and were actually a repair shop that also dealt in refurbished, used, and vintage gear. Back then, they were GREAT--very helpful, very knowledgeable, and they had an excellent repair shop. Since they switched to being strickly HT, (and no longer deal in repairs at all, and only have "trade-in" stuff as far as used gear goes) they seem to have gotten a lot more snobby, and a lot less knowledgeable. Their "listening rooms" are more accurately described as "acoustic torture chambers", and would probably put "DTB300" from this forum into sever pot-traumatic shock...
Standsbury Audio - Millersville, MD
Never been--they keep VERY weird hours....
Soundscape - Baltimore, MD
Only went there once, looking for vinyl accessories (cleaning solution, replacement sleeves, etc) and was pretty much ignored...
JS Audio - Bethesda, MD
Keeps weird hours (weekends, and appointment only) but they seem very nice and are pretty knowledgeable. Have a sort of oddball line of brands though, and their setups are less than optimal, but their listening rooms are pretty decent despite being crammed with a lot of gear.
United Home Audio - Columbia, MD (Jolida storefront)[/QUOTE]
Now this place--don't get me started on them. The owners are both more than a little weird. Don't get me wrong--Jolida makes some GREAT gear, especially their CD players, and Michael Allen knows a lot about running a successful business and designing tube gear, but he REALLY should be kept away from the general public. He is VERY quirky, to say the least...
As far as Tweeter goes, I have yet to be in a single Tweeter in the DC metro area that had their ML's set up properly, or even anywhere close to properly. Although I will say this about the Tweeter in Columbia MD--they are VERY cool about auditioning them in-store when they are not busy. I went there on a weekday afternoon to hear their newly-set-up Vantages, and they sounded like crap--partly because they were being driven by a dreadfull little Krell integrated amp, and partly because they had them set up about 10 inches from the rear wall and about 5 feet from the side walls. I asked the salesman if he minded if I moved them to their PROPER positioning, and he said he would move them for me. First I had him listen to some Diana Krall as they had them set up, then we listened to the same track on some Focal speakers he was trying to impress me with. Honestly, the Focals DID sound better at first. Then we moved the Vantages to about 4 feet from the rear wall, and I ran out to my car to get a flashlight to properly align the Vantages with the listening seat, and had him listen to them again. He actually shouted "holy shit" when we finally got them dialed in. Hopefully he learned something...
Also, even though most of the Best Buy/Magnolia stores in the DC metro area carry ML speakers, their staff is generally a bunch of tone-deaf idiots, and their "listening rooms" rival Sound Images in terms of their ability to violate the Geneva Conventions for torture...
--Richard
