Music Lovers Audio

Stopped in this past week from out-​of-​town just to check the store out. Walked around for a bit, then was helped by a friendly associate. He answered a lot of my questions, then when he wasn’t sure of something, he directed me to a couple other gentleman who were also really helpful. Didn’t end up purchasing anything this weekend, but will do so over the phone in the near future. There was no pressure to buy anything and everybody was really helpful. They have gear across all price ranges, so whatever you’re looking for, you’ll be satisfied. Highly recommended!

I was looking to upgrade the cart on my rega p1. And suggested the sumiko pearl, I had seen many good reviews of it, and decided to get one. He installed it, and aligned my table rather quickly. And am completely satisfied with the product and great customer experience.

I have visited both locations and each visit was very pleasant.
The staff is very knowledgeable, friendly, and let me browse at my leisure. They were happy to demo systems for me and discuss gear, with no pressure to buy anything.
Music Lovers Audio stocks very high-​end products in a comfortable and relaxed environment. If you’re into audio at all, make sure and stop in.

I worked with Harry Ngo last year to audition Revel Performa3 F208 speakers. Harry was very helpful in setting up the demo and we communicated a few time by email before I visited them. I was looking to compare these speakers with Bowers and Wilkins and Vandersteen models. Harry is very knowledgeable about h-​fi audio and products and asked the right questions to get the background info and my requirements. Besides trying my own CD tracks, Harry demonstrated a few of his own selections to show specific features of the speakers. Highly recommended.

I once stepped into this store to inquire about a receiver I was interested in. I had kind of a funny feeling when I realized I was surrounded by ‘audiophile’ products.
Upon hearing the brand of the receiver I was interested in, this young guy immediately told me with a slice of disdain that they didn’t carry those kind of products here. I kind of already imagined what would follow but that day I was in a playful mood and decided to have a little ‘fun’ and asked him what he had for me.
The dude ran me through several niche amplifiers, all of which were an order of magnitude more expensive than the kind of money I wanted to spend. They also looked kind of ridicule, usually presented in crafty aluminium boxes that felt cheap. But hey, their ‘soundstage’ and ‘musicality’ was well worth it. As he started to feel like a sale was not going to happen, he pulled that stupid usb stick from his pocket and proposed me a ‘deal’ for just under a couple benjamins.
Turns out his thingy was actually a product from Audioquest — a well known company in the snake-​oil business, those people sell ‘audiophile’ ethernet cables for a grand that sound amazing. His ultimate attempt for a sale failed again and I left the store.
That was a lot of fun

I went there on 12÷26÷14 at about 2PM to inquire about having them set up my VPI Aries turntable. That is installing my JMW arm and Lyra cartridge on the table all of course for a fee. They said if I didn’t buy it there then they couldn’t do this for me. What’s really odd is I went there because they sell VPI and Lyra products so they would be familiar with them. Furthermore, these were my items owned for years not like I bought recently from some competitor. What’s sad is for almost any high end audio shop that sells analogue components this is very easy to do. Again I was willing to pay of course. So while there and awaiting my inquiry the sales rep was dying to get me to audition some of their various equipment. This never happened not will it ever as he and the store lost out on the opportunity to acquire a long time audiophile looking to get reinvigorated about the hobby again. I’ll find someone else who will help me and take my money for their efforts and wants to establish a long term relationship. Sorry Music Lovers you lost out!

A coworker and I both decided to get home theater systems in our homes. Grant at Music Lover’s was very patient with us and let us come by a few times to demo different sets of home theater equipment. After we decided on equipment he worked with us on price a bit and we even went with their in-​house installers.
The installers were great. It took two days as they had to run wire in the attic, add wall plates and cut custom cabling however they did an amazing job. They even cleaned up the TV mounting job I did on my own including hiding all the TV wiring. They are extremely professional, knowledgable and friendly. Well worth every penny spent!
After it was all said and done, the installers even set up the receiver’s room correction equipment and tuned the system. To top that, Grant took the time to come back out three weeks later to fine-​tune the system. These guys are not the least expensive option however they are worth every penny. Remember, you get what you pay for.

very good service. bought headphones and got to listen to 5 models including one way out of my prixe range just for fun. good price, as low as any website. very helpful service.

I had a fantastic experience with Music Lovers. Will was attentive and spoke to me as though I had a fluent vocabulary in audio equipment, which I appreciated. It is all too common to enter a place and feel condescension cascaded on you by employees – especially if you’re inquiring about entry level systems. Not so at Sound Lovers – Will spent a solid 40 minutes with me talking about my transition into speakers and analog systems. He sat with me in their amazing sound sampling room and played some Coltrane and awesome local musicians. The equipment really shone, and I was sold in no time. I’m happy to say that the equipment has been consistent since I set up at home, too – the room we auditioned the system in was treated well but not excessively. Will didn’t try pulling any crazy sale tricks from his sleeves and I felt no pressure to buy all the accoutrements under the sun. I will underscore that there is a no-​return policy, so it is crucial to make certain you want what you’re buying. Will helped me load my car up, but in making the numerous trips he forgot to load the anti-​static brush I’d bought. When I realized the omission at home a few hours later I called in and Will was quick to admit he may have forgotten the brush and he had it on the counter and good to go for me when I got there 20 minutes later. What’s more reassuring is that he immediately asked where I lived, and was willing to ship the brush on his dime if I had not lived close. You get what you pay for, which is excellent high-​end audio equipment, but what the old platitude doesn’t mention is that at places like Music Lovers you get meaningful attention, too. Eat your heart out, Fry’s.

I had a great experience with Will and Graham. I’m building an entry level system. Both men took their time with me and explained things in detail. Not once did they make me feel like a jerk for not going more high end and neither of them tried to up-​sell me. I bought a pro ject turntable and love it. A pair of Paradigm Monitor speakers are next on my list.

Great experience. Very high-​end store. I went in for a fairly modest purchase and was so impressed that (1) they still gave me a ton of thoughtful attention, and (2) they never tried to sell me up to a more expensive option I didn’t need. The person I worked with was Will and the Unilocal review I just spotted indicates that he’s the manager. This wouldn’t surprise me as he was particularly fantastic. But everyone I worked with there was quite good.
When I’m ready to upgrade my system, this is where I’ll go. (labelled this as pricey but not because the pricing isn’t fair, only because they have an exceptional collection at the higher end.)

What a wonderful store– to purchase TV/​audio equipment, have it installed, and watch/​listen with complete absorption and without any doubt that I had made the right decision to purchase!
Will Kline is the store manager; his ability to customize information and answers to my (techno-​reduced) level of understanding not only sealed my purchase of equipment that day, but also increased my confidence that I would be taken care of after the sale-​an often touted benefit but not commonly experienced in other companies, at least not by me.
Will is very professional, and tuned in to my particular needs, so part of what I «bought» is the service team’s experience and the manager’s assurance in my choice of systems.
I have been a lover of high-​end sound ever since I first arrived @ Berkeley in the early 70’s with a low-​end budget! I’m happy to report that Berkeley retains its magic in music, at Music Lovers on Blake Street!

I am surprised at the Steve S comment at one star… I have always felt these guys had a lot of integrity, have really well set-​up listening rooms, and a really low level of attitude. They carry lines that make sense to me, and always have to to help with advise.

Took my turntable in for a stylus replacement on record store day and ended up getting an affordable new cartridge as well as proper installation and configuration free of charge. Will, the specialist on hand, answered all of my questions with enthusiasm and genuinely seemed to enjoy discussing music and audio equipment (can’t say the same for most Bestbuy employees). I can safely say that I will be returning to Music Lovers Audio for most, if not all, of my audio needs.

After a brief introduction to Music Lovers in Berkeley a couple of years ago buying relatively inexpensive home theater equipment — yes, they have inexpensive gear, not dirt cheap but good quality at a fair price — plus a quality moving coil cartridge for my turntable, I decided to rebuild my aging two-​channel stereo system that had pieces in it that were more than 20 years old. I went back to Music Lovers and reconnected with Graham Thomas, with whom I had worked the first time. Over the past several months, Graham has guided me through a complete replacement of my old system. It has not been cheap — I’ve put a lot of money into it, more than I care to admit — but it’s still not anywhere close to the most expensive or exotic system one can buy at Music Lovers. What it is, however, is spectacular, it meets my needs perfectly, and though it’s cost a lot of money, I can still call it a bargain considering the quality I achieved for the dollars I spent.
Graham was simply excellent — he listened to me and understood what I was trying to accomplish, and why; he spent as much time with me as necessary before receiving a single order, and he never pushed me to place an order before I was ready; he steered me to components that would meet my needs and away from those that wouldn’t; when appropriate he nudged me in the right direction to avoid being penny-​wise and pound foolish, while on other occasions he found ways to save money while accomplishing 99% of what I was trying to do. He is extremely knowledgeable, attentive, communicative, and enthusiastic about equipment in service to the music, and everything he has said about sound, equipment and value has turned out to be 100% true. By the time we got to the last piece in this process — a pair of very long custom speaker cables that couldn’t be auditioned in the store or at home — I was completely comfortable ordering them on his recommendation alone, and, not surprisingly, they are excellent too. He set everything up for me at our house and has volunteered to come back and fine tune the setup when all the pieces are fully broken in. He helped me price correctly some of the pieces that were being replaced and they sold on consignment at Music Lovers much faster than I expected them to.
What may be the most telling example of Graham’s commitment to customer service was his reaction to my decisions to acquire a couple of pieces of this system from other sources. He never once pressured me to refrain from doing that; instead, he was completely supportive, gave excellent advice, and volunteered even to help make them work better.
Music Lovers is not a discount house. If you want big discounts, stick your fingers in your ears and go to Best Buy, or take your chances on the used market. There’s an old adage that there are three values to consider when shopping, namely, quality, service, and price — and you can have two of them. I chose quality and service, and got them, beyond anything I was expecting when I got into this. Nevertheless, I still consider my new system to be quite a bargain for what it is — a world class system at a significant but less than world class cost.

I have tried twice to buy from this locally-​owned, independent, blah-​blah audio shop. First time was about 10 years ago when they were still in North Berkeley and the second time about one month ago in their new (to me) downtown Berkeley shop. In both occasions I was greeted with courtesy but as soon as I mentioned my budget (~$ 500 for a pair of speakers) I could see the disappointment on the sales rep face. 10 years ago the rep at least took the time to let me audition the two-​tree options he had available, last month I was given a quick tour of the shop and disposed of as soon as basic courtesy would allow.
I guess if you have a four or even better five digits budget this is a great shop. For the rest of us, thanks God there is internet: I ordered a pair of Wharfedale Diamonds from
and could not be happier with the speakers, and the customer service.

I worked with Graham who setup a demo on short notice of a nice pair of SF Cremona M speakers with a music fidelity M6 integrated amp.
I did not end up purchasing the sysem from Music Lovers primarily because they were a bit too far away from my home near Sacramento and also because they did not carry one of the brands of gear that I decided to get.
I am just writing this review because Graham was very knowledgeable and willing to answer any and all questions we had.
Their music listening/​demo room is one of the few places that I have been to where speakers are actually positioned in the room correctly. These guys are absolute experts on getting everything out of a high end system. we even had a discussion on the pros and cons of JRiver vs iTunes and async DAC USB jitter issues. I won’t hesitate to refer business to them in the future.

Obviously the pricing is for serious music makers or music lovers or audiophiles or whatever you want to call it. Either way, the selection and customer service is unparalleled and vastly superior to the next best audio store in the area (i.e. Best Buy, Guitar Center, etc). The pricing is very reasonable and negligible compared to the next best option (s) in the area. Support your local, and independent businesses! Seriously, these guys without a doubt warrant such a statement.

Went in, worked with Graham. I told him that I wanted a room filling set of speakers and what my budget was. I was floored to not only not be treated condescendingly (for my admittedly low-​budge av set-​up) but also have him tell me that he could sell me something for a little more than half of what I wanted to spend… WHAT?! And then he proceeded to do just that. We spent an hour listening to music and i learned a ton about what i could do to really beef-​up my system for not a lot of cash. With regard to the music, I was encouraged to blast it! I left with a goofy grin on my face and raced home to set up my system. Nirvana! Everything I threw on sounded amazing! I am the first one to look online for a bargain, but for my money, this place is absolutely worth the drive and maybe not saving a few bucks. FWIW, I did some research later and found that the price I paid was actually less since I saved the shipping cost.
Short version: If you love music, this is the only way to go…

Love the product lines carried here and the system that I purchased, but it all comes down to customer service, transparency and doing the right thing voluntarily.
I placed an order for an entire system that would be primarily used for audio, but would also integrate well for home theater. I cancelled the order of an amp that would be used for outdoor speakers along with these same speakers. I payed for them at the beginning and never did receive products or a refund/​credit.
I also payed for an antiquated all-​in-​one remote control that took hours to program and never did work as expected. Best part, was that I had to get my skinny ass off the sofa to turn on my system in order to use the remote. Not a great idea and gives you an idea of salesmanship that you may encounter here.
My sales guy, Graham, was ready to help once he knew my budget, $ 20k. Part of the order included an unknown amount that would be billed as installation/​installation products. This came to a whopping $ 1900 which consisted of plastic/​carbon/​wood cones for each component to sit upon. In checking with the various component manufacturers, it was an obvious profit add on that had no benefit other than ego for the owner and revenue for the business. Believe me, my ego is just fine without these trinkets.
Two formal letters to Jae Wheeler, the owner, asking for an explanation for all my concerns went unanswered over the course of almost one year. I finally received part of the invoice information I had requested, but not a line item version which would explain in detail the purchase. I could go on and on, but this would only serve to dilute my saga as being borderline nut-​job.
In short:
I would never purchase again from this company and would go out my my to dissuade someone from considering them.