Paragon Video & Stereo Inc

Read about them in the business section of the Wis St Journal. I was having problems with my CD part of a unit I loved and did not want to replace I had taken this unit to another store and they were not able to fix the CD part. Paragon was very helpful and suggested that I can continue to use this unit and attach a new CD player to the AUX function. People were extremely helpful and made sure I had long enough connections from the new CD player to the unit. In addition, they advised me of the best set up for the speakers to have better sound. They explained everything very well, were very patient and I would recommend them.

I am super-​happy I didn’t read other people’s reviews of this place. I was looking for a very specific cable and I had stopped at three places before heading here. They went above and beyond in finding out as much as possible about my dilemma. (Not being a techy, I was amazed at what they could glean from my description.) In any case, it was slightly more expensive than Best Buy, but the staff was much more helpful and knowledgable and I am pleased to have supported a local business.

Excellent experience assembling my hi-​fi gear. Worked with both Steve and Russ. Steve is highly knowledgeable on vintage equipment; even showed me how to tweak the adjustments on my turntable tone arm to find the sound quality I wanted. Russ really knows his stuff, walked me through the different types of CD players and DAC converters to find the one that would best suit my needs. Russ is also a big music-​phile, and can help guide towards equipment best suited to your music tastes. Highly satisfactory experience and will come back for a replacement stylus and to stock up on cleaning/​anti-​static supplies.

I wish I would have read the Unilocal reports before my visit to this store.
After I first stopped by and got the impression the guy can fix anything and really knows how to help me select and sell me a very musical Phono amp set up to match my Michelle fluid arm with a Decca cartridge.
He wanted to see my turntable set up for a recommendation on a Phono amp. My next visit I carefully brought up my turntable from Chicago.
After that I felt I was scammed with my turntable with a $ 37 evaluation .
What happened, he looked at my J.A.Michelle turntable, was rough touching it and told me the table was scrap. Just everything is bad and needs to be replaced. I found out later, all it needed was a new belt and fluid for the speed control pool.
He actually broke my Decca cartridge while saying it is bad due to age while not able to see the «needle». In fact, the needle was totally fine, this type of cartridge does not age. The needle is suspended in a magnetic field.
He mistakenly took off the housing holding all together, assuming it was a cover. The magnets fell off and the coils were hanging now out of place.
I realized what happened only after I returned to my home and was very upset about it.
Regarding fixing Turntables, he possibly was good at it long time back. After this experience I would not pick him again.
I am frustrated that I trusted a guy with my equipment who turns out to be less capable and careful than myself.
He may be the guy if you are collecting unusual exotic old radio collector items. (He has a monopoly on that kind of stuff where he can dictate any price, but I would be super careful with any transactions with him).

I recently started listening to vinyl with a friend’s persistence and have been enjoying it on a older cheaper pair of speakers. But my friend said that although I had a good turntable I should look into making a new amplifier and speaker purchase. He had some recommendations for equipment, but I preferred to purchase a setup that I could test out and purchase locally.
I saw this store over the past couple months while in the area, and thought that it might be a good place to buy a new stereo setup for my recent turntable purchase. Unfortunately, every time I was in the area the store was closed.
Today I happened to be in the area and I was excited when I found that the store was open! I figured today would be a good day to see what they had and possibly make a purchase. I went in and saw that there were two people working in the store, and they were helping two other customers. I patiently waited for 15 minutes while browsing through what they had in store and finally, Mary, one of the employees (who actually might be the owner) asked what she could help me with today. I told her I was interested in a stereo setup, and mentioned what my friend recommended and a budget I could work with. After talking about a couple possible setups, it seemed like she started to get anxious. Finally she asked me out of nowhere — «Are you planning on testing out this equipment and buying it online?» I responded telling her that I was confused and did not understand why she thought that and asked why she was accusing me of this. She said «many people come here and test out equipment and buy it online». At this point I realized that she was disinterested in selling to me (not sure why) and was extremely rude. I told that her I was leaving.
I am very offended by the customer service here, and I’m not sure why she chose to speak to me in this way. I am fortunate that these days there is a way for us customers to have some recourse through services such as Unilocal!Stay away from this store if you wanted to be treated respectfully.

I dropped off a console stereo unit that was just minorly malfunctioning. It sat there for 4 weeks with no body looking at it, I called every week to ask about it’s progress. Finally after 4 weeks without my stereo I’m told it’s impossible to fix because the power unit was overheating, and to come get it as soon as possible because they were running out of room.
Upon picking it up I was told it was, «poop garbage» and was assumed to purchase a $ 400.00 console monstrosity, which I graciously declined.
I sent my stereo home with my father, a weekend around-​the-​house handyman type guy, who within about 2 hours resolved both minor issues which turned out to be 1) a bad wire connecting to one of the speakers and 2) a slight tune up to the mechanics of the turn table. He also managed to fix a few more cosmetic issues such as the turntable light which had never even worked before.
Many thanks to my father of course, none to Steve who collected my $ 56 upfront cost and gave me nothing.
Furthermore, you’re (supposedly) allowed to spend your drop off fee on a new stereo if yours is deemed non-​salvageable. I found this misleading as I returned to the store to look around at different stereos and was pretty much entirely avoided by the staff. I asked about one small player on the floor that didn’t have a price (almost nothing is priced) and was told, «we’d have to ask Steve to see if he’d sell that to you» followed by a blank stare that very clearly said, «I am not going to ask Steve.»
Over all a really terrible experience. A waste of time and money. Over charged, under-​serviced, and generally talked down to. A real jewel of Madison culture in that way.

Don’t waste your time and $! I dropped off a turntable that needed service, 2 weeks later I received a call from Paragon and was told that «the turntable is not salvageable». I had to pay $ 50 up front, I got scammed. They have really nice audio equipment for sale and the owner is very knowledgable. IMHO, charging $ 50 upfront without any attempt to provide an agreed upon service is unethical

Steve took one look at my Dual turntable from a distance and pronouced it unworthy of being fixed without even coming within 12 inches of it. But he was willing to part it out for me when I left; generous. I declined. He was also willing as a special favor NOT to charge me $ 36 for NOT looking at my turntable even though all it needed was a cartridge which are hard to find now.
Then he starts flitting between patched up vintage turntables without making much of a strong point for any particular model but pointing out how lousy some of the shiny new models he sells are in comparison because of the motor mounting.
So I left confused without any effort expended toward finding a cartridge for the turntable I brought in.
To seal the expereince, I sent an email several days ago requesting suggestions on a turntable purchase based on specific critera and it’s been a black hole: no response.
So I’m going elsewhere.

Very knowledgeable store, the place to buy used equipment, like turntables, amps and speakers. Always a pleasure doing business there, always fun to shop and see what’s new in stereo and multichannel sound. The bonus is a museum within the store. Products form our distant past along with the people to tell you what it is all about. As addressed, some can find the owner to be a tad aggravating, especially when trying to convince him to sell them a certain instrument which is the main component of Indian classical music (hint hint). If said owner is reading this review, he should keep in mind that the person writing this review is still very interested in said instrument, and will comply in practicing flamenco guitar daily when possible along with paying a monetary fee of around $ 500 for said instrument, if such an offer is presented (hint hint).

I’ve had a few different experiences at paragon. Every instance involving the owner (steve) has been awful. However Russ one of the sales team has been helpful and pretty attentive. I would not give them my money again. It’s a shame.