Audio Specialties Ltd

Doug is an incredible resource for knowledge as well as repair services, not to mention having a steadily changing inventory of the coolest vintage systems anywhere. I’ve bought numerous receivers/​amps/​speaker/​turntables/​cd players over the past three years and every single time I know I got a great deal. He checks every piece, tunes them all up, Deoxit’s them and stands behind his work without question.
A couple of times he wouldn’t charge me for minor repairs no matter how hard I tried to give him money — his integrity is unquestioned and above all he’s a really nice person.
If you want repair work Doug is the man. If you want to find a sweet vintage piece, Doug is the man. Doug is the kind of small business owner we should all support because of his integrity, fair pricing and knowledge which he shares with everyone.
I’m a customer for life and only wish I needed more than the 8 vintage-​based stereo systems I currently have in use. Yes, all 8 are being used.

I’ve been to Audio Specialities many times. He’s repaired and serviced many of my stereo components. Very knowledgeable and his prices are reasonable. There’s many components on consignment there as well, reasonably priced.

Doug repaired a Carver receiver and a Sony CD changer that were each about 25 years old. It was a busy time of year and he told me he would have an estimate in about three weeks. He beat that by a week, and when I gave the go-​ahead the repaired components were ready the next morning. I thought the price was quite reasonable. Both components now perform well, perhaps better than ever (after a few weeks of use). I also suggest that if you are shopping for used components, including speakers, the shop seems to have a good inventory.

I came here because of the high Unilocal ratings, and I wish to add to them. Doug is most definitely old school… meaning he fixed my problem very quickly and refused to charge me anything… and clearly he knows what he’s doing.
Much appreciated, and certainly my go-​to guy when I need bigger repairsin the future.

I have a Marantz 2325 that was given to me for free by my aunt, who bought it new back when she was growing weed. Since then, I’ve paid to have it tuned up twice after it more or less stopped working. Once by a small shop in Pasadena that dig a pretty ok job (hey, it worked pretty well for the next decade) and yesterday at Audio Specialties.
Last time around it cost me $ 150, so I assumed that would be ballpark for this time around. I was quoted $ 150 plus $ 2 a bulb and whatever else might come up, in this case $ 5 of diffuser paper. Total cost after two weeks? $ 189 and man does it look and sound incredible. I also never really knew how much these things cost, and was informed that it’s worth around $ 800 – 900, which as a person who likes nice things, makes me feel pretty good about paying to have it fixed up.

I’ve only been here once but quite enjoyed my experience. I told him my price and he showed me quality used equipment and didn’t try to upsell or act pretentious. I was in and out in 5 minutes.

Bought a great pair of older Pioneer floor speakers and a turntable from Doug. Love them! I’m really (!) glad I don’t live any closer or I’d probably go in all the time. :) He’s also done some work on an older receiver. Totally trust the guy: his opinion, advice, AND work. Stands behind everything he does and sells. So glad Portland has such a gem!

Very helpful as well as knowledgeable and no pushy sales people here. Walked in to look around and left with a new turntable. Have been back times and have made several more purcharses. Headin back to pick up a pair of Polk Audio speakers next week.

I hate to give bad reviews to small businesses trying to do a good job, but man did this place mess up my beautiful old Sansui amplifier. I took it in with one channel fuzzy. When it was «repaired», I brought it home and plugged it in– no power, no nothing. Don’t they check their work? They gladly took it back to fix it for real this time but found that they just couldn’t. In fact, now they can’t get it to do anything. It’s dead. For good. I had to convince them that they should refund what I paid them to repair it, which to their credit they did. But now through their services, my valuable amplifier is garbage. They were completely unapologetic and said, «Hey, it’s old.» It’s newer than over half the equipment for sale in their store. Beware of a vintage audio store whose philosophy is, «You can’t fix old stuff.»

I’m really happy with the service that I got here on my Goodwill rescue, and I bought a set of speakers that I feel deeply about too. I wish I didn’t have to wait as long as I did for service, but what are you gonna do when it’s a small shop with great service?
Highly recommended — and get your used gear here, too. Don’t bother with the expensive snooty shops. This guy DOES NOT upsell, he tries to sell you what he thinks you will like to listen to the best. That’s exactly what a stereo shop guy should do.

I had some early-​mid 70’s equipment that I had given my son recently. They had some issues and so we wanted to have them checked out to get them working again. Doug called me back in a week with the results. He gave us a quote on what it would take to get them working again. Very reasonable. But we decide to put it off for a while. It was not in my son’s budget at this time. Doug would not charge me for his valuable time. I felt really bad when I walked out the door with my equipment in tow. Hopefully my son will get the money together to repair the equipment and enjoy the real sound an older receiver and speakers put out. Oh Doug! You have a beautiful stack of Dynaco tuner, pre-​amp and amp with a GREAT price! Very tempting.

The best in vintage home audio sales and repair. I have been going to Doug for many years and I always walk away happy. This includes buying, selling and getting repairs. This is the perfect place to assemble your dream system from the 60’s, 70’s or 80’s. You can buy with confidence because Doug guarantees everything he sells or services.

Didn’t need to even get service because dude was so cool to show me that I had boobed out and had receiver coming into amp in wrong output channel, then resumed to school me on how to calibrate and tune my turntable. Wouldn’t take my money. Top notch and really attentive. Shop seemed organized and I also hear the turnaround is second to none. I would for sure send any future business to these guys cause they seem to know it all.

Doug is not only a good technician, but he is totally honest. Here is a story: The drawer of my older CD player was not working properly, so Doug fixed it for a modest price of $ 125. He had to replace some electronic parts. When I got the player back, the drawer worked fine, but my CD player would occasionally skip — something it didn’t do before the repair. So, Doug took a look at it, and diagnosed the problem to a faulty chip on the main circuit board. This was un-​repairable since Sony was no longer making parts for this 1985 player. Doug couldn’t be sure his earlier repair didn’t cause the problem, so he refunded me the entire cost of the earlier repair! Because of this Doug has a customer for life!
Just so you know I have also had several other things repaired before without incident. He can get a bit backed up so you may have to wait 3 weeks for a repair to be performed, but his prices are fair and his work is top notch. I would recommend his services without hesitation.

I’ve had a few components repaired by Doug and the results have been fantastic. He reworked my Magnepan speakers and they sound better than ever. He’s got a great selection of quality gear, too.

What a pleasure it is to walk into a vintage hifi store, and just browse if nothing else. This is how stores were before big-​blocks like Walmart and Best Buy came along and changed the American buying experience and economy forever. I bought a very nice Bang & Olufsen turntable (1970s) here, and took it back for service later. The service is excellent, and prices very reasonable. I enjoy visiting with the owner who is also the repair tech, and talking about stuff that makes music sound so warm and earthy. I hope more of us shun the MP3 culture, and spend some time learning about vintage audio. I tell you, buy a quality turntable and hook it up to a vintage amplifier and a pair of hand built American speakers (JBL, AR, Bostons etc), and then play your favorite music on a vinyl LP. Goose bumps!

since I can’t seem to find them anywhere else online, I just wanted to note their hours are 10 – 6 M-​F and 10 – 3 Saturday.

Had 2 components that needed repair. The first was a solid state stereo amplifier. One of the channels was dead. The other component was a D/​A converter that would not power on. I dropped off pieces on two separate occasions (about 5 – 6 months between repairs). In both cases it took about 1 – 2 weeks to get a call back with repair estimate which I agreed to. In both cases the units were returned to me in full working order. The amplifier was around $ 83 to repair (bad output transistor) and the D/​A was $ 95 ($ 15 for parts — a bad voltage regulator transistor and and load resistor and $ 80 for labor). I’m very satisfied with both repairs and I WILL be coming back if other equipment I own will need repair.
BTW, all repairs are covered by a 90 day parts/​labor guarantee.

I first discovered this place while buying brand new vinyl records at the Warehouse Music Store that used to be across the street. Much has changed during the ensuing years, but the only thing that changes at Audio Specialties is the stock.
They have a nice little niche market selling vintage consumer electronics; mostly Integrated amps and receivers from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Not expensive stuff but, then again not bad stuff either. It’s amazing how much quality a few hundred bucks bought you thirty and forty years ago. Sure, it’s only two channels and it won’t dock your iPod or support HDMI, but plug a turntable into this stuff and it will make you smile.
Back when vinyl was king, all receivers and and integrated amps had phono pre-​amps built into them. Today almost none of the digital surround sound receivers have phono inputs. If you want to listen to vinyl, you have to buy a separate phono pre-​amp, and run it through the auxiliary input. But here’s the rub: Decent phono stages start at $ 500 and you might need to spend $ 1000 before you got one as good as the stages they put into the pedestrian Pioneer, Sony and Marantz receivers from the 1970s.
You sure won’t spend anywhere near that for a clean vintage receiver at Audio Specialties. They can fix you up with a matching vintage turntable and speakers too. They also provide on-​site service and repair.

A couple of years back, I had a vintage Dual turntable that was in need of repair. A friend of mine unequivocally recommended Audio Specialties. I dropped off the turntable and it was ready to be picked up within a week and was good as new. The whole transaction was very professional and conducted with a minimum of fuss and the price was right.
As well as repairs, there is also used gear for sale here. Well worth checking out.