Fred’s Sound of Music Audio Video

If I worked on Hawthorne I bet I would have a lot of bad days and treat every slob that walked in like a piece of shit. It seems that is what happens here. Maybe the guys here aren’t jerks, it’s just they have bad days. Right? I very seldom have a need to come here but every so often I do. Despite the hit or miss customer service I’ve given them some of my business. Cool shit to look at but you might get a total prick of an employee «help» you out. I think I prefer Echo.

My wife and I purchased a record player from Fred’s just before Christmas (it was our gift to ourselves). The salesman responsible for the players (Justin, if I recall) was very kind, informative, and considerate of our budget. He gave us information in a straight forward manner and talked us through pros and cons of each unit we looked at.
We ended up purchasing a player the same day. Fred’s set it up for us and we were able to pick it up several days later. Another employee showed (Bill) us how to set it up properly once we got it home. Overall, very attentive.
My wife and I both agree that the people at Fred’s are quality. We never felt like anything lacked for explanation, and we would return readily if and when in need of new audio equipment.

This is the place to go for any audiophile! Where turntables are not obsolete!
These guys are great! Super knowledgable guys and will take the time to walk you through any of your equipment on the phone! Their prices are reasonable and the customer service is stellar!
Shop at Best Buy and you will get inferior knowledge and skill in problem solving. One more reason to support local small businesses!

Great audio gear, reasonable prices, and super nice staff. If you want to demo something, these guys will hook you up right. They have nice listening rooms, and there is no pressure, or rushing you along. I’ve bought four or five pieces of gear from them, and it was always a very pleasant, stress free transaction.

I was blown away by the excellent customer service I received from each staff person I interacted with at Fred’s Sound of Music. They were patient & extremely helpful. Despite my purchase cost of $ 45, I felt that I was treated the same as a customer spending thousands. I’d recommend driving out of your way to support this local business. Thanks guys. Keep up the good work!

Thanks to the team in the back of the store for kindly repairing our Bose CD player (bought elsewhere) by simply cleaning the laser lens. Delightful experience; and yes, we have shopped there for equipment in the past. Always great service.

Fred’s was a godsend when I needed my turntable repaired. They had the exact stylus I needed, more convenient hours and location than any other shop, and the friendliness and flexibility of a great local business. Long story short, Fred’s saved the day and made me feel like a valued customer even though I wasn’t making a huge purchase. Bravo!

Lately I’ve been pondering an addition to my home hifi system. I have a pro-​ject turntable and I also stream Tidal hifi through a squeezebox. I use Analysis Plus wire, an Arcam irDAC, Arcam a19 integrated amp, Monitor Audio RS6, and Sumiko .5 subwoofer. Although the Monitor Audio speakers sound great, I feel it’s time to make a change just to keep things interesting and to see if my current set up could take another step towards replicating live music in my living room. Also, I’ve discovered that I tend to like warm, romantic speakers rather than a flat, analytical sound so any steps in that direction will make me a happy person.
So with that in mind I visited Fred’s to check out speakers in the $ 2,000 or less price range. Having purchased items at Fred’s before, I’m aware that they sell a ton of Paradigm speakers which represent a great value for the $. I actually purchased a paradigm home theater system from Fred’s about a decade ago and it still sounds incredible! This time around, however, I’m specifically looking to purchase a speaker brand that I haven’t purchased before. I’m weird like that.
Upon walking in, I was promptly greeted by a very friendly sales person (oops, I forgot his name). He wasn’t pushy at all and I felt very welcome and comfortable. I first listened to Totem Sttaf tower speakers ($ 2,200) which are absolutely beautiful to look at and listen to. One might describe their tonality as polite. They’re more of a buttoned up, well mannered type of speaker maybe better suited to playing jazz accurately then rocking out to Nirvana, for instance. And so maybe they’re not quite versatile enough for my taste but they represent a great value given the quality of components they posses and the craftsmanship of their cabinets. Next I listened to Thiel TM-​3 bookshelf speakers that were so new the sales person wasn’t sure about the price yet. In my opinion, they’re among the most beautiful speakers you can buy and they’re made in the US which is really cool to me. The design is similar to a mid century modern molded plywood chair, actually. I really enjoyed their sound but after a quick listen we found out they are going to list for$ 3,500 without stands so out of my budget regardless of how I felt about them. Last, I heard a used pair of ProAc Response D15 speakers. Although their design is much more traditional compared with the Thiel speakers, they also looked great and were very easy to listen to. In my opinion, they sounded a little laid back with a slightly warm midrange that made vocals sound life like. They would retail for $ 3,600 new but are $ 1,195 pre owned. Given their quality, they probably represent the best value at the store but, ultimately, they weren’t the right speaker for me. I was actually close to purchasing them but I couldn’t get past their size. They’re simply too big for my living room.
So it’s good to know that given my addiction to hifi, I was able to show a little restraint today and not blow my kids’ college funds on home audio. Yay, will power! And although I didn’t purchase any gear at Fred’s this time, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to friends and family. The sales person that helped me was as knowledgable as anyone I’ve interacted with in home audio and clearly passionate about what he does, which is truly great given the stresses of endlessly auditioning gear for nutty people like me.

I just bought a pair of very nice used bookshelf monitors, receiver and sub. Brad spent an hour with me picking out and sampling all of the equipment. The staff was genuinely helpful and not pushy in the least bit. You can tell that they are serious audio nerds. Through and through.
In addition, once I got home I decided to take the drivers out of the cabinet I just bought and refinish them myself. (Yes, I know. In hindsight, bad idea.) In short, the cabinets turned out looking awesome but I screwed up the tweeter putting in back in. I went back to Fred’s and shamefully asked them to fix the speakers I had just messed up, expecting to pay a service fee to get them done since it was my fault. Instead, they gladly took them back and fixed the damaged tweeter free of cost and encouraged me to bring it back in anytime I needed to do work on it.
In short, I learned two valuable lessons:
1) Don’t mess around working with expensive speakers that are out of my comfort zone. Leave it up to the professionals.
2) Exceptional old school service still exists and I happened to find it at Fred’s.
I’ll definitely be going back to Fred’s.

A person claiming to be the owner of Fred’s Sound of Music replied with a threatening tone of an email. He stated we take monies from your family to support his family and that’s to bad… but my people did right.
I brought 2 items in for repair and was told the items need repair. We can’t fix them BUT we’ll keep your $ 180 dollars any way.
Its like you take your car to the repair shop because of an engine oil leak. The shop finds the leak but they can’t find the part needed. The shop doesn’t bill you for finding the leak you complained about but for the ‘actual’ work they did.
Fred’s Sound of Music logic if we talk to a customer, its a consultation and we get paid. If we simply look a piece of equipment, we get paid. If we simply say we did something, we get paid. Where does this madness end?
Stereo repair is not a profession like a medical doctor where we might normally see a fee to a doctors office. If all stereo repair shops had this mind set, the stereo repair business would be gone from the American landscape for good.

Fred’s carries a great selection of mid-​fi and hi-​fi equipment with fair prices when you consider their quality. Unfortunately, there’s a few things I don’t like about Fred’s that I don’t like to the extent that I prefer exhausting every last alternative before doing business with them:
Parking? Good luck with that. Nothing says fun like being faced with the choice of having to lug your $ 2K Paradigms past a parade of drug addicts and untreated mentally ill for four blocks or leave it in your car so it can be ransacked while you’re dealing with the repair department.
The building itself is far too small for the range of equipment they carry. As a result, the auditioning rooms are cramped and don’t really provide a neutral environment to audition equipment.
The sales staff is consistently condescending and their repair department is unhelpful on a good day. While both are knowledgeable, I’d rather deal with the idiots at Best Buy based on attitude alone.

This audio shop is one of the finest I’ve come across. It is also where I’ve picked up most of my stereo gear. This is due in large part to the great brands and even better staff. The folks here are friendly, attentive, patient and knowledgeable, particularly Bill Davidson who I’ve worked with most. The staff are willing to work within my budget and answer my laundry list of questions (before AND after purchase) in order to educate me and find the equipment to suit my needs. My first purchase was an integrated stereo amplifier, which I was able to demo at home. In the following months, I came back for further upgrades to my system including a subwoofer and speaker cables. Speaking of which, Fred’s is an Audioquest dealer and has tons of great cables and interconnects to test out in your system. I saved a bunch of money by ordering bulk speaker wire, which Bill Davidson expertly finished or «terminated» by hand.
In my experience, Fred’s has offered all the things you expect from a local retailer–
personable service and hands on testing – while still going out of their way to offer competitive pricing. They have shown a willingness to work with me and make sure I’m very well taken care of. I would recommend this shop whole-​heartedly to any seasoned or beginner audiophile.

This place is awesome! I called ahead and spoke with Justin and he was so helpful to my questions about buying a turntable and speakers. I went in the next day and he showed me exactly what I asked for and helped me to make the best decision. I took it home, set it up and am so satisfied!
I will always come here for my stereo needs!!!

What a treat to be greeted by someone who knows his stuff. Bill White was very helpful. He could see that I had no idea where to start, and even with my low budget he spent a lot of time hooking speakers and amps up for me.
There is a huge choice to listen to, and being able to listen in a private sound room was very effective.
The only thing lacking was a glass of champagne!

My wife bought me a new $ 500 turntable at Fred’s for Christmas. I hooked it up to an older NAD receiver to find out that the left channel isn’t working on my receiver. No problem since Fred’s a repair shop right? A 30 minute drive later, I’m told that «we have a moratorium on repairs right now», and asked why I didn’t call first. Although odd, I guess I can understand being too busy, but still I’m an existing customer standing there with my equipment on the counter after driving an hour round trip with a 5 year old.
Can I make an appointment? No, just check back in a week or two I’m told.
Well with service like that, I’ll be back in sooner than a week, to return my turntable, get my $ 500 back and find a retailer who gives a dam.

About a year ago I bought a Denon receiver at Fred’s and I’m very glad I did. Denon doesn’t allow discounts on its stuff; if you’re a retail outlet selling Denon products (I’m taking about new products here), you cannot sell lower than what King Denon proclaims. So when I decided on a particular Denon model (on the basis of net reviews and my friend’s advice), I knew Fred’s was where to look first. I thought it was a longshot, since Fred’s leans a little high-​endy. But there it was, at good olé Fred’s, for the same price it was at Best Buy and its barely post-​pubescent sales staff. No brainer — off to Fred’s I went and bought it.
I hadn’t bought a new receiver in decades, so I was surprised at the complexity of these AVR units today. And in fact I ran into trouble with my unit, basically due to my own ignorance. It was a problem with music streaming from my iphone directly into the Denon via USB port. In fact, the problem even flummoxed the very able guy at Fred’s — at first. Then he suggested a few things to try, and one of them worked. If you think you can get such pro advice, free and courteously over the phone, from BB and the like, well then good luck with the rest of your life.
Five stars on the basis of this great buy for me.

I’m not a big user of Unilocal,but in this case I found a business that I am so impressed with that I have to comment because I think other folks should know about them.
I love music, but I’ve never had the money to spend on a nice stereo system. I recently decided to spend some money I’ve saved on a system and get a turntable to go along with it so I could enjoy vinyl. I scoured the internet for several days, doing all sorts of online research on what I should purchase. Initially as an after thought I figured I’d go check out a couple stores in Portland to see what a home audio store has to offer and how competitive they are compared to online retailers.
Fred’s was a great experience. I walked in and started browsing and didn’t really know where to start. I saw some products I was familiar with from researching online but they have a lot of stuff I’d never heard about before. I was approach by Jordan, a salesman, and asked if I needed any help. I explained to him my situation. I explained the research I’d done, what I was thinking of purchasing, what I was going to be using the system for (mainly music), what capabilities I wanted (online streaming services, TV connectivity, etc). Jordan took his time showing me several options at different price points that would meet my needs. He explained the way the different devices worked in a way that I could understand easily. He didn’t try to push their more expensive models, and he had me listen to several speakers, subs, and receivers. I learned a lot that day, but I wasn’t prepared to make a purchase. He had given me a lot to think about.
The next day I visited Echo audio in downtown. I had a good experience there too, but they didn’t seem to have the level of knowledge as they did at Fred’s. I still had a good experience at Echo, just not as good as at Fred’s. I did get to try out some speakers that they didn’t carry at Fred’s but I liked them less than the Paradigms I ended up purchasing.
I went back to Fred’s a couple days later and found Jordan again. (I’ve been back a couple times since then and he is always there, I joked with him that I didn’t think he left the store). I had numerous follow up questions for him, specifically about a new hybrid receiver he showed me last time and that I did some follow up research on. Anyway, to get to the point I ended up purchasing my whole system from Fred’s. They even matched online prices if they were lower. In addition, Jordan opened up my turntable and showed me how to set it up.
I took it home, set it up, and I could not be happier. I’m hearing things on tracks I’ve never heard before and the sound is incredible compared to my PC multimedia speakers.
I’ve been back a couple times for cables to connect my old desktop and then again for a speaker stand. On a follow up visit I also was helped by a salesman by the name of Bill. He showed me the speaker stands and explained the differences. I told him I was only looking for one stand, as my space is a bit unique and I want one speaker on a desk and the other on the stand a bit away. The stands are sold in pairs but he went into the back and found a slightly used stand that he sold me, even giving me a bit of a discount because it had a couple scrapes on it.
I’ve also bounced off ideas with Jordan and Bill on how best to configure my system, concerns I have, what sub to look for when I’m ready to make that purchase, and how to have everything set up for the specific way I like to listen to music.
If you’re in my position, not knowing too much about high end audio equipment. Go to Fred’s. I have rarely had a sales experience as fun, interesting, and educational as I’ve had at Fred’s. They are professional and courteous, I was never talked down to for not knowing much, and they took the time to explain things and answer questions while never pressuring a sale. This was a rare and enjoyable buying experience for me. Thanks Fred’s!
P. S. I’ve seen some poor reviews here and it may depend on the sales staff. All the staff I spoke with were great. I’d highly recommend speaking with Jordan or Bill.
Update: I have returned a few times since my original purchase. I decided that the speakers I originally went with just weren’t cutting it for what I was looking for. Even though it was a few weeks later, Fred’s took the speakers back and gave me their retail cost towards the upgrade to the speakers I wanted to purchase. No restocking fee or anything like that, they just credited the cost of the speakers towards to upgrade. I spoke with another second salesman by the name of Bill I believe that set up the upgrade. Overall I’ve had great service from everyone I’ve come into contact there.

Well I can tell you they do have a parking lot. Hubby parked a few blocks away and found the thing he wanted and then drove to the back of the store down a dead end street and parked. I went in and you go thru the backroom essentially.
The building is gross, stinky and old, however they do carry the high end crap my husband loves to buy and did have the OPPO Blue Ray/​DVD player he «needed».
It is quite tight in the store and I had to pee unfortunately and had to go down this tiny hallway into the oldest, dirtiest and smallest bathroom I have seen. I nearly broke my teeth sitting down because the sink is so close to the toilet. Not for this girl, I would not want to go back, I would rather shop in a nicely appointed store, however I imagine their clientele is more men than women and boys just don’t care!

I’ve been in to Fred’s several times. On one occasion, they ordered a new headband for my Sennheiser headphones (I broke the old one). The part was located and ordered promptly, and I was notified immediately when it came in. This was a routine transaction, but it went refreshingly well, with no screw-​ups or delays.
On several visits, I worked with Bill Davidson at Fred’s to select a new pair of speakers for my home system. I cannot recommend Bill highly enough. He is easy to work with, knows his stuff, and he spent a lot of effort setting up speakers for audition, both in the store and (when I had narrowed down the list) in my home. That experience working with Bill and Fred’s was one of the best ones I’ve had, in 40+ years of dealing with stereo shops. Remarkably for someone in his line of work, Bill is knowledgeable without being opinionated, and he actually listens to what the customer has to say.
I highly recommend this dealership and, in particular, Bill Davidson. Fred’s carries some dynamite gear, and I found them very rewarding to work with.

I don’t know why there are a string of negative reviews on here, but i’ve always had great experiences at Fred’s Sound of Music. Every time i’ve stopped in they have been helpful, knowledgable and personable. I would always send people over there when I worked for Music Millenium and so would the rest of the staff their.
Great people who know what they are talking about.
Recently had a turntable serviced there and it works good as new!
Highly Recommended.