Lotusland Electronics & Music

This place is the best. Whatever your budget is, the staff will set you up and make sure you get your money’s worth. Creating a setup for playing vinyl can be a costly venture, but this place is as good as it gets for affordability. There’s always a wide variety of quality retro equipment available at affordable prices, almost all of which is much better made and longer lasting than any modern turntable equipment available at Best Buy or London Drugs.
The staff are also great. They knew I was trying to complete a collection of Rush’s discography and they would put aside any Rush albums I was looking for whenever they got a copy.

Lotusland has a surprisingly large selection of refurbished turntables, amps, and speakers in a variety of price ranges. The staff was very knowledgeable and helped me pick out a quality little system in my price range. I highly recommend checking them out before buying a new or used turntable/​stereo system.

Wow, like taking a trip back to your college dorm house in 1980. All the big brands — Marantz, Sansui, Pioneer, Dual, Technics, JBL and yes, even Wharfedale, which I owned! some stunning wood grain and silver beauties. Extremely helpful staff member dress in black Neil Young «Tonight’s the Night» t-​shirt. Straight out of Stereo Review magazine, circa 1980. Screw that plasma LCD TV sports shit, set up your man cave with some really awesome audio from its true Golden Age…

Such great service and knowledge; worth the higher cost than CL because it’s been tested and GUARANTEED to work; nice vinyl selection and fair prices plus they have knowledgeable recommendations on vinyl let alone equipment.
My friend bought a beautiful Technics SL-​Q202 turntable and Bose speakers. I bought an amazing sounding Mission CD player. That same day they had B&W 602s, fantastic bookshelf speakers that are hard to find. They carry gear that is considered budget, intermediate and higher end. Excellent recommendations and no up-​selling, but instead something that fits your needs and good options to compare.
An hard day in the life of Lotusland:
One of the times I was there, a guy had dropped something off that was broken and expected cash for it. He said, «Give me $ 20 and we’ll call it even,» after the owner explained that there were multiple problems not worth fixing (hence, there wasn’t any «even» and the owner didn’t want it) and giving him money would be just to give him money with no return.
Morale of the story: don’t bring in used garbage expecting cash for it and give the owner/​employees a hard time. They work their butts off suggesting the best gear for your needs, demoing gear for you, answering all of the technical questions and more. Don’t try to rip them off or waste their time, they don’t deserve it.

I’ve only been here a few times ’cause it is in my best friend’s hood. The place is small and cramped. Their vinyls, although a small selection, is organized. They have decently priced at market value. There are lots of turn tables and speakers, retro and used but all in awesome working condition. It is a mess, however, an organized mess. The guy running the place gave me a free verbal consultation over my turntable issue. I will be bringing in my turn table in the next few weeks to get it repaired since the one that I am using is in repair. They don’t have a place to test albums for listen. He seemed annoyed that I wanted to test a record before purchasing. If someone is charging me an arm and a leg and there is a mark on a record, I have a right to listen to it. 9 out of 10 marks don’t affect play but if it did I knew that I couldn’t come back to return, therefore, would rather deal with it sooner rather than later. Other than that the service was awesome.

Okay, so some of the equipment is a tad overpriced compared to craigslist– but it’s all guaranteed to be functioning, and many of the vintage pieces are absolutely immaculate. They even let me exchange the turntable I bought for a different one, after finding out after a week that it wasn’t for me. You’re paying for piece of mind, and they certainly sell that here. It’s worth the extra couple bucks. Not to mention the two gents that work here really know their stuff, and are incredibly patient at fielding the many questions of inquisitive customers.
They also have a very modest vinyl selection, that despite how small it is, always manages to have something I’m looking for. Quality over quantity, I guess.
Would highly recommend this shop to anyone in the city looking to buy a stereo hi-​fi, or a turntable. You’ll get way more bang-​for-​your-​buck buying a used piece here than a new one at one of the big chain retailers.

I am adding to the accolades. My experience was complete with first rate knowledge and sincere salesmanship (yup it does exist). Kicking myself for not getting the young man’s name but he was on his own and had four customers including me. Managed it with zero stress and total professionalism. I bought a turntable and new stylus, plugged and played on my old Harmon Kardon, my old but beautiful vinyl. Fair, informed and well stocked, Lotusland is THE place.

What a great shop! These guys are honest and know their stuff. The shop has a full array of excellent vintage stereo equipment. You can buy a system here for a few hundred dollars that sounds excellent and has enough power for big parties. You would have to spend thousands to get equivalent new equipment. The fellas here are super helpful and take the time to help you get what you want.

Yep as good as the reviews suggest! Have purchased 2 turntables, speakers, amplifier & lots of vinyl from these guys (Mitch & Trent) — they provided top notch customer service, A+ knowledge of everything they sell and completely stand behind their product. Guarantee I’ll be back & would not hesitate to recommend to anyone…

As someone brand new to the world of vinyl (and therefore know nothing about it), I wasn’t sure if it is better to buy a brand new turntable or something used that has been fixed up. I called Lotusland and they were incredibly helpful on the phone and I decided I wanted to come in and check out their selection of turntables. The staff and customer service was superb. They took a lot of time explaining things and answering any questions, showed us many different options and told us in great detail about all of them. The best part was just generally how easy they made the process and how happy they were to help — I am intimidated by how little I know about records and they never made me feel stupid for asking what most likely were stupid questions. I really appreciate that! I can’t really give the customer service and selection here enough praise. They also have a great selection of used records (and cds, dvds etc) with great deals, and we picked up Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline for 10 bucks!

Overpriced and the staff aren’t as knowledgeable as I would expect. Innovative Audio in Surrey is much better. Way better selection and they also do their own repairs there, so they know what they are talking about. At Lotusland, the extent of their knowledge is what they can Google in 5 minutes.

I bought a second-​hand amp here. When it wasn’t working properly, I took it back. Though it was 18 months later, the guy who owns the place opened it up, sprayed a few switches, replaced a fuse, and had my amp working and me smiling and out the door in ten minutes. Fantastic customer service. In fact, I am not even a Unilocal user, but I signed up for an account just so I could write a review. When you come across service like this you just want to see the place do well.

After wanting a record player for the longest time and not knowing anything about them (except where the needle goes), we were pointed here from the guys at Red Cat Records.
Have to say we were quite happy that we decided to make the trek, the knowledge these guys have is amazing and they are definitely passionate about what they do. After sifting through the mounds of turn tables and dozens of questions we found a shiny Yamaha YP-​B4 that caught our eye. Fit exactly what we were looking for and roughly in our price range, we couldn’t be happier with it.
Would recommend Lotusland to anyone looking for audio gear. Be it turntables, amps, or speakers, these guys have and know it all!

Can’t say enough about how great this place is. Super helpful, knowledgeable, and nice guys. I got a great receiver there for a fantastic price, plus the guy helped me with a turntable I brought in, which I had questions about; they really know what they’re talking about, clearly … they also have a pretty awesome collection of vinyl (albeit small-​ish compared to a record store, since they’re more about equipment than records). This will absolutely be my go-​to place for audio equipment (and some vinyl shopping). I’m already looking forward to giving them my business when I’m ready to buy good speakers, and will trust them to service my equipment as well. They are really into music and happy to chat about it, if they’re not too busy, which is likely because there were tons of people coming in and out. No wonder. A very pleasurable experience!

Awesome equipment for reasonable prices. My roommate got a receiver there and the guy was super helpful about choosing one (and with helping her pick out a new needle for her record player). Excellent service. Especially to those who don’t know much about sound systems or electronics.

Great shop, as good as it gets.
The guy that runs this spot is completely honest and helpful.
Lots of awesome vintage gear!!!
Stop reading this review and get down there!

Highly impressed with their audio technical expertise. Trent is in particular highly knowledgeable and enthusiastic about his subject matter.
They did not set off my sales BS spidey sense at all. I will be back in the future and would recommend highly to anyone else looking to pick up some quality used AV gear.

I’m happy to read that someone else has had such a great experience with Lotusland too. The guy who runs this place truly knows his stuff.
We have owned about four record players in the past two years with the on-​going problem being that the sound has always been ultra quiet. Listening to a Bach cello suite when you’re home alone was fine, but turning up the volume on a Doors album just wasn’t an option. After a lot of wire fiddling, we (and by «we» I mean my boyfriend who is in charge of all things electronic) came to the conclusion that we needed a new tuner.
We looked at a couple second hand but could never quite agree on a price point. So this past summer, I got a tip to check out Lotusland for such things. I staged a mutiny and headed there.
Upon entering the store I declared my ignorance of electronics and explained the situation with the record player. The helpful owner then discussed price, the pros and cons of various price levels, and narrowed down what I was looking for. Then, out of a stack of a half-​dozen tuners that met my criteria, he determined the aesthetic I wanted, and helped me pick one. Then he explained to me how he cleans all the equipment before selling it and to come back with any questions. Not once did this guy use excessive jargon.
I lugged the tuner home and was even able to explain to my boyfriend the aspects of the tuner and why I brought this particular one home. And best of all, he was happy with the choice too. It was a beautiful moment.
For service, great products, fantastic knowledge, a sparklingly clean store, excellent selection, and most of all for the gift of (loud) music, I heartily rate Lotusland a spot in the top of the Unilocal tree.

I came to Lotusland looking for a record player. Yes, a record player, and I am happy to say that I went away with a great record player, speakers and the amplifier to plug it all into for something like $ 120. I found that the service here was really helpful, the man helping me out owns the place and he is really knowledgeable about what he sells, and he sells some great things. In addition to record players, you’ll find quality used tvs, dvd players, musical instruments, ipods, mac computers, cameras and other stereo equipment. The prices are good, and make sure to check out the eclectic record collection. I went away with a record of Hawaiian music; it goes well with my grass skirt!