The Sound Gallery

I cannot say enough good things about this place. I needed a new cartridge for my turntable because it had been a few years. Being lazy and a habitual purchaser on Amazon I figured I would just buy a ATP-​N2 which is supposed to be the replacement stylus for the ATP-​2 cartridge. When I received the needle not only would it not fit on my stylus but it looked like a Audio Technica knock off. I brought the needle and the Head-​shell to Sound Gallery and they found me a needle at half the price and helped fit the cartridge (needle /​stylus) to the head shell. After that the knowledgeable assistant took great care to show me how to balance the tone arm and set up the counterweight. He even let me film him demonstrating how to do this on my IPHONE which really made the process a lot easier when I got home. I cannot say enough good things about the great vintage gear and an amazing assortment of vinyl. On my way out I even found a record that I had been looking for online for a while but couldn’t find anywhere. I noticed on the entryway of the store that there was a sign for coffee and that does add to the environment of a place you can drop into, hang out, and shoot the breeze. So what are you waiting for? before you go to any of the competitors go here first and you won’t be disappointed.

This place is absolutely amazing. I’m in town from Los Angeles visiting my daughter and wanted to set up her sound system for Christmas. It’s sheer luck that I stumbled in here looking for a simple tuner. The collection of vintage and new audio equipment is amazing. Despite the depth of knowledge and range of equipment we never felt outclassed. Our humble mission seemed just as important to them as if we were high-​end rollers and we were able to get my daughter up and running with a classic, beautiful, warm Yamaha for less than $ 300 (a piece of equipment that was almost exactly the same component I grew up with in my mom’s house, where I first fell in love with music). On top of it all they gave us complimentary speeker wire and coffee and my daughter bought a few albums.
I can’t recommend the place enough. If they were in Los Angeles I’d be a regular fixture here. It’s a real asset to Austin and should be visited by any music lover.

It is hard to say anything more positive about The Sound Gallery than what has already been said, but here goes. From the moment I walked in I felt genuinely welcome. How many businesses can you honestly say that about? I am more of a car audio guy and had some serious noob questions regarding turntables, having only owned a 2006 Sony from Best Buy and an RCA or Realistic back in the 80’s. After certainly destroying any credibility whatsoever with my ridiculous questions, I received nothing but knowledge, guidance, and patience. No eye rolls or high-​pressure sales tactics here, folks. I was dead-​set on a new Rega or Pro-​Ject going in and absolutely nothing was going to dissuade me. After speaking with the owner, Marc, for quite some time, he eventually said to me, «Don’t discount older used turntables.» At that moment, he led me to a beautifully restored, mint condition Panasonic PL-​518. It was love at first sight and after hearing it against the others I was sold. What a tank. I raced back to San Antonio and hooked it up, but the sound wasn’t quite right. I troubleshot at length as best I could to no avail. A few days later I reluctantly returned to The Sound Gallery with my tail between my legs. After explaining my issues with the turntable, I received no judgement and the employees – Robert and Enzo – literally attacked the PL-​518 to diagnose the problem. As it turned out the connection to the cartridge was bad. So, what did they do? They cleaned everything thoroughly and put in a brand spankin’ new Empire cartridge to replace the old one. This is what customer service is, folks. If you pine for a long gone brick and mortar music store of yore – with friendly, helpful, knowledgable, personable employees and boss – then look no further than The Sound Gallery.

I acquired a McIntosh C26 that developed a power capacitor issue and drove two hours to Austin for repairs at another local business. Knowing it would be weeks without my beloved Pre-​Amp, I thought I’d stop by and see what the guy’s had in stock and WOW am I glad I did.
The staff was busy with incoming inventory yet super friendly and accommodating. The store was a haven of top quality gear from days’ gone by. (I call it a museum of youth) Neat & well organized, I was directed to the listening room where all my senses were enveloped in delightful music, sight & smell (of coffee). The high-​end room was enchanting.
My attention focused toward a McIntosh C28 PreAmp and soon it was moved from a bottom shelf to the center stage and hooked-​up ready for evaluation & testing… all I could do was grin stupidly in anticipation. I thought to myself…“What are the odds of finding a replacement so easily?” And then it awoke and came to life with the delightful nuance that only a Mac can give.
It was wonderful to chat with the staff in such a relaxed atmosphere, all truly enjoying the music and craft. I cannot convey enough how much I enjoyed my visit and new-​found friends. They’ve made a customer for life, and each time I return to the Austin area I’ll make time to stop by for a coffee & a chat… and also an LP or two from the great selection offered.
Thank you to all at the Sound Gallery… see you soon.

Great shop all around! Very friendly, knowledgeable, and fun to be around! Even make very high quality coffee!

I’m one of those children of the late 80s and early 90s who is old enough to have grown up listening to my parents’ record collection and appreciating the format, but just young enough to have missed out on the joys of hanging out at the old-​school hi-​fi store, where high-​quality equipment with style and character is on offer by a staff who is knowledgeable, friendly, and dedicated to their craft.
The Sound Gallery is like going into the time machine set at 1973 that most of us young-​ish music nerds have always wished existed. Walking in, you are greeted with an excellent selection of vinyl, a psychedelic atmosphere, and a sea of beautifully conditioned equipment that is all wood grain, silver metal, and quality craftsmanship.
I can’t stress enough how awesome the staff is. I purchased a Technics SL-​B5 turntable today from Robert, who I also spoke with about a month ago when I first started to look to upgrade from my terrible Audio Technica LP-​60. Even though I mentioned up front that I wasn’t able to buy anything that day, he was incredibly helpful in answering my questions and pointing me toward a turntable that fit my needs and price range. I was thrilled the Technics was still available today, but Robert still hooked it up and put on a record so I could see it in action and he could go over the features with me.
Marc, the owner, has done a fantastic job of acquiring inventory, and making the store feel like a hangout where you can just go in, buy a record and a coffee, and talk music. I will be doing this often. When I’m ready to upgrade my speakers and receiver, I’m buying from here. I hope The Sound Gallery becomes an Austin institution, it’s well deserved.

I cannot say enough good things about this place. A true oasis in a
time of «high quality» mp3 culture. This isn’t a record store — this is a precious
resource! Protect it, behold it. experience it. I have been lucky enough to
put together a giant-​killer sound system thanks to these guys! The staff
is friendly, and very helpful. Anyone jumping on the vinyl bandwagon can go
to the mall, get a Crosley, call it a day, then regret it the rest of your life. The Sound Gallery will dial you in if you’re just starting a serious collection or if you want to upgrade your current system with a wide variety of superior audio equipment.

There are lots of things I really like about this place — they have an awesome collection of vintage gear, the guys are happy to chat about what kinds of projects they have coming up, and how have the other shops in town NOT installed coffee bars? That is such a great addition.
All of that said, I think they could improve a few things on the vinyl side (which isn’t their main focus, but still). First, I get the sense that most records are more expensive than other shops in town (I didn’t do a scientific sample, just from browsing). Second, some additional organization would help — new vs used spots and a bin of new arrivals.

My boyfriend and I bought new turntables and we were having a tremendous amount of trouble finding new power amps. We went to about 5 different places until we decided to go to the sound gallery. The service was the absolute best thing we have both ever experienced. He set up power amps so we can test them out. We both left with smiling faces and found exactly what we were looking for. He bought a vintage Sherwood receiver and I bought a nerve audio pre amp and a muse power amp for my new turntable. (And a super sweet de loused vinyl)
Go there for all your record needs!!! You’ll leave sad because you’ll want everything! But so worth it.

Great collection if old classic county. Very reasonably priced for great albums! Love the set up.

I’ve been hanging out in hi-​fi shops since the early 1980s, and this place brings me back. The folks who work there are extremely knowledgeable and there is no sales pressure.
If you’re into vintage hi-​fi, the Sound Gallery has a serious hookup. Klipsch, McIntosh, Scott, Dynaco, Luxman, Lenco, Fairchild, you name it, they’ve got choice components for sale that are clean and gorgeous. And if you’re looking for a turntable — either a starter from Rega or a high-​end vintage Garrard or Micro Seiki — you’re in luck too. Typewriters, reel-​to-​reel machines, tape decks, speakers, all of that and more.
And they offer a repair service as well. They’ll help you get your uncle’s Marantz 2238B receiver back in tip-​top shape.
Oh, and they sell LPs and coffee. What’s not to love?

This was by far one of the best buying experiences I’ve ever had!
After going to several SoCo record and equipment shops and being thoroughly disappointed by the lack of selection and poor service I made my way to this place. As soon as I walked in these guys helped me out and were extremely knowledgeable about any and all questions I could conjure.
I’m still a novice in the field of stereo equipment and I can certainly say that the guys at Sound Gallery made me feel welcomed rather than being pretentious snobs like the other stores I visited.
I’ll definitely be returning here any and every time I’m on the area!

Sound Gallery rocks. I spent serious dollars on a vintage Marantz receiver from a store not too far away from the Sound Gallery and found it produced a irritating noise in the right channel after a long workout. I brought it back and they essentially blamed my equipment.
Friends referred me to the Sound Gallery and was I impressed. Several rooms of very cool, vintage gear spanning multiple decades. These guys are passionate about what they do. Sound Gallery’s Enzo spent several weeks looking for and then finding the Marantz model I wanted. I’ll be damned if the same thing sound issue happened again. But what a difference in customer service. Enzo did his research and discovered that this was a common problem with this generation of Marantz receivers. Here replaced the suspect transistors within a day.
I am now rocking a sound like I never have had before. Highly recommended for great qualit vintage receivers, turntables and speakers. And a wonderful LP selection too.

This place is awesome! Way better than ANY stereo/​music equipment outfit, anywhere.
All models of receivers, turntables, speakers are arranged for easy viewing and listening.
Is the staff knowledgeable? Is the Pope Catholic? Nowhere, anywhere, have I seen so much dedication to their craft, than here. Nowhere, but here have I seen such an incredible array of stereo equipment– some of which I had only heard or read about, prior to coming here!
Service? Oh yeah! I brought in my Pioneer SX 950 Receiver for repair. She looks and sounds like new!
I love this place!

One of my favorite places in Austin!
I recently took in a pair of Sony speakers that I’ve had since college for repair. They did the work quickly and at a fair price and now they sound better than ever.
Plus, they are some of the nicest guys in town. I cannot say enough good things about The Sound Gallery.

I cannot recommend this place more. I walked in yesterday wanting to get a record player and naively thinking I could spend less than $ 200…that’s just not possible considering you also have to get the receiver and speakers.
The guys at The Sound Gallery were incredibly nice and let me know I probably can’t find anything for under $ 400. Instead of just shooing me out the door, they put their heads together and found a beautiful system that sounded AMAZING! And they brought the price down to only $ 250!
The best part about them is they’re not pretentious music snobs at all, like most record store employees are. They genuinely wanted to help me learn about vintage record players and wanted me to walk out with an awesome system. He even put a Lana Del Rey record on to convince this pop-​loving Millenial.
They also have an amazing selection of albums and vintage typewriters and phones! Please, please go to The Sound Gallery!

BACK TO THE 1960s STEREO FIDELITY WITH ENTHUSIASM. Happy me the day that Sound Gallery opened in Austin. I got there as soon as I could with my Nakamichi 480 Cassette Tape Deck under my arm. The owner and one of the technicians were pleased to be able to work on it and were confident they could restore it to service. I bought this unit in 1989 making it 25 years old. I was quoted a fair price to perform an evaluation after which they would call with a price for repairs. The evaluation price would apply to the total repair cost. Several days later, I received a call from the tech with the cost to replace the worn out belts in the unit, perform an overcheck of all functions and return it in ready-​to-​use condition. In about a week, I picked up the unit, took it home, and made a superb recording of some classical music. The Nakamichi 480 produces a big sound. I am thrilled to have it back and the price was fair and the people at Sound Gallery were pleased to service this unit. And, if that wasn’t enough, Sound Gallery is now selling its own private brand of Chrome Cassette Tape called Chromatone; Type II, High Bias Chrome, 45 minutes on a side for 90 minutes of music. I am about to try it out with vinyl by John Lee Hooker, Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, and others.
I enjoy going to Sound Gallery to check out the newly arrived vinyl, the array of equipment on offer and the unusual hi fi related art objects, collectibles, posters, T shirts, the music playing on the store system, the enthusiasts who are in the store shopping and sharing information and the energy level and know how of the owner and staff. I have always been treated well.
I must confess that I have shopped for stereo equipment at the original Radio Shack in Boston, Lafayette Electronics in Boston, Allied Electronics, Heathkit and more. Sound Gallery has the feel, looks, smells, sounds, eccentricities and shopping pleasure of those shops that I frequented in the 1960s. Anyone wishing to put together a stereo system on any budget will find the advice and help they need. Legendary brands — and the equipment that made them legends — are on sale here — to mention just a few — Marantz, Fisher, Garrard, McIntosh, Sansui, and so many more. Reel-​to-​reel tape deck in your quest? You’ll find them here. The owner loves to search the world for equipment and is savvy on quality and condition and how to acquire undamaged goods.
When I go to the store, I purchase my coffee and then get an update on new things that are happening. What a great place to drink a cup of coffee even if there is only one table and three chairs. Usually, there are interesting vintage things happening on the vintage TV screens and there are colors, shapes, designs, quality levels that have vanished from most of our retail stores of today. An amazing, artistic wall-​to-​wall carpet sets a stereophonic theme for the store. A super addition to Austin.

I cannot say enough good things about this place. Having recently gotten back into vinyl, I bought a cheap Audio-​Technica to start listening but soon realized just how terrible these cheap Chinese players really are. I was in search of a vintage turntable to listen to my albums the way they were meant to be listened to. Craigslist was a bust, too expensive for something that could break at any second. Record stores were a bit better but still had machines priced too high for something that was in pretty poor shape.
After searching and searching I finally stumbled upon The Sound Gallery on Google, and high-​tailed it there as fast as I could. This place is exactly the store I was looking for. Beautifully restored turntables, and TONS of them. Plus they have a huge selection of receivers/​amps, speakers, vinyl, typewriters, etc as well.
That isn’t even the best part. The best part by far is the staff. The owner, Marc, is a joy speak with about analog audio and music. He and his staff helped my GF and I find the PERFECT turntable, a beautiful Rotel RP-​3000. We made the decision to purchase the turntable pretty early on in our visit, but we continued chatting with the staff for probably an hour, just about music and vinyl, and it was glorious. We didn’t feel rushed at all, and they were extremely polite about explaining and teaching us how to use certain aspects of the tables. They are extremely passionate about what they do and it shows.
I’m currently using a pre-​amp with a modern receiver, but I have every intention of going back to buy an analog receiver from them. I cannot recommend these guys enough. Even if you didn’t buy anything from them, just go and have conversations with them, it’s a blast.
P. S. I got $ 50 knocked off the price of the turntable I bought as long as I bring in my cheap Audio-​Technica so they can smash it with a sledgehammer, and film it.

Ol’ Rooster is a home audio nut. Imagine me in my teens trying to explain to my parents how I cracked a window from the bass in the movie Top Gun. Long story short, I had to move out soon after as my system just kept getting bigger and louder. So, when fellow Unilocaler Michael B. gave me lowdown on The Sound Gallery I had to check it out.
If your in your 40s, just imagine you could own everything you ever saw as a young lad. Its here, and its quadraphonic awesome! Silver faced receivers, bad ass blue grilled JBL speakers, quality tape decks, and select vintage speakers and even a consoles or two. Truth is, I prefer the late 80’s thru 90’s stuff. Anyone my age remember my era of the golden age of home audio?
For me the benchmark was THX. Almost never praised for their technical aspects when it came to music; the movie experience when listening thru anything certified was phenomenal. So, those unaffordable parts that would have cost you thousands a decade or so ago are relatively inexpensive when you can actually find them for sale online.
Well, thats my take. In my heart, I want to embrace every vintage, your dads hi-​fi, 50lb single speaker, turntable hipstermatic for the people, 8 track, pro-​logical progression that the industry has ever made. For me, I own what I couldn’t afford in my early high school days. My dream system took me years and many hours on the internet to build. The Sound Gallery gives you the unique opportunity to help you relive an old dream; just a few years late.
Life is too short, and those Beats from Dr. Dre just don’t cut it.

I’ve been anticipating this opening for months following along the updates to the Facebook page. Yep this is it. Your one stop shop for vintage audio equipment. You can put together a full vintage system here with a turntable for a very reasonable price. If you have jumped on the vinyl bandwagon and are playing your collectible multi colored «vinyls» through a Crosley picked out from Urban Outfitters, Target or wherever STOP now. You are quite possibly destroying them. You are definitely not getting the full audio experience. Run, don’t walk. Buy a vintage system from The Sound Gallery. You will thank me later.
Staff is amazingly friendly and helpful. You have questions? Need advice and guidance? They are happy to oblige. These guys love music just as much as you probably do. No snobby audiophile attitude here. There is an onsite tech there who works on the equipment when needed. If you already have something that’s broken, there’s a $ 40 bench fee then the repair cost. Don’t take your broken Crosley in there.
So why go vintage? Two channel stereo has been making a comeback. Vinyl has been making a comeback. If you want to go the new route, a music lover has to spend multi $ 1000s to buy something that sounds as good as the classic vintage gear. Electronics companies have made it easy to go and plunk down $ 200 and get a plastic home theater in box that decodes lossy formats off of DVD and there’s not even a phono input for a turn table. Play a CD through it and it sounds shrill and harsh. The vintage equipment will still take a CD player and even an iPod into the aux input while you build up your vinyl collection.
Look at the pictures. That chrome plated gear is heavy duty. The average weight of some of these pieces would probably be around 25 – 30 pounds. When you turn a knob or dial, you feel the quality. Not only that, the aesthetic is jaw dropping on so many of those pieces.
Need records? They have the latest reissues. Personally I thought they had a little too much stuff from 4 Men With Beards which is an atrocious label that sources their vinyl pressings from CDs sometimes. But they have plenty more quality reissues. Music on Vinyl and Back to Black are both fantastic reissue companies. If you haven’t heard Mick Jones’ 2013 remaster of The Clash catalog, rectify that immediately. Yes, they have that box set here and the Hits Back compilation. I’d also recommend highly the nine Columbia Miles Davis mono remasters which include Kind of Blue.
You like vintage typewriters and wall phones? They have those too. I’m no expert. I’ve used both in my life. Im that old. I can say they look neat. Might be a nice display piece. Some of those chromed typewrites are truly works of art. I don’t have the same nostalgia though as I do for the electronics of earlier times. I wouldn’t use a typewriter or phone before my mobile or computer. Some would. I get that. But I will use a turntable before my iPod any day.
So what did I buy? I bought a Luxman pre-​amp. Ive been needing a true pre-​amp. Been using my integrated Pioneer for the past year as a pre. Separates are the way to go, but it’s not the way to start out in this hobby unless you have money to blow. If you are a beginner I’d suggest simple turntable, an integrated or a receiver (30 – 50 watts, doesn’t sound like much but those are 1970s watts) and some speakers. And like I said, you can always plug your iPod into the aux and it won’t sound too bad. You could even get an external DAC and it will sound even better. But now we are getting a little advanced.
What are the prices like? They run the range. You can spend a lot or a little. Some things were a bit more than I expected, some a bit less, and some right on the money. For what I advised in the previous paragraph, I feel confident a person could walk in and get lower powered yet still musical full system for $ 500 – 600 and walk away happy. If you already have speakers, then less. If you had a $ 1000 budgeted, you would come away VERY happy. But whatever your budget, that smile would last all night on your couch listening to your new gear. There’s nothing like the warmth of analog. Be careful when drinking and using a turntable.
At the very least you owe it to yourself to have a browse, a coffee from the bar and admire the true artistry of that gear from a bygone era.