The Source AV Design Group

Ok– where to begin? Who am I in the grand scheme of things? No one. I don’t exactly fit the bill for Jason’s typical cliental; «someones.» Regardless, Jason found me on a Mcintosh FB forum, where I was complaining about a faulty remote I got. He personally reached out to me and asked me to send the serial number of the bad product. By the time I got to the building in Torrence, Jason had already ordered the new remote, and started making the process right with Mcintosh. I hadn’t even met the guy, given him payment info or ANYTHING. This is old school good service.
I’m a 23 year old audio nut, and I love going into audio shops of all kinds. Today was unique– of all the places I’ve been to, The Audio Source AV was the business that operated at the highest level, yet treated me like I was a person. I’ve been to places ¹⁄₈ of the size, with ¹⁄₈ the product line who when realizing you’re a poor college graduate student, don’t give you the time of day. How did this have the best of both worlds???
Jason gave me a personal tour. If you’ve never been here, and have an idea of what you think a tour is, crumble that idea up and throw it out. There is showroom after showroom each displaying another priceless system after another. I think I said «OH SH*&» over 10 times, followed by Jason saying, «we haven’t even started the tour yet.»
We finished the day sitting in the Mcintosh Flagship room, where Jason answered my every question, and told me stories of when he engineered for Clapton, and other heroes I have from back in the day. He has more experience in the industry than all your favorite audio shops combined.
I will be back, all the time. I feel wiser for just being in the building. It’s huge. It’s of the highest quality. It will inspire you, and demoralize you at the same time. I’m rambling, just go there, and then comment on this just letting me know I was right.

I am a hobbyist for a long time. Recently I started getting back into Hi-​Fi. I have had a chance to work with Jason and he is a straight foward gentleman and more importantly, an experienced sound engineer. They have huge showrooms and great service. Again this is a hi-​fi shop, it is not your regular best buy.
if you are looking for finer sound in life, this is the place :)

I’ve been a customer of The Source AV Design Group for awhile now and felt it was time to leave a positive review. Every visit /​appointment has been with great customer attention and complete professionalism. Jason and Steven always give my husband and I the king and queen treatment. Aside from the great customer attention and professionalism, they’re really fun to deal with and both have a great sense of humor. They are very passionate and knowledgeable in the AV & Audiophile industry. They are dead honest and will never steer you in the wrong direction. They work with your budget and ensure you leave extremely happy. The audio/​video events they host periodically throughout the year are a great way to try before you buy and to meet /​socialize with the manufacturers! Even better, for us ladies, we are treated as equals. That is a rarity in this industry. I cannot express enough gratitude and well wishes for your business. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Bravo Jason and Steven!

I was visiting a friend living in SoCal so I wanted check out some Hi-​Fi shops during my stay. Credits to Unilocal,I found The Source AV. Jason took time to show me around; asked about my system (McIntosh, Focal, Cary Audio) and made me feel welcomed.
The store looked immaculate, everything was hooked up and ready to audition. I’ve been in this hobby since my teens so I’ve been to many Hi-​Fi stores in the last 3 decades. Often times I walk away unimpressed by the products on display or worst, by the staff. Not in this case! During my 2+ hrs. stay I did not feel judged or sold to. I was treated with respect, like an old friend visiting. There were so much high-​end products to see and audition I can easily spend a full day here.
Lately I have moved to headphones listening so I was happy to learn that they are updating the store to include a «headphones bar». I did not buy anything on that visit, but my experience was so positive I will pick Jason’s brain again when I’m in the position to buy. If this store was in my area (San Francisco), I would be in trouble. LOL…

A bit about myself first. I am a supervising sound editor for feature films. I work with sound everyday and have a trained ear. To say I am very particular about my purchases is probably an understatement. It is time to upgrade my 5.1 home AV system and I have been auditioning and researching speakers for the better part of 3 years now! That is just for the speakers! During my quest, I wanted to hear a particular brand of speaker and that was my introduction to The Source AV Design Group and one of it’s owners, Jason Lord.
Driving to the store the first time, I thought I might be in the wrong place since it is located in an industrial part of town and the front of the building is very unassuming. It wasn’t until I walked into the showroom that I realized I had entered into some truly HI-​FI nirvana!
Since I am just a sound editor and not a film producer, my sound budget is very modest and I was a bit intimidated by the quality of equipment on display. There were speakers and front end electronics on display that I have only seen in Stereo or Hometheater magazines.
Then I met Jason and I sheepishly told him the ballpark of my price range and he immediately showed me various products in my range. No judgement, no get out of here because you can’t afford the really pricey stuff, just down to earth friendly help. Usually when I walk into a Hi-​Fi store, HDTV store, I am frustrated by the fact that the sales people are not very knowledgable. In fact most of the time, they are downright wrong!!! As I started to talk with Jason I realized… wow this guy actually knows what he is talking about. Not only that, but he actually knows more technical engineering than I do! I listened to the pair of speakers that brought me to the store in the first place and I was very impressed. We listened to many others for comparison.
I have an extremely busy work schedule and this first meeting was over a year ago. During the year away, when I had time to listen I would go to other stores, etc… But my great experience at The Source AV stayed with me. In fact I would randomly email Jason with questions about his thoughts on different products I was considering and compare his thoughts based on my own real world listening experiences. Over time, what I came to realize was that Jason and I hear things in a very similar manner. He can actually walk the walk! I was always surprised when he would give good marks for a product he didn’t necessarily carry in his own store. I fel this was a very honest person.
So a year later and I have finally come back to the store and I am close to pulling the trigger on my modest AV upgrade. By modest I mean in comparison to doing an actual dedicated home theater. For me this a HUGE purchase and I do not part with my hard earned money lightly!
I have been working with Jason in earnest for a couple of weeks at this point, and he knows my budget and he is working to deliver the best bang for my buck. He has spent more time with my at this point via email, and coming by the house, sitting at his store, etc… than I think I could afford if he was charging my by the hour! Just a really good guy… so far! I only say «so far,» since I am actively working with him right now.
I will keep my experience up to date so as to give you all the most complete review of the overall experience. All I can say is so far so good! I hope this remains a 5 star recommendation!!!
*** Since I have been researching speakers and audio gear for a LONG time. This is my second complete system I have purchased, I have helped my father with two complete systems, and I have helped many friends with their own systems… I have spent YEARS listening and evaluating this stuff! OK it is probably a disease, but that being said here are a few simple tips that may or may not help anyone just getting started in this stuff:
*** My tip #1 to anyone looking to buy any stereo or AV system is to pick the speakers first. Then work your electronics and budget from there. A great speaker will sound good with average electronics. A crappy speaker will sound bad with exceptional electronics.
*** My tip #2 Listen to what is the best speaker (s) made. Know what is technically possible, then from there work your way down to your budget. There is a point of diminishing returns, but only you can decide what the tradeoff point should be.
*** My tip #3 Bring in your own music on CD. Listen to the human voice. That is one thing we all know how it should sound. If it sounds boxy, dull, too bright, etc… move on. Make sure you bring in all types of music that you listen to and know fairly well. Also bring in stuff that may not be your cup of tea, but still see if the speaker can play it well.
Updates to come as my project continues!!!

INSULTING, CONDESCENDING, AND AWFULLY UNPROFESSIONAL are only some of the adjectives that could even remotely encapsulate our experience with this outfit and specifically, the owner, Jason Lord! A few months ago, we called in advance to discuss our interest in a brand named, Macintosh. Our neighbor across the street has had a full Mcintosh system designed by another LA Mcintosh dealer. However, doing our independent due diligence on this brand, we came across the Source and Jason Lord who seemingly was closer to us and apparently a «Platinum» Mcintosh dealer. During our initial phone conversation we were cordially invited to go in and visit their showroom. This compelled us to visit with our questions and our genuine interest to get further educated about this brand. We arranged a visit. Upon initial introductions we discussed our estimated budget of $ 85,000-$ 100,000 for the electronics and the status of our home theater that was being built. This is about when we began to experience a set of shocking revelation, some of which included Jason Lord making fun of us and looking/​talking down to us for (U.S.) having arrived in an «non-​American electric vehicle»; (us) getting further scolded and insulted by him when simply asked his opinion about another similarly priced competitive brand; and lastly by his unprofessional conduct whereby he belittled the other LA Mcintosh dealer who did our neighbor’s system! To be more specific, regarding the ladder of these two items: although many of the products this outfit represents and shows in their showroom are actually a product of Asia (i.e.: Marantz from Thailand, China, and Japan; Sony, Denon, Niles, Epson, and more… all from Asia) this guy made outrageous statements such as «everything made in Asia is trash and junk», «we don’t peddle non-​American garbage», and similar. This is specially insulting as my wife is of Asian decent and was accompanying me that day. Also as ridiculous was the fact that this guy was making these degrading statements while they were holding an Apple iPhone which is, as we all know, made in China! As far as their belittling of the other Mcintosh dealer, it was clear that this guy is so obscenely self-​consumed and scrupulous that they think no other dealer could possibly be anything but substandard to him and his outfit! After this was all said and done, we ended up taking our business to the previously referred to us dealer (our neighbor’s referred dealer). We decided to completely avoid the Source Design. We are on-​track to completing our system in a month or so. We will post our review of that once all completed. However, up to this point they have been great.

This is it!
They have almost everything! From Headphone amps to loud speakers and the home theater systems. Awesome place to kill time and check out some coo stuff. Look for Steve or Jason for the help.

What can I say, the word to explain my experience with The Source is nothing less than perfect. You wouldn’t be able to tell what lies behind the doors of this establishment as you drive pass, that’s for sure. But let me tell you, the showrooms are amazing, mind blowing to say the least. Beautiful, high end, top of the line products that’ll take your breath away. The brothers (Jason and Steven Lord) are very knowledgable of their trade and have made my visit very comfortable (had me laughing throughout my visit), which is a big plus for me considering, I’ve gone to several different locations that have made me feel otherwise. I knew I was in the right place. They’ve made it easy for me to decide on which product to go with. And after doing so, installed it in my home at a timely manner, leaving no headache for me to endure. They did an impeccable job! I will admit that the products can be a bit pricey, but I knew that going in. Refer to my previous statement a few lines above, if you will. I do believe «high end» «top of the line» were the descriptions used. Perfectly used statements if I may say so myself. So, no… Cheap they are not. You get what you pay for. This is a one stop shop. No need to search elsewhere. You will be taken care of, I guarantee.

knowledgeable but pushes the higher end products even though i had no use for them and they turned out to be way way overkill for my application.
customer service when you call in has poor attitude. Did not grind them on price
Had to have another company come in and clean up the unlabeled and messy wiring system they left.

I have had the good fortune of having The Source AV do all my av since they started in 1998. They even did all the AV when I built my new home. The Source uses first rate equipment and customizes the experience for your needs and home. The install is clean, quick, and very professional. Jason Lord understands this high end world, explains it well, and has a good eye on the future too. The Lord brothers make sure you have a custom experience and I’m always blown away after they’ve completed my AV projects. Their prices, quick service, and professionalism make me a repeat customer for more than a decade. I would highly recommend The Source AV Design Group.

Jason at The Source AV is a true professional and is an outstanding expert on audio and video systems. I felt respected and valued as a customer. Jason spent a lot of time with me about what I wanted in my system and how best to design what I needed. He took into account the size and acoustical environment of my room to help best select the appropriate equipment for me. His staff is extremely knowledgeable and did a beautiful job setting up all my components. I did a lot of research before selecting The Source. I found his prices to be the best in town and he was able to get my equipment faster than any other retail competitor. My highest recommendation if you are seeking professional audio experts and installation.