Thiel Owners

Sad news.  Just received email from Audio Consultants (long time Chicago area dealer located in Evanston) that they will be closing their doors on December 21st.

I am not sure why but high-end audio is a pretty tough business. I think partly because the younger generation does not care much of "sound quality". Actually it’s hard for me to strike a conversation regarding high-end audio with anyone since I find most people are not really into it either.

For most people as long as there are some music playing from a pair of speakers, they’d be fine. I guess I belong to a dying breed. I tend to be rather particular about my system.

jazzman7

Thank You for the update on Audio Consultants. Anytime the Audiophile community loses a brick-and-mortar business, sad indeed.

Simon Zreczny, the owner of Audio Consultants, had a 52 year run, having opened in 1967.  Of note to this group is that they started with Thiel in 1981 and were for all intents and purposes the hub of the Thiel community in the Chicago area. They were a class act and will be missed.

jazzman - thank you for the news; sad but grounded in the facts of our times. Simon, and by extension the whole Audio Consultants organization, was a dream come true. I believe that if the marketplace were filled with retailers of his caliber, our marketplace would be far healthier and maybe even vibrant.

It may interest this group that when New Thiel assembled its first team including National Sales Manager Steve DeFuria, among his first moves was to re-enlist some core, respected retailers to re-focus Thiel in the marketplace. Audio Consultants was his first approach and acceptance, and they would have been a king-pin if New Thiel had stayed on its stated course of being true to Jim's vision. I don't have any figures, but I suspect that Audio Consultants may have been Thiel's top-selling dealer of all time.