Andrew Singer Of "Sound by Singer" passed away yesterday

Upon first site of ’Andrew Singer Of "Sound by Singer" passed away yesterday’ I immediately thought there’ll likely be more than a few ’ugh finally’s floating around the hobby today.

I met him once, probably 30 years ago, as a pair of hands while accompanying a dealer friend with some business to handle with him. I found him quick & pleasant. That said- it was rare to hear a good word about him whenever his name came up. Maybe it was ’Hating’, maybe it was the ads. He did alot of expensive advertising back in the print media days and no one in the hobby got to escape that imperious black & white gaze- even if you were an audio guy in the furthest reaches of Alaska terrain. There were sometimes pictures of equipment, but the most prominent image in any of the ads would be of him.

He was selling him.

There were lots of dealers in the heyday of this pursuit, he was good enough to position himself at the top of the heap and that in itself always inspires hatred in any business. The pulling up in the ’Mercedes in Armani with Rolex...’ bullsht always rears it’s ridiculous cliche head throughout audiophilia and as a former (and sometimes successful) sales professional, I can tell you with complete certainty that that particular moan almost always emanates from either a tire kicker/timewaster/dreamer or a complete schmuck, all of whom are usually spotable upon first utterance.

The cat lived a good life. He did what he wanted to do and did it well enough to pay some very high rent and still have enough leftover to show the entire audio universe his face somewhere everyday of the year for decades.

Good for him.

@czarivey

That was my experience. I disliked him immensely. I did go in the shop for FOMO, and I did once buy something, my VPI HW / Sumiko MMT / Koetsu Black combo there, in 1985. But he was not helpful: I knew to know what I wanted before I went in, I went straight to the item(s) and with no discussion I pointed, said “I’ll take it!”, I was in and out within 30 minutes

I shopped mostly at Stereo Exchange, run by Dave Wasserman, a genuinely friendly, nice and always helpful guy. I got my Futterman OTL3s, my Beard P505 there.

nevertheless, R.I.P. Andy.

I walked in the store as a penniless musician and music lover and was treated with disdain.

@gents     +1   You nailed it!

@frogman

And your inference is?

I stand by my comments.

Stereo Exchange was a much more welcoming place. Steve Wasserman is genuinely warm and friendly, and he has an amazing memory: he would greet you by name every time you walked in, and he knew the status and composition of my audio system at any given time and was always prepared with an appropriate suggestion for the next improvement to make to it that was suited to my budget.