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I started my business as stereo repair shop on Monroe Avenue in Corvallis, Oregon in September of 1973 under the business name Stereo Repair Service . At that time, many people owned reasonably good sounding, expensive audio equipment that often broke down. So the stereo repair business was good and remained that way for some time. By the 1980, there were four technicians working at Stereo Repair Service and we were always busy.
In October of 1982, Sony introduced their first CD player. Soon after that, more CD players began appearing on the market and although those first players were very expensive and fell short of the "perfect sound forever" promise, CD technology was causing renewed interest in stereo and people wanted better gear. Moderately priced equipment reliability was steadily improving and the cheap stuff that often broke was not worth repairing. By the end of 1985, there two technicians working at Stereo Repair Service and I started to seriously look at the retail sales business.
In late 1985, I started selling Hafler kits. I wanted to sell Acoustat Electrostatic Speakers but Acoustat was uncomfortable with the business name Stereo Repair Service. I registered the business name Northwest Audio Labs in 1986, added Acoustat products, and began doing modifications on high quality audio power amplifiers. I remodeled the store in 1987 and added more high quality audio products to the store's inventory. I incorporated the business under the name Northwest Audio Labs, Inc. in February of 1988 and gave half the corporation's shares to my wife April. The business grew and in mid 1989, the local newspaper printed a story describing Northwest Audio Labs and focused on my equipment modifications. That article created more business; the manufactures and their representatives began to notice our little stereo store and in the years that followed, NWAL became the exclusive dealer in Corvallis for Adcom, Apogee, Counterpoint. Linn, Sota, Parasound, B&W, Paradigm, Audio Research and several other prestigious names. By 1993, we no longer had to beg a manufacture for their line. That really felt good but change was on the horizon.
The Quadraphonic sound formats of the early seventies were just like a bunch of tiny splashes of water in a hot frying pan. However, surround sound had been in movie theaters for many years and the home stereo market was beginning to flatten. Enter the new Home Theater market with "Surround Sound." Although I never developed the interest for home theater that I always had for home stereo, I realized that we could not ignore this new market. Two channel systems were quickly becoming yesterday's media and analog/digital surround sound was taking over the audio market. By the end of the decade, almost all audio processing was done in the digital domain and custom home installation of home theater systems was where the business was at. Speaker Manufactures were in love with Home Theater because they could sell more speakers per system. By the end of the decade, the Internet was available to most people, the big box stores had cornered the TV display market, and they were in the process of gobbling up most of the well know audio products.
Late in 1999, April and I moved NWAL to a small shop located in a little shopping center across the street from the Corvallis City Hall. That was a good move because retail sales were beginning to ebb due to heavy competition from the big box stores and the internet. Many of the equipment manufactures were entering those market areas so they could sell more equipment. We reduced the NWAL inventory and concentrated on the custom AV installation part of the business. April and I were divorced in early 2002 and I assumed full ownership of the corporation, which remained profitable. I continued with the custom installation business but competition in that market was increasing. The big stores were noticing the potentially profitable custom home AV installation business.
I never had a problem dealing with competition in the 2 channel audio field because I loved it and was very good at it. I was competent in the home theater installation profession but I was getting tired of having to convince people that I was better at it than a typical "trunk-slammer unlicensed contractor" doing cheap custom installations. Frankly, I was never that excited installing mediocre sounding in-wall speakers. If a customer was on a tight budget, I would suggest that they buy good quality portable sound systems for rooms where they wanted background music. That was sensible advice because a decent portable sound system would usually outperform a cheap sounding but more expensive built in system. At that time, it cost about $450 minimum per room to get half-way decent background music in a room using in-wall or in-ceiling speakers. That included pre-wiring, trim out and equipment. The sound could be a bit better than a good portable shelf system. Of course, the sound could be made better by spending more money on the built in speakers but the diminishing return rule was applicable. I have never heard any in-wall or in ceiling speaker system outperform a comparably priced box or panel speaker designed and built by a credible speaker manufacture.
Some people listened to me but others did not and would have the cheap junk installed. That did not make much sense because I did not sell portables so I had no monetary incentive in suggesting the decent shelf system. Plus, it seemed insane that big stores were selling cheap sounding whole-house systems as a one line-item Home Theater sale. However, there was a reason for doing it that way. That one line item sale could be considered by some lenders as part the home construction costs and therefore included in the mortgage! That seemed really crazy because that soon to be obsolete cheap system amortized over thirty years would end up costing more than a decent paid-for-at-the-time-of-installation system. I used to lose sleep thinking about that but soon decided that I should not let it bother me. Beside that, my overhead was so low that I did not have to sell and install multiple pieces junk as a one line item product so that I could to pay my fixed business costs and make a decent living. Changes were about to come but I am talking about the decent living money! I have never sold junk and never will.
I really liked that downtown location, but the City of Corvallis owned the property and in early 2005, the City gave notice to all tenants that they needed the space. I was faced with having to move the business on my own and I was very apprehensive. I had been taking care of the books since April left the business three years before that so I was aware of the fixed overhead costs and was comfortable where I was. Suddenly, I had to deal with the reality of paying quite a bit more rent if I wanted to keep my business in Corvallis. I recall thinking that I should be able to recapture some of the retail sales business if I had a fancier store. I found what I thought at the time would be a great retail storefront location across the street from the Corvallis Fred Meyer store. Although the inside was in terrible condition, I remember thinking that I could fix it up and make it look good.
Although it ended up being the best looking of the three, the third NWAL store on Buchanan Avenue ended up being not worth anything for me to write home and brag about! Rent was high and the store was 50% larger than the Madison Avenue location. I had invested a substantial amount of money and labor remodeling the interior. That store really looked good inside, but the competition from the big box stores and the internet continued to increase.
Manufactures began dumping product and many smaller stores like mine were fast becoming de-facto demo rooms for the dot coms. What I am saying is that I was spending a lot of time demonstrating and recommending equipment that I had in stock. The same equipment was being sold at heavily discounted prices from internet vendors that had very low fixed operating costs. NWAL retail sales continued to decline and when the recession hit in 2008, the custom installation market nearly evaporated along with the collapse of new home construction. Unfortunately, I had signed a three-year lease extension in March of 2008.
Fortunately, I had had kept the repair business. It had been somewhat dormant for 15 plus years, but I was able to go back to it when times became tough. Sometimes, I would find myself irritated with people that would come into my store to blow off time while their companion shopped at Fred Meyer or the Bead Store around the corner. My irritation was magnified if a tire kicker interrupted my concentration while I was trying to repair something. My dog, Bella must have sensed some of that irritation because she began growling at people that were wasting my time!
I remember a guy that Bella growled at when he entered my store in late 2010. After he hotly complained and told me that he was "offended" by Bella's attitude, I apologized. Then he started moving an object over the bar code labels on some of the product that was displayed on a wall at my store. I asked him what he was doing and he showed me his new cell phone that had a built in bar code reader. That was quite the thing because he could instantly get a list of vendors via the internet that had the same product for sale at the better prices than mine. I don't quite remember the lyrics but Brian Wilson's song "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times!" came into my mind because by then, I was "offended!" I realized that it was time for me to get out that store and the retail business! Actually, I can laugh about it now that I don't have to pay the rent! I liked Hugh Masekela's version of that song. Brian Wilson voice was better but Hugh's off-key voice really made that song great and I wish it had been playing with a camcorder running while that guy was scanning those bar codes with his new phone. That would have been a keeper!
I want people to understand that I am grateful for enjoying more than 30 years of success and I am not bitter about the way things turned out. I had a good run for a long time and I still enjoy working on 2-channel audio! I closed the retail store at the end of March in 2011 and now Northwest Audio Labs, Inc. is a repair and audio modification business. I work primarily at home repairing and modifying high quality power amplifiers, preamplifiers, receivers and other select products--sorry, no cassette decks! Thanks to all my long-time customers for your loyalty and continued support.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading!
Jim Ott