Had a vintage high end Sony amp that multiple other shops couldn't fix. These guys have a real sharpie repairman - self taught and proud of his work. Highly recommend. read more

Awesome place if you take your sound seriously. They can fix nearly anything and will be honest, deliver a quality product or service, and never up sell you or rip you off. Mike is a Harvard square staple, a music guru, and a genuine pleasure to talk to. read more

For all my HI-FI needs, there is no other place. I've never been met with such respect in an audio establishment.

I was recently looking to buy my first set of headphones (i.e. not earbuds). To me, sound matters more than anything else. There's a bunch of brands (Skullcandy, Beats, even Bose) that offer expensive headphones, but unfortunately without good sound quality. I was looking for something more in the range of Sennheiser and Audio Technica, which offer quality above all else. The first place I checked out was Sound Lion, but I haven't had a very good experience with them as they didn't really sell the quality headphones I was looking for (see my review for them). Then I walked into a Radioshack that had one or two nice headphones on display. But being a Radioshack, it also didn't offer a good selection of what I was looking for. But the salesperson at Radioshack was nice and somewhat knowledgeable, so after talking to him for a while he told me there was a an audio equipment store (aka Audio Lab) right around the corner. He also warned me that Audio Lab would try to sell me products to ridiculous prices (which turned out to be completely untrue!). And so I entered Audio Lab. From outside, Audio Lab doesn't leave a big impression on one. The store seems old-fashioned, equipment is not nicely displayed and the vitrine by the counter has scratches all over it. But don't let that mislead you! The selection at Audio Lab is GREAT! The salesperson was very nice and helpful. I tried on a pair of Sennheiser, Audio Technica and AKG that fell into my price-range. Since I wanted to read reviews on the headphones I tried online before making a purchase, I asked him to write down the names of the headphones I tried and said I'd come back another day. He didn't seem to mind at all. That evening, I read up a lot online, checked prices, and came across some other models I wanted to try. So I went back to Audio Lab the next day and tried the same headphones as the day before as well as a pair of Grado's. The salesperson recognized me and helped me out just as good as on the day before. With each headphone, he'd tell me what was good and not-so-good about them. I ended up buying a pair of Grados SR80i that thus far I'm completely satisfied with. Prices at Audio Lab are the same as online. You'll have to pay the tax that you don't need to pay online of course, but I'd gladly pay some extra tax to a great store! Also, Audio Lab sells display models to a discount. They may not be brand-new out of the box, but they're as good as brand-new. In short: - GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE - AUDIO LAB REALLY KNOWS AUDIO EQUIPMENT - GREAT PRICES (SAME AS AMAZON) read more

I took my Fisher MC-620 stereo system here to be fixed. While the turntable worked fine, the tape decks did not spin, and the light for the radio station display did not light up. I was a bit concerned in the beginning, as they are a little gruff on the phone, but everything went great!! I dropped it off and paid the deposit fee, and about two weeks later they called me to say it was fixed and to come pick it up. While they did fix the tape decks, they could not get the radio station light to light up, but I've discovered that I can see the station numbers just by shining a flashlight on the display!!! So that's fine. I'm just thrilled I can play all my old tapes again and have been rocking out ever since. I am so very glad I chose this place. p.s. I think their prices are reasonable. read more

I thought I would come on and rebuke an earlier negative post about AudioLab... I've shopped at Audiolab for nearly 20 years and have found their expertise, equipment, and advice well worth returning to time after time ... The one thing that Mike does not like to deal with is a "fool's errand"... someone who comes in with an agenda and really does not want advice but likes to hear themselves talk.. he is mostly patient and will offer advice without pressure or price ...and that includes those who are longtime audiophiles and those that are newbies and really need to be walked through their needs and wants... he is not pretentious and never talks down to anyone ... AudioLab is nearly one of the only places in the Boston area you can get this kind os service, equipment, and advice along with honesty.... highly recommended... read more

I really like audio lab. They don't carry a huge breadth of equipment, but what they carry is really nice, and priced well. In the past I've bought a rega brio r integrated amp, and a rega rp3 turntable, as well as cables and such. Their speakers lines are really nice as well. They give thoughtful, useful, advice, an no bullshit. The place is very old school. I think their biggest challenge is that they really don't merchanise. If they even had an an email list where they send out any interesting equipment they are now carrying, or special deals, that would go a long way. Instead, they seem to rely on foot traffic. read more

I stopped in on 1/27/2012 after doing a bit of research on turntables. I had identified a few entry level audiophile tables ($500 range) and was ready to buy. I entered the store to find one employee helping a customer with a cartridge and two others sitting in easy chairs reading the paper. The two listening rooms had a jumble of gear, all unpriced, but little of what I was looking for. I spent about 15 minutes checking the place out. I finally saw a few of the turntables I was looking at in a dusty cabinet behind one of the easy chairs. The occupant of the chair, who I actually believe was the owner, didn't make any effort to move to make it easier for me or to ask if I needed any help. I left and two hours later exactly what I wanted was on the way from Amazon. These guys might have been knowledgeable, but not interested in selling. What a poor contrast to the old Spearit Sound where nice people made it a pleasure to part with over $3,000 on my existing Rotel/B&W system. I thought the object of having a store was to welcome potential customers. read more

I sent my receiver to them because it produced a humming noise in the speakers. They sent it back in the same condition, did not specify what the problem was nor the repair they performed. Only indicated that "all switches and controls were cleaned" and that the unit "checked out". I did a little bit of study, and found two bad capacitors in the unit. I'm in the process of replacing all the caps. Come on. This is a 16WPC Realistic analog receiver. This was not a difficult job, but they still managed to screw it up. I wrote back to them, asking for a refund, but they did not reply. Oh yes, one other thing: They replaced two lamps (which were working perfectly) on my front panel. They did not ok this with me first. They did not ok anything with me, like they should have. They apparently do not like to communicate with their customers. E-mail them and you'll be lucky if they respond within 3 days. read more

I took my Sony TT3000 turntable in for inspection and refurbishing with the specific instruction to repair the cuing dampener which did not support the tone arm. I should have checked out the unit before I arrived home but trusted that they had done the work properly as turntables are not incredibly complicated. However when I arrived home I noticed that the cuing dampener still didn't work and that the tone arm components were still covered with 20 years of dust. Obviously they had not even removed the tone arm for inspection. The invoice stated cryptically "inspected unit, verified problem(s)/complaint disassembled unit... cleaned all controls" etc... Apparently they don't consider the cuing arm a "control". They told me that the cartridge needed replacing, no surprise after 20 years of storage. I assumed that I would choose one to my liking when I came in to pick it up. However he told me that he had simply installed a MM cartridge. When I specified that I preferred a MC he told me, flatly and with considerable condescension, that that was not what was on the arm when it came in. Fine, I thought I'll just use the MM until I could order another. When I called back they said that the cuing arm worked properly when it came in. While I was raised in the 60's and am no stranger to psychogenic substances, I have not hallucinated in decades. I don't believe that I would drive 35 miles for repairs that were not required. So it appears that for $132.85 the only thing that was done was to "oil the motor" and sell me a cartridge that I didn't want. Thank you very much... Don't waste your time or money. read more

If you're looking for a place to repair your sick or dead audio equipment, I can tell you these guys can do it. They are fair and do a great job. The shop has been around a long time and my guess is the people running the place are the same ones. That speaks volumes in this world of making a quick buck. I read about people who were offended, OK, I get it. If you're easily offended, make alternative arrangements. I can tell you they will take care of your equipment. They also won't rip you off. I brought my Aragon power amp to them. The power wouldn't come on. Now, they don't sell this brand, yet they were able to get it back in shape. I paid a fair price. They had problems getting a part and that took a long time. I finally called them and said to use any part that would work, not to bother with an original OEM part. Two days later, it was ready! It's clear they do a lot of repairs; the back room was loaded with gear from the floor to the ceiling and multiple shelves. I've never seen so much gear. While I was there, a line formed with people dropping off stuff. Wow! So if it takes a while, know this is the place. It's better to wait and have it done right. Guys, thanks! My wife and I are very happy. We'll start 2016 off to a good start! read more

Depending on what you're going in for you obviously may have a different experience than I had, but my attempt to get something repaired was shocking. Short version: They take forever, don't communicate, don't try to get parts the way they should, and don't end up fixing your stuff. Buy new with warranties at your own risk, but don't bring anything to be fixed there. Long version: I dropped off a very common deck - one of the most popular decks from the 70s/80s - to see if they could get it going again. This was December 2014. It took a few weeks for them to get to it which is understandable, but no one ever called me with an update on it. Any updates I got throughout the experience were from me consistently calling them. About mid-January I was told that the deck had a bad IC and that the part was "very hard to find." They had ordered it and would let me know when it came in. I called them in February and they still hadn't found a dealer with an IC. So I went on eBay and found one in two minutes. I called back and asked if I could have an email address to send them the link, so they could have a look at the IC. They said sure and after a few follow-up emails eventually they responded to my email (in March) that I could buy it and bring it in if I wanted, but that "a lot of parts sold on ebay do not work." We're talking about a brand new unopened part here - the one they were getting from whereever they never got it from could have just as easily been defective. I told them if they had ordered one from a vendor they trusted I'd wait, but at this point I was pretty suspicious. April, May, June - I called about once or twice a month and kept getting the "it's on backorder" line. I know I should have just thrown in the towel and gone and picked it up, but I really wanted them to fix it and was avoiding driving the hour it would take to get there. I was telling someone about it on July 4th and they connected me with a friend who fixes turntables. I told him about the saga and he offered to call Audio Lab on my behalf (turns out he's a hell of a generous and nice guy.) He asked them about the IC and they still said that a part had been "back-ordered". Yet when he mentioned that he had an "extra" similar TT for parts lying around they were audibally drooling over the prospect of doing a "swap", the guts of one for the guts of another. So basically, that's what they were gonna do - not provide me with a new part that had been on backorder for 7 months, but give me something out of a "donor" turntable when it showed up in their shop. This would have sucked - I don't know what they would have charged me (maybe basically whatever their cost for that TT was) but they'd get extra left over parts (fine) but then I'd have more used parts in my TT. So much for sealed eBay parts not working - clearly already used parts would be okay in their eyes. I decided to go in at the end of July and pick up the deck, and when I did I found that it was still all taken apart with the guts hanging out! This was July 2015! Since I don't think they did any work on it since that initial look in January 2015, this meant the deck sat open in the dust and grime of their workshop for seven months. Who knows how much worse the deck is for having had that exposure. I know it's hard to find places that will fix TTs in the Boston area, but don't go to Audio Lab. Maybe they're good for sales on new items - I honestly don't know. No one was mean or rude at all and I'm assuming the actual technical work they do is very good - a place doesn't stay in business for as long as they've been around if the work is bad. But they didn't communicate well and didn't end up fixing anything for me; maybe even made my deck worse. read more

Have no idea how this place got such high reviews as they completely wrecked my turntable and I am now a $130.00 short. After reading the yelp reviews and reading their website, I brought my Garrard there a month ago to get it recapped which is something that a fairly knowledgable electrical engineer should be able to handle. I received it back a week later and noticed that it looked a little scratched up; I didn't think too much of it as I wanted to see if they got it sounding the way I originally got it again. After playing a couple records all the way through,one of the replaced capacitors inside started smoking as a loud humming and crackling sound progressively started to appear. I brought it back in and the first thing out of the guy working the counter when he saw me come in was "what did you do?". I could go on about the patrionizing attitude but the focus will be on their workmanship. I told him about what happened really nicely and his reply was, "oh... Okay. The tech will give you a call." A week passes by and no call. I finally got a call but it was just to tell me that my turntable was ready to be picked up. I wanted to speak directly to the tech about the capacitor but the guy on the phone pretended he couldn't hear me and just mumbled "um, yeah... Next week.." and hung up. I came to pick it up and opened it up at the bench in front of Newbury comics to see it and the first thing I noticed was that they bent my needle! To let you all know, I had replaced the cartridge needle a week before I originally brought it in and it was perfectly fine when I left it with them! I couldn't believe it! I was raging at this point. I was tempted to go back in the store to actually tell them off but no point in doing that as I have worked in customer service and nothing worse than hearing a raging customer (and judging from their customer service, will probably be met with another "what did you do?"). I brought it home and plugged it in... same humming and crackling noise. I turned it off before another smoking incident happened again and am now writing this review. I wish I shared the other reviewer's experience. I couldn't believe I just threw away $130 and a broken cartridge for being a customer. Too bad there aren't other places around Boston/Cambridge who could give them some competition; knowing this, perhaps they would care more about their work. read more

The guys at audio lab are very fair & knowledgeable. They have no problem with ask any questions you have & making sure you leave their store satisfied. Would recommend this place to any one looking for some quality audio equipment. Definitely a hidden treasure read more

Called to ask about having my vintage Pioneer receiver looked at for a general cleanup and they told me they've had bad luck repairing this receiver lately and they weren't sure if the tech wanted to work on another one. Basically call back in a few days to see if we're interested was the response. Called Q Audio- he was extremely responsive and welcoming. read more

I have to say, this was a thoroughly great experience. I dropped off my record player, which I've been trying to fix for the past two months, and he immediately pinpointed that it was my belt that had gone bad. I left my record player there for one week and then got a call to pick it because it was done. Super simple. And on top of that they didn't charge me for their work, they just charged me for the price of the belt itself. Kind of surprising in this day and age. So, in all, very happy with Audio Lab. read more

Review upgraded September. In August I had my pretty nice old and expensive Yamaha amplifier serviced. Its depth and luster were gone, timbres flat and my equalizers barely functioning. I was really upset, but I dare believe the component replaced might be playing in finally. I will not haul it in again for more definitive repairs. The technician is short on social skills, not pleasant to deal with. At least they facilitated curbside drop-off, but for what? Initially I about cried, like the death of a best old friend. If it had to play in, I should have been told.... read more

My Sony TC-640B reel to reel, which I've owned for 40 years, desperately needed to be serviced. Mike and the techs at Audio Lab did a great job at a reasonable price. They aligned the heads, replaced the brakes and cleaned and lubricated all the dials. I could just tell how much better it was as soon as I brought it home and hooked it up. I was so pleased that I recently had my Onkyo receiver serviced by them. Both components now work beautifully. I don't need to have my hand held, or my behind kissed. I just wanted my stereo equipment to be fixed by reputable people at a fair price. These are the guys. read more

Fantastic. I spoke with employees and they were both very helpful. They fixed my father's record player that had been sitting in storage for 20 years and got it working again. A couple of months later it had a problem so I brought it back and they fixed it without hassling me or trying to sell me expensive parts. They guy with the Russian accent (I didn't catch his name) is particularly good. read more

For the record, this Audio Lab was incorporated in 1991 by William Hartford. It has nothing to do with the original Audio Lab at 16 Eliot St.in Cambridge Mass, founded by Dan Boynton in 1965, and later purchased by Fred Stevens. The original Audio Lab filed chapter 11 in 1974 and went out of business. This new company should not be making a claim that it has been in business since 1965, providing sales and service, since it has nothing to do with the original company in any way, shape, or form. It should stand on its own merits since 1991. read more

if you're an audio professional, this is the place to go! Not only will you find quality equipment, but you will also get some high quality advice from the owner. I don't know him personally, but he was always helpful and gave me advice even if it meant he wouldn't be able to sell his hardware (the other day I walked in looking for a mini mixer and he just gave me two old mixers that he had laying around). That's what it's all about: audio hobbyists & professionals helping each other. read more

There aren't many small audio stores any more. But there is still Audio Lab. Thankfully. While the rest of the world enthuses over iPods and iPads, I still enjoy sitting back at home in front of my audio system and listening to music. Recently I needed a cartridge for my turntable (not an expensive one, but one that has a removable head shell that allows me to change cartridges easily. I would love to be able to spend hundreds for a cartridge, but living on a fixed budget, I cannot. So I needed a good cartridge at a reasonable price. I went to Audio Lab because I've always been able to get good advice there. I had read about an Ortofon 2m Red. I asked about it at Audio Lab, and it was highly recommended. I've been using the cartridge for over a month now, and I was astounded at the sound. It has been years since I purchased a new phono cartridge, so I wasn't prepared for the beautiful sound coming from this reasonably-priced cartridge. Now I'm back to listening to LP's again and hearing the difference between good sound and great sound. My thanks to Audio Lab for the recommendation. I am ecstatic. read more