Audio Specialties is a gem in the Gateway neighborhood. It is great to still have a place in the city that does repairs and stocks vintage gear. Whether I'm just browsing, trading in a piece of 70s era hardware, or having something fixed, this is my main destination. read more

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I bought a 1972 Sansui 210 stereo receiver on Facebook market place when I got home it didn't work I was super bummed. However I brought into audio specialties. The owner Doug repaired my receiver and it sounds amazing. I learned that Doug has been repairing stereo equipment for over 30 years he is professional and repaired my receiver very quickly. I highly recommend Audio specialties. read more

Audio Specialties Ltd - Electronics Near Me - Portland, Oregon

I have been in for audio repair at Audio Specialties Ltd. a number of times. Doug is the man, Portland is lucky to have him to repair all of our vintage gear. He is an expert at all things vintage hifi gear & he is very thorough & very reasonable. Don't hesitate to reach out to him for your hifi repair. You will not be disappointed. read more

Doug tuned up my Sansui G8000 and I couldn't be happier. No more crispy dials. Back lighting's restored. Sounds awesome. Scored some cool speakers there too. And a perfect condition 5 disc Cd player. Highly recommend. read more

Drove all the way to crappy part of town. Closes at 4 on Friday so the traffic on 205 was HELL both ways. I know it's not the businesses fault. But he made it so unworth it upon arrival. Itty bitty store full of relics. Everything we had was modern so we didn't fit at all. We had a back seat & trunk full of equipment that he had no interest in. He just wanted stuff from the 70's. I respect there's a want for all decades but I wish it would have been made crystal clear on the website. A pawn shop had recommended that he's the only one who will take stereo equipment these days. Pawn stores don't take these items anymore? Just the whole experience was a disaster & disappointment. He didn't offer any suggestions either. Just very matter of fact, NO. read more

I found my new place to go when I'm in need of equipment or gear right away. The store owner was very knowledgeable and helpful. I needed a pre-amp for my receiver, but wanted to make certain my record player was still working properly after moving. The gentleman working the front counter was more than friendly and helpful. He hooked my turntable up and checked it for me as requested. I saw some amazing tall speakers i really want, so hopefully down the road i go back and there's something there for me. read more

Great place to buy sound equipment , courteous and great help there. Great selection. We have bought from here and will continue.

Yesterday, I picked up my vintage Pioneer SX-850 from Audio Specialties after having it repaired. I hooked it up as soon as I got it home, and it sounds outstanding, just as if it was brand new. I tested it out with LP's, cd"s and it's FM tuner. All worked perfectly and sounded awesome. Doug got it done for me sooner than estimated and slightly under my budget. I bought this receive about 7 years ago, and it performed well until recently, when it was no longer able to make any sound from any source. I'm so glad to have it back working again, as I feel that this is the finest sounding receiver I have ever used or owned. I had bought one new back in 1978 while in the Army and owned it until the early 90's. At that time, I went to work for the now defunct Stereo Super Stores in Jantzen Beach. As an employee, I was able to purchase gear for a generous employee discount, so I sold my Pioneer and bought a new Onkyo receiver. Even though it was a decent receiver, it was the worst decision I ever made. The Pioneer was much richer sounding so when I had the chance to buy one off Ebay, I jumped at the chance and I'm glad I did. Thank you Doug for your excellent service and decent prices. Larry read more

I had my parents original turntable and receiver cleaned up and refurbished here, and the results have been great. Turnaround is a few weeks but it's worth it for the '70s audio expertise. read more

Audio Specialties Ltd - Receiver and turntable in service - Electronics Near Me - Portland, Oregon

I have been using Audio Specialties repair services for10-15 years. I have taken several amps, receivers and turntables in for repair. Every repair has been done well and priced very reasonably. Doug guarantees his work, but I have never had to return anything for additional repair. I have purchased a few used things from him as well. Never had a problem with any of them. You can't trust everyone, but you can trust this guy. Period. read more

Took my Onkyo A7 in for repair. 1st the price was very fair for the repairs 2nd It sounds better than it ever did. While there I also picked up a Dual turntable which is working great and sounds wonderful. I'll be taking my daughter in to set her up with some vintage gear. This is a good shop that will continue to have my business read more

Doug has dependently been knocking out repairs for years. He is a true rarity in this world, he does not have a group of rotating employees like other fix it shops but does all the work himself (so you get the very best expertise and quality work every time) and his prices are more than fair and the wait times are generally shorter (just a few weeks for top quality work). Win Win! read more

I first discovered this place while buying brand new vinyl records at the Warehouse Music Store that used to be across the street. Much has changed during the ensuing years, but the only thing that changes at Audio Specialties is the stock. They have a nice little niche market selling vintage consumer electronics; mostly Integrated amps and receivers from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Not expensive stuff but, then again not bad stuff either. It's amazing how much quality a few hundred bucks bought you thirty and forty years ago. Sure, it's only two channels and it won't dock your iPod or support HDMI, but plug a turntable into this stuff and it will make you smile. Back when vinyl was king, all receivers and and integrated amps had phono pre-amps built into them. Today almost none of the digital surround sound receivers have phono inputs. If you want to listen to vinyl, you have to buy a separate phono pre-amp, and run it through the auxiliary input. But here's the rub: Decent phono stages start at $500 and you might need to spend $1000 before you got one as good as the stages they put into the pedestrian Pioneer, Sony and Marantz receivers from the 1970s. You sure won't spend anywhere near that for a clean vintage receiver at Audio Specialties. They can fix you up with a matching vintage turntable and speakers too. They also provide on-site service and repair. read more

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Happy to recommend Doug for component repair. Honest, fair and he knows his stuff. Have brought two Dual turntables there for repair (a 1219 and a 1229) and both are still working perfectly 4-5 years later. Above all, he is honest: I recommended him to my father-in-law who had a vintage Sony receiver (7065) and was not getting any output. It turns out it was a single setting that had gotten switched. Doug looked at it for 3 seconds, corrected the problem and wouldn't take a dime. A less scrupulous repair tech would have checked it in as a repair and had a field day throwing a bench charge, parts and labor to an unsuspecting customer. Doug also won't take in a repair unless he is confident he can fix it. A+ stereo tech- thank you Doug! read more

Doug is the man! Fixed my Marantz 2325 a few times and also my Pioneer 1010. It takes him around 4 weeks to repair stereos because he's a one man band. My Repair costs have been in the $100-200 range but I can have peace of mind that the repair will be done right. Highly recommended. read more

Audio Specialties Ltd - Electronics Near Me - Portland, Oregon

I've had two different vintage receivers up to his shop, one for repair, one for cleaning. Both were done fine. The 1st, a vintage Pioneer receiver was repaired (blown channel) and crashed again about 60+ days later. Doug honored his 90-day warranty and repaired it again. The 2nd, a Sansui Quad receiver was sent to him for cleaning and lamp replacement. Looks and performs almost like new. Very fair pricing for both and reasonable time length for repairs. Nice shop, too. read more

Doug is great! I had heard this from others too, which is why I decided to bring my beloved late 70s Marantz receiver there when it got sick for the first time since I've owned it. Doug not only fixed up the problem for what I thought was a totally reasonable price, but he also even replaced the blue lights to make it look prettier than ever! read more

Doug is great! He knows his stuff, has great turn around time. Great price Old school HI-Fi shop. Big thumbs up!

I used to visit this store as a teen (44 now) Doug was always willing to chat with me as a kid ad respectful gave great info didnt mind me looking around he just asked that I didnt touch if I wasn't wanting to buy... from my dads teachings I get that... can't pay for it dont touch... as an adult I bought a replacement I had been looking for for a long time a pioneer sx-6 its a good memory from my teen years and my dad bought me the first one... what can I say you need something go here... need something fixed GO HERE... Doug is fair and does great work one man band... read more

Fixed my old, road worn 1200 Turntable in a minute. Super friendly and happy to help. Ridiculous selection of vintage gear. Reasonable pricing. I overheard a customer muse to him (Doug?), "This must be a labor of love for you, huh?" Doug gave a great smile. I'm about to start seeking out broken old gear just to have something to bring in here. Support this shop read more

I have been buying and bringing my new and vintage audio gear to Doug for service for as long as he has been open. Most of it is over 20 and in some cases 30 years old. Sometimes I get gear off of E-bay and kick myself as Doug has a warranted/serviced version of what I bought for the same or a lower price. I appreciate that he doesn't turn stuff around in a week as he is really busy with all the renewed interest in vintage HiFi. If your component is or isn't worth repairing he will tell you. He also stands behind his sales. I bought a pair of powered speakers that failed after the first week and he took them back at full credit. No questions asked. So if you have an old console or a VCR fuggedaboudit. I will be a customer as long as he keeps the lights on. read more

I have a Marantz 2325 that was given to me for free by my aunt, who bought it new back when she was growing weed. Since then, I've paid to have it tuned up twice after it more or less stopped working. Once by a small shop in Pasadena that dig a pretty ok job (hey, it worked pretty well for the next decade) and yesterday at Audio Specialties. Last time around it cost me $150, so I assumed that would be ballpark for this time around. I was quoted $150 plus $2 a bulb and whatever else might come up, in this case $5 of diffuser paper. Total cost after two weeks? $189 and man does it look and sound incredible. I also never really knew how much these things cost, and was informed that it's worth around $800-900, which as a person who likes nice things, makes me feel pretty good about paying to have it fixed up. read more

I hate this store I have a great console that needs some work done to the tuner I asked if I could just drop off the tuner since they do not have room for consoles (which I understans) and all I got was sorry we don't do that and can't help you so sad to bad attitude. I recommend finding anyone else. I would give zero if possible read more

What Fred's wanted to charge me about $240 to fix, these guys did it for $85 on a vintage Denon integrated amp. Nice selection of pre-owned stuff too. Nothing "stereophile", but it's still good gear. Parking is a little odd, but doable! read more

as far as robert s. goes, he should just buy himself a clock radio and get it over with. I have known Doug since the early 80,s, when he was the head tech for hawthorne stereo and i was the manager of hawthorne audio exchange (dba freds sound of music ) Doug is not the kind of guy to swindle or take advantage of anyone, and yes he does know alot about audio equip. Dougs only flaw is that he wants everyone to own and enjoy vintage audio equip , kind of like people and old muscle cars, which you probably should not buy either cause you would just wine about it. From Tony Idle, former manager of 11 years of Hawthorne Audio Exchange. read more

A couple of years back, I had a vintage Dual turntable that was in need of repair. A friend of mine unequivocally recommended Audio Specialties. I dropped off the turntable and it was ready to be picked up within a week and was good as new. The whole transaction was very professional and conducted with a minimum of fuss and the price was right. As well as repairs, there is also used gear for sale here. Well worth checking out. read more

Doug fixed my Kenwood KA-8300 and Basic C2. Everything is in excellent working condition. Will bring my Kenwood M1A for a check-up. I am confident that I found the best Tech!!! Thanks Doug. read more

These guys tuned up my 30 year old Rotel turntable like new. Belts, lubed, balanced. Good for another 30 years. Highly recommended.

Great experience here. Found my bucket list refurbished Marantz receiver for a great price AND with a 90 day warranty. Turns out the left channel started cutting out on me after about a month so I took it back. After a no hassle quick fix I've been enjoying this gem for 9 months now and counting. Referring all my friends here and I will be back for whatever sparks my next vintage need. Check him out. If you don't find what you're looking for today... you might next week. read more

Best vintage hi-fi shop I've been too. Tremendously broad selection. Very fair prices. Excellent quality & warranty. A must visit.

I highly recommend this place to anyone who needs repairs on their vintage stereo equipment. I recently brought my 1970's Marantz 4430 to Audio Specialties for some issues with the left channel. Doug quoted me a reasonable price, but still charged me $30 less when I actually came to pick it up. Doug also went above and beyond the actual repair and fixed several other issues at no charge, while he was working inside the unit. Audio Specialties also sells an amazing selection of vintage turntables receivers and speakers to help bolster the vintage audiophile's collection! read more

Great, simple service. No fuss, no upsell. I think this is my new shop. Thanks!

I can't say enough good things about this shop. Doug really knows his trade. He repaired & refurbished my old Marantz Model 26 receiver that I'd inherited from my dad. He also gave me a decent deal on a fresh turntable stylus for a vintage Technics Sl-D3 that I recently acquired. In addition, he showed me how to properly adjust it, as I'd never owned such an elaborate record player before. Now I'm having a blast rediscovering my old vinyl. It's a pleasure to be able to support and recommend this local business. Thanks again, Doug! read more

The only place to take vintage audio equipment to be repaired in Portland. No bench/inspection fee - just a clear and very reasonable quote of exactly the problem and what would be fixed, and then timely on-schedule repair. Cool shop almost always filled beautiful unique vintage amps, speakers, and sources. read more

I really like Doug there, I was born in Portland and he (Doug)does not argue about electronics! He just rifles through his electronics like there is no tomorrow,he is the houdini when I see him working back there on the electronics. I was gone for 9 years and I to find out that everybody like Hollywood,California is arguing about electronics. Been to Switzerland, France, Kingdom of Netherlands,UK,Central America,Mexico(16) times and all across Canada and they do not argue about electronics like Doug. I even bought this this laptop from a gal in Vegas,I kept repeating myself that I took vocational electronics in high school,I sold 2 others for her,diagnosed one bad in 35 minuets and she was rude? this never happens in foreign countries? I don't know how many times people have tried to sell me Beats headphones and I tell that I have Akai and Sennheiser and they say that don't know what I am talking about? read more

I came here because of the high Yelp ratings, and I wish to add to them. Doug is most definitely old school.........meaning he fixed my problem very quickly and refused to charge me anything..........and clearly he knows what he's doing. Much appreciated, and certainly my go-to guy when I need bigger repairsin the future. read more

What a pleasure it is to walk into a vintage hifi store, and just browse if nothing else. This is how stores were before big-blocks like Walmart and Best Buy came along and changed the American buying experience and economy forever. I bought a very nice Bang & Olufsen turntable (1970s) here, and took it back for service later. The service is excellent, and prices very reasonable. I enjoy visiting with the owner who is also the repair tech, and talking about stuff that makes music sound so warm and earthy. I hope more of us shun the MP3 culture, and spend some time learning about vintage audio. I tell you, buy a quality turntable and hook it up to a vintage amplifier and a pair of hand built American speakers (JBL, AR, Bostons etc), and then play your favorite music on a vinyl LP. Goose bumps! read more

I hate to give bad reviews to small businesses trying to do a good job, but man did this place mess up my beautiful old Sansui amplifier. I took it in with one channel fuzzy. When it was "repaired", I brought it home and plugged it in- no power, no nothing. Don't they check their work? They gladly took it back to fix it for real this time but found that they just couldn't. In fact, now they can't get it to do anything. It's dead. For good. I had to convince them that they should refund what I paid them to repair it, which to their credit they did. But now through their services, my valuable amplifier is garbage. They were completely unapologetic and said, "Hey, it's old." It's newer than over half the equipment for sale in their store. Beware of a vintage audio store whose philosophy is, "You can't fix old stuff." read more

Love these guys. Friendly service and very reasonable repair cost. He took a record player I had that needed repair, and gave me credit toward my repair cost. His shop is full of vintage audio, drool..worth the trip just to see that. read more

I purchased a Pioneer SX-737 from Audio Specialties a couple years ago. I asked the owner (same fellow in the pic posted here on yelp) what he'd done to it, by way of repairs, restoration, etc. He was asking $375, and it sounds beautiful, so I assumed at that price it had been refurbed at least a bit. I know these units sell for that much if they've been fully restored, check ebay, etc. Anyway, he said he'd "done what was needed" and I let him off with that. My bad. First, after 10 months, the EQ board (ie the phono board...don't ask me why they give it that name, too) shit the bed. I decided to fix it myself, though I had no experience, but a strong interest. Consequently, I learned that this receiver, like other old Pioneers, had several "Known-To-Be-Bad" transistors..the 725's and 1313's. It was one of these that had failed, and I just replaced all of them (on the phono board...six total). Hooray, worked great for another six months, then the relay began snapping on and off. By now I've actually plunged deep into the electronics hobby and am able to confidently say that this receiver has ALL the original Nippon chemcon caps, all the known to fail and utterly destroy the main amp transistors, including some pretty wickedly burnt spots on the power supply board, PLUS pieces of (I shit you not) chocolate and...a sesame seed? I'm not sure what the heck it is. There's a lot of dust in there too, including several gray hairs (not the Audio Specialties guy's hair color). Someone has been in here, but ALL the caps, every single over-40-years-old device was intact. Conclusion: no work was ever done to this, beyond a deOxit treatment, I assume. I'm perfectly comfortable, and thrilled actually, to get in there and solve the mystery of the snapping relay, which is probably due to bad transistors, including outputs, and/or a failing power supply. I'm doing my research on it now, and hope to add this very expensive, not repaired/restored receiver to my list of Pioneer and Marantz repair victories. It'll feel great to do so! But, I had to jump in here and tell folks what I do know about Audio Specialties, as a business: they don't do a damn thing to the units they sell. Maybe they adhere to the "do-no-harm" motto, or the "fix only what needs fixing" philosophy. However, it is reprehensible to sell for top dollar a receiver that cannot last. Those caps and transistors aren't only guaranteed to fail and soon, as it's more than 40 years old, but some of the bits are well known among repair guys to be inevitable failures, resulting often in catastrophic breakdowns that aren't so easy and cheap to repair. Like I said, I got this! But still, do you? Are you going to pay top dollar for an unrepaired unrestored unit? I'd highly recommend you think twice, as their ethic is to NOT replace caps etc that absolutely are dried up and soon-to-fail. This is just how it is, man...it should have been done, or at least sold as needing restoration.It's a no-brainer, if you check out the various electronics forums. It's just common knowledge, from a repair person's point of view. He should have done right by his customer and restored the thing. All I can guess is he knew it would last beyond the 90 day warranty, and then it would just be brought back to earn him more money by doing the repairs he should have a) done; or b) explained hadn't been done.I think 10 months of light use out of this receiver is BS. I think Audio Specialties doesn't care, or factors it up to be a future source of revenue when it gets brought in after the warranty. It's lazy. So my advice to you all is lose the hip vintage stereo guru view of these guys, and don't assume everything they do is magic. They're lazy and incompetent, in my real world experience. I developed the interest, spent the money, and pursued the electronics hobby to do the deed myself, though at nearly $400 there's no way in hell I should have had to. I will tell anyone who asks to avoid Audio Specialties. They cut corners. Maybe stop seeing this shop as a den of magicians who you can swoon over, and buy your receiver on ebay in the same un-restored, problem-prone condition for (in my case with the SX-737) $150, buy a DMM and a soldering iron, 25 bucks in devices to replace the old failing ones, and rest easy in the knowledge that what you have is a thousand times better than anything those hucksters at Audio Specialties would have sold you. Good Luck! read more