Thursday Becky and I traveled from the San Francisco Bay Area up to Rocklin, California to see Steve Holt’s record store, The Audio Nerd. He opened it a year ago, and it was very busy in the middle of the day on a Thursday. Steve’s store is like a history of recorded music with everything from cassette tapes, 45 rpms, LPs and reel-to-reel.
I first met Steve at an audio show. Steve has always been a guy that’s a lot of fun to spend time visiting. For around ten years he has been selling audio equipment direct and at audio shows under The Audio Nerd logo. Last year Steve took a big step and opened a brick and mortar store that primarily buys and sells records. He also does some equipment repair, and of course, he still sells the new equipment that The Audio Nerd has been a dealer for over the years. Besides used equipment, new and use music, Steve sells new equipment from AudioEngine, Black Ravioli, Dream Vision, Electrocompaniet, Jolida, Lambert, Margules, Mircomega, MIT, Music Hall and Siltec. While there, I took a look at the Lambert “Play It By Ear” Headphone Amplifier, and I plan to review it soon.
When Becky asked Steve how he has acquired so many LPs, he answered that they just walk in the door with people who need money or just want them gone. He said sometimes it is really surprising what people just want to get out of their house. In fact, he has a lady bring in a Beatles LP just last week that was signed by George Harrison. When he asked the lady if she realized the album was signed, she said she just wanted to get all of these “old records” out of her house. So, the next time you are in a record store, keep a sharp eye out. You never know what you might find.
One of the real advantages of going to a brick and mortar record store is that you can listen to an LP to help you decide whether or not you want to buy it. Steve will also play CDs and reel-to-reel tapes for you. Another real advantage is that you can stand there and flip through the music and pick them up, hold them in your hands and read the jacket if you would like.
If you’re in Rocklin, drop by and see Steve. You may find something you didn’t even know you wanted when you walked in the door. That goes both for music and equipment. That’s exactly what happened to us. Just a couple of weeks ago one of our best friends asked where she could find a CD changer these days, and I told her would keep my eye out for one. There in the shop, I saw what looked like a brand new Sony 300 CD carousel. It came home with us, and I know she is looking forward to using it.
