Van L Speakerworks

Here is an update. I received a refund of $ 110.00 from VanL. So I paid 310.00 for the work. Still $ 100.00 more than what it says on their website. He did extend the warranty on his work for 10 years even though the original surrounds lasted over 20 years! Bottom line is extending the warranty doesn’t put what I over paid back into my bank account! Again I would like to mention that the incorrect foam surrounds were installed when the factory correct original replacements are still available!

John does knows about speakers but as a Electronic Technician he trully sucks. Took my Jolida Tube amp (FX10) that needed a minor repair the 3.5mm jack came out of place. Instead of replacing the part with an original part from Jolida John decided to epoxy the 3.5mm jack into place. I mean seriously WTH! I mean the 3.5mm cost less than $ 5 directly from Jolida! That experience cost me $ 60!!! Yup, $ 60 and I could of done that myself! I finally sent my FX10 out to Mitch Singerman out of California, he informed me that whomever worked on my FX10 was a lousy tech, mediocre because of what was done. So Mitch charged me $ 20 to fully repair my beloved amp and with an original Jolida part… Lesson learn never again will I take my electronics to John. However, John is a good man, awesome speaker builder and a guru but please do yourself a favor, don’t come here unless you are buying speakers or want them custom built, other than that stay away!

Well I tracked John down but this time in his new location near Rosemont. John did some work to my speakers back in 2010 which turned out fantastic, but this time I ran across a pair of 45 year old speakers which are the AR 2ax from Acoustic Research and I new they needed some TLC so who better to perform this job. Needles to say I gave him the green light to work his magic and I just received them back after a few weeks and they sound outstanding. He really does amazing work and he’s also a pleasure to deal with. Highly recommended.

I bought a Integra DTR 9.9 reciever through Van L. at his old location a few years ago which I am still enjoying and I have to tell you all, John is a genius when it comes to speakers and audio equipment he demonstrated his speakers he built and they sounded so good that I was really impressed with his service and patience in letting me audition his craftsmenship and love for sound. It was a great experience and I highly recommend going to Van L. Speaker Works. I have to check out his new location soon.

This guy builds some seriously amazing speakers himself. He offered to give me a demo of all his gear. He had his speakers hooked up to a tube amp, and it was some of the best sound I’ve ever heard. I went to his old location to repair some 30 year old Phase Tech speakers that I picked up for $ 100. They were sounding pretty crappy, with broken woofers, but I knew Phase Tech’s are really good speakers and they just needed to be rebuilt. John offered me a fair price for the repair, it took a week or so. When I hooked them back up at home, they sounded amazing! Probably better than new, since this guy is a master speaker builder himself. That was about 4 years ago, and they still sound amazing! This guy is why I love Chicago so much! If I had the money, I would seriously consider buying his own speakers too.

I took my KEF’ ¹⁰⁴⁄₂ MTM panels in for service a couple of weeks ago for service after my autistic son pushed in the dust caps. Ordinarily I’d have fixed these myself, but in the process of trying I damaged the «plastiflex» coating on the midranges and I don’t have the stuff. I also chose to have the tweeters looked at to check the ferro-​fluid and to my astonishment they are fine.
I enjoyed meeting John. He did a fabulous job for me and he is a first class gentleman. I wish they were all so honest. I wasn’t charged a ridiculous amount of cash and the work was done in a timely fashion.
I highly recommend Van L Speakerworks if you have a need for repairs to your hi-​fi gear!
Thank-​you, John!

I’ve seen John for over 10 years. Originally I purchased speaker wire/​ends and more recently seen him for repairs on an early 2000 NAD receiver and a mid-70’s Kenwood receiver. Yes, he told me 5 days and it ended up taking a month, but 5 days seemed too soon in reality. The price was incredibly reasonable and it’s like new. Yes, if you have stereo equipment in the thousands, you’ve got to see this guy. But if you’re an audiophile who needs to still watch her pocketbook, still see this guy. You might have to wait, but the quality and price definitely outweigh everything else.

It’s interesting to see the glowing reviews about Speakerworks and to have had such an unspeakably bad experience. Looking at these reviews, maybe it helps to be male and buying several thousand dollars of speaker equipment.
Came in for a headphone repair, was told it would take 2 days. 3 months, 4 in store visits, and 12 phone calls later, I finally gave up and retrieved the pieces of my unfixed headphones. Every inquiry resulted in John doing one of the following:
a. Apologizing profusely
b. Offering to ship them to me when they’d inevitably be done «in 2 days»
c. Promising to call me when they were finished
d. Claiming he was ordering the new part my headphones now needed.
None of these results ever happened. What did happen was a steady stream of sexual harassment each time I went to the store. Apparently John was so busy telling me I sounded pretty over the phone and promising he wouldn’t overcharge «a cute young girl,» he couldn’t fix my headphones.
tl;dr: 2 day repair didn’t happen after 3 months, plenty of unwanted attention did. Cheers.

I mistakenly gave this 4 stars on my initial review. All apologies to Van L.
This is a hi-​fi store gem.

I had a chance to sit and talk to John last night. We sat there till 9pm listening to la villa strongiato by Rush on his new line of speakers. These were the first time, they were on the floor. We talked «shop» as electronics and sound have always been an interest of mine… This man is the pinnacle of design. I learned so much from him. I now have many different ideas and methods that I will incorporate in my own designs. Chances are I will never be able to afford anything other than the parts I had bought yesterday. I dont want to wear out my welcome, but John is someone I would give up my current career to learn his craft. I made the statement, knowing his daughter just got married, that I hope he has a grandson, to make him more knowledgeable, than he is. He is also an accomplished artist, and drawer (is that right? he draws). He has Jethro Tull works in his listening room. I dont want this to be his biography, based on a few hours of talk. BUT this man is definitely someone I will remember for the rest of my life. Its amazing how someone can just blow you away. I was hit by an h bomb here

van created the most awesome kids! there for whatever else he’s done must rock as well!

Came in for a simple headphone repair. Was treated to a tour and an incredible listening experience while waiting from some of his custom speakers. He definitely knows his stuff, and I’ve never heard music like I heard it there. You may not want to come in if you are in a hurry, but if you have some time it’s definitely a treat.

I love my Van L Quartets! These speakers are amazing. The acoustics in the room they are set up in are junk but these speakers still present a soundstage and are doing there best to produce a holographic listening experience. John helped me pick out a tube amp that was in my price range (Jolida 102b) and told me that it would be 90 percent as good as the $ 8,000 amp that he uses to demonstrate his speakers. I was skeptical but sure enough it was pretty much true except I would say that my system sounds 95 percent as good. I am very impressed and I would encourage anyone to give them an audition after they hear a pair of $ 10,000 speakers. You would be hard pressed to think the «higher» end speaker was better. John, you should be extremely proud of your creation.