Stereotypes

I had an very informative phone conversation with Rich today that further helped me to search my feelings about integrated amps. And, to be honest, my feelings run deep! My entire family is into music and my young daughters have impeccable taste in music so we essentially moved our TV out of our living room and now we listen to music together for several hours per day. What’s better than shopping for vinyl with your wife and kids? So with that in mind, I’ve been researching integrated amps for several months now to upgrade our system, and I was pretty confident that I was going to swing by and purchase a Parasound integrated amp but ended up hearing a Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum and I was really blown away! The Rogue + Harbeth was ridiculously good! I recommend that anyone considering a new system please stop by and listen to Harbeth and/​or Rogue Audio. And don’t let anyone, your conscious included, tell you not to spend too much on equipment. If you’re obsessed with music, like we are, then you’ll be listening for a lifetime and the soundtrack for your life should probably sound good, right? You don’t get a do over it that one. Ok, back to the details. The sound is lively, detailed, and engaging, but warm, and non fatiguing. What? How is that even possible? I really can’t tell you that actually but do come listen and hear for yourself.
For the record, though, the Parasound is an awesome amp that is essentially a classic overachiever for a very reasonable price. It’s a good preamp, power amp, really great 32 bit DAC, great phono preamp w/​mm and mc, headphone amp, plus there’s the built in crossover for a subwoofer, all in one well built chassis. The sound is muscular and effortless. In my opinion, it doesn’t really leave sonic fingerprints on the music with it’s tone. Think of it as an advanced gain device to cleanly crank your tunes. Probably 95% of the normal population would be happy with an integrated like this but I just wanted something different.
I love that the Rogue Audio is hand made in the US and not even until my order is placed! I love that, if I choose, I can change the sound a bit via «tube rolling». Also, I just couldn’t take my eyes off of it. It looks incredible! And Rogue is the kind of company that you can message via email and you’ll actually hear back from the head engineer or owner. I have personally experience that and it was very reassuring that can still happen in this day and age. Overall, I was very pleased with my visit today. I can’t wait to receive my brand new integrated!
Bonus: if you are a repeat customer at Stereotypes like me than you’ll save some money. Also, if you pay cash then there’s another discount which really adds up when you’re spending a fair amount of money. Plus, there’s a wealth of information and advice behind your purchase that you’ll never get shopping online. Shop local!

In my mind, the biggest advantage Stereotypes has over other shops in Portland is the brands they carry. For my personal tastes, they carry the coolest brands in town. Cambridge, Naim, Simaudio, Auralic, Dali, Focal, Parasound, Shunyata, Ora, and a number of others I haven’t gotten to try out yet. This is truly high quality stuff and much of it is downright sexy. I’m drooling just thinking about it. I’ve experienced excellent customer service at this store — more on that in a moment — but let’s be real, it’s the products that draw people in. In this day of online shopping, the chief advantage of a brick and mortar store is to actually see, feel and listen to the gear. Stereotypes chooses their products very well and one visit to their store will prove there is lots of cool stuff to check out. Not only do they carry great gear, but they take great care in setting it up correctly. Their listening rooms are realistic representations of those you may have at home, but through careful system matching, acoustic room treatment, and proper placement, they’ve created spaces for music that truly envelops you. The rooms make for great demos, but I’ve also picked up some best practices to recreate some of that magic at home.
As for the staff, they are phenomenal, particularly Andrew who has worked with me the most. Andy, Rich, and Howard have also been quite helpful. These guys tick off all the boxes for me. They’re willing to work with me and my budget, even if it takes a bit of creativity and often times cutting me a killer deal. They take the time to answer my many questions and educate me on what products will produce the sound and functionality I’m looking for. The staff encourages home auditions before buying, supplying me with the loaner equipment I need to give the trial product a fair shake. I’ve done this 3 – 4 times and have never felt the pressure to buy. Sometimes it leads to a sale, sometimes it doesn’t. Whatever makes for a good fit. The staff makes a real effort to remember me and welcome me into the store whether I’m on the hunt for the next purchase or just casually checking out what’s new. I’ll be coming back to this shop again and again for my future audio needs. Highly recommended.

Been purchasing nice hifi gear since 80’s. Have purchased a handful of items here since the late 90’s after moving to Portland. I would rate this shop one one of the 2 – 3 best in town along with Echo. Folks are nice, honest, carry hi value and long lasting quality gear, and are willing to spend time with you to help pick the right equipment for your budget. Can’t say the same for other «Hi End» stores in Portland and Seattle where you get a look of disappointment when you tell the salesperson your budget is $ 1,000 (a lot of money to me!!). Definitely should visit before buying a stereo or components some place else.
My best experience this shop was when I was hearing a hum from my turntable. Figured it must be the phono preamp so went down there to buy another. Terri showed me a few options but then asked about the issue I was hearing with my existing preamp. She was concerned that the preamp was not the problem and asked that I bring it in for evaluation. Sure enough — hooked up to a system in the shop it was just fine. She trusted that I was not hearing things so asked me to bring in the turntable as well. Well… everything worked fine. We came to conclusion that the physical placement of the turntable/​pre-​amp was causing the problem (correct). Felt pretty stupid about the whole situation having wasted so much of their time. Not only did they not make a big deal about it, but proceeded to do a quick tune-​up of my turntable/​cartridge alignment (installed myself) for no charge. Wow… they could have made a quick sale but instead spent time to understand my issue and gave great service even if that meant no revenue that day — reminds me of Les Schwab.

I have been in this shop about 10 times and have had nothing but excellent experiences. About a year and a half ago I decided to take my first foray into the hi-​fi world. My budget was on the «entry-​level» end of that world, but Terri and co made me feel welcome and were very pleasant and patient as I tried out many different items over multiple visits before purchasing anything. I’ve been absolutely thrilled with my setup ever since, and the kicker was that I couldn’t even find better prices online anywhere (though I would have paid a pretty decent premium based on the service). Highly recommend this place.

I am fairly new to the audiophile world (though I have already purchased some excellent mid-​level vintage gear including a Thorens and Macintosh) and am sold on sound quality mattering. Thus, I was excited to find Stereotype so close to my house. It’s like having a candy store around the corner. Dangerous but exciting. Boy, was I in for a treat. I tried to go more than three occasions for three reasons, because I figured the first time working with Terry must have been a fluke. First time was investigating turntables, second was speaker wires, and third was isolation pads. Each time she treated me like I had a mental disorder. I would ask how much something was and she would say, «I’d have to look that up». Um, ok? I would ask, which wires does she recommend. She would say, «It depends on your budget. Um, ok? „We have many ranges of price here.“ Um, ok? Some wires cost a thousand dollars.» Um, ok?
So…this is really unfortunate that some small businesses in portland are unaware that it doesn’t matter how much you love yourself or your store, it’s about loving your customers. So, some subtle feedback:
1. Focus on your customer experience (ie. listen, smile, connect)
2. Focus on the features and benefits in a positive tone.
3. Focus less on customer’s budgets, because as we audiophiles know budgets are flexible when you really want something or are persuaded to get it. Don’t make your customer feel bad or he or she will end up writing a review like this one even though he’d rather be listening to a new record.
Until I read more positive reviews about the customer experience at this store, I’m taking my business back to Echo Audio where they are mellow, unpretentious and just love working with you.

You shouldn’t have to catch sales folks on a «good day» to have a pleasant experience. Poor customer service thrives here as does mediocrity and bad technicians.
I was not interested nor did I ask to demo power cords during my last visit here. But that didn’t stop the sales rep from forcing an A/​B test with power cables during my listening session when demoing an integrated amp and speakers? STRIKE ONE. (I kept picking the stock power cord over the thousand+ dollar one every time and the sales person told me I didn’t have the «ear» yet). STRIKE TWO. Yanking the power cords from the back of the amp each time without ever turning the unit off. Lame. And a waste of my precious listening time.
The last straw came when one of their so called techs mounted a new cartridge I bought there — on my TT that caused a distortion when playing. Brought it back asking for a new cartridge but they said they didn’t have another one so they swapped my new one out for a demo from the floor. Made me sign a paper saying it was okay upon leaving for home (in hindsight I should have listened for more than I did, approx. 60secs). Got home and same distortion after 5 minutes. STRIKE THREE.
Turns out the headshell nuts where not tightened enough… haven’t been back since. Found The Audio Gallery in Lake Oswego (RIP Gary) and never looked back.
Good riddance Stereotypes. Not only are you not the only game in town, you are the worst.

the only way this place could get better is if i had the bones to afford their goods. I needed a custom cable to fit a vintage set of speakers, paired with a vintage receiver. The woman at stereotypes managed to throw one together for me in less than 10 mins.

Stereotypes carries entry-​level and mid-​level audiophile components. It’s a very nice store and the people staffing it are quite nice. Audio components are very subjective, and while I’m not a fan of the brands they carry, that’s just me, because they carry some very fine brands.
It is very difficult to purchase a phono cartridge. There are a ton on phono cartridges out there but how do you listen to them and compare them to others? I had been using a particular brand for many years, but another brand had a new cartridge on the market that was causing people to sit up and take notice, and I wanted to hear it. But phono cartridges are very delicate creatures, and no one is going to let you take one home and try it. If you’ve never tried setting one up on a turntable and getting it aligned and adjusted, believe me, it’s skilled labor.
The good folks at Stereotypes ordered the cartridge, set it up on a very nice turntable, and called me at home to tell me to come listen. They provided me with a quite sound room, and left me alone to decide for myself. I felt a little bad because I didn’t like it nearly as much a the one I was already using so — no sale. They were very nice and understanding — no hard sell at all.
They have some very cool squeeze boxes I might need to check out.