The Saturday Audio Exchange opened in 1982 with a pretty simple idea, which was to open a small used audio store a few hours a week. The owner of the store, Andy Zimmerman, had already owned a couple of a hi-fi stores at different times, one down in De Kalb, Illinois when he was a student at NIU, and another in the mid 70's in Chicago. The second one was a store called Hear Again, which is still remembered fondly by a lot of people in Chicago. It was a small used audio store (are we seeing a pattern here?) that bought, sold and traded all sorts of audio stuff, from dumpy 8 Tracks to the high end stuff (Quad 8 tracks?). He later sold his half of the store to his partner and went into a non-stereo business. A few years later he got the bug to be back in the stereo business, but really didn't have the time to open a full time store, so he started Saturday Audio Exchange, a used hi-fi store open only 10¹/2 hours a week. It seemed like sort of a crazy  idea at the time, but here we are, into our 22nd(!) year. Still open on Thursday nights and Saturday afternoons, but now the store is open on Sunday  to make life a little more convenient for our customers.

There are a lot of benefits to only being open a limited number of hours. One is keeping costs down. Not many people are out buying stereo equipment on a weekday afternoon. So why spend the money on having a fully staffed store open if no one's coming in? We have found it's much more cost effective to have a large part time staff working limited hours. That way we can hire knowledgeable and experienced people that we otherwise could not afford. So you can get a great deal and great help picking the gear you want. And since no one is on commission you can be confident the advice you get isn't biased by somebody's paycheck. Also, since almost everybody here works somewhere else most of the time, we're happy to be here and avoid "Retail Burn-Out." The bottom line is that by running a cost effective store we keep prices down so you can save some bucks on quality gear and still get all the qualified sales advice you want.

We have changed a lot over the years, and now sell as much new equipment as we do used, from companies like Harman / Kardon, NAD, Denon, Musical Fidelity, Sunfire, NHT, PSB, Sumiko, Grado, Tara Labs, Audioquest and a whole lot more. We are always looking for great buys on new, used, demo and close-out audio gear so we can continue to offer the wide range of gear at great prices that our customers have come to expect. We figure about 75% of our customers are referred to us by previous clients because people appreciate the great gear, assistance and deals we've been offering all these years. So if you're looking to buy, sell or trade some equipment please come on by, give us a call, or send us E-mail.

Support Your Local Retailer!

A quick editorial piece if you don't mind. As much as we love to do business with everyone, everywhere, if you see something you want locally and the price is reasonable, buy it from them! While getting the lowest price is nice, the only way the audio business can thrive and continue to offer innovative and better sounding gear is to have a large amount of knowledgeable independent audio stores. Developing a good relationship with a local dealer will always provide you with the best chance of getting you the sound you want, even if it costs you a couple of extra bucks. But if you can't find the equipment or help you need locally please don't hesitate to give us a call.

Return Policy

All new and used units sold with a warranty are allowed a 90 day period in which you are entitled to trade the unit back for full purchase price ( less any shipping charges) towards any other unit we have in stock.  Items from the "Deals Page", are excluded from this policy, though we of course will honor the factory warranty. Any unit sold "As Is" is not entitled to the 90 day trade back policy. Any unit which proves to be defective within ten days of delivery may be credited or exchanged for a replacement of the same model. In the event a replacement unit cannot be supplied we will refund the unit's purchase price. Saturday Audio Exchange will pay shipping costs for replacement merchandise. Any non-defective merchandise returned for credit will be subject to a 15% restocking charge, with all shipping charges the responsibility of the buyer. Any other arrangements must be made with us beforehand.  Please call us at 1-800-970-HIFI for a return authorization number. No returned merchandise will be accepted without a valid return authorization number on the shipping label. 

All returned merchandise must be in original carton with all manufacturers included accessories. Missing accessories will result in a reduced credit amount by the actual replacement cost of those items. All warranty cards (if initially provided by the manufacturer) must be left blank. Merchandise initially returned as defective, whose defect cannot be verified, will incur a 15% restocking charge. Merchandise initially shipped 'double-boxed' must be returned to Saturday Audio in the same fashion.
 

We accept checks and all the major credit cards.