Audio Midwest Opens New Stillwater Location
11/23/05

One definition of a wizard is a skilled or clever person, a sorcerer or magician. Two skilled and clever Stillwater businessman have used the wizard mascot of Audio Midwest to resolve complicated problems with electronics and provide solutions. Their success has allowed them to expand Audio Midwest to now service customers at new Stillwater and Edmond locations, as well as the location in Midwest City.

Matt Hall and Rob Clason, Audio Midwest co-owners, bought the Stillwater store in 2002 and the Midwest City store in 2004. The Midwest City store has been open since 1979 and in 1996, Audio Sound in Stillwater became Audio Midwest. In 2005 they moved the Stillwater store to a new location and opened a store in Edmond. Clason, had worked for Audio Midwest since 1991 and served as the store manager since it was opened in 1996. Hall, whose background is in computers, worked for Creative Labs from 1993 to 2002, where he served as both the Technical Support and IT Manager.

Audio Midwest is now located at 502 E. Lakeview in Stillwater, the former location of Gym 24. The team at Audio Midwest has extensively remodeled the location making every effort to make the store more comfortable and to closely resemble a residential living room environment.

“We try to make Audio Midwest comfortable for our customers, but also make it easier for customers to visualize how electronics will look in their home and how they can fit into their lifestyle and environment,” said Matt Hall, Audio Midwest Co-Owner.

Audio Midwest carries a variety of products in three different areas - car stereo/mobile video, home television and home theater, which also includes home stereo. In the area of televisions, Audio Midwest carries High Definition TV’s and other TV technologies including plasma, LCD panels, DLP, HDiLA, LCD projection, CRT projection and standard CRT tube TV’s.

“High Definition is now available on Cox Cable and customers can come into the store and get a sense of exactly what the difference having HD can make and learn about options on how to receive this new programming,” said Rob Clason, Audio Midwest Co-Owner.

In the area of home theater, Audio Midwest carries the best brands in home theater receivers, including Denon and Yamaha. They also have a variety of speakers available in all sizes to fit specific needs such as sound quality, room size and lifestyle decor requirements.

Kenwood and Eclipse are just a few of the car stereo systems available, as well as JL Audio amplifiers and subwoofers. Audio Midwest also features a new car audio display room, which allows customers to sit in a car seat and control the audio and video from a variety of different displays.

Audio Midwest believes they are different from their competitors because of their outlook on how electronics are sold.

“We pick the products and lines we sell based upon the value to the customer,” Hall said “We even evaluate each brand we carry on an annual basis to make sure it is the best brand in its category and one our customers will enjoy and not have problems with.”

With 26 employees, Audio Midwest also spends a lot of time training their employees about the technology they are selling.

“We feel it is important to educate the customers on the large variety of products we sell,” Clason said. “A well-educated customer typically makes a better buying decision, but also typically enjoys their purchase more than one who is not.”

Audio Midwest’s installers are fully-trained, professional, courteous and provide a number of quality services to customers. Two Audio Midwest employees have even been recognized in “The Top 100 Car Installers” nationally in the past four years.

Customers can expect free delivery and basic setup of any television. For those who purchase home theater systems, Audio Midwest will install the system, as well as give the customer a demonstration of their equipment. Audio Midwest will also make as many trips to the home in the first 90 days to answer any questions the customer may have.

Another service Audio Midwest provides is pre-wiring new construction. If a customer is building a new home, Audio Midwest will consult with customers on what wire needs they have for their home, design a system and install the wiring in the framing stage of their new home.

“We are the preferred installer by many of the best builders in Stillwater and have wired more homes in Stillwater than all of our competitors combined,” Hall said.

Audio Midwest has also expanded to Edmond, opening a location there on August 1, 2005, at 324 W. 33rd St. in the Town Crossing Shopping Center. Hall and Clason decided to open a location in Edmond because so many of their Midwest City customers were coming down from Edmond.

“We saw a lot of similarities between doing business in Edmond and Stillwater,” Clason said. “We carry a small amount of car audio equipment in Edmond, but our primary purpose for putting the store in was to make a home audio and theater boutique.” The Edmond location is mostly used as showroom.

The Stillwater Audio Midwest location is at 502 E. Lakeview. Their hours of operation are Monday - Friday from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and can be reached at (405) 372-5430.