Audio Advice history

Opting for speaker wire and beanbags over starched duds and stale conference rooms, Leon hung out his shingle in 1978.

Being some of the first people to hear Damn the Torpedoes and Tusk through some of the best audio equipment on the market would have been exciting for nearly any young 20-something in 1979.

In 1981, Leon moved Audio Advice to the site of a recently defunct competitor.

That was just the initial step in his mercurial rise in the company's chain of command, which, in 1982, saw him, at a youthful 27, become both Sound Advice's CEO and chairman.

The truth about the source of Powell's investment money finally came out in 1984, when the federal government indicted him on drug charges and income tax evasion.

Because the only tainted money in Sound Advice was in Powell's stock, in 1985 the government sold that stock back to the company and exonerated it of any complicity in the illegalities of Powell.

In 1986, Sound Advice went public, raising further questions about the source of its seed money.

By the end of 1988, it owned and operated 17 stores in Florida, with gross sales of $55 million, which earned it the 40th ranking on Forbes' list of the 200 best small companies in the United States.

While Sound Advice also began to experience some competitive pressures from Circuit City, which entered the South Florida market in 1990, the company initially tried to stick to its strategy guns rather than wage a price war with that retail giant.

By 1991, Audio Advice was all in with home theater, in large part because people were able to enjoy more of their favorite shows and movies in Dolby surround sound.

For one thing, by 1992 the company had started trying to compete more aggressively with much larger, national chains like Circuit City, Best Buy, and BrandsMart USA by broadening its product line to include additional lower-cost television, VCR, and audio equipment brands and models.

Meanwhile, the stockholders' suit continued, resulting in a $2.8 million settlement in their favor in November 1993.

According to a May 1994 article in Florida Trend, Beshouri wanted to grow the company by as much as 50 percent within the year, expanding the chain to 30 stores.

By 1998, it was getting help from the new digital technology that had started to invade the market in the form of higher-end products that seemed tailor-made for Sound Advice and its typical customers--those who wanted quality regardless of price.

Also in October 2000, Sound Advice completed the acquisition of Showcase Home Entertainment, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based retailer of high-end electronics and custom design services.

However, in June 2001, Sound Advice relented, and agreed to be sold to Tweeter Home Entertainment for stock with a value of about $150 million.