Coombe Audio on Fore Street

Most high-street audio shops sell sealed boxes. Coombe Audio, on Fore Street in Teignmouth, does the opposite: used amplifiers, turntables, speakers, cassette decks and streamers that have already been across the workbench.

The shop is run by Tom, who has worked with used hi-fi since 1994, when he helped his father open Audio Gold. He later became that shop’s turntable specialist. At Coombe Audio he still spends much of the day overhauling decks and servicing classic amplifiers behind the counter.

Everything that goes out is checked, and repaired where needed, before it is offered with support afterwards.

Vinyl replay sits at the centre of the stock, alongside CD players, tape machines and newer streaming equipment, including the option of adding streaming to an older system.

Starter setups begin around £200. A mix of used and new separates can be built for a few hundred pounds, or for more if the brief needs it. There is a small demonstration area with a sofa. Visitors are asked to sit, drink tea or coffee, and listen until the sound and the look of a system settle.

The premises used to be SPS Records, which has since moved across the road. Between them, this stretch of Fore Street now holds a tight cluster of music shops. Coombe Audio keeps a modest selection of vinyl and CDs, and will send record buyers next door rather than try to cover that ground itself.

The business also buys equipment, including kit that no longer works, and will collect across the South West. The shop’s own pages list opening hours as Wednesday to Saturday, 10.30am to 4.30pm, with appointments sometimes possible outside those times. Teignmouth station is a short walk away.

For anyone who wants to hear used equipment properly before buying it, this is a straightforward stop: one specialist, a bench in the same room as the stock, and time to listen.