About Us

Blue Oasis Audio was opened in 2005 to provide a calm, elegant space where folks could audition high value home music systems. At the time, the Richmond home electronics scene mirrored the nationally standard options:

1. The madness of the Big Box mass merchants
2. The "must-have" mentality of the Media Moguls
3. The appointment-only 'tude and giga prices of the "High-end" salons.

If you just want a great sounding, great looking music system, without having whole-house control systems or cinematic bells and whistles thrust at you, we're your kind of place. Sort of an old school hi-fi shop that embraces 21st Century technology.

We aim for the elbows on the price/value curves. Entire system prices now range from $450.00 to $10K, with astonishing results at every price point. We want as many people as possible to hear what today's best designers have accomplished. That's why we're located in the heart of Carytown, Richmond's most vibrant and eclectic shopping district.

So whether you want a modest office system or a healthy slice of the high end at real world prices, please pay us a visit at Blue Oasis Audio. Feel free to bring your favorite music in any format - CD, LP, SACD, DVD or iPod, or choose from our broad auditioning library. We'll listen to your tastes in music, sound, decor, budget and "significant other" acceptability. Then we'll help you build a music system that you can love and enjoy for a long, long time.

Your Host

Your host at Blue Oasis Audio will most likely be Tom Craggs, owner, manager, salesperson, janitor and raconteur. As a toddler, he drove his parents crazy with his li'l portable record player, and he hasn't gotten any better. He got sidetracked in a long and successful career in a totally unrelated field, but music and its reproduction remained a passion. He always enjoyed the role of audio guru, particularly putting together silk purse-out-of-sows-ears systems for friends. Some of those friends more or less rediscovered music as a result, a gratifying outcome for all.

So, he took a plunge and opened this emporium. He brings almost 50 years of closely following the audio industry from its infancy in the 60's through its adolescence in the 80's and into the exciting if perplexing scene of today. He tries to keep a beginner's mind, and his tastes in music and equipment are broad.

He offers a koan for audio:
     Tubes (or big speakers, LP's, etc.) are better. Yes, they are.
     Transistors (or small speakers, CD's, etc.) are better. Yes, they are.

Enough yammer. To paraphrase Zappa, let's shut up and play our guitars!