About Classic Audio Repair

Classic Audio Repair, Inc. has been servicing San Diego and outlying communities since 1994. We are the premier servicer of classic and vintage audio from the 1950s to the 1980s.

We also service a variety of modern home audio products notably turntables and CD players. See the "What we service" section of our website for more information.
Early Beginnings to the present day...

In 1971, Fred Longworth could not afford to attend graduate school at Sonoma State. Instead, he took electronic technician classes at San Diego City College. He started servicing audio in San Diego in 1972. He founded Audio Workshop at the corner of Cable and Voltaire in Ocean Beach. Neil Edquist joined Audio Workshop in 1977, creating one of the highest skilled service centers for audio in Southern California. At the time Audio Workshop was an authorized servicer for Pioneer, Technics, Sony, Kenwood, Harman/Kardon, JVC, Akai, EPI, ESS, Dual, Garrard, BSR, and Thorens!


From 1978 to 1979, Fred attended a special program at the University of California - "University Without Walls" - studying Audio Engineering.

From 1981 to 1982, Fred was Chairman of the Council of Delegates of the California State Electronics Association.

Audio Workshop changed into Audio/Video Workshop under the direction of Neil Edquist after Fred and Neil split in 1985. Neil continued to operate the business until 2002, when Lucy's Bar took over the building. Neil unfortunately died from cancer in December, 2006.

Also in 1985, Fred went to work for Matsushita (we know them as Panasonic) and managed the Panasonic Factory Service center in Kearney Mesa until 1991 when he left the company to start his own service business. During the time at Panasonic, he obtained an MBA in 1990 from National University, graduating at the top of his class in the finance emphasis. In 1992, Fred obtained a professional Certificate in Hazardous Materials Management from the University of California.

In 1994, Fred opened Stereotech, in Normal Heights at 3401 Adams Ave. In 2002 the name of the business changed to Classic Audio Repair, after it became clear that the Chinese production of cheap and poorly supported electronics meant that fixing the "new stuff" was a quick way to go out of business. Fred redirected the business to the repair and restoration of vintage gear. It remains so to this day.

The Next Generation
In 2005, Fred began seeing an individual posting on AudioKarma about repairing and restoring vintage audio. There were also frequent Craigslist postings depicting beautiful restorations of equipment. This fellow went by "JPDylon"

In February of 2007, this individual walked into Classic Audio Repair on a Saturday after the acquisition of an amplifier through Craigs List. Traipsing through the crowd, the individual introduced himself as "that JPDylon guy." After proving through some customer repair work on the spot his skills in audio repair, Fred hired JP to work for Classic Audio Repair.


In June of 2020, the store moved to a new location at 8872 La Mesa Blvd. This was largely because of the sale of the building on Adams Ave. to new owners, but it was also an excuse to design a new repair center to maximize efficiency. Also, the parking on Adams was horrible on a good day, and on La Mesa Blvd there’s noise from cars but always a place to park.

Who is this JPDylon guy?
Jordan Pier, known online as JPDylon,  has been servicing audio since a young age. His early years with electro-mechanical things started out with an obsession with antique fans. Even at the age of 5, he would take them apart, clean, lubricate and repair them, and use them. By his teenage years, it became obvious that Jordan was an electro-mechanical genius.

During college years, Jordan had formal training in computer hardware, troubleshooting, networking, and electronics theory at Cuyamaca College. Though he had jobs repairing and maintaining computers and networks, he always came back to audio as a hobby. For a short time he even worked for Time Warner Communications as a network troubleshooter, but never found as much pleasure as repairing audio gear.

In 2007, Jordan Joined forces with Fred Longworth and for the next 17 years created an audio service giant in the San Diego area - and more!

In September, 2024, Jordan Pier retired from Classic Audio Repair and permanently moved to Tennessee, thirty minutes outside Nashville.