This article is part of our coverage of the 2025 CE Pro Masters.
When Leon Shaw got curious as to why some stereo systems in his college dorm sounded better than his, he had no idea it would lead to a lifetime in the AV industry. After graduating from Wake Forest University in 1976 with an Economics degree, he decided to try selling stereos for a few months before he would try to land a “real” job.
After two years at a Sam Goody store in Raleigh, N.C., he left to establish Audio Advice in 1978. There were 19 other stereo stores in the Raleigh area, but Shaw’s passion for great sound and customer service led Audio Advice to become one of the industry’s premier dealers.
At first, Audio Advice was just home stereos, but as Shaw says, “I’ve always loved to learn about the latest tech,” which led to Audio Advice getting into home theater very early on, followed by distributed music systems, lighting control, and more.
In 2007, Shaw brought in Scott Newnam as a partner and “with Scott’s same passion for customer service and experiences that I have, I am confident he will be a great leader of Audio Advice in the future,” he had said. Fifteen years later, Shaw completed his sale of Audio Advice to Newman.
Shaw served two terms as president of HTSA and was active on their board of directors for many years before retiring. He was also one of the founders of Netsertive, a digital marketing company that helped many dealers in the AV industry discover digital marketing.
“I am just so lucky to be able to have a job that is essentially my hobby turn into a career that allowed me to be around so many great people and have a blast at the same time. I’ve made many lifelong friends in the industry who I still talk to regularly and hang out with a few times a year,” Shaw enthuses.
“I’m so proud of how Audio Advice has changed so many people’s lives with music and theater systems that allow them to decompress and let the stress of the day go away with music or movies. I’ll have people come up to me at the airport and ask, are you that guy who founded Audio Advice? When I say yes, they thank me for founding a company that led them to getting a great system. And that is a pretty good feeling.”
Shaw’s “advice” for people just getting into the CE industry is not to forget about creating wonderful experiences for their customers. “It’s not just about having world-class customer service, which is imperative, but you also must be able to put together music and home theater systems your customers love to use every day.”
To read through the profiles of any previous Master, or to find out the full list of CE Pro Masters for 2025, check out the main article here.
