Our Mission

Whether it’s a home theater system or note-perfect audio in every room, it’s time to realize your dream of bringing the ultimate entertainment experience into the comfort of your own home. Screen size, display technology, sound systems - it will all fall into place. And, we will be your partner every step of the way. The Audio Room provides systems that are each professionally designed, engineered, and integrated to meet your unique needs.

We understand that today it’s all about the home entertainment shopping experience - delivering personal sales and exceptional service to the consumer. This professional approach provides results that are simply not attainable by the un-planned “deal of the moment” world of traditional electronics retailing. For home entertainment, we can help you experience that moment and tailor a system designed specifically for you and your lifestyle. We can share our ideas about an entire system or we can provide solutions for a partial upgrade. Whatever your home entertainment needs, inside our doors our knowledgeable professionals will guide you through your options based on your priorities.

3 Ways to Connect

Phone – Call us at (319) 373-1727 and a sales associate will answer any questions you may have about a product.

Visit – Come down to our showroom to check out our inventory of top name brand electronics, 855 Blairs Ferry Rd, Marion, IA 52302.

Click – Send us an email to receive information on a product or to hear about our specials and events.

Our History

Hi, I’m Dave Bunce, owner of The Audio Room. I thought you might like to hear how our company got off the ground. I owe my start to my father, Dean Bunce, who exposed me to both music and electronics as I grew up in the 1950s. Dad owned Iowa Radio Supply, a wholesale electronics company in Cedar Rapids. As a kid I often hung around his shop. I was always fascinated by the bins of electronics parts, and learning how they worked, and the idea of working in a family business was instilled me from an early age. In 1972, I was finished with college, fresh out of the Navy, and ready to start my career. Dad hoped I would stay in the family business, but I was more interested in audio products than wholesale parts. Dad was open-minded enough to let me use a room inside Iowa Radio Supply in which to try my hand at retail sales, and we named it “Iowa Radio’s Audio Room.” I’m sure Dad wondered if he had made a poor decision when loud Rock and Roll began pouring from my little store within a store, but before long, he had to admit we were on to something, as customers came in to buy speakers, turntables, and cassette decks. After a year, we moved into our own store at our original location at 1535 1st Ave NE. We were no longer just one room, but the name stuck, and we have been known as The Audio Room ever since.

In those early years, The Audio Room pioneered with lines such as Yamaha, Klipsch, Boston Acoustics and Velodyne. From the start I partnered only with vendors who made quality equipment. I wanted my store to be a place where customers could experience what music was meant to sound like, and be confident that the products I recommended to them would suit their needs and be built to last. That’s when the motto “Do the Sound Thing” was coined—a little play on words that still holds up today.

Today’s ultra sophisticated electronics require professional installation, and you won’t find a more courteous, better trained staff than our Audio Room employees. As members of the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association, (CEDIA) we train and certify our staff to know our products inside and out, and there is not a one of our employees who won’t go the extra mile to make you happy with your new equipment and be sure you know how to use it.

As you explore our website you will find that the products we sell have grown to include a wide range of home electronics. The industry has little resemblance to what it was back in 1972, but The Audio Room remains committed to its original mission of providing our customers with the experience of upscale high-tech products that enhance their lifestyles.