In the heart of downtown Aiken, where artistry and character seem to live on every corner, Absoulute Audio Plus Video offers something you cannot quite put into words until you experience it. Step inside, and it feels less like a store and more like a carefully curated living space that blends real-world aesthetics and audio and a lifelong love of music.
For owner Shayne Tenace, this is not just a business. It is the result of a journey more than forty-five years in the making. From an early age, he understood that music was more than background noise. It was something that could move you, calm you and bring you back to yourself after the noise of everyday life. That belief has never left him, and today it is the foundation of everything he does.
At Absoulute Audio Plus Video, the focus is simple but powerful. It is about the why and the what. Why does sound matter, and what does it mean to truly hear music the way it was intended? Tenace believes that many people have never been exposed to high-quality sound and, as a result, have not experienced the full emotional depth music can offer. When you hear a song through a properly designed system, you are not just listening. You are stepping into the artist’s world, hearing every layer, every note and every intention exactly as it was created.
That experience, Tenace says, brings humanity back to people. It slows you down. It centers you. It reminds you to feel.
What makes Absoulute Audio so unique is its commitment to making that experience accessible to everyone. From Bluetooth speakers to systems that reach into the hundreds of thousands, there is something for every level of listener. Tenace does not believe music should be reserved for a select few. Music belongs to everyone, and he is passionate about helping people find the system that fits their lives, spaces, and stories.
He approaches each customer relationship not as a sale, but as a journey. He wants to walk alongside people as they discover what great sound truly means to them. Sometimes that journey starts small, like the eleven-year-old who recently walked into the store and left with his very first turntable, beginning a record collection that will likely shape his love of music for years to come.
Other times, it grows into something much larger, a fully immersive listening or home theater experience where music and film come alive in ways most people have never imagined. He lights up when he talks about the way a film score, like those in Star Wars, can transform when heard through a high-quality system. Suddenly, it is not just background music. It becomes part of the story, bringing color, depth and emotion to every scene.
For Tenace, music is both personal and deeply social. He describes those first quiet moments after a long day, when he can sit, listen and unwind as something sacred. But just as meaningful are the times when his wife and friends gather, sharing that experience together, letting music fill the room and create a connection.
That sense of connection is what drew Shayne to Aiken in the first place. While visiting and shopping at Lionel Smith, he fell in love with the charm and personality of downtown. He was struck by how much the community valued the arts, especially when he discovered that Aiken had its own orchestra. It felt like a place where his passion would be understood.
Finding a building with as much character as the vision he carried, Shayne knew he had found the right home for Absoulute Audio Plus Video.
Inside, that vision comes to life through carefully selected brands, many of them family-owned and built on generations of craftsmanship. From British-made Rega Audio to Italy’s Unison Research, still run by the founder’s family, to the precision engineering of Burmester and the anticipated addition of McIntosh, each piece reflects a commitment to performance, heritage and passion.
There is always something new to discover, Tenace says, but the true magic cannot be explained. Like his time in the Navy, it is something you have to experience for yourself.
And through it all, he is quick to credit his wife, Pat Tenace, whose unwavering support has been a constant throughout his journey. Her belief in his passion has helped shape the business into what it is today.
Absoulute Audio Plus Video is a place where sound becomes feeling, where music becomes memory and where everyone is invited to rediscover what it means to truly listen and immerse yourself in sound.
Absoulute Audio Plus Video is located at 115 Laurens Street SW in Aiken, SC. Their phone number is 803-226-0040.
“The experience of music brings humanity back to people.”
“Music is not reserved for a select few; music belongs to everyone.”