A couple of days ago, Eli and I had the pleasure of upgrading the system for one of my all-time favorite customers. Over the past 15 years, Jerry and I have had a lot of fun improving his sound system. He loves his music and is always curious about how to make it even better.

Jerry stopped in to the showroom a few weeks ago and we listened to the Sopra 3s together. He decided it was time to upgrade from his smaller Sopra No1, which he’s owned and enjoyed for several years.

One thing led to another, and I gave him a demo of our new favorite DAC, the Mola Mola Tambaqui. We also hooked up the Aesthetix Mimus, and Jerry was immediately all in.

After ordering all his new gear, we waited a few weeks to sync up our schedules for installation. I’d been looking forward to this one, his setup is approaching the best possible sound we can achieve in his room. With his listening chair just about ten feet from the speakers (which have a set location in the room), I hoped we wouldn’t lose any of that big, immersive soundstage or depth.

Eli did a terrific job installing and calibrating everything to the room. When I arrived later that afternoon and sat down in Jerry’s chair, I honestly think it sounded every bit as good, if not better, than in our showroom. This is one of those systems I wish every one of our customers could hear. You truly feel as if you’re in the room with the musicians, enjoying a private concert from the best seat in the house.

A big thank you to Jerry for allowing us to have so much fun pushing the limits of audio perfection.

Yesterday, Justyn and I, along with help from our friend Alex from United Moving & Storage, delivered yet another pair of the beautiful Focal Maestro Utopia EVO loudspeakers.

For going on 13 years, my good customer and friend, Robert, has allowed me to guide him on this journey towards audio utopia. About once or twice a year, Robert and I have great conversations about our next upgrade to improve his sound systems. I say systems because Robert is a snowbird and winters in California. He also allowed me to design and install a custom Focal Utopia and JL Audio system in his beautiful desert home.

As you will see from the photos, this is a vast open space, and we needed the best possible choice in speakers to fill the room. We wanted a full-size concert-level presentation. Focal does make two larger brother versions in their Utopia line but we were physically limited by the hallways adjacent to the fireplace. This, however, was not an issue as we incorporated JL Audio’s massive Fathom series F212 subwoofer to take up any slack in the deepest of bass regions.

We had custom-ordered these beautiful speakers a few months ago and I have been quite excited to install them. So after uncrating these heavy buggers, we opened the large double doors to roll them into the room. All of a sudden a hummingbird flew in to join the party. He was, needless to say, quite a distraction. After flying around the room for a few minutes, he calmly sat down on the window ledge. I walked over to him and explained that as beautiful as he was, he had to go!

Obviously, the last thing you want in a system of this caliber is “humming.”

I was able to pick him up and carefully carry him outside. Then off he flew. I felt sort of sorry for him that he wouldn’t be there to hear the finished product but I’m sure he had a great story to tell his friends. After all, it’s not every day you get to witness this level of high-end audio.

The sound in this room is quite amazing even though the speakers will have a week or so to break in.

His Aesthetix pre-amp and amp, Molo Mola Tambaqui DAC and Nordost cabling he has purchased from us over the years will allow these speakers to sound their very best.

Thanks again Robert for allowing us to be a part of this. Enjoy!

Yesterday, Justyn, Eli, and myself installed this beautiful pair of Focal Maestro Utopia EVO speakers for my longtime customer and close friend Scott. I can tell you that Scott is as nuts about hi-fi as Nuts About Hi-Fi. He and I have created some of the most amazing systems for over thirty years.

We have now completed four homes with him and currently maintain 9+ systems, some of which are so elaborate that they actually make this incredible system seem fairly tame.

This room is an outbuilding with a second garage about 250 feet from his main house. It sits in a beautiful wooded area that feels magical. This gives Scott a place where he can truly get away and enjoy music or concerts in total privacy any time he wishes.

We are planning our next steps to improve the acoustics and take this system to its next level. Also, with the generous trade-up program from our friends at Nordost. We will upgrade his cabling to keep up with the evolution of this system.

Thank you, my friend, what a fun one this is!

I want to share with you one of our most interesting clients. Bob is deaf in both ears, and yet is truly one of the best Audiophiles I know. He cannot hear a word I say. We communicate using handwritten notes, along with his ability to read lips.

I first met Bob about 15 years ago. He had initially found out about us because of an article he read in one of the trade magazines on the breakthrough technologies Nordost had made on cabling and noise isolation products. He asked if I would bring some to his home for demonstration. I remember feeling skeptical. Thinking “If he can’t even hear my voice, how would he be able to perceive the differences in cabling, noise isolation products, etc.?” I was intrigued, so we scheduled an appointment later that week. He ushered me to his listening room when I arrived at his home.

At that time, the room was pretty simple. As I remember, it had a small sofa, a listening chair, and a fairly decent stereo system. Next to the listening chair sat a few balloons and a small air pump. He played a short repertoire of music for me through his system. I’ve been accused of sometimes playing my music fairly loud. I can easily justify this because I want to feel I am at the recorded venue. And sometimes that venue happens to be a Rock Concert.

But let me tell you…
Bob plays his music loud!

He sits in his listening chair, closes his eyes, caresses a balloon inflated to the appropriate level and feels the vibrations of the music through his fingers.

After listening to his system, that first day, I swapped out his speaker cables with a pair of Nordost. He and I went over the same tracks, and all of the sudden, a huge smile came to his face and he spoke loudly “Much better!” I asked to borrow his balloon and almost immediately, I was able to feel the vibrations through my fingers. It gave me goosebumps, and I suddenly understood how this remarkable man had trained himself to adapt to his inability to hear with his ears.

Years have passed and Bob’s listening room has now transformed into what I can only describe as a very comfortable music sanctuary. It is indeed a tribute to the art of recorded music. He has hundreds of albums, not one but two elaborate stereo systems set up on opposite ends of the room facing each other. Located between these systems sits a listening chair that he swivels 180 degrees depending on which system he wants to enjoy. His various balloons and air pump sit close by.

We are now in the process of upgrading his main system with some of our favorite Aesthetix gear and Nordost Sort Kones and their remarkable Q-Base MK 3 primary earth grounding system. I will follow up with some more photographs when this upgrade is installed.