Author Archives: Jim Lee

The Audiophile’s Media Room

Over the last year we have had the pleasure of helping one of our good friends turn an unfinished basement into one of the best sounding media rooms. From designing the wall layout with the contractor to figuring out the best placement for speakers, this was a blank slate.

For the video, we used Sony’s VW1100ES 4K projector onto a new 100″ Screen Innovations Slate motorized screen. The Atmos surround sound is handled by an Anthem AVM60 pre-amplifier/processor, an Anthem P5 amplifier, and an Anthem P2 amplifier.

The main speakers are processed through a Krell Evolution 202 before the signal reaches the pair of Aesthetix Atlas mono-block amplifiers. The main speakers are Focal Stella Utopia EMs  accompanied by a pair of JL Audio Gothams. The surround speakers are Focal Sopra No3s, the four Atmos in-ceiling speakers are Focal IW1003BEs; and we have a JL Audio Fathom F113  running as the theater subwoofer.

In the back corner of the room, we have the gorgeous ClearAudio Statement V2 turntable  playing all of his LPs at their fullest potential. The entire system has Nordost wiring and Nordost QKore grounding to help lower the sound floor and bring out all of the detail. It has been fun seeing a room without drywall turn into one of the best sounding media rooms we’ve heard.

Sound Systems For Your Outdoor BBQs

Well finally the weather is getting nice! Are you ready for your outdoor BBQ parties? Nothing like great sounding music to go along with it. We have several excellent choices for your outdoor speaker system. This can include in the ground subwoofers, rock speakers, tree mounted speakers and planter speakers.

Stop in and let us help you design an outdoor entertainment system to fit your space and lifestyle.

Here’s a video about in-ground subwoofers, neat stuff:

Living Room Installation – Focal Sopra

Here is a photo of one of our best customer’s and friend’s homes. We finished this project yesterday. This is now the 3rd home we have done for them. The Focal Sopra 1s looks excellent with the art in the foreground.

The Meridian Sooloos music library sources this room as well as the whole house music system, including their beautiful home theater room.

Thanks very much to them for allowing us to share this.

REVIEW – NUTS ABOUT HI-FI

On my way to a Doctor’s appointment I passed by a store in a small mall in Silverdale, WA. It is called Nuts About Hi-Fi. After the appointment, I stopped in to check it out. I’m pretty much “nuts about hi-fi”, and I couldn’t pass it by. What a wonderful surprise. It turned out to be a store full of amazing gear, and amazing people. I was in the market to upgrade my headphones and speakers. After spending a couple of hours with Jim Lee listening to some amazing Focal speakers, I headed home with a new set of amazing Focal headphones, and a promise from Jim to stop by my home, (about 30 miles away) to check out my listening environment to see what he thought would work best for me. Jim stopped by as promised and spent some time helping me to set up my existing speakers to maximize their potential. We talked about a set of Focal Sopra # 1 speakers that he though would really be perfect for my room. To keep this from getting too long, I’ll just say that I took Jim’s recommendation on the speakers and ordered a pair of them from him. A week later, Jim was back with the new Focals. He spent a couple of hours breaking down my old gear and setting up the new speakers. They are amazing, and are certainly a perfect match for my room. Now, I am enjoying my music more than I have in years. Focal Sopras are superb with a level of definition and clarity that I have never heard before, and I’m sure they will sound even better after they fully break in.

The kind of service and expertise that Jim and the staff at Nuts About Hifi provided throughout the process is a rare thing these days. It was greatly appreciated, and I am sure I will be a long term customer. They are the best.