Hi everyone,

This week, we had the pleasure of installing a fantastic new system for Ron and Janet, who were referred to us by two couples and close friends in Woodinville, both long-term Nuts About Hi-Fi clients.

Justyn and our newest employee, Erik, meticulously set up all the equipment and ran the Nordost Heimdall 2 speaker cables through the crawl space. We used wall-mounted brush plates both behind the electronics and speakers to ensure a clean, low-profile aesthetic.

After visiting their friends’ homes in Woodinville and experiencing their listening rooms, Ron and Janet decided to move forward with a system of their own. A few weeks ago, at their request, I drove to their beautiful home in Port Angeles to assess the possibilities. The room we chose to be their new “listening room,” directly off their bedroom, is one of the most acoustically balanced rooms we have had the pleasure to work in. Not to mention, the furniture in this room makes you never want to leave the couch!

Ron had been doing some online research and had already decided on the Scala Utopia in a blue finish. These are being custom-made for them in France, and we were able to loan them the white pair shown in the photos as a temporary measure. The Marantz Model 30, also pictured, is a placeholder while we await the arrival of the new Aesthetix Pallene and Dione preamp/amp combination. This is currently being handmade for them by Jim White and his team at Aesthetix. The Marantz 30 we temporarily installed was actually owned by one of their friends in Woodinville that I recently took in trade towards a Mola Mola Tambaqui.

The other day I was just joking with Brad, their other friend, that with as much business as he and Erik are sending us that we will now have to refer to their listening rooms as “Nuts About Hi-Fi – Woodinville branch.”

So after some adjustments, getting this set up and tuned, Ron and I listened to several tracks, including a Led Zeppelin song that I hadn’t heard for years. We were both taken aback by the level of detail, able to hear nuances in this 50-year-old-recording that neither of us had ever heard before. The band was almost in the room with us. And this was after only about 25 minutes of listening to a system that needs at least a week to fully break in.

We still have a few more tweaks to do in this room. Janet has volunteered to make a drapery for the window between the bedroom and the listening room. This will soften and diffuse any high-frequency reflections that might occur during high volume playback. We also will be back into the crawl area to finish cabling the JL Audio F113 Series 2 subwoofer, which is discreetly placed to the left of their couch.

I will follow up with more photos when the system is complete.

Thanks so much, everyone, for allowing us to do what we love, and thanks to all our customers who care enough to refer our services.

Hi folks,

I wanted to share an update on a long-term project with my good friend and customer, John. We started designing his listening room over 15 years ago. His beautiful home, perched on a hillside overlooking Hood Canal, was once a bed and breakfast and has always been one of my favorite places to visit. The stunning gardens, his incredible art collection, and the old-world architecture make it feel like a comfortable museum.

Our journey began when John and his wife wanted a high-end home theater system, which we installed on the upper floor of their home. During the theater design process, John and I would often take breaks to enjoy music in our listening room. As a true music connoisseur, John quickly became captivated by the possibilities of high-end audio and decided to embark on this lifelong adventure. Even with so many rooms in his home, he chose to add a dedicated wing just for music.

As technology has advanced, we’ve continuously upgraded his system over the years. Our most recent upgrade a few months ago was the Mola Mola Tambaqui, which elevated the overall music performance to a new level.

Yesterday, we replaced his power conditioner with the new Nordost Reference QB 10. I had recently installed this amazing device in our showroom and was so impressed that I called him the same day to tell him about it.

Given John’s background as a scientist, we like to use a scientific approach during our listening sessions to evaluate how a new product truly affects the sound. Carefully noting the exact volume levels and our listening positions, we first listened to an Emmylou Harris track John had been enjoying recently.

Then, we replaced his older line conditioner with the new QB 10 and started over. It took less than ten seconds to realize we were both hearing what seemed like a completely different recording. The best way to describe the difference was a calming sense of realism, Emmylou’s voice was no longer lost among the surrounding instruments but was clear and pure.

Next, we moved on to a very familiar recording of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35, which is frankly one of the most difficult pieces to get right on any system. I wish all my customers could hear what we heard. Joshua Bell’s violin, even during the crescendos of the entire Berlin Philharmonic, remained so precise we could hear every nuance of every string.

John turned to me and simply said, “Can I write you a check?”

Here is a quick update of my favorite “basic” garage sound-system. Yesterday, we added the most amazing subwoofer we carry in our inventory, the JL Audio Gotham™ v2 Powered Subwoofer. It did the trick as far as reaching down to the last octave and provided a new dimension which is impossible to describe.

We have one of these bad boys in our showroom. Stop in and we are happy to show you what is possible.

For the last couple of days, Eli and Justyn were busy meticulously installing Vicoustic acoustical treatment panels in the garage owned by my good friend and customer Scott.

This is an update from a previous post we did a couple of months ago, when we had first installed a beautiful pair of Focal Maestro Utopia EVO Speakers. Scott had decided to transform his garage into a “man cave”, a place he could use to get away, smoke an occasional cigar, and crank up his tunes without bothering his wife.

This project started with him telling me he wanted a “simple system”. I think it’s safe to say we have gotten a bit carried away. Anyway, the acoustics in this garage were tough to say the least. The dimensions of the space were just shy of a cube, which is always challenging, especially for bass, but the real issue was his concrete floors.

It didn’t sound like a racquetball court, but it was close.

Another challenge was positioning the speakers. The listening chairs are on casters to allow for flexibility, as he occasionally still parks one or two vehicles in there. So he sometimes has to pull his chairs up close to his equipment cabinet. We carefully positioned the speakers to allow for this.

We didn’t want to carpet the floor for obvious reasons, so we decided to do the next best thing and dampen the ceiling with 72 Vicoustic premium ceiling panels. I’ve used these for years in difficult rooms, and they always do the trick.

So yesterday afternoon, I drove to his home to listen as Justyn and Eli finished the panel installation. The moment Scott and I walked in, we could tell just from the sound of our voices that the panels had transformed the room into a very natural, enjoyable listening space. The system sounded amazingly better.

We still have a bass issue, but we can fix it easily with a second JL Audio subwoofer. This will smooth out the lowest frequencies and add a lot more impact. I will post again when we have it finished.

Thanks very much, Scott, for allowing us to do what we love.