Page 26 - Indulge February/March 2016
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his man cave CGARNOVOINVYELBGAETCMK?Y
By Patrick O’Donnell
26 | INDULGE • FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016 Ivisited a vintage vinyl shop in Phoenixville recently, and music-only use. It’s as easy as changing a
it got me thinking about my collection of MP3s, CDs, setting on the receiver or processor to “stereo.”
records and cassette tapes (admittedly, the only thought
I had about the cassettes was, “Can I recycle those “A lot of this can be done with preconfigured
somewhere?”). settings on a remote so that the customer doesn’t
have to guess or play around with any settings,” he
I have my fair share of LPs and 45s and, yes, 78s, but says. (If you’re anything like me, that’s a good thing: I
I no longer have a turntable to play them. I’m sure I could once tried to call for takeout with my TV remote.)
find a cheap solution, but if I’m going to reminisce over
the hiss and crackle of old vinyl, I want something more So once I slog through the mish-mash of letters and
high-falutin’ — and high-fidelity. numbers that serve as names, what’s this music-only
system gonna set me back? About the price of a compact
The good news is, the best audio setups for music SUV, if I go with Groller’s suggestion: a pair of Monitor
require just two speakers. In a previous column, I wrote Audio PL300 Floorstanding Speakers ($11,000/pair);
about a dream home theater system that required, at a Monitor Audio PLW-15 1000Watt 15” Subwoofer
considerable expense, eight of ‘em. So I should be able to ($5,000); NAD Masters Series M12 Preamp/Digital Audio
save some money, right? Converter ($3,499); NAD Masters Series M22 2 Channel
Amplifier ($2,999); Bluesound Vault Streaming Music
That’s debatable. Player, CD Player and Vault ($1,199); and a Furman IT-
“In audio, there are some mega-expensive components REF15i Power Conditioner ($2,199).
that sound average at best, but all the finest sounding
components in the world happen to be very expense,” says Konigsberg, meanwhile, has me eyeing up a
Barry Konigsberg of Allentown-based Transparent Music. top-of-the line, price-is-no-object system: Evolution
“The difference between excellent and state-of-the-art Acoustics MM7 speakers ($200,000); darTZeel
systems span $100,000-plus, but diminishing returns play NHB 458 amplifiers ($145,000); darTZeel NHB
a large part.” 18NS pre-amplifier ($33,000); Durand Talea
In a sense, that explains why you need just two tonearm ($9,500); Dynavector XV1-T cartridge
speakers for music (three if you add a subwoofer). ($9,200); Playback Designs MPS-5 CD/digital
“An audio system (whether designed for music or audio converter ($17,500); Evolution Acoustics
movies) should be a true representation of the artist’s cables, ($20,000); Wave Kinetics isolation
intentions,” says Eric Groller of Lehigh Valley Sight and footers ($4,500); Klaudio ultrasonic record
Sound. “In a home theater, the sound should accurately cleaner ($4,000); and a Wave Kinetics NVS
depict what is happening on the screen, which means the turntable ($45,000) to spin my vinyl.
sound should come from different directions depending on
what is happening in the movie.” It’s worth noting that I didn’t buy (or sell)
When it comes to music, however, you’re re-creating anything at that vintage vinyl shop, and that’s
the experience of a stage or studio performance, in which probably just as well. I’ll need the money
the artist is in front of you. “When the listener sits in their I saved (and my records as collateral)
favorite chair and closes their eyes, a great music system just to put a down payment on my
will make the speakers disappear in the room, putting the new system.
listener directly in front of the performer,” Groller says.
If you don’t have a designated room, Groller says, many Oh well. A man can dream.
home-theater systems are capable of being switched to
By Patrick O’Donnell
26 | INDULGE • FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016 Ivisited a vintage vinyl shop in Phoenixville recently, and music-only use. It’s as easy as changing a
it got me thinking about my collection of MP3s, CDs, setting on the receiver or processor to “stereo.”
records and cassette tapes (admittedly, the only thought
I had about the cassettes was, “Can I recycle those “A lot of this can be done with preconfigured
somewhere?”). settings on a remote so that the customer doesn’t
have to guess or play around with any settings,” he
I have my fair share of LPs and 45s and, yes, 78s, but says. (If you’re anything like me, that’s a good thing: I
I no longer have a turntable to play them. I’m sure I could once tried to call for takeout with my TV remote.)
find a cheap solution, but if I’m going to reminisce over
the hiss and crackle of old vinyl, I want something more So once I slog through the mish-mash of letters and
high-falutin’ — and high-fidelity. numbers that serve as names, what’s this music-only
system gonna set me back? About the price of a compact
The good news is, the best audio setups for music SUV, if I go with Groller’s suggestion: a pair of Monitor
require just two speakers. In a previous column, I wrote Audio PL300 Floorstanding Speakers ($11,000/pair);
about a dream home theater system that required, at a Monitor Audio PLW-15 1000Watt 15” Subwoofer
considerable expense, eight of ‘em. So I should be able to ($5,000); NAD Masters Series M12 Preamp/Digital Audio
save some money, right? Converter ($3,499); NAD Masters Series M22 2 Channel
Amplifier ($2,999); Bluesound Vault Streaming Music
That’s debatable. Player, CD Player and Vault ($1,199); and a Furman IT-
“In audio, there are some mega-expensive components REF15i Power Conditioner ($2,199).
that sound average at best, but all the finest sounding
components in the world happen to be very expense,” says Konigsberg, meanwhile, has me eyeing up a
Barry Konigsberg of Allentown-based Transparent Music. top-of-the line, price-is-no-object system: Evolution
“The difference between excellent and state-of-the-art Acoustics MM7 speakers ($200,000); darTZeel
systems span $100,000-plus, but diminishing returns play NHB 458 amplifiers ($145,000); darTZeel NHB
a large part.” 18NS pre-amplifier ($33,000); Durand Talea
In a sense, that explains why you need just two tonearm ($9,500); Dynavector XV1-T cartridge
speakers for music (three if you add a subwoofer). ($9,200); Playback Designs MPS-5 CD/digital
“An audio system (whether designed for music or audio converter ($17,500); Evolution Acoustics
movies) should be a true representation of the artist’s cables, ($20,000); Wave Kinetics isolation
intentions,” says Eric Groller of Lehigh Valley Sight and footers ($4,500); Klaudio ultrasonic record
Sound. “In a home theater, the sound should accurately cleaner ($4,000); and a Wave Kinetics NVS
depict what is happening on the screen, which means the turntable ($45,000) to spin my vinyl.
sound should come from different directions depending on
what is happening in the movie.” It’s worth noting that I didn’t buy (or sell)
When it comes to music, however, you’re re-creating anything at that vintage vinyl shop, and that’s
the experience of a stage or studio performance, in which probably just as well. I’ll need the money
the artist is in front of you. “When the listener sits in their I saved (and my records as collateral)
favorite chair and closes their eyes, a great music system just to put a down payment on my
will make the speakers disappear in the room, putting the new system.
listener directly in front of the performer,” Groller says.
If you don’t have a designated room, Groller says, many Oh well. A man can dream.
home-theater systems are capable of being switched to
