By Andrew Court
Putting aside the crime and chaos on the streets outside, sitting front row at a New York City jazz bar is a peak life experience.
The lights are low as the band takes the stage, a waiter brings an ice cold martini. The music starts and It’s a composition of parts, abstract rhythms coming together to form an imperfect but beautiful harmony. The drums clap and swoosh in the back. The base slaps and a trumpet wails at just the right moment. This is the apotheosis of big city living.
I never dreamed I could have this sort of experience at home, that is until I sat in the appointment-only showroom of Soundlux Audio in Miami.
The store’s owner Eric Gould was inspired by the Kissa Bar experience in Tokyo. At these underground pubs audiophiles listen to Jazz recordings on obsessively curated HiFi systems. Gould went in for a drink, but came out six-and-a-half hours later feeling “focused and energized.” He started studying these systems and learned the key elements to creating life-like stereos that minimized listening fatigue.
To start, you only use two-source audio, or two-speaker systems. This isn’t the sort of home theater your friend had in their rec room growing up with thirty six speakers projecting every line of Anchorman. The speakers are the star of the show but all the components matter. Like a Jazz ensemble everything must work together. This goes right down to the wiring. Eric tunes the systems using different wire material. He reports that older ears particularly respond to high-end silver.
We are in his primary listening room, and all the equipment is by Audio Note from Brighton in the UK, a company that has no need to advertise or even look for clients. Eric says he doesn’t care about brand names like McIntosh or Audio Research “that would be easier to sell.” He looks for “smaller companies that have been around for a long time and that are known for their musicality and reliability.” Much of this equipment is anachronistic, with technology dating back even to the 1930s.
I sit in a chair facing the speakers, expecting to have my hair blow back like Marty McFly in the opening scene of Back to the Future. Instead, I get the sensation of time travel. The jazz album was produced 50 years ago, but I feel like I am sitting in on the recording session, smelling the unfiltered Camels spark up. Surprisingly, for such an immersive experience Eric and I easily carry on a conversation. He explains that the mid range is so good there’s no reason to up the decibels.
As you might imagine, there’s a big debate between those who prefer the retro warmth of a turntable and those who prefer the techno modernism and convenience of digital. To be fair these aren’t your grandpa’s turntables, the one we’re listening to has a belt drive to decrease vibration from the electric motor. Eric plays the digital version of the same jazz piece and it sounds perfect, almost too perfect. Explaining the issue, Eric says: “our challenge is that we’ve created a platform where our analog experience is so good at the reference level that we have to have the very best digital equipment too.”
These systems should be set up to the listeners preferences. The type of music is very important as rock, jazz, and classic have different optimal requirements. To make this point Eric fires up some Rolling Stones on Cornwall speakers. It doesn’t feel like you’re in a jazz club, but instead at a rock concert. The sound hits like a wave. The room is also important but Eric works with the customer’s space.
Just don’t request a remote control.
I asked him how someone should get into this hobby and he recommended creating “a relationship with a dealer, you’ll reduce the amount of mistakes that you make.” Many guys only show up at Soundlux after wasting a lot of cash trying to do it themselves, obsessively pouring over YouTube videos and Reddit threads. The fundamental problem is you don’t know how any component will sound until you hear it in person. You definitely won’t know how it will sound in concert with an entire setup.
Christopher, a customer, came in and we had a chat. He’s an aerospace engineer who recently moved to Miami from LA. For Christopher this sort of system is a bucket list purchase. There’s also a spiritual element. Chris likes “to remind people that King David used the harp to drive spirits out.”
All this perfection doesn’t come cheap, but it’s also not outside the realm of attainability. Systems start at around $2k but can go up to the hundreds of thousands.
After my experience I was tempted, ready to switch from journalist to customer. Eric particularly sold me when he said his personal HiFi is so good he got his wife and kids to listen to jazz even when he wasn’t home.
Any stereo that banishes Taylor Swift is a divine intervention in my book.
