I never imagined 30 years after the late Don Garber closed his Fi audio gallery at 30 Watts Street, that there would be a similar gallery in SoHo NYC again.
In the summer of 2022, I visited Devon Turnbull's OJAS exhibit at the NYC Lisson gallery. Click here to read about it. This past summer, a similar exhibit was presented at the London Lisson gallery.
As soon as the London exhibit concluded, Ken Micallef, whom I follow on YouTube, uploaded this video featuring OJAS hifi systems inside a posh SoHo boutique. This was the main motivation to add it to my list of must-see places on my next NYC trip!
Without further ado, here's what Tish and I experienced when we visited in mid November 2023.
Without further ado, here's what Tish and I experienced when we visited in mid November 2023.
Even if I consider myself a mid-century modern design enthusiast, I didn't know much about USM furniture until I visited this showroom. Apparently they're made in Switzerland and have been around since the 1960s.
As soon as we entered, I was greeted by this wall shelf filled with issues of The Audio Amateur, Glass Audio, and Speaker Builder magazines dating back to the latter part of the 20th century.
I sense an Eames + Le Corbusier vibe from these shelving and storage units.👍
Front row right to left: OJAS turntable, Groovemaster II + SPU Ethos (front) Ortofon RMA309 + SPU-A (rear), OJAS turntable power supply, Tube/FET phono preamp with Altec SUT and Intact Audio nickel AVC
Back row right to left: Sun Audio SE300B amp x 2, PSE2A3 mono block amps and Studer D730 CD player with TDA1541 DAC chip
Fostex super woofer at the center flanked by Artbook Shelf Speakers and OJAS speaker system in D'Appolito configuration using 2 x GPA 414 + WP12027 horn + GPA 802 compression driver
Amps: PSE2A3 mono block amps and Sun Audio SE300B stereo amp to the right
Equipment and speaker stands by USM
Groovemaster + Abis tonearms
Not sure if the amp at the bottom is a 211 or 845 amp because I'm too scared to handle voltages over 500V, thus I can't tell the difference.😉
Not sure if the amp at the bottom is a 211 or 845 amp because I'm too scared to handle voltages over 500V, thus I can't tell the difference.😉
Japanese DIY audio books, Western Electric 300Bs, Denon and Ortofon phono cartridges, LPs, etc.
Apparently, the Stereo Sound headquarters in Tokyo is furnished with USM according to Devon. That's another place I'd like to see in the future!😊
Thank you so much for being a gracious host, Devon! Time flies when we talk shop such that this is the second time I forgot to ask you if you had ever met Don Garber.😔
Maybe in the Spring!😊
No comments:
Post a Comment