Beyond Sonos, Bose and soundbars
Already have good enough? Come and hear better.
Sonos, Bose and soundbars got millions of people listening again, and that is a fine place to start. If you have ever turned yours up and wished there was more, there is. It still streams, it still works from your phone, and it can still disappear into the room. Bring your playlist to Jersey City and hear the difference in an afternoon.
If you own Sonos
You were right to start there. Here is the next room.
Sonos made streaming effortless, and that is exactly what people love about it. The limit is physical: small drivers and a built-in amplifier in a box designed for the shelf. Turn it up, or ask it to fill a real living room, and it runs out of air. The step up keeps everything you like, one app and every service, and puts it through real loudspeakers and real amplification.
- Naim Mu-so and Uniti, KEF LS Wireless, Bluesound and Dali: streaming built in, no rack required
- Stereo that places musicians in the room rather than sound in a corner
- Grows with you: add a turntable, a television, a second room, without starting again
If you own Bose
Easy and forgiving. Now hear what is actually on the recording.
Bose built its name on sound that is pleasant anywhere, and there is nothing wrong with pleasant. But a system tuned to flatter everything cannot show you the difference between a great recording and an ordinary one, and that difference is where the magic lives. In our rooms you hear the room the music was made in: the breath before the note, the space around the drum kit, the weight of a bass line.
- Compact systems that still have real scale: Jern cast iron monitors, KEF, Cabasse, Dali
- Electronics matched to the speakers and the room, not a one-size box
- Set up and calibrated in your home, so it sounds there the way it sounded here
If you own a soundbar
Film from one box under the screen, or from the whole wall.
A soundbar puts left, center, right and every effect into one enclosure under the television, so everything arrives from the same spot and dialogue fights the soundtrack. A real system separates them: a center channel that makes speech clear at any volume, left and right that stretch the picture, and bass with weight. It does not have to look like a cinema. Our speakers hang like pictures, sit inside the wall, or vanish into the ceiling.
- Artcoustic speakers behind printed art screens, chosen to match the room
- In-wall and in-ceiling speakers wired out of sight, television floated on the wall
- From a better living-room television to a full Dolby Atmos theater
How a visit works
The only honest test is your own music, in a real room.
Bring your playlist
The music you know is the only honest test. Play it on what you own at home, then play it here.
Hear it in a real room
Five listening rooms in an 1880s house, set up the way you would live with them. No shop floor.
Take it home properly
We design around your room, install, hide the wiring and calibrate. Shoes off, paper down.
Can I keep using Sonos and add better speakers?
Often, yes. A Sonos Port or Amp can feed a proper amplifier or a pair of real loudspeakers, so the app and the playlists stay and the sound changes. In many rooms a dedicated streaming system from Naim, KEF or Bluesound is the simpler route, and we will tell you which when we hear what you own.
Is a hi-fi system complicated to live with?
Not the ones we recommend for this. Naim Mu-so and Uniti, KEF LS Wireless and Bluesound are one-box or two-box systems with streaming built in, run from the same phone you use now. Everything is set up and tested before we leave.
What does the step up from a soundbar cost?
A real living-room system starts in the low thousands and a full theater is a different conversation. Every price is on application because every room is different. Book a listening session and we will give you an honest range before anything is designed.
Do I have to come to Jersey City?
The best way to choose is to hear systems side by side, and the showroom at 112 Sherman Place is set up for exactly that, by appointment, seven days. We also do home consultations across New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.
By appointment, seven days
Bring your playlist.
A private listening session in Jersey City, with what you own at home in mind. Evenings and weekends are no problem.