Late Wednesday, more than 250 FDNY firefighters spent over seven hours fighting a fire at 481 Van Brunt Street in Brooklyn, home to many artists and businesses including Resolution A/V.
I’ve written about Adam Wexler’s amazing place in Red Hook on three occasions–Hip-Hop and Hi-Fi: Common x Pete Rock Record Release Event at The Compound, Road Tour: Fyne Vintage Classic Gold at Brooklyn’s Resolution A/V, and most recently A Duet of Debuts: DeVore Fidelity O/Bronze & Nagra Reference at Resolution A/V. As you can see from the photos, this is a special place filled with tons of gear both new and classic.
What you can also see is the listening room at Resolution A/V was built with love and care to showcase great gear while making it look and sound. . .great.
The fire at 481 Van Brunt Street started at around 11:35pm Wednesday night, September 17, and you can get a gauge of the severity of the fire and the amount of water that went into putting it out from this video from FDNY Response Videos:
I jump cut to a rear view of the building which is where the entrance to Resolution A/V is located. As you can imagine, even though Adam’s place is away from the actual fire, Resolution A/V was drenched in water, fresh and salt water, and inundated with smoke. Since the cause of the fire is still an ongoing investigation by the FDNY, no one is allowed in so the full extent of the damage is, at present, unknown.
Resolution A/V employs 12 people, including Adam, and I can tell you from first hand experience it is a very busy place between their ongoing custom installation work, the hifi dealership, and the amazing vintage and used hifi gear sold through StereoBuyers. In inventory alone, you’re looking at well into the seven figures worth of gear. The building at 481 Van Brunt Street is also home to other businesses and many artists whose life work has been lost. A tragedy by any account.
As you’ll see in my pal Ken Micallef’s interview with Adam on Ken’s highly recommended Jazz Vinyl Audiophile YouTube channel–Ken knows his jazz!—the best way people can help the business and employees of Resolution A/V is by doing business with them—they continue to operate remotely and carry great gear from great companies including DeVore Fidelity, Nagra, Leben, Riviera Labs, Accuphase, Air Tight and many more.
I recommend a visit to the Resolution A/V website for a more complete picture.
For those who would like to help but are not in a position to buy gear, John DeVore has created a GoFundMe campaign to help Resolution A/V and its employees which you can access here:
Please join me in wishing Adam and all the fine people at Resolution A/V a speedy return to business as (better than) usual.