I tipped my hand in yesterday’s post where I made the distinction between a system and a room.
A system plays music, a room plays vibe. Obviously rooms at hifi shows are temporary so why spend time, effort, and money creating a nice vibe when you just have to tear the whole thing down a few days later? My answer—to enrich the experience.
Jeff Catalano of NYC’s High Water Sound gets vibe. And in my experience, this aesthetic sense carries over into his choice of gear and his choice of music which is not common at a hifi show, at least in my experience and opinion. Of course some audiophiles feel the look of things is a distraction from performance, tempting bait to lure away our hard earned money for frivolities like a nicely designed chassis but I’ve never been that attached to money.
As soon as I walked into the High Water Sound room at CAF 2025 I relaxed. Taking in the scene, then the gear, then the music and finally the entire picture in sight and sound was like a mini holiday, a respite from the otherwise mad hustle and bustle and empty boxes of a hifi show. This was a place to spend time with music and the machines that make it while basking in the soft glow of Akari Light Sculptures and Cigar Lotus floor lamps. A mid-century vibe that carried over into the gear and the Nelson Platform bench it rested on for the weekend.
And the sound of music through this system in the High Water Sound room was also among my very favorites as it had the most human touch of any I heard at the show, making reproduced music sound delicate, ominous, mysterious, joyful, and lovely depending on the record in play. One piece from a CBS Japan release of Joseph Szigeti and Carlo Bussotti performing Ravel, Hindemith, and Prokofiev sounded like it captured the energy of Szigeti’s violin in very much the same manner as a 78 RPM shellac disc, which is to say it contained that extra-vividness and energy that reaches right into your heart. It’s also worth noting that the shortest selection played in this or any High Water Sound room is an album side. Tracks don’t fit into this picture.
Much of the gear you see is from Switzerland’s Zeiler Audio from amplification to speakers and the finish colors for the turntable and speakers were selected to complement, not match. Throughout the weekend one or another vintage Ortofon SPU from Jeff’s collection rode the grooves, some dating back to the 1950s where they could have easily been part of a system in a room lit by Akari Light Sculptures and Cigar Lotus floor lamps.
It’s common to be asked, “What are some of your favorite rooms?” at hifi shows. And I think most of the time people are asking about systems, not rooms, but when I answer, “The High Water Sound room.” A typical response is, “Of course.”
The system:
Zeiler Audio PR-01 Preamplifier: $35,000
Zeiler Audio PA-01 Amplifier: $35,000
Zeiler Audio SP-01 Loudspeakers: $35,000
Torqueo Audio T 24 Exclusive Ardesia MK2 Turntable: $25,000
Torqueo Audio Controllo Limited X Power Supply: $10,000
Various Ortofon SPU Cartridges
Vintage Ortofon SUT-T100 Step Up Transformer
Glanz MH-1200 Tonearms
ADD-Powr Sorcer X4 Power Conditioner
Cables from Dalby Audio, Stein Music, and Furutech