Stop #2: HighWater Sound. Having met at Jules', moonie Ken Micallef and bossman sahib -- to stay with the British Khaki scheme of imaginary Colonial superiority -- enjoyed door-to-door delivery in Coolman's snazzy Daimler. We found ourselves whisked away to historic Water Street which used to be water-front property until the land fill extended things a bit into the salty/oily stuff. Our silver-haired chauffeur added witty commentary to the city sights as we were passing them, quite the antidote to the taciturn mode of many NY cabbies who treat traffic like an evil tree, to be butchered with a monster chain saw by a free-basing maniac. John DeVore and Jonathan Halpern had hitched the same ride which made for some cozy - er, meat fill inside the Benz. Naturally, the only lady in attendance got to sit on my lap. There are many advantages associated with marriage - you don't have to pay to be treated well. Of course you gotta be happily married for that to occur in the first place but that's a different story altogether.
Jeffrey Catalano is a construction guy who's in the process of renovating the building he's in, turning the overhaul of his loft into a swanky retirement setting when the time comes. Audio is his passion and besides carrying Kondo from Japan as a dealer, he's the formal US distributor for Hørning though he still has to get on the hørn to establish an actual dealer network for these speakers. Jules recently took delivery of his huge Alkibiades while John Potis received the smaller Perikles on the same shipment. Having heard the middle Agathon Ultimate model in Jules' Connecticut digs on Shindo gear, I was curious how the original AudioNote kit and a completely different environment would make over the same model.
Our have-ears-will-visit audiophile Mafia dispatch settled down in Jeffrey's couch and we listened to vinyl and digital, the latter via 47lab's transport and new Gemini dual-mono DAC. Both sounded surprisingly similar by deemphasizing rather than emphasizing the differences one might expect between analogue and bits. It quickly became clear that Monsignor Catalano is a true aesthete who favors an ethereal type of fine-tipped resolution and slim liquidity over a more full-bodied but usually also slower presentation that might project farther into the room's expanse.
As the images will show, Jeffrey's space is rather gargantuan and filled with plywood and brick surfaces for little damping. This translates into an accurate and fast sound which meticulous tweaking prevents from ever getting hairy or forward. Despite the congenial speaker efficiency, Kondo's 7-watt 2A3 stereo amp seemed slightly underpowered when things got large-scale and massive, conveying itself as minor compression in the bass and a lack of overall weight and heft. Considering the loft's cubic volume, this wasn't at all surprising. Certain aspects of the presentation were squarely as good as it gets, with refinement and coherence and an absence of electronic artifacts that the right audience would kill for. These same aspects also completely obliterated the usual thermionic notions of coloration to make the high water sound into an epitome of elegance and transparency. Ultimate grunt and boogie factor and projection deep into the room to energize the air took a back seat, making the perspective one of having the listener move toward the music rather than the music reaching out for him or her.
	Inspecting the Alkibiades on the sidelines, I asked Jules how his lovely lady Mimsie would welcome these very tall and substantial speakers. I got the distinct impression that Lady Coolman doesn't yet know what to expect. Ha. Familiar scenario?
HighWater Sound struck me as truly specialist hard-core HighEnd where no detail is overlooked to tailor the final outcome to exactly the aural blueprint inside the head of its owner. Notions of 'slow' back-loaded horns and lush triodes need to be left at the door when you enter here. Jeffrey's aural mantra is all about nuance and speed and he seems to know precisely how to go about achieving it. And that becomes vitally important when you hope to transplant what you experience at a commercial establishment to the sanctuary of your own home. The equipment by itself is only half the story - setup and ancillary component selection such as resonance 'tweaks' and power delivery are the other which one might rightfully group under the header of 'tuning'. Most music lovers will need a specialist who knows his ingredients and what taste he's after and who won't stop until he has captured it. Hearing the same speakers at Jules' would give you a very different impression, neither of which is right or wrong but simply a reflection of its owner's taste. Jeffrey Catalano's website is currently under construction but should be live soon - the above photo shows an artist's mock-up of a proposed home page. If you suffer twitchy fingers or itchy ears, e-mail him in the meantime to set up your audition. While we all have different notions of what our systems should sound like, one as finely honed and impeccably addressed as Jeff's will have you at the very least appreciate how 'the other half lives' - and you could well find that the grass over yonder is greener than on your own side.