And presumably, why there was no Avantgarde dealer you knew of in the city.
Precisely. Sound by Singer, Stereo Exchange, Levinson, Lyric, Innovative, all the major players - why wasn't Avantgarde in any of them? And so, over two or three phone conversations, we concluded that additional discussions, in person, were mandatory to develop this growing idea further. To be honest, neither of us truly knew what and why - except that "come down to Atlanta" seemed unavoidable. Now fast-forward to Jim's room. He had a pair of blue DUOs that looked identical to mine. Great conversations ensued. Jim's a wonderful host. He lives in a very comfortable environment. But it's nothing ostentatious, overblown or in any other way removed from real-world concerns and practicalities.
Initially we didn't really start talking in earnest. Jim just wanted us to have a listen. Well, in 30 seconds, my life changed. Jim's system was so far above what I was personally listening to, and what I'd heard over the years under even the most ideal of circumstances. I realized that I had never before heard anything that even came close! In other words, there remained a very large margin still separating what I'd heard elsewhere even amongst the best-of-the-best, and at Jim's. As a matter of fact, he didn't even give me a full demonstration. After about 5 or 6 songs -- and he clearly had 30 or more to go through -- I capitulated. I stopped him cold.
Jim's room in Atlanta/Georgia
"Jim, I give up. Take my wallet, anything you want, just stop! Have mercy. I don't want to listen any more. I just want to talk about whether there's any opportunity for Avantgarde in New York City, for you and me."


So we talked through all that day and put some ideas on the table. I went back to the hotel and slept on it. We met the next day and concluded that perhaps the best solution to properly harvest this scenario -- for Avantgarde and my personal situation -- was a store; a special kind of store; not even a store proper but a kind of gallery or Avantgarde-centric arena in New York City, for people to come in and hear these unique hornspeakers as they were clearly meant to be heard.
What it really came down to? Bringing what was in Jim's room to my home, from there into this prospective store and then out into the open, into other people's homes. I knew that if we could do that -- and I wasn't even sure that Jim knew it at the time -- if we could bring what he had in Atlanta into New York and let people listen to it ... With the amount of residents in our metropolis and their appreciation for art and audio? I knew exactly what was available here in terms of audio salons. I was convinced that we had a very fair swing at both success and deep personal satisfaction. For a certain set of people attuned to the very highest levels of musical involvement, this would quickly become a must-visit destination.


So off we went. Several conversations and meetings later, visiting different stores, strategizing, plotting and dreaming, we decided on a loft-kind of environment. It would have all the Avantgarde models. One of the keys was to replicate, as closely as possible, Jim's personal recipe. It so turned out that with the exception of dcs, the lines of the particular components he used -- AUDIOPAX, Elrod Power Systems, Cardas cables, Grand Prix Audio, Viva -- were available to sell in this market.


Of course I could have brought up anything I wanted. But would I be allowed to sell it? Curiously, these brands were just esoteric enough to have eluded market capture thus far. They weren't already tied up in exclusive, iron-clad representation agreements. They weren't the Levinson, Rowland, Krell equivalents long since accounted for - especially the single-ended tube electronics. So I was able to get every one of these products - except for dcs. That already was at Andy Singer's.


I replaced dcs with Audio Aero. I also felt that digital perhaps was the least important denominator in this entire equation to make it all work properly. Truly, it -- predominantly and probably by about 80% -- called for the proper speakers, set up perfectly in a truly copasetic room. I looked for about a month or two to locate the right space in terms of access, size and location - not an easy thing to do in Manhattan. But I finally came across something that was comfortable and fulfilled all the important variables on my shopping short list.


What with all the necessary permits, add to this location hunt the starting up of a new business in New York City - any business. You're looking at quite the - er, experience. Had I known all its intricacies and frustrations ahead of schedule, I would have hesitated long and hard. Perhaps I wouldn't have jumped at all. But then too, I had successfully run a 100 Million/year business. I wasn't entirely unprepared. Though all of a sudden, I was doing everything myself - negotiating; incorporating; purchasing all the necessary equipment; setting it up; getting it to sound good as soon as possible; decorating the store; setting up the books; launching a website; starting to consider advertising and direct mailings -- and all of that with a very short lead time to open in time for the selling season.


In short, a regular start-up with all the challenges that entails, and the additional demand to be up and running quickly or nearly simultaneoulsy with this ramp-up. I wanted to get people in to listen and buy and start spreading the word that we had arrived.


Perhaps the strangest thing in all of this? My significant other, Sally, so happens to be a graphic designer. She knew how to figure out putting the website together -- though she had never done one before -- and, with certain prior financial experience, was able to organize the corporate books, interact with all the accountants and also help me decorate the space. She did a tremendous job! While I had managed a website before and of course run books, I really wanted to get these systems dialed in quickly and recreate Jim's sound as closely as possible. That had become my #1 priority. I didn't have time to do it all at once.

This overlap in expertise gracefully freed me up to concentrate on the actual audio portion. Sally built out the other areas - with minimal cost I might add since a major outlay of cash was immediately tied up in procuring all the equipment I wanted in from the word go: Four completely independent systems. For example, take just 18 ESP power cords at $1,600 retail each. Things add up quickly even with the smaller secondary items, which I now all own.


I really wanted people to be able to come in and listen to SOLOs, UNOs, DUOs and TRIOs without lapse, in that or any other order, just to sample the whole palette of possibilities. Where else can you do that with Avantgarde? I would have dearly loved to do that during my own travails. Maybe SOLOs at $8,000/pr including amplification would have been my hotter cuppa tea versus DUOs at $18,000/pr? You can't really tell without comparing both on the spot. That I wanted for my customers from day one.


That's pretty much the order of events until today. We've been open for business going on 60 days though it was just yesterday, with the Grand Opening, that people really knew we existed.
So how has traffic been since you first opened?
If we call this a 60-day period, I probably had somewhere around 75 one-on-one demonstrations. They usually run for 3-4 hours each.


Walking in off the streets of New York CIty is quite different from walking in off the sidewalk in, say, Dayton/Ohio. You 've got to transition. So I take the first half hour to show visitors around the store. I introduce them to the lines we carry. I find out what they've heard, what they listen to, what their homes are like, what music they enjoy, what they're interested in accomplishing.


I make myself as available as possible and encourage folks to call me even at the odd hour. Worst case scenario, the machine picks up. But chances are good that I'm in -- or can be in -- to satisfy most impromptu requests for an audition.
In general, were these initial visitors hip to the remainder of the NYC audio scene?
Most definitely. I'd say about 50 to 55 had been to every single store in the city before - and more than once judging from their comments. From their combined feedback, the average consensus seems to be that even our entry-level UNO system makes better sound than anyone else in this wider vicinity or, in certain respects, perhaps even across the country. I attribute this back to Jim Smith being here over multiple visits. He helped dial-in the systems to get them as close to his personal setup as possible. Had I set up the speakers myself, prior to my visit to Atlanta, people wouldn't be saying this. Now, things do sound very very good - as good as I think Avantgardes can sound while accounting for the small differences of rooms and electronics. In general, the feedback has been "best sound I've ever heard" .
What did you learn at Jim's that made this difference?
More exacting methodical detail in setup. Once you learn Jim's basic template and grid system, you can apply it to all speakers and get terrific results even with very inexpensive electronics. It's not that complex. It's just knowing it. It's attention to very little details that others would write off as redundant or of little consequence. In fact, all of this is laid out in Jim's 31 Secrets if you just take the time to read and apply it. Living with the mentor for four days and staying up essentially all night learning and checking these "secrets" was probably the single greatest contributor to the sound we're now making.

There's a difference between proper setup and knowing just exactly what that means. It doesn't take any longer. I'll probably attend CES 2003 in Las Vegas to assist Avantgarde with their rooms, apply what I've learned and learn some more.

You earlier mentioned the piano...
My mother played the violin, my aunt studied the piano at Julliard. I was around music from an early age. In fact, I was gifted with a five-foot Baby Grand piano when I was 5. I still have that at my current house and play it for fun. I studied classical for about 10 years. I don't consider myself very advanced but I certainly enjoy playing for my own pleasure tremendously.
How about your first visitors to the shop? Did they come with certain preconcpetions about what Avantgarde hornspeakers would or would not do?
Certainly. Very few people walk in with the belief that horns honk or exhibit obvious colorations. Jim has done a fabulous job killing that myth. Many folks have followed Jim's ads and requested info packs. The general level of pre-encounter Avantgarde education is surprisingly high - people are more or less past the "horns honk" silliness. But I don't believe they're prepared to discover how you can play horns at very soft levels and not lose any resolution or communicativeness. They portray micro nuances and micro dynamics at background levels like perhaps no other speaker extant. It seems listeners don't understand the level of resolution at which these hornspeakers operate. Sure, they expect it with electrostatics. They also expect that horns will play very loudly without any distortion. However, this engaging but subdued volume thing is truly news to them - in fact, very welcome news if you live in a New York City apartment with plenty of neighbors above, below and across the hallway.


Accordingly, I usually have to start people out with a simple female vocal or acapella number to not overwhelm them with too much information. At first, it's too much detail and resolution to absorb right away. You almost need to acclimate to prevent being dumbfounded - be led to the well gradually.
Tell us about the Cinema part of your business.
I'm not going to offer video for sale. The competition is not only staggering and fiendishly competitive but, frankly, much better equipped to offer a deep selection and professionally install big screen TVs and projectors. Having been a consumer of video goods myself, I don't want to get slaughtered on price or play this commodity game of the fast box turners. They do fulfill a valuable service. Still, I'm in a very different kind of business. I'm excessively service- and detail-oriented. I must charge for these add-on values. I will have on display a Plasma monitor and really good projector. Then I'll use a fairly affordable but high-performance processor to demonstrate how the real emotional involvement comes from the speakers. Say 5 SOLOs. They're spectacularly ideal for this and make for a very compact system. You want a combination of UNO, DUO or TRIO with SOLOs instead? We can do any of that.
Anything you want to add in closing, Bob?
Just to formally invite any audiophile or music lover, male or female, young or old, experienced and jaded or novice, to come visit us. Know that you can hear any model, in any sequence, with any music, and be well attended to and served, in a knowledgeable, no-pressure environment. Whatever you purchase from us will be delivered and installed to assure that it performs to the same high standards in your home as it does here. Just as I transplanted my life-altering experience from Jim's to here, I want to make available the same kind of jaw-dropping, heart-opening, tranporting access to the inner world of music to the homes of others. That's it - no more, no less.
Avantgarde Music & Cinema website
To make your appointment, click on Bob's card.
It'll launch an e-mail directly to him.