I've recently made Facebook friends with Dan Muzquiz, the proprietor of Blackbird Audio/Gallery in San Diego. A mutual friend in the audio world told me that Dan is one of the truly great dealers and gentlemen in the audio world (his reaction to this compliment was it may have been a "gotcha," but I know better), and after checking out the website to his store, I know I have to schedule a visit on my next trip to Southern California. Dan carries some of the more unique and compelling hi-fi brands such as Cardas cables (the best in the world, in my humble opinion), Rega (of course), Wilson Benesch (who made my favorite TT in the world, the original Act ONE) and many others.
He carries two very intriguing brands in particular. The first brand is The Funk Firm, which makes some of the weirdest, coolest-looking turntables in the world. The Funk Firm was started by Arthur Khoubesserian, who was responsible for the stellar Pink Triangle turntables from England. As you can see in the picture below, the Funk Firm 'tables are beyond cool. And they're not terribly expensive, either (about $2500, depending on options). Plus, I've heard them on a number of occasions, and there's some substance behind all that style. These 'tables really need to be seen--and heard--to be believed.
In addition, The Funk Firm is getting ready to release a tonearm in the US that has been making waves in Europe. It's a drop-in replacement for Rega arms, and it's been challenging some of the super-expensive arms from the likes of SME, etc.
Finally, Dan carries the unique Trenner & Friedl loudspeakers from Austria. I've been interested in this brand for a long time because of the stunning look of their speakers. I'm especially taken with their tiny ART monitors. These speakers are very small and precious (not precious as in cute, but precious as in dear...and not dear as in darling, but dear as in "don't even breath on my expensive speakers").
I've heard incredible things about the ARTs, that they truly do sound huge for their size. You'll notice that the speakers are exceptionally deep and ported on the rear. This allows these tiny speakers to dip down to about 44 Hz, which is around the same bass performance as many medium-sized floorstanders. Their dimensions are influenced by the Golden Ratio, which explains why they are internally wired by Cardas, another company that believes in using the Golden Ratio in their engineering.
If you'd like to know more about Blackbird Audio/Gallery, check out their website at
http://www.blackbirdaudio.com/.
