For the past 31 years, I have lived in Los Angeles. However, I grew up in Philadelphia, which can be a pretty strange place on any number of levels. Despite its proximity to New York, which is a simple, one-hour train ride on the Acela, far too few people from Philly ever travel to the island of Manhattan for fun. Wanna see Billy Joel in one of his last shows at Madison Square Garden? It isn’t logistically hard to do, even if the tickets are now hard to get. Wanna eat at 11 Madison Park to see what that three-star Michelin restaurant (that is now vegan) is all about? You can do that and still sleep in your bed that night, if you reside in the City of Brotherly Love. Manhattan has an awful lot to offer in terms of entertainment, luxury, resources and experiences. It took me moving to L.A. to figure out how to make sense of New York City. There’s seemingly bad blood between the cities, dating back to when the nation’s capital moved from Philadelphia to New York back in the early days of our nation – before Washington D.C. was even a realistic place. People who live in Los Angeles have none of these crazy hang-ups.
For audiophiles, there is a new audiophile experience that you might just need to know about.McIntosh, perhaps the most iconic audiophile electronics brand in audio history, has just leased another swanky five-story penthouse in Chelsea (near Google, NYU, Penn Station and MSG) that is designed to be an event space, as well as an audiophile experience center. This actually isn’t McIntosh’s first version of the House of Sound, as they had a similar location that included an indoor swimming pool, a rooftop deck and millions upon millions of dollars in audiophile and home theater setups. Entering the first SoHo space was like walking through a Banksy street painting (there was a very colorfully painted wall and door) and into a $30,000,000 home full of luxury AV systems waiting for you to play with them. It was a wild setup, but the landlord decided to try to increase rents during the pandemic, and McIntosh was able find a newer, equally fantastic five-story space, which now houses the House of Sound. On a hot summer day, I got a chance to take a tour, and I had a total blast.
What Can You Expect to Hear and See at the House of Sound?
First of all, the rooms are grounded in reality acoustically and in terms of installation, even if some (not all) of the systems are price for 1/100 of one-percenters. What’s cool is that this is a very expensive residence, but it is still a home. These demo venues are not studio-grade, massively acoustically-treated (meaning somewhat unrealistic) spaces. They are purposefully designed for you to hear McIntosh and Sonus faber (and a good bit of Rotel in the smaller systems) in a real-world setting. The furniture is modern and luxurious. The systems are neatly installed and have little cable clutter. The value of the systems ranges from around $30,000 to audiophile-plus home theater experiences that are over $1,000,000 at retail price. There’s something for every audiophile to experience at House of Sound.
Some of the smaller rooms had more reasonable systems, but often were packing really well-tuned audio. One system with one of Sonus faber’s best bookshelf speakers, which were stand-mounted, was delivering an image that was jaw-droppingly good, especially considering the tiny bedroom that it was installed in.
Bigger and more dramatic audiophile experiences also await. The mid-sized audiophile experience led by line source McIntosh speakers, tons of meaningful power amps and bleeding-edge digital made for an even better demo. I got a chance to hear some very familiar tracks from Prince streaming in that room. Vinyl was on display, too, but it was a lot easier to play with streaming than to fire up an LP with the time that I had to spend touring the House of Sound.
The reference audiophile system featured Sonus faber’s top-of-the-line speakers (paired with matching subwoofer towers) that retail for about $750,000. There were thousands of watts of power just sitting there waiting to drive these Italian speakers in very unique as well as dynamic ways. Look at some of the photos that I took and have posted here, as there are stacks of McIntosh solid state amps fabulously installed into gorgeous case work that doesn’t look as if Motely Crüe just finished a drug-fueled recording session the night before. What the room looks like is reminiscent of the audiophile system for Mike Prince in the now-completed Showtime series Billions. This solidly seven-figure audiophile system has the aesthetic that would make it more welcome on the pages of Architectural Digest than one of the establishment audiophile print magazines – and that is no small compliment. But you and I both know that looks only go so far, and I will share with you that I’ve had the good fortune to hear my fair share of million-dollar audiophile systems, and most leave me disappointed. Not this one. Sonically, the dynamics of this big boy audiophile system were visceral, but it was the staggeringly good (ultra-wide) soundstage that won me over. I had Ricky, my host at the House of Sound, play me Beyoncé’s cover of “Blackbird” from her somewhat new country album, and it was as good as I have ever heard this audiophile instant classic demo track sound anywhere. For this jaded-ass audiophile to tell you that I was seriously impressed is to understate the experience. I was in my happy place.
The McIntosh screening room is physically wide, with a huge, auto-masking screen that met a standard that many million dollar theaters simply can’t do. The House of Sound screening room sounded really good for music, as well as for dialog. They fired up their Kaleidescape and gave a demo from Ready Player One that was quite impressive. Good sound in a home theater is a given, but great audiophile sound is a far higher standard, and one that isn’t always easy to find, even when shopping without (realistic) price tags.
How Do You Get to Experience the House of Sound?
Your local McIntosh dealer can make arrangements for you to spend an hour or so getting the VIP treatment in Lower Manhattan. Alternatively, you can reach out to McIntosh and tell them that you read about the House of Sound at FutureAudiophile.com and would like to come by. They will work with you to find a way to get you into experience their audiophile goodies.
Is there any cost? Nope.
Is the House of Sound worth your time? OMG, yes. Even if you aren’t a dyed-in-the-wool fan of McIntosh, they have done such a good job with this home with AV that you are guaranteed to have an life-changing experience, audiophile-style. That’s not hyperbole, as the experience is polished, high-performance and, without question, fun.
Final Thoughts on the House of Sound Experience …
What is so special about the House of Sound experience is that they understand the concept that the audiophile hobby is selling emotion, feelings and art – not just an ala carte audiophile preamp, stereo power amps or fancy floorstanding loudspeakers. This venue shows you what is possible in your world, as well as in theirs. The fact that their audio rooms are in actual living spaces makes the experience that much more relevant. The idea that any of our readers can come by for a visit brings easy access to anybody who calls themselves a reader and/or an audiophile.
Bring a few friends or, better yet, some younger people to the House of Sound, as this is the type of BIG-WOW experience that could start a love affair with audio that lasts for decades. That concept is the real closer as to why the House of Sound is such a worthy investment of your time. We all know that we need more, younger people involved with the audiophile hobby, and McIntosh delivers an experience that would inspire anybody to want to have great audio in their lives.
Have you been to the House of Sound? How did you like it? Would you book a trip to New York City to experience the House of Sound? Let us know your thoughts in our moderated comments below.
