The Noe Valley Voice • November 2015 23
STORE T R E K S
tore Trek is a regular Voice feature profiling new stores in Noe Valley. This month we introduce a business that sells “products for the music entrepreneur.”
TONE OF MUSIC AUDIO
1303 Castro St. at 24th Street 415-860-6818 415-824-1779 info@toneofmusic.com While many of us have been content to listen to music through our iOS and Android devices or to use an audio dock to play music at home, engineers around the world have been incorporating the latest technology to create the newest generation of hi-fi systems for audiophiles. Tim Nguyen, owner of Tone of Music Audio, is one of those audiophiles, an appreciator of high-fidelity sound reproduction. His shop is full of beautifully designed high-performance audio equipment from an impressive list of designers and manufacturers: Magico, Dan D’Agostino Master Audio Systems, VTL, Parasound, Franco Serblin, DeVore Fidelity, Wavelength, and more. “A really great system should make you feel like you’re there,” Nguyen told the Voice in a recent visit to his shop, a threeroom flat on Castro Street near the corner of 24th Street, the former site of Nail Chic Only salon, which is now next door. Two of the rooms are set up with a variety of turntables, amps, speakers, and comfy chairs, so clients can sit and listen to the sound. Nguyen loves to pull records from his extensive collection of Blue Note, Riverside, Prestige, New Jazz, Candid, and
Tim Nguyen offers a unique sound experience at Tone of Music Audio.
other label first-pressings to play for clients. “I have been collecting music for as long as I can remember,” said Nguyen, who still shops for albums at music lovers’ hangouts like Rasputin Music and Amoeba Music in the Haight. He has also been tinkering with vintage hi-fi gear since
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he was 12, building many pairs of custom high-end loudspeakers for himself and his friends. Nguyen grew up in the Sunset and has lived in Noe Valley since 2000. He originally started his audio business in an inhome studio so he could spend time with his young children. Once they started
school, he decided to open a retail shop, in 2013. Nguyen pointed out some of his latest audio finds, including the Phantom, a complete hi-fi in a box by French acoustic engineers Devialet. The Phantom, which graces the shop’s display window, is a petite, spherical, all-in-one amplifier and speaker that delivers what some audiophiles think may be the best sound in the world and has been endorsed by both Sting and hip-hop producer Rick Rubin. Other recent arrivals include the new Wavelength Crimson DAC (digital to analog audio converter), which streams music from any favorite music service or from a hard drive; the new Leben CS300F amp, hand-built in small batches from Japan; and new turntables from Brinkmann Audio. After a quick tour of the shop, we settled in to listen to an amazing high-end system: a set of DeVore Fidelity O/96 ($12,000) speakers, a Line Magnetic tube amplifier ($4,450), and the Wavelength Crimson DAC ($10,000). Nguyen pulled a recording of American jazz singer Stacey Kent and the sound was captivating. Her delicate, precise voice resounded through the DeVore speakers, making us feel like we had front-row seats to her latest performance. But Tone of Music offers more than just expensive high-end audio systems. Nguyen offers a range of components that include Music Hall turntables starting at $250 and Audioengine A5 self-powered speakers that start at $395. From the teenager who recently bought his first turntable to clients putting together large in-home audio systems, Nguyen’s focus is on personal service. “I’m like a tailor who finds the right fit for people,” he said. Tone of Music Audio is open Monday, 1 to 5:30 p.m.; Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and by appointment. —Pat Rose