We are very proud and excited about our first annual "I'm Not Going to CES, NJ Party". This was an unintentional event that happened after realizing I (Mat Weisfeld) wouldn't be able to personally make it out to CES. No it wasn't because of any greater purpose/protest again't CES, it was because of the up and coming due date of my daughter! At the last visit to the doctor, while they said it was unlikely, that it was possible that Jane could give birth while I was at Vegas. Well that would have been a heck of a story, "Sorry kid, your dad missed your birth. He was in Vegas!" And let's cue the therapy!
After making a light heart facebook post about "throwing a party" the response was encouraging enough to give it more serious thought. But where to have the event? We just started breaking down the current VPI house swapping out high-end gear for cribs and baby appropriate gear and we just started the new house. We decided to go all out and make it happen at our New VPI Listening House. This wasn't the official launch, but certainly a taste of what is yet to come.
We developed 4 rooms with a number of brands we have demoed with ins the past. Keep in mind this doesn't represent all the brands we have demoed with or support. This was the best we could do with a quick 2 day set up and a lot of motivation!
Room 1 - Main Room
The main room was sporting our VPI Avenger Plus with Ortofon A-95 cartridge. Our electronics was McIntosh Labs Amplification and line stage and our new VPI Voyager Phono Preamplifier all wired with Nordost Cable. At the end of the chain was the KEF Blades with Iso-Acoustics.
Room 2 - High End Hero
The next room we featured companies that are no strangers to spinning music with VPI! Joseph Audio Pulsar Speakers, and all Roger's High Fidelity Electronics with ourVPI Prime Signature and the front of the chain with an Ortofon Cadenza Bronze. This system was tied together with our friends at Kimber Kable! A sweet and enjoyable room to listen and hang out. We had the lovely Mr. Joseph himself posing with the system.
Room 3 - The Studio Apartment
Our next room was our American and Canadian combination put together as a high-end entry level flavor. More exciting, this system is the exact system/configuration as the room we had at CES. The source was based on our VPI Cliffwood turntablewith VPI Green (Grado), and used a Moon by Simaudio integrated amplified, with Totem Acoustic Speakers. We had Transparent cables connecting the system together had were in the under 7K price range for the whole system complete. From a high-end standard it was very affordable and packed a much larger punch than one would expect! This ended up being the perfect studio apartment setup!
Room 4 - Made in America
The final room was the all American equipment build! We featured EgglestonWorks desktop speakers, Roger's integrated amp, our VPI Voyager phono, ADS, and custom blue Prime-ish table. This room was also wired up with all Transparent cable. Mr. Rogers himself is pictured with some listeners below!
One of the major highlights was having our friend Chris Barron from Spin Doctors honoring us with the first live listening demonstration of his new solo album, Angels and One Armed Jugglers. The session because with an unplanned Q&A (the power went out so the timing was perfect) where we learned more about Chris' inspiration for the albumin and experiences as a musician.
After the Q&A the lights came back on and we were back in business! We were all blown away by Chris' new album and how much it showed off what the system could really do. This will be going into the box for whenever we do a demonstration.
We want to thank everyone who came out for the event and if you missed it, don't worry! This will be the first of many! We are currently renovating/finishing the house and will have the official grand opening when it is done! The house will be for events, training, listening sessions, and product demonstration.