One of the most fun things about high-end audio is getting to know people in the business. Last year at the LA Audio Show, we met Warren Jarrett, owner of The Audio Home in Fullerton, CA, and he invited us to come visit. This is an entire house devoted to audio with multiple listening rooms and systems. So this year, we made arrangements to visit Warren a couple of days after T.H.E. Show, and we’re glad we did.
You may have met Warren at a show in Southern California, or you may know him from the Steve Hoffman Forum online. If you have, you know that Warren loves high-end audio. Like a lot of guys, he first got interested in audio because one of the guys in his college dorm had Magnepan speakers, and everyone had record collections. “I got to hear rock music and jazz, and that was it. I was transformed from then on,” he said.
Now, if you know Warren, it’s not going to surprise you that he got into the audio business in an unusual way. It was really through a conversation with the owner of Music First at a San Francisco audio show. Warren says that to him, this guy was like a rock star, and he was just thrilled to meet him in person because he liked the company’s moving-coil step-ups so much. From that conversation, he was invited to become the Music First distributor in the United States. That led to an introduction to Audio Note (UK), and this was the second line that he took on as an importer. Currently, he represents Audio Note (UK), Voss Audio and Triangle Art.
About the Audio Home
Just driving through Warren’s neighborhood is a treat if you like mid-century modern architecture. But as soon as we walked into his house, we noticed that Warren is passionate about a couple of things; he has a really nice art collection and he loves high-end audio.
Warren’s goal with The Audio Home is to match a concert experience in a home environment. At the time we visited, four rooms in his Fullerton home were dedicated to audio, and each of them had a separate system. In addition, there were also audio artifacts everywhere. It’s accurate to say that his house is virtually a museum of audiophile history, and the great thing about all of these interesting pieces is hearing Warren tell the stories behind his collection.
Listening Rooms
Listening Room 3
We took some time listening to systems in three rooms, and I’m going to start with Room 3. I was very familiar with Fritz Carrera-7-BE loudspeakers since I reviewed them and lived with them as part of my upstairs system for well over a year. They were driven by an Audio Note P1-Signature amplifier that uses EL-84 output tubes in a single ended triode to produce 10 watts per channel. Warren was not using a line-stage, but he was using a Clearaudio Balanced phono stage and a self-made turntable with a Rega RB-600 tonearm mounted with the Denon 103M, diamond/MR cantilever/stylus. The other analog source in room was an Ampex 350-2 reel-to-reel tape deck. The digital source was an Audio Note CDT-1 CD transport with a Musical Fidelity D/A converter.
The sound in this room was excellent, and the Fritz speakers really sounded much better than I would have dreamed with a 10-watt amp. I should mention that Warren also has available the Audio Note K speakers to listen to in this room.
Listening Room 2
Again, this was another room with speakers I was very familiar with. I have heard the heart of this system in Warren’s rooms at shows, and I owned two different pairs of Audio Note Es over the years. One of the things that is so impressive about this system is the sound Warren gets from Audio Note AN/E-Lexus-HE speakers. These speakers are one of the least expensive versions of the Audio Note HE speakers, and I have been to shows with level 5 Audio Note systems that did not sound as good. The amps here were my favorite for the price in the Audio Note line; the Audio Note Empress mono SET amplifiers using 2A3 tubes and producing 6 watts per channel. I think these amps are the sweet spot in their lower power amps. The linestage was the Music First Audio Baby Reference preamplifier and the phono preamp was the Audio Note M2-RIAA with an Audio Note S4 step-up-transformer.
The sources were an AudioMeca JL-1 turntable with ja Graham 2.2 tonearm and an Audio Note Io-Gold cartridge. There was also an Otari MX-5050 reel-to-reel tape deck. The digital source was an Audio Note CDT-4 CD transport with an Audio Note DAC-2-Signature D/A converter. All three sources in this room were exceptional, but I have to admit the chance to hear the Otari in this system was something very special.
Listening Room 1
Now here is a room with speakers I had heard of but had never seen or heard before. They were the B&W Matrix 800 speakers being driven by a Citation 4-channel amplifier for the four twelve-inch woofers and Audio Note Ginrei SET mono amplifiers using 211 tubes and producing 45 watts per channel for the midrange and top end. He was using a Krell active crossover that had been specifically designed for Matrix 800 speakers. The preamplifier was an Audio Note M6 with Phono and a home-made step-up, using S&B transformers.
The sources were an Aesthetix Romulus CD player, a Tascam BR-20 reel-to-reel tape deck and a Goldmund Studio turntable with a modified Rabco/Shreve tonearm mounted with a Denon 103d cartridge, rebuilt with a magnesium body and Boron/MR cantilever/stylus, and a beautiful Marantz 10B tuner.
Warren said they only made a few pairs of these speakers, and he owns two pairs. It’s a terrible shame that there weren’t more of these as they are the best B&W speakers I have ever heard. In 1991 Lewis Lipnik reviewed them for Stereophile and said, “The Matrix 800 is a unique speaker—you’ll either love it or think it’s the ugliest thing since the Edsel.” Well, I loved the way they sounded and thought they were pretty ugly. In Warren’s mid-century modern house they fit in pretty well. If you are interested, you can read the Stereophile review here.
The truth is that this system alone is worth the trip to The Audio Home just to hear it and visit with Warren about audio, art, and music. The best news is he will welcome you to do just that without any pressure to do more.
Conclusion
As Warren says on his website, “My fridge is full of drinks, fruit, cheese, beer, wine & cocktails. And I have music (CDs, LPs, and RtR tapes). What else do we need?” What else indeed! We found The Audio Home to be well worth our visit. With the various rooms, it’s more like a mini-audio show than like a visit to an audio dealer. And, we guarantee you that you will walk away having seen and heard something that’s new to you and gotten some information from a truly unique and gracious audiophile who loves to share both his business and his hobby.
