Since 1997
Brian Rovinsky, Owner
(Formerly, St. Cecilia Sound Gallery)
1290 S. Missouri St., Suite C • Clearwater, FL 33756-9183
(727) 446-2505
Email: info@sweethomeaudio.com
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Sweet Home Audio Newsletter October 4, 2009
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE NEWS Why Music? NEW! Electrocompaniet Returns Escient Music Servers Still Available at a Super Discount Analog Sale Extended STORE STANDARDS Store Hours Consignment Department SALE ITEMS UPDATED List of Used, Demo & Consignment Gear
If music really matters...
high-performance audio
"The first people to understand how music really works were the ancient Greeks. And this is going to fascinate you; the Greeks said that music and astronomy were two sides of the same coin. Astronomy was seen as the study of relationships between observable, permanent, external objects, and music was seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal hidden objects. Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us." - Karl Paulnack, pianist and director of music at Boston Conservatory, address to its freshman class When you come to understand just how relevant and important music is to your emotional and spiritual well-being, you will find yourself listening differently. Music stops being sounds and becomes meaningful communication. Yes, even that music that you can't stand is touching someone! You'll find that the more natural and realistically the music is presented, the more deeply it will touch you and move the pieces around "helping us figure the position of things inside us." While we find a good musical performance entertaining, we typically miss the more fundamental function of music in life. It's really about art; it's about that which is essential and elemental to whom and what we are as spiritual beings. Music is an art form that aligns with our nature more truly than any other. Mr. Paulnack said it quite well in his address to the Boston Conservatory freshman class, "Art is part of survival; art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are. Art is one of the ways in which we say, 'I am alive, and my life has meaning'." This is not mysticism or even hyperbole. Take just a moment to look at where music touches your life. Even if the only music you expose yourself to is on the television, try to image what impact the TV programs would have on you if they were aired without music, just dialog and sound effects...no music, no emotional connection, no moving of invisible parts around, no reason to watch. Within this, we have the whole point of high-end audio. Within this we have what Sweet Home Audio, the home of beautiful sound, is all about. And I finally come to Electrocompaniet. Their tagline is "If music really matters..." They know that it does, and they have developed a deep line-up of products that epitomizes that fact. After an absence of several years on the US market, we are very pleased and proud to once again present this distinguished line of highly engaging audio products. In addition to their Classic Line of exceptional products, Electrocompaniet has developed an entry level line of high-end products designed to bring the heart of the Classic Line to a much more affordable level. We'll have both lines fully represented in our shop. Here are some of the products in the Classic Line that you'll be able to audition:
The AW400 mono block amps produce prodigious power: 400 watts into 8 ohms and an incredible 1200 watts into a 2 ohm load. These amps, like most of the EC line, are stable into a 1/2 ohm load!!! Try these with your large electrostatic or magnetic panel speakers and you'll never look back. Finesse and nuance are not sacrificed for the sake of power. These amps do it all with the wholeness and presence usually only possible with the best tube amps. You'll be able to experience these for yourself in our listening room.
This is the all new, from the ground up, preamp from EC: the EC4.8. This fully balanced preamp was designed to reach up to the performance of the very best of the EC line (which is very high indeed). Its slim-line design is as beautiful as it is functional. It is comprised of two separate mono preamplifiers, each with its own power supply. The EC4.8 will make all good power amplifiers sound even better.
This is the new AW250R Dual Mono Balanced Power Amplifier. Known for its uncolored reproduction qualities, from the first note of any familiar recording, you will be captivated. At 250 watts per channel into an 8 ohm speaker, 440 wpc into a 4 ohm load and 625 wpc into 2 ohms, this power house will drive any speaker on the market and make you smile in the process.
The EC4.7 preamp has been a star in the EC lineup for a number of years now. While more affordable than the EC4.8 or 4.9 preamps, it delivers the music beautifully and possesses the brilliance that makes music come alive. It's a fully balanced preamp that matches sweetly with the EC power amps.
The EMC 1UP Reference CD Player is without question the most musical CD player we've ever heard. It features a unique cancellation system which cancels acoustic and mechanical vibrations, preventing laser pick-up from receiving unwanted and sonically degrading signals. The current iteration of this famous machine features EC's latest, fully balanced symmetrical state-of-the-art circuit design powered by a FTT (Floating Transformer Technology) power supply. A 24-bit upsampler, 192kHz DAC improves the headroom by reducing he noise floor significantly. This top loading CD player is the one to beat at any price.
If you don't need this much power, the ECI 3 Balanced Integrated Amp is the one. It'll give you 70 wpc into 8 ohms, 120 wpc into 4 ohms and 160 wpc into 2 ohms.
The ECC 1 is designed to rival the best CD players while keeping the costs for this level of performance as low as possible. The latest 24bit/192kHzx DAC from Cirrus Logic, together with a precision, fully balanced analog output stage operating in class A, sets the basis for a detailed, delicate and dynamic sound. You're going to like this one!
To take your current CD player up to its highest potential, add the Electrocompaniet ECD 1 24 Bit Upsampling 192kHz DAC. This is the same DAC that graces the award winning EMC 1UP CD player. For a fraction of the cost of the EMC 1UP, you can dramatically improve your CD player's performance.
The Prelude Line offers Electrocompaniet performance at entry level prices. Here are some of the products in the Prelude Line that we'll have available for you to audition:
The Prelude Line is ever growing! It includes the PSF-1 floorstanding and PSB-1 bookshelf loudspeaker systems. Beautifully built with a level of craftsmanship that is amazing at their modest prices, you're going to want to hear these speakers. Both will be available for your auditioning pleasure at Sweet Home Audio, the home of beautiful sound.
Come to the Home of Beautiful Sound, Sweet Home Audio Call or email TODAY (727) 446-2505
For a limited time you can still get jaw-dropping deals on the Fireball servers
The amazing Escient FireBall MX-111 sold well at its regular price of $1999. While the supply lasts, you can still pick up one of these very cool music servers for only $899. It's a crazy good offer that has been very popular. Lucky for us all, there are still some left. Get yours while you can! These are brand-new units with full factory warranty. You really can't go wrong with this one. It holds over 450 hours of CD quality music (about 5,000 music tracks. This sophisticated workhorse records your CDs or computer based music, categorizes each recording into its proper genre and lists it alphabetically by artist within the genre group. You can play any CD, random tracks within any genre or create as many playlists as you want. The navigation feature and menus are so user friendly your spouse, the kids and even grandpa will like using it. There are only a limited number of these units available at this price.
Escient has also authorized price reductions on:
Call and order now while supplies last! (727) 446-2505 Follow this link for more information on this wonderful music maker: Escient FireBall MX-111 details
10% off all turntables
Clearaudio, Music Hall, Avid, Oracle, Thorens
15% off all phono cartridges
Clearaudio, Music Hall, Benz-Micro, Grado, Goldring, Oracle
15% off all record cleaning products
Nitty Gritty, Mobile Fidelity, Hunt, and more
15% off all used LPs
These sale prices are good until October 31, 2009. Give us a call and let's get you smiling with your new turntable: (727) 446-2505
Our music bins have hundreds of quality used CD's, a very nice eclectic collection of music. We guarantee you'll find something you like. Come on in and pick up some great music at super low prices!
Pre-owned The Price is Right
Turn your old home audio and home theater gear into cash—money for you to spend. We make consignment easy and profitable for you! If you want home A/V gear, and you're on a budget, buy from our Consignment Department. We've got quality used A/V products on consignment at very attractive prices. Buying consignment makes sense. You save!
(See how to consign below.)
(Scroll down to the end of this Newsletter)
STORE HOURS Six and sometimes seven days a week, we are here. Our official schedule:
Monday thru Friday—10:30 AM to 5:30 PM Saturday—10:30 AM to 3:30 PM Sunday by Appointment
Consignment How It Works At consignment businesses, consignment fees typically run as high as 50% and 60%. But we've kept ours at 40% for years. CONSIGNMENT OPTION 1
Full-service consignment, which means we display,
advertise, present and demonstrate your gear, just as we do our own new gear.
We handle any customer inquiries (send them pictures, specs and other relevant
information) and find a buyer; we process the payment and deliver the gear to
the buyer; we handle after-purchase questions and issues and mail you a check
for the net proceeds from the sale.
For full-service consignment, Consignment Option 1,
the fee is 40%. CONSIGNMENT OPTION 2 Consignment Level 2 is the same as Level 1, but you keep the gear until it’s sold. We advertise and promote your gear, handle customer inquiries (send them pictures, specs and other relevant information), find a buyer and handle the sale. But once it’s sold, you deliver the item to the buyer yourself. We send you a check for your net proceeds from the sale. For Consignment Option 2, the fee is 25%. Increase Your Proceeds by 10%: This is simple. If you leave your proceeds from the sale on account with us to apply to your own product purchases here at Sweet Home Audio, we reduce our consignment fee by 10%. IMPORTANT NOTE: When we sell a used item, we do our very best to represent the product exactly as it is. This is very important! One of our most critical operating principles is that "we deliver what we promise." This is not just a slogan for us but the way we actually operate. When we have the used item here in our store, we can verify the operational status and physical condition of the products. When we don't, we try to get pictures and other information about the items so that we gain confidence that the product is as stated. In these cases, we also delay payment until the buying customer has received the item and verified that it truly is as promised. Existing agreements: Needless to say (but here it is anyway!), all current consignments that we now have will continue under whatever agreement was made at the time of the consignment. The above Consignment Levels apply to all new consignments. Of course, our policy to deliver what we promise applies to everything we do. To the very many of you who place your used AV gear with us to sell and to the very many of you who look to us for quality used AV products, we give you a very hearty THANK YOU! Now it is easier than ever to turn your old gear into cash! Call (727) 446-2505 today!
Call (727) 446-2505
Thank you for reading our newsletter and visiting our web site. Call us at (727) 446-2505 if you have any questions. If you can, come in and check out our shop. You'll be glad you did. ~ Brian & Peggy Rovinsky
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Copyright © 2011 Sweet Home AudioLast modified: October 19, 2011 |
The
perfect source for these amplifiers is the new EMP 1/S two channel SACD player.
This player is exceptional. It provides stereo SACD playback that defines
the current state of the art. Using the latest DACs from Cirrus Logic and
an optical module that is mounted on an anti-vibration platform to minimize
external interference, this SACD player brings the music in a way that just
might make you forget about your vinyl collection.
If
you're looking for a more compact high performance system, the ECI 5 integrated
amp is the one to look to. This is a DC coupled high performance, fully balanced
integrated amp that utilizes a balanced, motorized volume control that does not
degrade the sonic qualities of the unit. It pumps out a powerful 120 watts
per channel into an 8 ohm load and 200 wpc into 4 ohms. It'll deliver 350
wpc into 2 ohms!! If you have a pair of hard-to-drive loudspeakers, this
beast will tame them.
For
the vinyl lover, the ECP 1 is a MC/MM phono preamplifier designed to compliment
the exceptional performance of the EC Classic Line. With 73dB of gain in
its MC mode, it will bring to life even the lowest output MC cartridges.
It's quite affordable too!
The
EC PL-1 and PL-2 integrated amps offer a level of performance that speaks of a
much higher price point. Paired with the PC-1 CD Player, you get seriously
high-end performance audio at a fraction of what you'd expect to pay for this
level of quality and performance. Available in black or silver, these
units look as good as they sound.
Here, at the home of beautiful sound, we make it easy.
