Capital AudioFest 2024

Even if audio isn’t your thing, I always advise everyone within earshot to visit Jeffrey Catalano’s hi-fi rooms, the world over. ‘Cause more than a smart-witted audiophile, Jeffrey is a seasoned musician and experienced listener, his vinyl collection spreading to the many thousands. This man has serious taste in music, an influencer, you might say, of the highest degree. He’s a sonic seer, a tonal truth-teller, a man who can discern the subtle nuances of a recording that most of us miss. His systems are not mere machines, but musical instruments, capable of revealing the soul of a performance.

I visited Jeffrey’s High Water Sound room twice during CAF, once to listen and take notes, and a second time to jot down album titles. Ivan the Tolerable Quintet’s Water Music. HTRK’s Psychic 9-5 Club. Franco D’Andrea’s My One and Only Love. Shatter Hands and Friends’ A Show of Hands. Except for the D’Andrea, a jazz trio title, this is music that spreads and grows, heading in unexpected directions with sublime outcomes. If you’re a fan of Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew, you’ll love these records, taken from Jeffrey’s extraordinary collection. And as usual, his hi-fi was off the chain!

Jeffrey’s room, in the same CAF spot as year’s past, presented the Fuuga MC cartridge ($10,000), and Miyajima Infinity Mono cartridge ($3475) mounted respectively on TW-Acustic Raven 12” tonearm ($6500) and TW-Acustic Raven 10.5 tonearms ($6000), on a TW-Acustic Raven LS -3 Copper turntable ($24,000). Analog signals fed a TW-Acustic Raven phono stage ($25,000). Amplification included a Zeiler Audio PR-01 preamplifier ($38,000) and Zeiler Audio PA-01 amplifier ($38,000), driving Cessaro Horn Acoustics Opus 1 SE loudspeakers ($55,000/pair) and two Opus subwoofers ($25,000 each). Cables by Dalby Audio Design; racks, isolation and tuning by Dalby Audio Design, Codia Acoustic Design, Silent Running Audio, and Stein Music.