Treehaus Audiolab

Can you judge an exhibitor's products by the music he plays? Perhaps not, but when I walk into a room playing "Hotel California," that mad percussion ditty "Music for Bang, Baa-Room and Harp," 90s grunge (footnote 1), or God No! Jazz at the Pawnshop, it's all I can do to stay put and not scream.

Treehaus Audiolab’s Richard Pinto has the good taste to not play absolute drek and the astute inner vibrations to play music that sounds good, is well-recorded, interesting, and thoughtful. I heard Fleet Foxes from the hallway. As I entered Pinto’s room, he continued with St. Vincent’s amazing “Pills.” He entertained my request for Father John Misty.

Pinto makes his complete system, including the stunning Phantom of Luxury Field Coil Loudspeakers ($29,000/pair), which employ Atelier Rullit 10" full-range field-coil drivers, 15" Acoustic Elegance woofers, and Fostex T900A Super Tweeters. The rest of the system was the Treehaus Audiolab Preamplifier ($16,000), 300B Amplifier ($17,500), and Moving Coil SUT ($3000). Treehaus products utilize top-level internal components such as Finemet interstage and output transformers, Western Electric 300B power tubes, and Elma switches.

A Meitner MA3 DAC played digits, a Microseiki BL91 spun records, a Fidelity Research FR64S tonearm deployed a Hana Umami Red MC cart, and a Ken Tanaka LCR did phono-stage duties. Iconoclast silver-plated TPC Generation 2 speaker cables, silver plated TPC Generation 1 speaker cables, UPOCC RCA interconnects, and BAV power cables wired up the works. Purifi Class D woofer amplifiers, MiniDSP Active Crossover/EQ for Woofers, and a PS Audio P3 power conditioner completed setup.

FOOTNOTES
1 While not much of it is demo-quality, I'd probably regard some '90s grunge as a welcome relief from typical audiophile fare.-Jim Austin

COMMENTS
Rich@Treehaus's picture

Thanks for coming by Ken! I am glad you enjoyed the playlist. I like to the play music that is often the soundtrack of our lives.

Jim: We had some In Bloom cranked yesterday.. maybe some Shoegaze later today. Bit of Swervedriver and Catherine Wheel. (our black finish is called "Texture Black Metallic" for a reason)

Jim Austin's picture

We had some In Bloom cranked yesterday.. maybe some Shoegaze later today. Bit of Swervedriver and Catherine Wheel. (our black finish is called "Texture Black Metallic" for a reason)

Thumbs up to that!

Jim Austin

Jacopo's picture

I had to finally register, just to say thank for letting me see Swervedriver and showgaze on Stereophile

George S's picture

Oh god yes.... this year earlier at Axpona, I was walking out of rooms and past rooms whenever I heard Tin Pan Alley by Jimmy Ray Vaughn. Made me want to hurl chunks. I forget which room was playing some 90s stuff via vinyl through Tannoy's. It was one of the California dealers you see ads for in Stereophile all the time. And god did it rock.

I'm hoping so much that at next year's Axpona there will be some UHQR White Stripes playing...not grunge, but at least it has some cajones behind it...and that pressing is certainly audiophile.

Gunhed67's picture

earlier this year, went to industry night at a local shop demoing a new large full range speaker at the end of suitable equipment. they played widdly-diddly boring AF jazz music that would have sounded fine on a wet paper bag. You left having no idea whatsoever of what the speakers could or couldn't do.

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