Joseph Cali Systems Design | Pacific Design Center | W. Hollywood, CA

August 29, 2019

THE VENUE

Nestled inside a new design store concept where different disciplines of a residential or commercial design/redesign share one roof, is Joseph Cali Systems Design in West Hollywood’s Pacific Design Center.  The venue is utterly magical with a beautiful aesthetically and soul-soothing walk into Joe’s showroom.

The anticipation as we walked through the lobby and the hallways, watching the beautiful decor unfold, was worth the wait, as we finally entered the listening room outfit with all sorts of goodies with Joe Cali standing ready to greet his visitors.

THE EXPERIENCE

Among the Gryphon equipment on demonstration were

• the Antileon EVO stereo amp
• the Zena preamp with optional DAC
• the Sonnet phono stage
• the Scorpio S upsampling CD player
• the Diablo 120 and
• the Diablo 300.

Speakers were the Gryphon Mojo S, Joe Cali mentioned that they are waiting on additional bespoke bass traps to be placed in the corners before they position the Pantheons in order to better control the sub 250Hz bass energy in that room.

Cabling was a mixture of Shunyata Research & Gryphon VIP series.

A Brinkmann “Bardo” for spinning vinyl with a Sound Smith Sosurro moving iron cartridge. I played some of the SonoruS recent vinyl to tape transfers on a SonoruS modified PR99, which feature the Holographic Imaging, these all throw an amazing three dimensional soundstage, with performers playing well outside the speakers.

All the walls have a mixture of absorptive & diffuser panels wrapped in a beautiful, acoustically transparent dark blue cloth.

The diffuser on the front wall is a foam mock up, the finished version will be constructed from wood and will be motorised. The acoustic sculpture will be able to split in two to reveal an 85″ 8k TV panel.

Most of the gear will be hidden in a credenza once the room is complete. The room was neither overly dry nor dull (over-damped) but pretty much spot on sonically. Its a lovely quiet room where detail is not artificially pushed in front of you.

In attendance was also singer/songwriter Lori Lieberman.  Joe Cali played songs from Ms Lieberman’s new album The Girl With The Cat, featuring the Matangi Quartet.

I must say Lori’s version of Don McLean’s Empty Chairs, which is piano led , instead of guitar in the original is a refreshing update to the original. As an interesting side note, Lori explained last night that it was Empty Chairs that inspired her to write Killing Me Softly With His Love.  The Matangi Quartet provide a wonderfully intimate backdrop to Lori’s seductive voice.  Personally I have always been a huge fan of chamber music and its wonderful to see artists such as Lori Lieberman take advantage of this under appreciated musical genre. I am sure Lori will gain many more admirers with the introduction of this new album, due to be released next week on CD and shortly after on LP.  Wonderful music, beautifully perfromed and superbly recorded – highly recommended.

PRESS

In attendance was Byron Baba from Dagogo.  He wrote a reflection piece in the magazine commenting about the outstanding soundstage from the system.  Go HERE for more.