Goodwin's High End

Facility Gallery

In 1995, we began construction of our current facility here in Waltham, MA. We selected an industrial building with concrete floors, a very high ceiling, and plenty of electrical power. Working with an architect, we created an interesting and efficient floor plan that accommodates 6 showrooms, a reception area, an office area, and a warehouse. With our extensive experience in room acoustics, we carefully designed, planned, and constructed our showrooms. These rooms are actually free-standing; the walls and ceiling do not touch the actual outside shell of the building or any adjacent rooms. Using special materials and techniques, the construction crew built anti-resonant walls that are appropriately (but not too) rigid. We prevented excess inter-room sound transmission by employing special HVAC ductwork, special room sealants, custom doors, and special glass.

Using a computer, Alan Goodwin calculated and planned the room dimensions so that the showrooms would function well and sound great. By carefully distributing the room modes, he prevented any unnecessary room colorations. Extensive acoustic room treatments were employed to further control the low frequency response of the room, as well as treat slap echo and first-order reflections. Because we treated each room somewhat differently, we can select a demonstration room to simulate your room in your home.

By going to these extensive efforts, we are able to offer extremely neutral listening environments in which to perform your evaluations. You can accurately hear the differences between the components that you are considering, without having to listen through confusing room colorations. (Detailed room description.)

(Forthcoming: Pictures and descriptions of some of our showrooms.)


Custom Installation Gallery

Goodwin's High End has worked with many clients to analyze, design, specify, and supervise the construction of listening rooms and home theaters. Projects have ranged from ultra-high quality two-channel audio systems to multi-channel true home theaters to whole-house music systems. When we become involved early in your construction project, ideally before the blueprints are finalized, we can ensure that the final system is acoustically and esthetically optimal for your needs.

Dedicated Listening Room with Martin-Logan Statement and Spectral electronics

Our client built a dedicated listening room above his three-car garage. He selected top-of-the-line Martin-Logan Statements as his reference speaker as well as the Spectral Reference System for his electronics. In this installation, the Statement woofer towers and audio electronics are completely concealed in beautiful cherry cabinetry. The trim for the Statement panels was fabricated from his cabinetmaker's cherry stock; it matches the cabinetry perfectly.

All four walls of the room have coordinated built-in cabinets. Because of the matching trim, the speaker's electrostatic panels visually blend right into the room. From the listening position on the sofa, the black transition towers disappear into the rich blue background of the wallpaper. Also, behind each transparent electrostatic tower is a window. The listener can enjoy the wonderful view right through the speaker! The overall effect of the room is calm, relaxed, and esthetically pleasing.
Equipment
Speakers Martin-Logan Statements with active crossover.
Amplifiers Two Spectral DMA-360 monoblocks for the panels and one McCormack DNA-1 Deluxe for the woofers.
Preamplifier Spectral DMA-20 II
Source Electronics Spectral SDR-2000 Pro DAC with a Spectral SDR-3000 CD transport.
Digital Equalizer/Preamp Z-Systems RDP-1
Power Conditioning Complete MIT Z-System. Three dedicated 20 amp AC circuits.
Cables MIT reference cables.


High-End Multi-room System with Avalon Eidolon speakers and Spectral electronics

Created for a "music-immersed" lifestyle, this installation features the spectacular Avalon Eidolon speakers and Spectral Reference electronics. Almost every room in this home is filled with music. As you walk from room to room, you can follow the piece of music, literally without missing a beat.

Different levels of performance were selected for each room, based upon the importance of listening in that room. For example, the living room has beautiful Avalon Eidolons in walnut cluster burl veneer, driven by Spectral Reference electronics. These high-resolution speakers blend in beautifully with the walnut-colored floor. Spectral/MIT speaker cables were carefully concealed in the walls and under the floor during construction. The room arrangement is flexible. From conformable club chairs at the other end of the room, the clients can listen to music, enjoy the view, watch TV, or read a book by the gentle northern light.

In the dining room and master bedroom, we unobtrusively slipped Avalon Arcus speakers into the floor plan. In these rooms, the speakers flank antique cabinets. In about a year, the color of these quilted-cherry speakers will mellow to a match the antiques. Driven by McCormack electronics, these speakers sound wonderful.

The clients also spend many hours in their long and narrow home office. We positioned another pair of Arcus speakers on the short wall. This allows excellent listening from a variety of seating and working positions. Because of the importance of music in this room, the clients selected Spectral electronics for this application.

This installation required many electronic components in order to achieve the level of performance required. All the electronics are centrally-located in a handsome Billy Bags equipment rack tucked away in a closet. The architect's clever floorplan effectively hides the closet while maintaining convenient access to the equipment.

Equipment
Source Electronics Spectral SDR-2000 Pro DAC with a Spectral SDR-3000 CD transport. Magnum Dynalab Etude tuner.
Living Room Avalon Eidolon speakers, Spectral DMC-30 remote-controlled preamplifier and Spectral DMA-150 amplifier
Dining Room and Master Bedroom Each room: Avalon Arcus speakers, McCormack Micro Line Drive preamplifier, McCormack DNA 0.5 Deluxe amplifier
Office/Den Avalon Arcus speakers, Spectral DMC-12 preamplifier, Spectral DMA-90 amplifier.
Kitchen and Master Bath NAD 911 multi-channel preamplifier, NAD 916 multi-channel amplifier, Triad Omni In-Wall speakers (Kitchen), Elan waterproof speakers (Bathroom)
Power Conditioning Complete MIT Z-System. Two 20 amp dedicated AC circuits.
Cables MIT reference cables for living room, other MIT cables elsewhere.



Product Gallery

Here are pictures of some of our most interesting products:

 

 


Personal Preview Galleries

From time to time, we personalize previews of our work to highlight specific areas of interest for our clients. These password-protected pages are available only to the intended clients.

 


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