It's a shame that in a city like Vancouver, $3.5 million ($3,499,000.00 CDN) doesn't buy you more than a middle class home. Let's look up-market, somewhat at a $18,800,000.00 listing, and see what that buys you in terms of real-estate.The building itself is sort of Frank Ghery in it's romantic curvature and tenuous expression. To be more historially-oriented you could say a bit Antoni Gaudi - La Pedrera, Barcelona, and more than a bit Szotyńscy & Zaleski - Krzywy Domek, Sopot in Poland.
From the ground level, the views are the best you can see in Vancouver. We've left out some of the less flattering (and thus revealing) photos, to give some universal perspective.
At this price range, you are most likely thinking the feature products of Waterfall Audio. The evo range (Victoria, Iguascu, Elora, Hurricane, Serio) along with the Theatre Pack 1 and Pack 2, not to mention the mighty Niagra would go well with the arched glass over the bay doorway. In a controlled environment (closed theatre or audio room) the pro-custom series (600, 300, 150) would go perfectly.
Let's look further.
Inside, the views are sightly. A bit like John Ives recent (2014) home on San Francico's "Billionaire's Row" in the use of material, and rough architectural style - castle / formal. To be rather informal, architecturally.
We are giving liberty. You can see some applications for high fidelity. We see some applications for the Elcipse TD range of loudspeakers - TD 727z Mk II, TD 510Z Mk II, TD 510 Mk II, TD 508 Mk 3, TD 307 Mk 2A.
With more space, we'd even see nice speakers like those of Elipson of France. Their 4260 and Planet L would go handsomely. Let us remember where Bowers & Wilkins got its basic design for the famous Matrix 801 studio loudspeaker. We're not talking Elipson here. :)
In the media room, they've chosen to go with the Bowers & Wilkins 800 Diamond Loudspeaker. It's an interesting loudspeaker, but a bit large, visually, for the size of the room. Likely, the installer was Hi Fi Center, and this room is a bit on par for their previous Seymour Street location, in terms of listening room scope and size (a bit wider). You'll see a descendant of the B&W HTM2 Diamond in terms of center speaker, a B&W DB1 descendant, in terms of subwoofer, and what looks to be 805 Diamonds, taking up the rear.
It's a popular Hi Fi Center visual technique to mount musical instruments, guitars particularly, on the walls of the listening room, however the resonance, while they are no snare drum, is off-putting, despite the colour they give to the room. As home theatre's go, still, you'll say this is a tidy presentation.
An interesting selection appears when you get in the breakfast room / guest kitchen. That is the B&W 805 Nautilus stand-mount, a precursor to today's 805 Diamond. A huge fan of the Matrix 805, this is still one musical loudspeaker. We'd say that the widely popular, and now sadly discontinued B&W PM1 Standmount Loudspeaker would be a more spritely choice to better integrate with the fireplace in question. The center chanell, we'd day looks really out of place.
Where are we getting with this? We'd dare say, despite our previous suggestions that the lowly B&W LM-1 Leisure Monitor ($799.00 USD) in white would be a lovely choice for this home. The MM-1 at the computer.
Product: Bowers & Wilkins LM1 Leisure Monitor Loudspeaker
Price: $799.00 USD
Impedance: 8 ohms
Sensitivity: 91 dB
JP 2016/06/10
www.hifiart.ca
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