"Rhapsody in Blue"

A Linn Knekt multi-room audio system, Spectral Series 2 amplifiers and Wilson Audio Watt 5.1 speakers add musical harmony to this exquisite New York penthouse

If music is the food of love then every day holds a feast in this 37th floor penthouse on Manhattan’s West Side. Located an echo away from New York’s Lincoln Center, the glass-walled 2-story apartment is frequently host to celebrated musicians who entertain informally amid the star-studded backdrop of the city skyline. Two Steinway Grand pianos fit comfortably in the 10,000-square-foot performance/living space, which can create both an open, airy environment for a virtuoso performance or the more intimate atmosphere of a piano bar at an elegant cocktail party. Commissioned art pieces and dramatic lighting sculptures punctuate the dazzling high-rise haven.

Imagine Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue as the soundtrack for this glamorous New York set and the picture is complete.

In fact, you don’t have to imagine Gershwin at all. The American composer’s music is among the homeowner’s most valued works of art and they’re only a button push away in almost every room in the home. “The owner has listened to more music in the two years he’s owned the system that most people do in 10 years,” says Elliott Fishkin, president of Innovative Audio, the Manhattan-based custom audio/video firm that designed and installed the system.

“His goal was to have a music system that mesmerized him,” says Fishkin. Semi-retired and an accomplished pianist in his own right, the owner spends four to six hours a day in this bedroom alcove listening to music. It’s leisure time well spent for a patron of the arts. “He has knowledge of music of all types,” Fishkin says, “from ancient to renaissance to classical to operas.” Serious audio is spoken here.

That explains the massive enclosure in the alcove, which isn’t the refrigerator it looks to be, but a Wilson XS subwoofer. In full view nearby is a pair of Wilson Audio Watt Puppy 5.1 speakers. The speakers connect via garden hose-size MIT cables to an MIT speaker interface, which equalizes time alignment of the low, mid and upper frequencies and protects the system against interference that could degrade the sound. All the equipment is exposed and the speakers are positioned in the room for optimum sound staging.

In a home exquisitely tailored and toned for entertaining, this sanctuary is hands-off to interior design. “The fact that he would accept this stereo as an artifact means that he views it as a means to the art,” Fishkin says of the homeowner. “That’s the only way in a home like this that one would accept an overt stereo over flush-mount speakers. You acknowledge it in the way that you acknowledge a piano as an instrument.”

Impressive sound is difficult to achieve when room borders comprise of one standard sheetrock wall and three glass walls around it. Fishkin used speaker positioning as the means for controlling the highly reflective sound. “We put the chair in the first reflection wave and that eliminates issues that could arise if you are sitting outside the envelope formed by the reflections,” he says. “If the chair is outside the envelope, you’re going to get mostly reflected sound. If you’re inside, a lot of the things that could be bad about the room don’t affect you.”

When musicians aren’t tickling the ivories during parties, the multi-room music system is filling the expansive space with tunes. The owner has selected numerous play lists, which Innovative Audio specialists have programmed into the system using the Song Servant CD management software program from Gig-O-Byte Music Inc. “It’s like using a Microsoft Word document,” Fishkin says of the program. “You select all of the document—either a given CD or part of one—and then drag it into the play list.” Each play list can be virtually unlimited in length, and you can organize music according to artist, genre, or title. Images of album cover art can also be scanned into the system for later recall on a Power Book.
The Power Book that tops the stack of Linn components in the living room stores a variety of lists the homeowner has selected for entertaining. They could be Mozart operas, blues tunes or jazz ballads, depending on the flavor of the party and the owner’s mood. The Power Book in the bedroom performs a more sedate nightly ritual. “The owner likes to go to sleep with music playing,” Fishkin says. The music from the CD changer—along with the other sources in the multi-room Linn system—is fed into the Spectral system on an auxiliary input and is controllable via a wall-mounted keypad. In addition to the changer, FM radio stations and digital satellite system music channels are distributed throughout the apartment courtesy of the Linn Knekt system.

The 100-disc changer is stored in a closet in the library along with a Macintosh Power PC that controls it. There’s a dedicated Linn stereo system in the library as well for local listening. Library speakers are Linn Sekrits, which have been flush-mounted in the ceiling to keep floor space clear. There are wall-mounted Linn Sekrit speakers in the dining room and kitchen, too, and like the other in-wall speakers in the apartment, the kitchen speakers are mounted in a plywood box that Fishkin’s installers custom built to ensure the highest quality possible. “Each back box has the correct internal volume for the sound,” he says, “and building the speakers into a box also prevents sound from leaking from the room and from echoing in the walls.”

The infrastructure of the Linn system places an amplifier in each room to keep speakers close to the power source and reduce signal loss. Each room also has a built-in multi-purpose Linn Knekt line receiver, which connects to the keypad, acts as a preamplifier and serves as the conduit to the main system.

The kind of investment this owner has made financially and visually to this system attests to his serious commitment to music. “The reason he owns this equipment isn’t for the trophy aspect,” Fishkin says. “He absolutely appreciates what it does and how it enriches his life.”

CAPTIONS:
A multi-room Linn Knekt audio system delivers Gershwin, Mozart, Strauss and Chopin through Linn Keltik speakers.

Inside the bedroom’s listening space is a no-compromise audio system combining the Wilson Audio Watt 5.1 speakers and MIT cables.

Installation by Innovative Audio, 150 East 58th Street, New York, NY 10155; (212) 634-4444. Architect and Interior Design by Charles Cunniffe Architects, 610 East Hyman, Aspen CO 81611.

Equipment
Linn Kremlin tuner
Sony DSS satellite receivers (2)
Linn Karik CD players (2)
Linn Numerik D/A converters (2)
NSM CD changer
Linn Kairn-Pro preamplifiers (2)
Linn LK100 amplifier
Linn Centrik bookshelf speakers
Linn Klout amplifiers (4)
Linn Keltik speakers
Linn Sekrit speakers (3 pairs)
Linn Intersekt multi-room system controller
Linn Knekt keypads (6)
Linn Knekt local line receivers (2)
Linn Knekt sneaky line receivers (3)
Linn Majik-1 integrated amplifiers (2)
Wilson Audio Watt 5.1/Puppy 5.1 speakers
Wilson XS subwoofer
Spectral SDR 2000 Pro D/A processor
Spectral SDR 3000 CD transport
Spectral DMC 20 Series 2 preamplifier
Spectral DMA 180 Series 2 amplifier
MIT Reference speaker interface
MIT Reference component interfaces (2)
MIT Z Center
Sony SLVR 770 Hifi VCR
Sony KV 27XBR37 27-inch TV
Pioneer CLD.53 laserdisc player

In the living room, a Power Book crowns a stack of Linn components and stores a variety of the homeowner’s favorite tunes. Below: An NSM CD changer stores 100 discs in the library and is controlled by a Macintosh Power PC.