Destination Audio's Malta (Listening Bar) Horn Loudspeaker System

[Fred Crane]

The Destination Audio Listening Bar (part 1)

Recent years have seen a decline in most on-the-town venues. The pandemic has had quite a breadth of casualties, first and foremost in human terms, but also in terms of businesses succumbing to the varied land mines, be they from lack of an audience, to a lack of workers and or a depletion of supply. Happily, in complete disregard to these trends has been the steady growth of the listening bar.
So have you, dear dyed-in-the-wool audiophile, been to a ‘listening bar’? I imagine if you are on these pages and have yet to attend one, that one is not too far off in your future. Such is their proliferation in the market-place.

To that end, Behold an early rendering of the Destination Audio Malta in a cheesy Las Vegas Bar setting.

(yes, there is a real bar in the works with a Destination Audio System planned for installation in 2023-24. It is a ridiculous, massively sized system as the establishments cubic feet require. Updates will be added at intervals of production)

In this world of 'What’s Best', it’s unlikely that we’d find too many of the systems in these establishments as testaments to that moniker. Many began with something from a home system that grew over time or was crossed with a commercial PA system and spiced up with some familiar blue lights. For those with a penchant for history, you need look no further than the series of articles from Resistor Mag which give a history of the Kissa Bars as they began in Japan. Chasing the history of these bars is a rabbit hole I’ve enjoyed diving down, as well as the emergence of new off-shoots the world over. These systems remain, for the most part, steeped in vintage ideology, though time has opened the door to a variety of approaches. Here are some pics from non-Japanese establishments around the globe.

(photos from Tokyo Bar in Mexico City)




In rough numbers, our due diligence has found almost a 100% increase in listening bars since our last Listening Bar Census taken in 2015. These are shops outside of the listening bars native Japan. There around 7 in the greater London area alone, 3 or 4 in LA, a few in the Bay Area, 2 or 3 in NY and Brooklyn, with representation in Paris, Miami, Mexico City, Toronto, Berlin, Barcelona, Tel Aviv, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Copenhagen and many others.

(photo from In Sheep’s Clothing in LA)



There are 10 times as many in Japan as the rest of the world. Outside of the land of the rising sun, the regimens of these bars are as varied as their ownership. Some have an element of the jazz kissas of old, only to morph into dance bars at night, others feature live performances, some stick to the traditional Jazz/Classical Kissa schedules where entire performances are spun on vinyl or reel to reel, to an attentive and subdued audience. There are a few who have on-line play lists and musicologists who spin tailored vinyl, while others have DJ celebs popping tracks to a younger crowd. It really is an open frontier in terms of approach and use, which makes it applicable to a wide array of communities. There’s also one that has its own recording equipment and label built together within the listening bar. The most well known of these efforts from a hi-fi perspective may be Spiritland in London which has 3 locations and a system put together by Kevin Scott of Living Voice/Vox Olympian fame.

(Spiritland at night)


Well deserved attention has come to Devon Turnbull of Ojas Speakers and Jason Ojeda of Global Audio for their Sound System at Public Records in Brooklyn. (Save the Bones for Henry Jones should you wish to dine)

(unpopulated)



(populated)


Also in London is the Big Smokes first listening bar on this new wave of activity, Brilliant Corners (I can’t hear
that name without my brain going straight to the Sonny Rollins solo of that Monk standard).



During the pandemic they had outdoor events playing to large crowds of yoga practitioners and the like. Have Kissa, will travel.


Of course this all stems from some very cool cats in Japan who took their love and knowledge of hifi and music and put a drink in front of it more than 80 years ago…and continue to do so today. There are books on them spinning some wonderful tales, not to mention a number of videos. Here’s a picture of two of the vintage creators Sugawara-san and Shimaji-san...no the sunglasses don’t come off.



We’ll be adding more on our system as the build progresses as well as the bar and its location and gestalt. In general terms, the Malta Horn System contains 2, 16 inch horn loaded drivers for the mid-bass, phenolic compression drivers for the mids, a proprietary horn loaded tweeter, a 31 inch down-firing woofer, and in larger venues, custom built bass horns. The 16 inch mid-bass drivers and the 31 inch bass driver are field coil powered in the basic version.

In the interim, here are a few video sources of other Listening Bars. We’ll be adding pics and venues as time allows.

Japan 1

Japan 2

Japan 3

Japan 4

Barcelona

Spiritland

Amsterdam

Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Bay Area

Thailand

Copenhagen

London Brilliant Corners

 

[Fred Crane]

Here's Bar Shiro in Oakland. There's an undercurrent of lawyers retiring and opening these bars. I read that storyline at least 4 times in my research.

 

[Fred Crane]

Waxflower in Melbourne

 

[Fred Crane]

Here's Spiritland in London without the hoopla.

 

[Fred Crane]

Bridge in Tokyo

 

[PeterA]

Thanks Fred. These posts are awesome.

 

[wil]

Thanks Fred. These posts are awesome.

Agreed!! Interesting fine line they’re treading— creating a high quality music listening space with a social/bar space. A nice alternative to the typical bar/restaurant scene where the purpose seems to be to create a din that everyone must yell over and thus increasing the bar $$.

 

[Fred Crane]

Agreed!! Interesting fine line they’re treading— creating a high quality music listening space with a social/bar space. A nice alternative to the typical bar/restaurant scene where the purpose seems to be to create a din that everyone must yell over and thus increasing the bar $$.

So true, but those establishments rarely get my patronage. I like to hear what someone's saying and or some good music.

 

[Fred Crane]

Here's a bit more of the research that is going into our upcoming video.
This is Brilliant Corners in London...a relative pioneer in the non-Japan based
Kissas. (two pics wasn't enough.) You can see that they've branched into live music
as well.

 

[Fred Crane]

If you're in or near the Greater Los Angeles area, you really have no excuse not to find your way to The Gold Line in East LA / Highland Park. They have one of the more serious vinyl collections of the listening bars we've visited thus far. It's worth pointing out that there are a few approaches to the vinyl aspect of the listening bar game. One, have a tremendous collection of LP's or various media that belongs to the bar. Two, have a series of great D.J.'s who likely specialize in a particular genre,(have their own collection) and live off of their passion, and have a smaller in-house collection. Three have both a tremendous collection and a great series of visiting D.J.'s....to astound, introduce and move your clientele. Here's a look...note, one DJ was celebrating her 100th birthday while spinning some tunes. You Go Girl!








If Patrick Mahomes smoked during p.e. and never played football.

 

[Fred Crane]

Another unusual listening space is at Potato Head in Hong Kong. There are also Potato Heads in Singapore and Bali. Each of them have musical themes though the 'listening bar' with a collection of 6,000+ records is in Hong Kong. All three establishments look like they're worth a visit. They also record at Hong Kong and Bali...

The system is vintage/pro in design. So close to being a level up with a little amplification and cartridge help. Still, everyone looks to be having such a good time...

 

[PeterA]

Very cool vibes.

 

[tima]

Lotta vinyl. It's a good thing.

Thanks Fred - great thread!

 

[Hydrology]

Astral Weeks in Perth, Western Australia

 

[Robh3606]

Nice systems has anyone actually been to one of these bars??

Rob

 

[Fred Crane]

Nice systems has anyone actually been to one of these bars??

Rob

That is the sticky wicket where audiophiles are concerned. These bars, outside of Asia, tend to be frequented by a younger set. It is in fact a newer form of cool albeit recycled. One thing is certain, they're finding an audience as these places are popping up as fast I can document them. Recycled 'cool' has a long history. It rarely comes out of the wash unscathed/unchanged via the new adopters. For instance, the Brooklyn-ese that came up with 'hipsters' always freaked me out a tad. These are a few hipsters I grew up listening to and thinking of as hipsters. It was a counter culture infused with cool and lots of shedding hours.

3 decades years later, I'm told that these are now hipsters.



Are we cool enough to know the history of even the last 5 decades? Or hip enough to come up with our own moniker? What made the original Cats hip was an abdication from society while perfecting their artform; day in, day out,.

The adoption of listening rooms/kissas is not nearly so egregious. It's more a matter of finding which nights at which establishments have something spinning that you'll enjoy hearing. This, depending upon where you live, may be impossible. Within the course of such pursuit, it is important to keep an open mind. Music remains vast, and there are things emerging all the time worthy of attention if we are open minded enough to find them.

 

[Fred Crane]

Furthering the trend in Europe is Rhinoceros in Berlin. Their nightly discipline may be more in keeping with the audiophile ethos and certainly more in line with the original Kissa standards...i.e. playing full albums, where there is no mistaking that the music is being featured as opposed to the D.J.

About Rhinoceros
"
We, my wife Martina and I, Bénédict, opened our little Bar called Rhinoçéros in mid of November 2017 in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin.

After becoming totally hooked by stories of our Dj and musician friends that were coming back from Japan, we opened Rhinoçéros, a place dedicated to music, good times and the good sound.

Our concept is an hommage tothe Japanese Jazz Kissa – and Bar – Culture ????? , small joints serving coffee and whisky, while elderly hosts are playing jazz records on a hi-fi system.

We are both coming from the HipHop / House & Disco scene, but we dedicated the Rhino music selection to it’s roots:
Jazz and what comes with it, like Blues, Soul and Funk.

The concept is easy: the heart of the Bar are two beautiful wooden Bowers&Wilkins Speakers, (DM70s, an electrostatic 2 way from the genesis of B&W...when they made more ambitious loudspeakers) from 1976, one round Micro-Seiki Turntable from ’81 and a Quad Amp & Preamp, from the early seventies.

We play records from our own collection, or we have guest selectors. No DJ’s as such, as we always play A – and B – Side of the record."


" We’re hosting music events, like No Room For Squares, dedicated to genre defying records, Astral Traveling, for more spiritual jazz and some record releases session (like the Mingus for Strata/BBE, Jazzanova, etc). Our own listening session is called “Jazz Cat Symposium” and it is a friendly gathering where music is paired with great and rare wines open by the glass.

It could happen we also host little intimate live concerts.

We are happy to welcome you in our cozy place and we hope you will enjoy as much as we do hosting you.

Martina & Bénédict "

So, they're spicing their recorded music with the odd bit of live music. Either way, a great spot to deepen one's knowledge and enjoyment of music and perhaps learn a bit about Japanese Scotch or a good glass of bitter.






and from their homepage

 

[Fred Crane]

Now for a small departure, which further underlines the gestalt and full absorption of listening into the restaurant and bar environments. (the actual listening bars are opening too fast for me to keep up with.)

Le Fantastique, Chef Robbie and Emily Wilson's new destination for Haute Cuisine in San Francisco. This is a 'must visit' for anyone who loves sushi or has a penchant for an ounce of Golden Osetra Caviar. The wine is French, the knife, Japanese. All to say, highly evolved dining with every aspect of the experience taken into account.

Granted music isn't their focus, so they didn't take it nearly as far as their espresso machine (an under counter Mavam, with piano key control, pre programmed pre-infusion, volumetric control, and a Ruby Precision Steaming Wand...yes, I'm a coffee and tea nut as well as a music nut...those steam wands really help to get the milk perfect) but that it was on the table at all is a grand leap from yesteryears in-ceiling speakers and closeted class d or ab amps spraying forth from a receiver. Rather we have the ubiquitous McIntosh tube gear with what looks to be an Altec vintage speaker and a vintage turntable,, all over-looking the bar. In a sitting room, just off of the bar, is a heaping spoonful of vinyl looking down on a highly designed nesting space. Bon Appetit and good listening.

This entire exercise reminds me of my parents and I taking Lee Konitz to dinner when I was a kid. That's a story for another post.


French Wine...the right bottles.

Dressed Caviar

Le Bar

Mavam Under Counter Espresso Machine

 

[gleeds]

Hi, Fred. This is an incredible thread! Thank you for creating it.

Any updates on Sam's progress with Malta? After hearing what the Vistas do, I cannot wait to hear them!

And if you come across a pair of John Bower's hybrid electrostatic DM-70 speakers, I want them. I might even open an audiophile speak-easy to play them if that is part of the terms. Ladies are, of course, most welcome

 

[Fred Crane]

Thanks Gary, Yes, the DM-70's were B&W's first or second pair of speakers...hybrid electrostats. You have to love them.
I'm glad you're liking the thread. Newport Beach needs a good speak-easy tiki bar and you could certainly pull it off.

I will have something on the Malta's in a matter of days. In relative terms, they're a foot wider and 18 inches taller than the Vistas. There are 4 iterations of the Malta to meet the needs of a variety or rooms. How far down the rabbit hole does one wish to go.