Our visit to Knox Audio

Is the 6th January too early to have a ‘highlight of the year’? Aren’t we supposed to be easing into the new year, still in denial about having already broken our new year resolutions, taking it easy? Not gallivanting around the country having audio ‘wow’ moments, right?

Well I am happy to say that this year, we started off with a bang! Before things got busy again, we decided to visit our good friend and business associate Jeff Knox from Knox Audio in Tanilba Bay near Newcastle NSW. By ‘we’, I mean yours truly and one of my Nirvana Sound colleagues, our new General Manager Anthony Camplone.

We boarded the flight from Melbourne in the morning and in just under 1.5 hours, we were walking out the terminal at Newcastle Airport into a beautiful balmy morning. Newcastle airport is co-joined onto Williamtown RAAF base and we caught a glimpse of some fighter jets parked across the airfield. I am always intrigued by military airplanes, probably because I rarely see them in my normal suburban Melbourne life, or maybe because they are just so extreme. Due to the fact that Anthony thinks he looks like Tom Cruise, I decided to not raise the subject of Top Gun and Jeff arrived to pick us up and take us to his abode.

After a short drive, we arrived at Jeff’s home and met his lovely wife Cherie who proved to be a great host and wonderful company.

The Room

Jeff has converted a large stand-alone 4 car garage into a self-contained music room. In all my time in this hobby, I have never experienced a sound room build project of this nature. Before commencing this renovation, Jeff spent years researching how to create a listening room that completely isolated you from the outside world. The level of detail, effort and cost that went into this project is extraordinary. The room is completely hermetically sealed and sound-proof. When the door shuts, it feels like a you are in a vault and anything could happen outside and you would never know.

Jeff explained that in his view, a listening space should be like a sanctuary. Come in, relax and forget about the outside world… .just enjoy the music. He has definitely succeeded in creating that feeling. If you had no watch or phone on you, after a little while you would have no idea what time it was or if it was day or night. For all of you who are considering embarking on a listening room renovation (or a nuclear war bunker), you should get in touch with Jeff for some advice as he clearly has a wealth of knowledge and experience.

Wow!

I love that the hobby of audio is full of surprises. Who would think that the quiet, sleepy town of Tanilba Bay forty minutes out of Newcastle would be the setting for a world class hi-fi system worth over $1.3m? Crazy, right? Given his sound-proof room, I doubt if any of Jeff’s neighbours are even aware that he has a hi-fi system, let alone the one of the calibre, rarity and cost of Jeff’s system.

Close the door, ease into the sofa, select a track and a few things happen very quickly. This is a typical mental dialogue experienced during the first few seconds of music in Jeff’s room:

“What the… ..OMG… … the dynamics… …sounds so real… .what’s going on here? …attack/decay/speed… …you’re kidding… … …I’ve never heard anything like this… .”

One look at Anthony’s face said it all, and we both laughed out loud. Now I have to admit, as the importer of Jeff’s music server, amplifiers, speakers and cables, I’m not surprised on an intellectual level, but listening to systems like these is always thrilling emotionally. If the day ever comes where this experience doesn’t give me goose bumps, then that’s the day I need to get out the hobby and go and get a scan to see if I still have a soul.

Where is the Noise Floor?

One of the key reasons Jeff’s system has such an impact on the listener is due to the extremely low noise floor. In the context of listening to music, in an utopian world, it would be ideal for the music to be played within an environment of total silence. If this was possible, we would be able to hear the most subtle detail as it rose from a ‘black’ background, all the nuances and micro-details… . everything on the recording. I like to use the analogy of looking at a star lit sky from the center of a big city compared to viewing from a remote location far from human atmospheric influences. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of observing a night sky from say, Alice Springs you may remember that you can experience quite a shock at how bright, vivid and numerous the stars are in the sky. It is a similar experience in audio. A low noise floor is analogous to a pure clear sky without smog.

When we consider the listening experience, the noise floor is made up of two contributors. The ambient noise floor is simply the noise produced by the listening environment, like traffic outside, activity in surrounding rooms, airplanes flying over the home, doors closing or simply just the low level ‘hum’ of the city we live in. The electrical noise floor is the sum of all the electrical noise produced by the all the noise sources in the circuitry and components within a hi-fi system, where noise is defined as any signal other than the one carrying the music. An example here is the high frequency hum of power supplies within the components. When you combine the ambient and electrical sonic contributions to the listening environment, you have your noise floor.

Usually, we don’t notice it too much because our brain has an uncanny way of naturally adjusting to our sensory environment and it disappears from your front-of mind conscious thoughts. However, when it lowers or disappears, you really notice it! (Like looking at the sky in Alice Springs!) Most audiophiles wish to lower their noise floor so they can hear more of the music as the dynamic contrasts and micro-details become more noticeable.

Jeff’s room is a reference example to all of us as to what is possible when we make an effort to lower the noise floor of our listening space and is a major reason for the exceptional sound quality. Talk to Jeff about noise floor and you realise that this is no accident. With a background in electrical engineering, Jeff has a reservoir of knowledge about earthing methods, power delivery, connectivity, cables, isolation and all things electrical in an audio system. A man of many talents indeed!

What about the system itself?

OK, so I have established that Jeff’s room is an extraordinary achievement and that Jeff’s treatment of earthing, isolation and a host of other details has resulted in a virtually non-existent noise floor. These are major factors however there are other reasons for the amazing sound experienced at Jeff’s place.

Chief among these are the exceptional Cessaro Alpha II speakers which produce a sophisticated, articulate, tonally accurate, ultra-dynamic sonic presentation combined with startling realism. The way Cessaro horn speakers charge the air in a room gives the music a visceral three-dimensional feel, with the experience of musical elements happening all around you. These speakers are so rare in both the low numbers that exist in Australia and also in their extreme application of horn technologies. Listening to them is worth making the journey to Jeff’s room alone.

Through my involvement in audio manufacturing & distribution activities, over the years I have been fortunate to have travelled and visited a large number of clients with serious high-end systems around the world. When people are reaching for the ultimate level of performance, one brand I see more than any other as the heart of these types of systems is Ypsilon, especially in recent years. Their open, natural sound is very different to most other brands due to the fact that (a) Ypsilon heavily implement transformer attenuation in the critical path and (b) make their own amorphous core transformers. Both of these qualities are very rare, even in high end audio. The rare Silver Editions (SE) of their equipment take that philosophy to an extreme level with the use of a unique pure silver wiring technique, nanocrystalline cores and other technologies. These SE Ypsilon components are at the heart of Jeff’s system.

The Taiko Audio Extreme music server is simply on another planet to any other music server that I (and many others around the world) have experienced which is evident simply by looking at photos of its internals and the Stage III cables result in a crystalline purity that I have often described as ‘the absence of cable’. Jeff must be commended for his ability to put together systems with synergy that simply bring music to life. I guess that comes with experience, which brings me to my next point.

Bring back ‘Old-School’

Jeff is one of those rare ‘old-school’ audio consultants. You know, the guy who actually has decades of experience & knowledge, an open mind, great ears, and a natural empathy that helps him know how to guide his clients to achieve great satisfaction with their audio journey. You know, the honest approach, not always trying to sell you something. Over time, Jeff has helped his clients improve their systems so successfully that I would describe his client relationships as close friendships, family even. They have so much trust in Jeff’s opinions and advice, that they don’t even have to live near him, they are all over Australia. Despite the scale of Jeff’s demonstration system, he can help people with smart equipment choices at any budget.

But I don’t want to go home now…

Hours of musical enjoyment, punctured with some beautiful food and great conversation made for one of the best days in recent memory. It wasn’t just the awesome hi-fi & music experiences that were the highlight, it was the whole package. Jeff picks you up and drops you off at the airport and incidentally, some clients choose to stay a night at one of the local motels to be able to spend more time listening to music. Jeff and Cherie are wonderful hosts and within minutes it feels like you’re visiting a couple of dear old friends.

For most of us that are into high end audio, we develop a network of people we share our experiences with and get advice from. Personally, I feel that we should always keep expanding that network and look for people whose advice does not result in constant equipment churning and hankering for the next upgrade (unless that’s what you like to do). I recommend Jeff as someone who is really worth adding to your network.

From us at Nirvana Sound, we thank you Jeff and Cherie for a highlight of the year experience!

Here’s the question

How many opportunities do you get in your lifetime to sit in front of a $1.3m system? OK, forget about the cost, let me ask the question again in a different way. If you are fortunate enough to visit the Munich High End Show every May, there are a few rooms that present systems like this one but you simply can’t appreciate them in that noisy environment.

So, how many opportunities do you get in your lifetime to sit in front of a beautifully curated uber-music system in a room designed to make you forget about the outside world? How many systems of this caliber even exist in Australia? I don’t know, but if you love music and audio, you owe it to yourself to make your way to Tanilba Bay and have a day that you’ll never forget.

Jeff’s System: Knox Audio Demonstration System

Turntable
TechDas Air Force Two Premium Turntable with custom Titanium Arm Board Kuzma 4 Point 11 Inch Tonearm C/W Cardas Clear tonearm Cables Lyra Atlas SL MC Cartridge
Phono Preamplification
Ypsilon Step-up Transformer MC-20N L (Silver Edition, Nanocrystalline Cores) Custom 2 Input Version Ypsilon VPS 100 (Copper) Phono Preamplifier
CD Player
Ypsilon CDT 100 CD Transport
Computer Audio & DAC
Taiko Audio SGM Extreme Server Ypsilon DAC 1000 (Silver Edition) D to A Converter
Preamplifier
Ypsilon PST 100 mk II (Silver Edition) Preamp
Power Amplifiers
Ypsilon Hyperion Monoblock Power Amplifiers
Speakers
Cessaro Alpha II – Speakers C/W Composite Cabinets & Side Panels + Silvered Mica Capacitors
Power Supply & Conditioning
danA ElectroAcoustic F12 Power Filters
Earthing & Quantum Power Conditioning
Telos Quantum Ground Reducer (GNR) V5.1 Telos Mini Quantum Ground Reducer (GNR mini) V3.1 Telos Quantum Noise Reducers (QNR) V5.1 Entreq Poseidon Passive Ground Box Entreq Earth Infinity Apollo 2.2m Silver Grounding Cables SETCHI D-3 Grounding Block – USB SETCHI D-3 Grounding Block – LAN RJ45
Equipment Supports
Silent Running Audio (SRA) Custom Scuttle III – 3 Level Triple Width Equipment Rack Silent Running Audio (SRA) Virginia-Class Reference Amp Stands to Suit the Ypsilon Hyperion Amps
Cables
Power Cables – Stage III Kraken USB Digital Interconnect Cable – Stage III Xphynx Interconnect Cables – Stage III Gorgon Single Ended Speaker Cables – Stage III Medusa

There’s more…

Knox Audio
Cessaro speakers
Ypsilon Electronics
Stage III Cables

Back in 2015, Marc Phillips from ‘The Vinyl Anachronist’ (a true gentleman) visited Jeff and wrote about it in his blog. Although Jeff’s system has really changed, as has his location, it’s a good read:

The Chronicles of Sydnia, Part 3: Jeff Knox and the Million Dollar System