Photos: John Garduno

This past Sunday, we linked with renowned jazz reissue label Jazz Dispensary to put on our first listening session at our LA flagship store. When working on the shop buildout last summer, we partnered with two legendary hifi audio companies - Bowers & Wilkins and Marantz - to outfit our shop with a daily use house system as well as a hifi listening station for special occasions. Our system consists of a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 703S3 tower speakers with the iconic tweeter on top in a beautiful mocha finish, powered by a Marantz 50S amplifier and paired with a Marantz TT-15S1 reference turntable. Many of us own and listen to records in the comfort of our homes but don't have a system with the kind of transparency and clarity that our shop system has. Similar to audiophiles who visit kissatens in Japan to hear the full range of a beloved recoding, we wanted our shop to function in the same way for special listening occasions: to be a place where you could discover a piece of music for the first time, or to hear a familiar recording through a new lens.

Jazz Dispensary brought three titles from their reissue catalog to play: Blackbyrds' "City Life," Cal Tjader's "Amazonas" and Catalyst's "Perception." Customers were able to purchase these albums and more at the event, and we had limited edition slipmats made in collaboration with Jazz Dispensary on hand as well. Through the end of the month, various titles will remain available for purchase at our LA flagship store - stop by the next time you're in the area to peruse the selection. We might even fire up the system for you and give you a listen if it's not too crazy in the shop.