By Alex Brady
This month’s Dealer Spotlight takes us to Amarock Studio in Czechia, in a town 220 miles to the east of Prague named Kopřivnice. Petr Svoboda founded Amarock Studio in February of 2015. Prior to this, Petr had a studio specializing in Naim electronics.
In his shop, Petr has carefully curated a portfolio of high-performance audio brands. He has long been an advocate of having a deep commitment to several brands that offer “Best in Class” performance in their respective genres of product. Alongside Nordost, key brands include Kalista SACD / CD / Streamers / DACs, Vitus Audio amplification, Rockport Technology speakers, Metronome, SOtM, and Audio Solutions.
Like Nordost, Amarock Studio acknowledges that the most important cable in a system is the one feeding the system from the wall socket to the distribution unit. This is reflected in the fact that their flagship system features an Odin 2 power cord from the wall to a QBASE Reference. There, they are fully (and enviably) equipped to demonstrate the jump in performance gained when using a 5-meter length of O2 power cord from the wall over the more standard 2.5-meter cable.
Their highly optimized Reference System is in permanent residence in their main listening room. The Kalista Dreamplay XC is a beautiful-sounding ‘all-in-one’ SACD player, streamer, and DAC. Given its multiple applications, this product particularly responds to being used with power delivered by an O2 power cord. Additionally, Odin 2 XLR cables are featured between this source and the Vitus Audio SL103 pre-amplifier, and also between the pre-amp and the Vitus Audio SM103 mono-block power amps. The system is rounded out with Valhalla 2 power cords and V2 speaker cables connecting the mono-blocks to the fabulous Rockport LYNX speakers.
Whilst this is a wonderful Nordost cable loom, the devil is also in the detail elsewhere in the system. This is illustrated by two QSOURCE Linear Power Supplies being employed to power eight QPOINTs in the system. The QPOINTs are used to enhance the Kalista power supply, Kalista ‘all-in-one’, Vitus pre-amp, Vitus mono-block power amps, QNET, and external clock. To ensure that each QSOURCE is performing optimally, they are fed by Valhalla 2 power cords. And, to make sure that grounding is addressed to the fullest, a QKORE 1, QKORE 3, and QKORE 6 are all featured in this undeniably impressive system.
Of course, no system would be completely optimized without tending to its harmful vibrations. Amarock accomplishes this with a prescriptive use of Nordost’s Sort Systems family of resonance control devices. Ten pairs of Sort Lifts are used throughout the system, including on every power cord, the speaker cables, the XLR cables, and Ethernet cable. Petr observes that they are particularly effective on the power and speaker cables. And, as you would imagine, Sort Kones are used under the electronics wherever height on the rack allows.
Their second listening room often features a high-performance two-box system of Metronome AQWO 2 SACD/Streamer/DAC, Vitus Audio Si-025 integrated amp, and Rockport ATRIA 2 speakers, underpinned by a loom of Valhalla 2 cabling. This combination has proved to be very popular with clients.
Such meticulous care and attention to system optimization sets Amarock Studio apart from most other hi-fi retailers. As a result, it is no surprise that they have clients based all over Czechia and Slovakia who have been dealing with them for years. They also strongly believe in demonstrating the benefits of each product to their clients in their own homes, so that the client can be fully confident in their investment. Nordost is proud to have Amarock Studio as a long-term partner that sets such high standards of demonstration.
Amarock Studio
| Address: | Čs. armády 1328 74221 Kopřivnice |
| Phone: | +420 777 601 851 |
| Email: | info@amarockstudio.cz |
| Web: | www.amarockstudio.cz |