A little over four years ago on a Friday I took BART over to the city (San Francisco), walked a few blocks, went up to a beautiful loft, heard some great equipment, beautiful music, and made a new friend. His name was Matthew Rotunda and his business was Pitch Perfect Fine Audio Systems.
Now four years later I consider Matt more than a friend. He is one of the few dealers I have known in the last forty years that really knows what music sounds like, and loves to listen to it. He has moved the business out of his home, but I want you to know that I still feel if you love music and live anywhere on the West Coast you need to try to make a trip to see Matt at Pitch Perfect. In a day and age when so many brick and mortar dealers keep so little in stock Matt has a vast inventory. He has in stock the Shindo Latour field coil speakers, the Auditorium 23 Solovox speakers, as well as several pair of DeVore speakers.
Matt also keeps in stock the Shindo Labs vinyl system which uses the Shindo Labs Garrard 301 with the Shindo own arm and cart. Man this thing is beautiful and I’m still trying to figure out how to own one. Also in stock was a lot of Shindo Lab amps and preamps in their beautiful Altec Green and Gold.
If you visit, I think you’ll find that you feel more like you’re visiting an audio bud than going to shop for gear. Matt’s background is a professional artist and he is a real music lover. Matt’s hospitality is very low key, and defines what “no pressure” means. I’ve always had a nice, relaxed time of listening to and enjoying my favorite music. By the way, Matt makes a great cup of Peet’s coffee.
His current location has a very large listening room with very high ceilings. The equipment you are listening to is on audio racks on one wall or the all-Shindo setup at the far end. The other wall has display of racks of equipment that Matt can quickly plug into the system for you to listen to. There are also bookcases that store thousands of LPs. On my last trip Matt had three turntable setup and ready to play. Down at the end of the room was the all-Shindo 301 vinyl system. He also had a Garrard 401 with Shindo’s updated bearing and platter mounted in a Lingo plinth and a Well Tempered turntable.
We did all our listening on my last trip with the Shindo Latours, but on other trips I have listened to the Auditorium 23 SoloVox speakers, and a number of DeVore Fidelity speakers, including the outstanding Silverback Reference speakers. Matt always has some interesting things sitting around, some for sell, others are his personal stuff. On this trip I noticed he had two Marantz Model 10 turners, a beautiful pair of Quad 57s, a nice Scott tuner, and some vintage Altec speakers among other things.
The best thing about a visit to Pitch Perfect is without a doubt listening to music. Matt and I often listen to a lot of mono recordings. If you don’t listen to much mono you have no idea what you are missing. The sound is more times than not superior to most modern LPs. We also listen to a lot of stereo, most of it old original pressings, not new audiophile reissues. What we seldom listen to is digital.
Matt Rotunda and Pitch Perfect Audio are a strong case for why we still need brick and motor hi-end audio shops. The systems he puts together are as musically compelling as any I have ever heard and he does this at many different price points. Going there is always a special experience, and I am grateful to Matt for how much he has helped me for the last four years.
Keep on Boppin’ and if you get a chance bop on by and say hello to Matt.
Pitch Perfect Audio (by appointment)
300 Brannan St.
suite no. 209
San Francisco, CA 94107
info@pitchperfectaudio.com
http://www.pitchperfectaudio.com
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