Here you’ll find a short list of our frequently asked Q&A.
How does buying a console work?
Each of our consoles is unique and take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months to make. We only share information about a (new) console once it’s done and ready to be delivered.
Once we have a unit ready, we’ll share it on our newsletter as well on our Instagram page. First come, first served.
How do I get in on the newsletter?
Great question. Just provide us with your email account, and you’ll be added. It’s that simple.
How much do Acvstica Audio consoles sell for?
That’s a tough question, and due to the fact that each console is developed independently of the others, each unit is different. We take pride in making the best possible decisions on how to refinish each of our consoles and what components to use. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula here. You are getting a bespoke piece of functional furniture that will provide great joy for many years. However, we understand the importance of knowing what it is you’re getting into, so we can safely say, our consoles sell between $4,500 and $8,500. All new equipment/electronics come with a one year warranty and we carry replacement parts for your console that may need replacing.
What kind of payment do you take?
At the time, we only take cash, Venmo or PayPal.
Is there any warranty?
New electronics have a full one year warranty with their respective manufacturer.
Do you do ship?
We can arrange shipping to continental US at the buyers expense. Costs to ship to any of the 48 contiguous states (not including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the other U.S. territories) are often between $400 to $750.
I already own an old console, can it be retrofitted?
We typically don’t like working with owned consoles, mainly out of not wanting to give up our creative freedom. Sometimes people wish to see their old furniture the way it used to look when they were young and we simply cannot compete with memories. On top of this, we often associate a higher price to our family heirlooms and expect that since you are providing the console, the retro-fitting costs would be lower. Sadly, this is often not the case and our price wouldn’t be impacted much.
However, if you like what you see, and trust our process and our artisan efforts, we can certainly look into it. Most likely, this is something we’d only take on in the Kansas City area, otherwise shipping costs might be too high.
What record player do you use?
Each console is different, and thus, is treated and built differently. Most consoles have a very limited space dedicated to the turntable, so we can’t fit a modern regular-sized turntable, and have to work with limited space available. Each console we develop is analyzed thoroughly to pick the best turntable for the available space, always maintaining our ridiculously high quality and fidelity standards.
All of the turntables we use need to comply with our standards, which include an adjustable tracking force, removable/replaceable stylus, upgradeable cartridge, low noise motor and low mass tonearm. Adjustable anti-skate is usually a must, but given the limited available space, we sometimes have to forego adjustable anti-skate and go for a self-calibrating tonearm.
The manufacturers we typically buy our turntables from include Pro-Ject, Fluance, Elac, Music Hall, U-Turn, to name a few.
What speakers do you use?
The same restrictions as those of the record players exist, in that there is usually a space limitation. Each console has it’s own space designed to house speakers, and we analyze this space, to make a proper decision as to what speakers to put in. Often times we end up testing multiple sets until we find the best sounding speaker for that particular console.
We are known to use speakers from Polk Audio, Fluance, Elac, JBL, KEF, OSD Audio, PSB and others.
What about the amplifier?
You’ve probably noticed a pattern here. Each console is unique.
We like vacuum tubes. We feel like the hypnotizing glow of vacuum tubes matches most consoles we work with. The look and feel of our consoles is as important as the sound they produce, so we always want our units to look as good as they sound (or sound as good as they look?) and we feel that including vacuum tubes somewhere in the audio chain adds a warmth that is difficult to replicate otherwise. However, some units simply don’t have the space for a dedicated vacuum tube amp, so we work, most commonly with hybrid A/B Class amps with vacuum tube preamps or high quality Solid State Class D amps when tubes are not feasible.
What other components can you use?
The possibilities are truly endless. We’ve incorporated wireless phone chargers into our consoles, CD players, Sonos, tape decks, 8-track players, or Amazon Alexa / Google Home. We have built multi-room Spotify streamers into our consoles, installed not just Bluetooth, but Wi-Fi into the unit as well. We can equip the console so that you can use it as your media center with a dedicated input for your TV and remote control; we’ve even made a unit that can stream the playback from your record player across the room.
So far, there’s nothing we can’t figure out a way to incorporate into a console. The possibilities are endless and your vision is something we aim to bring to life.