Terry's "Pro Audio" Kissa Bar Opens in Austin, Texas

friend of our Dave McNair is a friend of ours

Terry Audio's Marshall Terry decided to open a Kissa bar in Austin, Texas. We decided to give Marshall some free publicity and invite Austinites to check out the place and report back. Mr. Terry writes to introduce himself, "Maker of mastering studio equipment, used by my pal Dave (McNair), also the folks at Sterling Sound, Metropolis in the UK, Bernie Becker, so many others..."

Main Room

rest of main room

Mr. Terry has thrown down the Kissa bar gauntlet: "I've decided that most public HIFI kissas and bars in the US aren't up to snuff with a true studio and audiophile experience, and so I've opened one of my own, BYOB 'texas style' with an international market, and the ability for patrons to request which rare record or hi-res to put on on any given night - here in Austin, TX."

A publicist adds: Marshall Terry's equipment and namesake may be a small footnote to the land of home audiophiles - he's only displayed at two Capital Audio Fests and one Lone Star Audio Fest - but in the studio and mastering world, he works and builds for a 'who's who' list of engineers - Dave McNair (Mastering Engineer and Angle contributor) was an early adopter of his larger CEQ Equalizer, with Greg Calbi and Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound and Matt Colton at Metropolis in London following suit soon after. He continually travels as a technician for countless studios, and has pushed the envelope of studio monitoring - a place where goals can be somewhat different than that of home audiophiles. His motto and bumper sticker says it - "Music Is Not A Television" - and the experience of a full designed studio system is now in a public house and kissa in Austin, TX."

Mr. Terry's Kissa is minus a bar. It's a BYO whisky or mescal with mixers and ice offered if you wish in addition to non-alcoholic beverages. Visitors can bring their own rare vinyl or use Terry's collection as a 'living jukebox'. Or as the publicist says, " Want to request the AP 45rpm copy of Time Out right after hearing detailed & studio quality playback of Aphex Twin? How about comparing UK and US pressings of Radiohead's In Rainbows to segway into Luaka Bop's William Onyeabor box sets, then hopping into Acoustic Sounds Ella And Louis Again, comparing to the modern engineering and LP cuts of Kasey Musgraves and Fiona Apple reissues.

main room equipment

"Terry defines what a system is supposed to deliver with his novel appropriation of point-source coaxial Great Plains Audio 604 ferrite monitors, mated with Duelund crossovers in a new approach to the famed 'Mastering Labs' crossovers used by luminaries such as Doug Sax and Bernie Grundman Mastering. "All past and classic 604 style monitors have issues," Terry says, "and I don't blame people from turning away from them and doing these larger monitors like ATC and Wilson these past decades. Modern manufacturing tolerances, magnet structure and diaphragm materials by Great Plains and parts by Duelund have solved the 604, along with a fresh take on the 'mastering lab' crossover. Basically, once you go point source, and experience a locked in presentation, you can't go back, at least I couldn't. Now, look what's happened."

The front room houses a full vintage system - with classic Alnico based 604's and a restored McIntosh 240 tube amp. "It's my offering to what Gold Star and LA studios actually used back in the 60's - I call it the 'Pet Sounds' room. It's basically what Brian Wilson used at home and heard at the studio as well."

A bohemian hi-fi paradise with studio sound from a renowned studio technician, complete with games, darts, tarot, art books and a audiophile vinyl library 'jukebox', you say? Perhaps this is the great 'American Kissa' that's finally been made.

Equipment List:

Speakers: 

Main Room: Terry GPA/Duelund 604 Ferrite 

Aux Room, Altec 604-8G Alnico with Copper Foil/Wax Crossovers

Outside & Yard: JBL 4560

Power amplifiers: 

Main room: Terry Reference Amps - 10W Class A / 150W Class AB discrete monoblock amps, point to point wired with BJT transistors -  no FETs, Mosfets or IC's. 

Aux Room - McIntosh 240

Outside & Yard: Hafler DL-500

Balanced Power: Terry UI-30 30A Balanced Power Transformer (used for each system on all components)

Digital playback - dCS 954/904/955 (from and as used by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering) w/ custom 10m clock, modified Motu 8D streamer/digital interface

Turntables - dual modified Technics SL-700, Dynavector XX-2A, Stanton, Ortofon cartridges

Phono Preamp - custom discrete transimpedance MC stage, three tube, passive RIAA EQ stage, discrete output driver & line buffer, studio +4dBu reference level output

Cabling - Duelund phono/line cables, Belden 8402 rubber/cotton line signal cables

The address is:

4926 Cesar Chavez St.

Austin, TX 78702