FALLS VILLAGE — Tim Hall wears the “audiophile” label with pride.
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Hall, a Falls Village resident, recently opened the Audiophile Garage, a new business that saw him transform his own garage into a haven of high-quality sound where customers can listen to music on high-end speakers before purchasing.
“I was an audiophile before I was even a musician,” said Hall, who also is a former audio engineer.
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Though he’s long loved music, Hall said it was about 10 years ago that his love for hearing music at the highest possibly quality through new technology came to him.
Musician Steven Wilson, frontman of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, had been working on a 5.1 surround remix of the Yes album “Close to the Edge,” one of Hall’s all-time favorite bands.
All it took was one listen for Hall to be convinced that newer technology was letting him hear music he had heard countless times in a new way.
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“For me, it usually comes down to hearing things you never heard before,” Hall said. “It could be a singer taking a quick breath. It hit me in all the feels.”
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The full switch to listening to music that way came during Superstorm Sandy in 2012 when Hall’s large collection of vinyl records that were in storage were ruined by flood waters.
“It was a total loss. I was very depressed for a couple years,” Hall said. “I can’t go back and rebuild my vinyl. I started to look for high resolution and digital releases; 5.1 was something different. Sometimes it’s just about breaking out of what you’re used to. I’ll try something different. Sometimes that really ignites people. It’s about hearing it in a different and better way than you’re used to.”
With the Audiophile Garage, Hall hopes to share his passion and knowledge as a self-proclaimed audiophile.
“I can’t be the only one who wants to turn up the volume a bit,” Hall said. “Who else wants to rock?”
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It starts, he said, by finding out about a person’s relationship with music.
“The first thing I always ask people is what do you like to listen to, how … where … describe what music means to you,” Hall said. “Ultimately it’s about emotion and feeling. That, to me, is so important.”
The space itself was key to everything, though.
Rather than reading or watching online reviews, Hall wants people to experience the music on high-end equipment. He said his Audiophile Garage is meant to feel akin to the kinds of stereo stores that were more common a few decades ago.
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“I want to recapture a bit of that,” Hall said. “Any business is about relationships. If I’m the friendly neighborhood audio guy, I’m accountable. I sold headphones to a nice lady I’m going to see at the supermarket or the library. It’s really about the relationships that matter so much.”
Hall said technology and the craftsmanship of the equipment has kept pace with the audio itself. He describes the upgrade in sound like going from a VHS to a 4K ultra high-definition video.
“The technology is keeping pace with audio. Manufacturing has improved. You have better tolerances, so digital to analog reproduction has gotten amazingly good,” Hall said. “I really do like to tell people, regardless of the budget and the price, there’s going to be stuff nowadays that’s phenomenally better.”
The Audiophile Garage sells everything from earbuds to six-figure speaker systems, Hall said, and he’s always excited to introduce someone new to everything he has to offer.
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“The excitement is very real,” Hall said. “I had someone who bought headphones who wasn’t expecting what they were going to hear. While real audiophiles get down to the nitty gritty and debate subtle differences, my favorite is someone who just ... their eyes light up. That’s always going to be the most exciting thing for me.”
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