Tour Highlight, Richmond, VA: ZZQ Texas Craft Barbecue 3201 W Moore St., Richmond, VA 23230 This place was a big slab of butcher paper-wrapped awesomness. Open every day until the brisket sells out, we had the…brisket (duh). And a brisket sandwich with house-made sausage piled high on top. This was a big %$#@& sandwich. Sides are…
It was good to visit our friends at the Ember Audio + Design showroom in Winston-Salem: they just took delivery of the larger Chario Aviator Cielo speakers and have them set up in their big, dedicated room. And an added bonus, they also have our Alluxity Int One Mk. II demo unit available in the…
Our last road trip took us through the upper and central Midwest. This time around we’re going to make a looping journey throughout the southeastern US. In April we’ll be landing in Atlanta, renting a car, and heading out on another epic road trip filled with potentially terrible food (no more Wendy’s!), the continued search for excellent BBQ, vitamin D3 and…
Franc Audio Accessories We’re back to normal after the holiday season and we have a new vendor that you may have seen coming: Franc Audio Accessories. Franc is the parent company of Ultra Carbon (maker of our record clamp, platform, and isolation foot products) and manufactures some of the most beautiful racks and amp stands available on the market today.…
Ultra Carbon has recently developed and released two new products: machined aluminum isolation feet and beautifully made wood and carbon fiber component platforms. The feet will be familiar to those of you that are already dealers for UC’s turntable clamps, except that they’re made from precision-machined aluminum instead of stainless steel (those will come later). Each…
On September 1st, Positive Feedback published a review of the Chario Sonnets. On November 29, Monarch received word that the magazine had given the Sonnets one of two Writer’s Choice awards. For those of you unfamiliar with the Sonnets, they’re a stand-mounted monitor in the Academy Series, the top range in Chario’s product line. Their size…
About 4 months ago we began discussions to have a few custom accessories manufactured for Monarch that we could bring to market. The first is what you see here, the Ultra-Carbon RC-40, a 40mm tall, precision machined, stainless steel and carbon fiber record clamp. Ultra-Carbon is a European company that manufactures audio accessories (record clamps, footers)…