Update on Cafe Sound by Cathode Bias

I’ve been involved in vintage tube HiFi on and off for nearly 30 years. During the pandemic my interest accelerated as I built out my personal listening room in Miami and on occasion started playing vinyl publicly.

I explored opening a listening bar in Miami, but after discussions with one of my IG followers, I decided to focus on hardware and consulting for those spaces with my wife Eylin. Our objective was to build sound systems designed for US spaces, but based on a vintage vibe and sensibility.

We incorporated in 2023, bought a commercial space in Reno, NV to operate out of, and in our first year got positive signs that we were on the right path including multiple sales of large sound systems. We planned to use funds from our sound system sales to build out our own listening room in Reno.

We continued to invest into 2024 assuming that momentum would continue. Unfortunately 2024 hasn’t evolved the way we expected, and we currently have completed and/or have components on hand for 5 significant horn systems, while continuing to invest in our smaller format La Modesta system.

While there has been significant interest in our work, for either economic reasons or poor product / market fit, sales have been almost non-existent throughout the year.

While listening bars continue to grow in the US, it has been less common to use custom large scale sound systems than we expected. Most use either vintage systems or systems by common producers such as Klipsch, JBL, and McIntosh. In the US, honestly there are a lot of options.

Outside small niches, the sound system has yet to rise to the position of being a major draw for bars operating in the US. And generally the economics of such spaces are such that the funds for sound systems are limited. It is my feeling that unless a commercial listening bar is positioned as a loss leader for another business (aka Real Estate), the economics are difficult, which has lead to some closures in the space.

I think the concept of deep listening in public spaces is still in its early days and not a profitable niche. This disappoints me, but that is the economic reality. So with that said, Eylin and I are having to significantly scale back our expectations. We plan to sell the inventory we have at a price the market can absorb. This may also include repositioning systems like “the Pink” for broader appeal.

We plan to make some updates to our space in Reno, and list the space for-sale. We honestly expect the sale to take a year or more, and during that time we plan to enjoy the space for local events.

With that we still plan to build sounds systems, but only on our terms — basically we will list systems for-sale as they are finished, and not start new projects until the previous is sold.

We also plan to invest more in content, and support deep listening in anyway we can through our IG, website, and YouTube channels. This is will include more hands on information.

So while we aren’t totally giving up on the market (I personally care too much about this pursuit to fully abandon it), we need to make sure we are “right sized” to continue in this area in the future.

Thanks for your support

Chris and Eylin