Filled with high-end audio equipment and “disgusting art”, 13 Hof is a thrill for people carried away by sublime sound. It requires more than one visit, writes Adrian Rorvik.
MIKE wiped a tear or two from his eyes as the music ended while I, senses charged, sprang up and paced. Whew! Enigmatic Achim smiled. Such reactions were no doubt old hat to him.
If you’re mildly bored after having all manner of supercars from Ferraris, Lamborghinis to Aston Martins, if your private Learjet is ready to take off, or your yacht is at the marina and you find yourself asking “what now? What could excite me – maybe even more than any supercar?” perhaps you should visit 13 Hof Street. It’s a Victorian villa on the corner of Camp in Oranjezicht that many Capetonians have whizzed past, a gorgeous place filled with fabulous sounding (and looking) audio equipment and what owner Achim Spelling, tongue in cheek, terms “disgusting art”.
From the German Rhineland via Berlin to South Africa, Achim made 13 his home, bought in 2012 from well-known interior decorator Ralph Krall, another enigmatic Rhinelander.
A careful transformation began and continues, adding to the accomplishments of Krall. The first room you enter stops you in your tracks. The double volume wooden ceiling arches up toward an expanse of glass and Table Mountain. The eyes come down the magnificent chandelier and are drawn past large paintings to the furnishings around the central table- a wooden dugout canoe, huge Balinese style carved doors and the life size statue of “grandma” eating cake, or a man-sized Pinocchio on the chaise lounge. Every room is different, eclectic, hugely interesting and you could never take it all in in one visit.
What Achim sells will make your eyes water as surely as a high speed run on his Aprilia motorbike without a visor. It may be the emotions. It may be the price, though his starter systems are about R40 000, with the sky the limit. But if you think the equipment pricey, try importing it yourself for anywhere near the same price.
The relationships Achim has developed over 25 years in the audio game ensure the keen pricing. His passion for music and hi-fi became his work in the 1980s and he has partnered and become friends with some of the leading names in high-end audio. We’re not talking multi-room pling-plong music or bombastic home cinemas – we’re talking about the finest components in two channel stereo. Avantgarde, Gryphon Audio Design (one of the top three brands in the world) Unison Research, Tannoy, Rega and Brinkman are among 13’s offerings.
As much as the artworks are statements, so is the hi-fi gear. Just as well that the rooms are huge as the Avantgarde Trio speakers, for example, for all the world like art deco artworks that just happen to produce grin-inducing sounds – need a statement home, as do the unique four-component Gryphon Pendragon speaker system, with bass towers alone weighing 280kg each. Good luck shoehorning any of these into a home with 2.4m high ceilings. Even in Achim’s 6 x 12m main listening room-cum-gallery they dominate, though life-size “grandad”, reading his daily alongside the grand piano, seems hardly impressed.
You really have to dim the lights and close your eyes when you listen as the sheer size of the stuff colours expectations. You may expect a huge wall of sound and a massively tall soundstage, but the imagery and soundstage is “normal”, if your normal is sitting right in front of the artists, solo or full orchestra, performing in your home.
Achim is not offering something for everyone. With 13 he is using his own personal opinion and enthusiasm for technology and design to address avid music lovers – people open for surprises and willing to be carried away by good music and brilliant sound.
Modern incarnations of the oldest hi-fi technology, horn speakers and glowing valve amplifiers coexist with the latest digital technology and art that is definitely rather on the darker side of the rainbow – but not without some cheerfulness, sarcasm and subtle humour.
Achim is definitely somewhat provocative himself and likes to tackle folks’ curiosity.
The art and music of 13 intersect and complement each other on various levels. Neither are necessarily mainstream-compatible. Just as you won’t find any mass-produced 5.1 home theatre systems or a selection from umpteen different manufacturers, nor are there pictures of picturesque landscapes, portraits of strangers or “silent” still life paintings. Christiaan Diedericks, Anastasia Nikolsky, Alexander “Sasha” Lochenkov and Verna du Toit form the core of 13 Hof St.’s art, alongside other interesting South African artists. It is a carefully distilled selection and experience - a rare and rewarding one at that.
There is absolutely no hard sell - and Achim has made 13 Hof St. available for gatherings in support of the active Cape Town hi-fi community. Achim, like a fine winemaker with something special in his cellar, is confident that the impressively beautiful and precious products will sell themselves to the right buyer.
A fellow visitor said it best: “I can only describe my experience as an audio/visual sensory overload, from the audio equipment to the music to the numerous artworks in all their forms. I felt like a homeless person in an all-you-can-eat buffet”.
l See www.13hof.co.za, or call |076 4581641 to make an appointment.