KEF's Reference Speakers Are As Famous As The Music They Master

“Ears of the Engineers” Featured in Trutone Inc.’s Mid-Town Manhattan Mastering Studios

March 6, 2006

A testimonial to KEF Audio’s pursuit of musical excellence can be found in the hallowed halls of a recently remodeled Vinyl and CD mastering studio complex in the heart of New York City. Renowned studio designer and architect, John Storyk was consulted and a year long renovation project was launched, culminating in KEF’s Reference 207 and Reference 4 Monitors being chosen to grace the two remodeled studios for Trutone Inc.’s new mastering facility. The flagship product of the KEF lineup, the legendary Reference Series possesses a unique adaptability that provides for the most accurate sound reproduction available. As each new Reference model is developed, KEF’s engineers work to incorporate the latest, most sophisticated technologies. These then become the ‘Reference’ to which every single production version must conform to, assembled by a skilled craftsman who matches their performance to a tolerance of a mere 0.5dB. “The KEF brand has always been a trusted worldwide leader for its remarkable ability to provide high fidelity, authentic sound in any environment,” said Len Safhay, director of communication & administration, KEF America. “It’s an incredible honor for our flagship Reference Series speakers to work their magic in the same place that some of the greatest music of our time has been created.” Trutone, Inc., a post-production multimedia replication firm, relocated their New Jersey Mastering Division to the site of the former Record Plant Studios in Midtown Manhattan, where industry legends such as John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, and Bruce Springsteen (to name a few) made music history. The historic site required major structural and acoustical updates. A broad range of speaker systems were evaluated to ensure the very highest level of acoustical and musical reproduction. KEF Audio’s Reference Series speakers were eventually chosen as the reference speakers for both Studio A and Studio B. Adrianne and Carl Rowatti founded Trutone Records as a part-time business in 1972. The company operated from a 10' X 10' basement room of Carl's childhood home in North Bergen, New Jersey. The services offered were cutting masters for vinyl records, on-location recording for local schools and churches, as well as custom record pressing. Today, Trutone is still run and managed by Adrianne and Carl Rowatti, with the help of their dedicated staff members. The Rowattis attribute their longevity and continued growth to their perpetual ability to reinvent themselves and of course, to the multitude of satisfied clients they have had the pleasure to serve throughout the years. “We rely heavily on the KEF Reference speakers to be an unfailing authority in our mastering process,” said Carl Rowatti, co-principal and chief engineer, Trutone, Inc. “As audio enhancement specialists our job is to make a good master great and make music sound its best, no matter what the genre—from classic analogue to pristine digital gear, we’re equipped to enhance and refine. And our Reference speakers help us achieve that job.”

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