Listening to music on your phone is great, but for hardcore audiophiles, there\u2019s nothing quite like the experience of hearing a life-changing record on vintage speakers made with old school materials. \u201cThey just sound like music,\u201d says Brian Rosetti. \u201cWooden boxes, versus composite boxes. Paper drivers versus polypropylene.\u201d And then there are the aesthetics of old-school audio equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a certain romanticism about it,\u201d adds Brian Salazar. \u201cThe dark woods, the cloth coverings, the different shapes and designs, the kind of experimental nature of some of the designs from the 60s and 70s.\u201d Rosetti and Salazar would know. They\u2019re co-founders of Holt Hill Audio in Andover, which specializes in vintage restoration, audio design, equipment installation for residential and commercial settings, and product development and sourcing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a hi-fi audio shop, but not like one that you\u2019ve ever seen before,\u201d says Salazar. \u201cThe fundamental approach to how we do hi-fi audio and how we help people listen to music is through the restoration and rebuilding of vintage audio.\u201d They\u2019re also dealers for more than 30 brands of new audio equipment, ranging from speakers and hi-fi audio streamers to turntables. So what, exactly, is hi-fi? It\u2019s short for high fidelity.<\/p>\n
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\u201cMeaning that the signal that you\u2019re hearing is as pure and as clean and unencumbered as possible, so that you really can get yourself immersed into the music as if you were at a live performance,\u201d Salazar says. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what our clients are looking for. They\u2019re looking for the opportunity to turn a song on and sort of get lost in it.\u201d Salazar started tinkering with audio equipment as a hobby in his garage, until word spread that he worked on speakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven when things were at my house before it was a business, it went from a small folding table in a corner to filling an entire two-car garage with other people\u2019s projects,\u201d Salazar says. He and Rosetti met around this time, and the business was born. Soon, they outgrew the garage, and within a few years, they outgrew a small workshop in Lawrence, too. But they knew their business was special when strict COVID protocols didn\u2019t dampen public enthusiasm when their first showroom opened in 2020 in Lawrence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were 15 people standing outside waiting to get in. Masks and double masks and everything else, so we kind of knew we were onto something,\u201d Rosetti says. They were onto something, and not only with Baby Boomers and other older demographics seeking to restore vintage sound equipment from the 60s, 70s, 80s, or even decades prior. Holt Hill Audio is also tapping into the zeitgeist of people across all age groups, including younger generations, who are rediscovering the old-fashioned listening experience and even decorating their homes with a midcentury modern flair. \u201cThey\u2019re all into vinyl,\u201d Rosetti says. \u201cYou see college dormitories filled with these little Bluetooth turntables, and kids are at record shops again. It\u2019s a tremendous resurgence of all of this great stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nFinally, in 2024, Holt Hill Audio moved to its current location in Andover, which houses both a workshop and a showroom. It\u2019s a fitting location, not only because it\u2019s in an old mill building, but also because of the region\u2019s connection to the audio industry. \u201cWe have an incredible history here in New England of iconic brands that built an industry starting in Cambridge and extending all throughout New England,\u201d Salazar says, like ADS in Wilmington and Snell Acoustics in Haverhill. Now, Holt Hill Audio is breathing new life into iconic pieces. \u201cWe\u2019ve created an environment where it\u2019s really fitting for the type of work that we do. In this old building, you\u2019re seeing us work on these old pieces of equipment and really bringing them back to new or better than new specs,\u201d Salazar says.<\/p>\n
Holt Hill Audio is also a go-to source for new equipment and installations including home theaters, retail spaces, and restaurants, like Paul LaRosa\u2019s Andover restaurants and a vintage system for the newly reopened tasting room at Chattermark Distillers in Charlestown. Whatever they\u2019re working on, though, Holt Hill Audio keeps an eye\u2014or rather, an ear\u2014on that old-school, vintage experience of being transported by music. \u201cWe like to infuse a little bit of the old with the new, all the time, in everything that we do,\u201d Salazar says. <\/p>\n