What does Elon Musk's Hi-Fi system look like? | The Source AV's Jason Lord

Lee Scoggins interviews his good friend Jason Lord, co-owner of TheSourceAV in Torrance, California and host of our prior conversation with Olympic champion Mark Spitz.
Jason recalls his experience working as a front-of-house sound engineer, the 'brotherhood' of working with Bryan Adams, breaking his back, his now infamous story of selling to Elon Musk, and more!
thesourceav.com/
00:00-00:53 Introduction
00:53-03:24 Experience as a Front of House Sound Engineer
03:24-04:53 Working w/ Bryan Adams
04:53-06:54 Becoming a Session Player & Larry Carlton
06:54-12:39 The Elon Musk Story
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[@mitchparker7652]

Jason is a very interesting guy. It would be good to hear more about how he reads or rather hears a room and how he rectifies problems.

[@Skebetine]

That speaker just peeking over the couch in the middle looks like a B&W 702 Signature (which I own and love). It's especially interesting because it doesn't look like TheSourceAV carries the brand. Can anyone verify, support or confirm that's what that is? Or is it something else? Great interview! edit: The Mark Spitz interview has the same speaker in the background. Yup B&W 702 Signature.

[@iloveaviation-burgerclub-a8145]

B&W 😂 crap

[@false_binary]

"he was his own worst enemy" lol...great fade out. Fun interview, subscribed!

[@holytiger89]

Such a good story!!! thanks for sharing

[@AllboroLCD]

Ive done a "mini imax" type projection screen with a bedsheet and a fan before. It does in fact work.

[@kenwong9796]

As a Canadian I can assure you no one smokes while they eat in Vancouver. But I’ve seen in myself in Montreal.

[@gotham61]

Sounds like Musk could really use some big horn speakers

[@CobraChamp]

Yes, get 5 JBL M2s and he'd have had a much better system for his gaming passion.

[@cb2000a]

Klipsch corner horns. The bass would vibrate his eyes so much he would not be able to focus.

[@CobraChamp]

@@cb2000a I just heard K-horns for the first time. OMG they are fantastic speakers!!! So delicate yet so powerful and the soundstage is huge! Glorious!! I can see why Klipsch has been making their Heritage line for 60 years.

[@chebrubin]

Wondering if Elon's external amplification was Emotiva or Parasound?

[@RodneyAllanPoe]

The Emotiva XPA-DR2, which I own and is rated at 550W via SMPS, was measured to have high distortion by Audio Science review.

[@chebrubin]

@@RodneyAllanPoe That has no meaning in real world testing. When you find a volume and the power switching rail is set. Nothing powers a BW 7xx series better than a Emotiva XPA-DR2 or DR3 in that price category.

[@RodneyAllanPoe]

@@chebrubin Thanks. It drives my Kanta N°2 speakers nicely, though a pre-amp upgrade to a Hegel made them shine.

[@chebrubin]

@@RodneyAllanPoe precisely tell that to Amir; the appropriate pre-amp and analog EQ or tone will power very demanding large speakers for hours and days on. In a way his Class D favorites just can't. This is Emotiva(s) secret weapon for large floor standing hard to drive speakers. I wonder if Elon bought the same.

[@RodneyAllanPoe]

@@chebrubin The brand will never be mentioned in 'public' but there are not many candidates. 😉

[@brianlewis5042]

Great stories. I can see that happening with Elon Musk.

[@alanrogs3990]

They provided him with a service and they shouldn't talk about that service online in public. Just my opinion.

[@kij100]

​@alanrogs3990 they also questioned his knowledge of what was best for the speakers he provided, and they got what they deserved.

[@markstewart1807]

Great story,always wondered if Tesla Cars would feature Decent Sound,and it's owner appreciated good sound.

[@beautifulgirl219]

The Musk story, shaking my head, so much wrongness. I've heard nice SFs, but they're not my favorite speakers. Still criminal to hook up bad amps to them; they NEED good amps. Still an interesting interview. Thanks.

[@mpi5850]

He spends $300K on speakers and then cheaps out on the amplification? I’m guessing this assistant didn’t actually know just how much they cost. That’s like buying a Lamborghini and putting $200 in tires on it.

[@jonathandavis9507]

But someone new doesn’t know that, it’s the dealers job to make the customer understand, which didn’t happen here.

[@alanrogs3990]

Lots of people like music/sound whatever but they don't know what it takes to balance things out. It's a learning curve.

[@iloveaviation-burgerclub-a8145]

No, just the other way round. Having a car worth 10.000 and putting slicks and coilovers stage 4 on it.

[@chebrubin]

He delegates. Gave her a budget and she did not know how to proceed. She opened up the Whitepages and looked for audio. No different than the assistant looks up lithium ion battery operated dildos. You can't ask your wife to please get me a good sounding audio system on your way back from the grocery store. That will exceed their capacity to compute at that moment.

[@indauroleal7953]

I guess that's why his rockets keep on crashing!

[@indauroleal7953]

Not sueprised Musk is not an audiophile.

[@KSWong-xi8cd]

He really turned up the volume to 9 out of 10. The rubbish amp ran out of gas and produced huge distortion that burned the tweeters.

[@CobraChamp]

It sounds to me like you blew the opportunity of a lifetime. Your comment about fleecing him on your replacement driver pricing gave it away. Perhaps, if you'd have had a better strategy to solve his true need (you didn't know your customer's need. SF speakers are a terrible choice for a gaming system playing very high SPLs) of a complete gaming system (not just a single transaction of selling the speakers) you could have had a customer for life. Think of all the other rich customers he could have referred you. Lesson learned...

[@jonathandavis9507]

Agreed. Discount or replace the drivers for free under the condition he bought one of the recommended amps. Would have been a much happier customer.

[@alanrogs3990]

Yes, I think this disclosure of information about this transaction is in poor taste. They shouldn't have mentioned his name but they wanted the clicks/views so there we go. Dirty.

[@adamtparker6515]

I'm guessing that those SF Aida's "demand" a specific amp with set "internal" crossover which is kinda cheating, and I never got how selling tower speakers with 3-4 5-6in drivers with a tweeter justifies premo costs, but they sure look sharp. Is funny hearing running direct full range Chinese amplified signal to the Aida's and later "POS speakers"😅 Wonder if the AV guy could offer the Boz Scaggs setup, couple of Magnaplanars with a couple of nice 12-15 tuned low end woofers😊

[@Turboy65]

Elon should have just had his engineers cook up some really GOOD amps using surplus parts from SpaceX projects.

[@richardelliott8352]

I wish I had someone that knowledgeable to help me with my system purchases. Once in a while I get the impression from some so called knowledgeable audio guys that they are all ego, and only know how to sound like an expert, and get paid, even if at the consumers expense. I was surprised to learn a bit about elon Musk, I guess you don't need to know how to spend money when you always have had it.

[@anoniem9518]

I wonder what American (Chinese made) amp Musk used to drive his Aida.

[@musamusashi]

Having lots of money it's no guarantee to have good ears or good sense in every field.

[@Badassvidsz]

He can even buy Ω.Μ.A haha

[@finscreenname]

Sorry but just because you have money and an expert in some fields dont make you an expert in others. I know Jason wanted the sale but they shouldn't have sold Elon an audiophile set of speakers to use for gaming. There is nothing but distortion sounds coming from games. Not to mention a lot of silence that make you turn it up more just to be followed by boom, crash and bang. Also gamers get into the game and dont even pay attention to outside things like parts flying off their speakers. He would have been better off with a couple horn tweeters, some mids and a couple big a$$ subs. Since Jason was a front of house sound guy, how's he feel about the audiophile's arch enemy, the EQ?

[@jolonf]

Whilst I was initially intrigued to hear this story about Elon Musk, it does seem to be in poor taste for a retailer to talk about clients publicly in that way and equally baffling that The Absolute Sound would be willing to publish it.

[@zvelkoski]

Fully agree - I would never buy from this type of retailers! Also quite standing that TAS publish this…

[@PlaybackMansion]

I got from this that Sonus Faber are fragile and this guy's store doesn't warranty anything unless you buy everything they tell you to.. especially if you have big money. Also they'll criticize what's in your house to whoever will listen

[@lakinnenlako6883]

10:15 smart girl. ;)

[@Roof_Pizza]

LOLZ. Bryan Adams is a hardcore activist vegan.

[@alexxbaudwhyn7572]

Perfect example of all that is wrong in Hi end audio and the egos in the hobby. Given the public figure Elon is, not a big deal to me that a journalist covers this anecdote. However, assuming all the claims are true, this agrees with too many av and ht systems I've seen among the wealthiest owners I've visited for club meets. Several times, these owners have systems with obvious calibration and or set up issues and or poor gear choices that result in obvious sub par audio or video performance, even though a lot was spent on a dedicated home addition and install. Case in point is Elons use of a bed sheet and $2K business projector for ht and gaming- no working ht club guy I know would use those, and there are excellent screen materials and gaming projectors of videophile quality for less than $10k, or up to $30k or more with obvious available budget. But I'd chalk that up to Elons busy schedule running so many businesses, and known wish to live minimalist, or appear to. Agree that the dealer of the speakers sold to Elon has a lot of blame, ie dealer should have explained why drivers blew and that it would happen again unless the proper amps were used, offering free driver or speaker replacement if appropriate amps were purchased. Or refuse the repair, refund the money for the speakers, fix them at their leisure and sell as Elon owned collectibles

[@flargosa]

Elon uses bed sheets as a projector screen, lol. Rich but practical, he is still one of us.

[@iloveaviation-burgerclub-a8145]

Righg. He is an idiot.

[@amb3cog]

Mmmm, how's that Kool Aid friend?

[@Super-Poopa]

its simply stupid.. thats it imagine sh1tting money, buying an mclaren f1 and then ruining the whole picture of ur high end system with a stupid bed sheet it makes no sense and its not even funny. its simply stupid and wastefull of the experience.

[@gtrguyinaz]

Who cares….not something he really knows about or cares… I do agree… Speakers are the weakest link so they need 50% of the budget in most cases….

[@deangale4496]

Gee big shock about Musk he would have blamed the butler for his ignorance

[@weirdlysawbones8547]

Uh huh, Uh huh, Uh huh... ... ... ... My god - that drives me nuts.

[@victorwongching]

Elon's assistant ain't got no sense at all, what a shame for those expensive speakers, they deserve a better amplifier...

[@MaxiMe-et4zs]

Elon musk “ he was his own worst enemy “, 😂 even with audio.

[@m.j.s.3838]

What a suprise. (not)

[@xstensl8823]

like buying a Ferrari and putting cheap tires on it. pound foolish and a penny wise. poor Elon.

[@user-od9iz9cv1w]

More like buying a Ferrari and using it to haul gravel.

[@PanAmStyle]

This is one reason I will never buy a Tesla.

[@nearestone]

Oh come on, Tesla is built by a person that thinks he knows more than basically anyone on this planet... Why wouldn't you buy a Tesla from such a superior form of existence?

[@Tacet137]

@@nearestone its build by some random factory workers

[@davidcollins8150]

The Elon Story - typical -

[@rightbackatcha1756]

(Resend) ATTENTION!! So it appears that "Fluttera" has already beat me to the gate. More specifically, what Mr. "Load" who is quite apparently far too COWARDLY to include in his little cocky presentation here, is his opinion about Mr. Musk as an actual person, entirely separate from that of which he feels about his purchase decisions. And so I feel absolutely compelled to share with everyone that I was a direct witness to a comment that he made toward Mr. Musk to me personally one afternoon during one of his frequent nicotine replenishment sessions. More specifically, he looked me straight in the eye and simply stated, without even the slightest degree of hesitation, that "Elon musk is nothing more than a race (ist) and womanizer. Now I don't know about you, but I think it's fairly noteworthy to remind everyone but here's a guy (Mr. Musk) who then forked over nearly 100 Grand for a mediocre, at best. "sounding" (not "looking") loudspeaker transducer, to this utter Crud!!!! Indeed, despite Mr. Musk's enormous wealth, anyone who has the temerity to make such a comment towards someone who had just made an extraordinarily large purchase such as this one, should at the very least, be forced (by local government) to shut his operation down forthwith!!!! And just fyi, just recently I have personally have heard of nearly countless horrific stories about how he "Mr. Load" has made trash comments (well beyond) those he made toward Mr. Musk about other customers as well as other local audio equipment dealers. I am also aware of the continued verbal abuse toward his staff, yet it absolutely baffles me that they continue to allow for this. I guess there's a bit of masochistic tendencies in all of us. Huge LMFAO!!! Anywho, it is my full intent to share all of this Mr. Musk, just so he can then see, so Very Clearly, how he tipped the Dancing Bear.

[@jonathandavis9507]

He sounds condescending and seems to enjoy talking about how much money he made and how much of a golden ear he has. Now, if you’ve ever met true masters of their craft that achieved much success they tend to be on the humble side. Pride cometh before the fall, as they say; It’s not just an expression.

[@Fluterra]

Man, if I were your client and you were laughing and mocking me, I would be doing what I can to shut you down. Looks like he saw the light and stopped working with you, which is why you are trash talking you. My guess is he had the last laugh and now enjoys a kick-ass system. You should have played your cards better.

[@betod63]

who cares

[@budgetaudiophilelife-long5461]

THANKS FOR SHARING 🤗…THE LESSON HERE IS…DON’T LET YOUR HOUSE MGR. PICK OUT YOUR EQUIPMENT…🤔UNLESS THEY ARE AN AUDIOPHILE 🥹💚💚💚