We’ve got at least two cutting lathes within 100 miles, and a ton of musicians in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area that needs a pressing plant! (And the other half of an old vegetable distribution warehouse that needs filling: retire now!

When my wife and I moved back to NC and reopened my old hifi shop, we blended it with a modern furniture retail business (we’re both into modern design and modern design philosophy) and the results from the hifi community have been awesome.

I think it’s important that you see examples of a thing done well a few different ways before you can start to visualize how you might prefer to do it? We keep a bunch of vignettes set up, and constantly changing, packed with gear both hidden and as part of the design layout.

Overall, it’s been a huge part of our success as a shop, and also creates new hifi clients from people who come to us through the interior design arm of the business.

I’m not going to say it’s easy to make a pair of metallic tangerine Wilson SabrinaX look nestled in a vignette - but I think we’ve pulled it off :)

You want the material underneath to interact with the air in the most unfettered way possible. Look into using dye sublimation onto Guilford of Maine Fr701. Chances are you have a printing house that can transfer designs into the dye, without interrupting the transparency of the fabric.

That’s a super anal-retentive way to solve the problem, but if you’re wondering what the best solution is, this is probably it. My shop makes custom acoustic treatments and it’s the only way we’ve found so far to do the thing without losing efficiency of absorption.

In terms of affordable options, I can’t offer a lot - but Amps&Sound makes the best sounding tube gear I’ve ever heard. He’s an absolute genius, and has a large family of amplifiers and headphone amps to choose from based on heavily improved classic designs.

He’s also a great communicator and works quickly. He keeps a backstock of as much of his menagerie as possible, and stands behind his work. Definitely worth reaching out to at least explore what might be a good fit given your specifics.