Downtown's New Sound

Manning Offers Missoula Audio Enlightenment

By YogeshSimpson, 6-28-05

Missoula author Dick Manning has worn many hats over the years, and this past Friday he officially added another to the rack. He is now the proprietor of downtown Missoula’s only high-end audio and home theater shop, dB Sound. Manning is the author of seven books and is one of Montana’s more successful literary figures. He is a hunter, woodworker, advocate for wild places and proponent of simple living. So what is he doing opening a shop full of shiny, expensive gadgets? This Saturday I took a copy of the Rolling Stones’ “Let it Bleed� down to dB Sound to hear for myself.

“I like to surprise people,� Manning said surrounded by speakers and grinning. “I don’t want to be predictable, even at 53 years old. The Talking Heads said it, sometimes you have to stop making sense.�

Once you get beyond the apparent contradictions the venture begins to make sense. Manning has long been an audiophile and aficionado of fine guitars. He’s even built them. So the shop is, in a way, just another expression of his audiophilia and appreciation for fine craftsmanship.

“One person at a time has to sit in that chair and be enlightened,� he says, referring to the antique pool hall chair placed a few feet in front of a pair of massive speakers connected to a $25,000 system. “This is my opportunity to proselytize about sound.�

I put the Stones into the player and take my place in the chair. Manning stands back with the look of a proud parent as the first unforgettable notes from Keith Richard’s guitar bombard my ears. It sounds incredible, but I can’t explain why, like tasting a bottle of $100 wine when you’re used to drinking Gato Negro.

Manning delights in the details as we peruse his entire line from the $45,000, 25-speaker, home theater system to the “Subaru wagon of audiopilia,� a $300 CD player from NAD. The specifics of upsampling, bits and kilohertz are a bit dizzying. Like the hypersonic sine waves of his super tweeters speakers, the technical details pass right through my head unnoticed.

When asked if running the business is going to take time away from his writing he says the store will provide a welcome diversion and a social outlet.

“Writing is a pretty cloistered existence and you get pretty squirrelly,� says Manning. "I write in the morning, I come down and open the store at 11 [o’clock], talk to some people downtown, maybe sell a few things, listen to some nice music and go home. To me that sounds like a pretty good day.�

The writing business has been good to Manning lately. A consistent flow of grant money has funded his recent projects, including an upcoming book about an effort to establish a 3.5 million acre grassland preserve around the Missouri Breaks. An overview of the project is the feature article in the summer issue of onearth magazine, published by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

This retail project is far from a guaranteed success. Of course Manning thinks there is a demand for the kind of products and service he’s offering. Still it's a gamble, and he's going it alone. Manning has put up all the capital for the new store.

“I’m at the nervous point,� he says “I’m right on the edge. I’ve got $120,000 dollars worth of inventory, and it’s not really inventory it’s display. If some one buys something it has to be replaced.�

The store is on the corner of Pine and Higgins, adjacent to the Bike Dr. and Taco del Sol. The building – formerly the Trailhead – has been subdivided into three units, with a physical therapy office going in next to dB Sound. Starbucks has expressed an interest in the third unit but has not signed a contract. Manning is not excited about having the corporate coffee giant as a neighbor, but is resigned to the possibility.

“[Downtown] Missoula’s gotten by quite nicely without a corporate presence. That’s part of its charm,� says Manning. “But what can you do? That’s growth. We’ll survive it. People are fiercely loyal in Missoula.�

Manning will need to capitalize on some of that downtown loyalty if he is going to compete with the big box stores. But Manning is a patient and passionate salesman and his space is comfortable and attractive. I walk out of dB Sound without a new sound system, but tempted to get the rest of my CD collection and hang out there all day.

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