Subject: Trip Report Date: Mon, 21 Jan 91 12:54:50 EST From: Scott Dorsey Iceland ------- Iceland is a country with the population of Richmond VA. There are only a couple of record stores, and prices are insane ($30/CD). Much like the U.S., there were huge numbers of electronics stores and few stores that carried good electronics. JAMO was as high-end as it got. I attempted to tour the national broadcasting station, though on my first effort I discovered myself, due to language difficulties, in a weather station from which I was forcibly evicted by a pair of meteorologists. Afterward, I happened upon a reporter at a press conference who was using a Nagra E and a Sennheiser ribbon mike, who got me correctly oriented (he was from Radio 2, the smaller of the two government networks there). I did tour the studios, and I was impressed by the amount of excellent quality vintage gear. 1960's Collins mixing boards, Nagra recorders for on-site stuff, Ampex 350's everywhere. The sound quality wasn't all that bad, and there was a huge engineering staff who seemed to care about sound. One of their shortwave transmitters was a captured German unit made by Telefunken. The swastikas and eagles had been scratched off the front panel, but it was otherwise just as it had come off the assembly line. Finding parts for any equipment at all is very difficult in the country, so they tend to stay with older equipment that uses more standardized components. I was impressed. The programming wasn't as slick as the bigger outfits, but it was well-done and sounded pretty good. London ------ For new records, HMV and Tower seem to be the major sources. I didn't find all that many good new record stores at all, which was rather sad. What was more sad was that almost all the Celtic folk music recordings that anyone carried were actually produced by a label in Connecticut. I went looking for a Glenn Gould recording on BIS that's not available in the U.S., and though I didn't find it, I did find a lot of other obscure Gould stuff that CBS would probably object to my bringing into the country. New stereo gear I found a lot of, especially in a small Akihabaralike area on the Tottenham Court Road. Unlike Akihabara, there were no places that speciallized in high end stuff, but almost everyboday carried some. Quad and Roberts gear in abundance, and some very nice Quad amps indeed. I stopped in a place called Hi-Fi Care (they have two shops, and the larger of the two is the one you want... they are only a couple of blocks away from one another). Lots of Keith Monk stuff (the turntable weights for $10, and those nifty mercury-contact tonearms for $30... also I picked up a Decca Maroon cartridge for $250 on special order... and I should have bought some small pocket 30X magnifiers for $4). These guys will take mail orders and I will send their address to anyone who wants to place an order. There were a lot of other nifty places in the area.. Harp electronics showed off a number of nice custom-built tube amps, and Galaxy had more Quad gear, as well as the usual consumer crap. Prices were higher by a bit than in the U.S. but a lot of the equipment there just isn't available here. Richer Sounds is another interesting outfit; they are a chain across the UK that sells liquidated gear. Some good quality stuff and some junk. They seem to be very much into mid-fi seperates, although for some reason they don't appear to carry straight amps, just integrated amps. Also they don't seem to have any part of the monstrous power wars that you see in the U.S. Lots of good 20W and 50W integrated amps at reasonable prices. For used equipment, there is a small area off Edgeware Road. I didn't get as much chance to hang around here as I would have liked, not only because I was under a tight schedule but also because I started to buy things. Huge amounts of tube equipment and some great microphones. At Notting Hill Gate, there is a firm called "Music and Video Exchange." They actually have a number of shops, selling either used records or audio gear. Most of the audio gear was unimpressive, save for a Naim preamp they had and a couple Rotel amps, and the prices weren't great. The used record section had an incredible selection (plus a lot of 78's, since they weren't discontinued in the UK until several years after their U.S. demise). Prices were fairly high, but this from the point of view of a man who gets extremely good deals on used records in the U.S. I bought some Kenton albums, and a couple of Polish imports. I also got a chance to tour the Abbey Road studio, which is like any large overgrown studio in the U.S. except more so. Too many tracks for my personal taste, but it was an excellent example of excess. I attempted to tour the BBC studios, but the security was quite tight due to recent terrorist attempts and I was also told that I should have sent a letter several weeks in advance so they could find someone to take me through the radio section. I did indeed insinuate my way into a TV studio tour, then leave the group and get a rather quick look at the radio studios, but the security guard who evicted me did prevent me from seeing all that much. On weekends there is an open-air market right off the Camden Town tube station which has some audio gear that is worth investigating. I would have bought a 16" Rek-O-Kut turntable for $20 if I had any way to get it home. Also there is a place called Lee's Cameras across the street from the market which has a large amount of 16mm equipment. I was rather surprised at the huge amateur use of 16mm there, which seems even to be outcrowding video. But I digress. Surprisingly, there were some excellent performers in the Underground as well. The subway is well-recommended as a place to go for some good classical and folk music, though the reverb does get a bit out of hand. I was shocked that the quality of the street musicians was so much higher than in the U.S. Go to the Museum of the Moving Image. You'll be impressed. There are also a number of free concerts given in the area which are quite worthwhile. Liverpool --------- There is a used record store in Liverpool, across from the labor union building. The only place in England that I found a good selection of Irish and Scottish folk music. Go there. I was surprised to find so few tourists in search of Beatles memorabilia, and sad to find that the Cave no longer existed. Also some excellent street musicians along the Albert docks, though the Elvis impersonator could have used some work. Returning --------- Due to aircraft problems I wound up taking a commercial flight back to the U.S. Without going into the difficulties I had with immigration insisting my passport was a forgery, or the confiscation of my radio equipment by the Heathrow security, it was quite a good experience. My seatmate on the trip was a German engineer for AKG, who knew quite a bit about microphones. After the stewardess parked the drink cart in front of us and disappeared for a couple of hours, we began concocting various peculiar beverages, and he began speaking of the AKG C747, which is a tiny pencil of a microphone with a rather tight pattern and an interference tube assembly. Personally, I had used the mike, and found it heavily colored, which I thought was the result of the tube. After a slight interruption while the drink cart was removed and we were reprimanded (this actually turned out all right, because the fellow seemed to have his carry-on baggage stuffed completely with Berlinerweiss), he began to talk about the design of interference tubes and how difficult it was to get even response, not to mention that it was impossible to get even off-field response. He mentioned that they were intending on manufacturing a pencil mike designed for off-field use, which would be interesting to try for area miking applications. Another interesting thing about the flight was that the B757 aircraft had a rather curious sound system installed. Each seat had a jack for a stereo headphone, and a volume and channel control. A central box somewhere in the aircraft sent a signal to the headphones, and took input for the channel control in a digital format. (I only got to disassemble the seat electronics, nothing else). This seemed like a good idea, reducing crosstalk, because only one stereo pair was sent to each seat, and all the switching was done at a central location, also reducing wiring. Listening revealed that the system wasn't as well designed as it could have been. The headphones were even worse than the junk accoustic tubes you get on B747s, the crosstalk was terrible, and the high frequency response was quite poor. Tape hiss was also in evidence. Since the tape had a short rewind time and each programme was of a different length, it was obviously not the multitrack cartridge which the B747 used. I clipped off the jack to a pair of headphones and soldered it to a pair of AKG phones leant by my seatmate for an experiment. I had to go into the bathroom to use the razor jack to power my 18W Antex iron, which was about the maximum power it could handle. Next flight I bring the Weller cordless iron. Anyway, it was a great improvement in that I could now hear all the major flaws of a poorly designed tape system that didn't keep azimuth. It's so easy to design such a system... why do they all sound so poor? Thankfully my horizontal dictionary had a large quantity of a Jugoslavian cherry juice which went quite well with the Berlinerwiess, helping me drown my disgust at sound systems being manufactured by people who didn't care about sound. From: exspes@gdr.bath.ac.uk (P E Smee) Subject: Re: Trip Report Date: Wed, 23 Jan 1991 18:29:48 GMT In article <9081@uwm.edu> kludge@grissom.larc.nasa.gov (Scott Dorsey) writes: >London >------ > For new records, HMV and Tower seem to be the major sources. I didn't >find all that many good new record stores at all, which was rather sad. >What was more sad was that almost all the Celtic folk music recordings that >anyone carried were actually produced by a label in Connecticut. Those two, and the Virgin Megastore on the corner of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road (surprised you missed it). The three have different strengths and weaknesses. There are also (I'm told) some very good small specialist record shops in London. However, I've so far been unable to find either the 'jazz' or the 'folk' speciality shops in several trips to London, despite having been given directions by a friend. (He doesn't recall the addresses.) > New stereo gear I found a lot of, especially in a small Akihabaralike >area on the Tottenham Court Road. The TCR shops are largely geared towards attracting 'tourist' trade. They can be good if you know what you want, but they vary widely in their degree of knowledge about the subject. (They do, however, know how to handle the VAT (sales tax) exemption paperwork for stuff being exported.) There are high(er) end shops in London, but they tend to be out of the way. My favorite so far is KJ West One, at 26 New Cavendish Street. > Richer Sounds is another interesting outfit; they are a chain across the UK >that sells liquidated gear. Some good quality stuff and some junk. Mostly that, also 'factory repacks' and end-of-line stuff, and some grey imports. I'm annoyed by them because their advertising always emphasizes their 'low prices', but in fact very few of their items are priced below what everyone else charges for them. They ARE interesting, though, in that they have the highest money turnover per square foot of shop space of any chain of any kind in the UK. As you might guess, that means they do NOT have demo rooms. If you want a specific item, don't want a demo, and it's one of the few things which is priced below list, they are OK. In fact, it's almost like mail-order, except they won't mail it. (At least they are friendly, and usually know what they are talking about.) >Also they don't seem to >have any part of the monstrous power wars that you see in the U.S. Lots of >good 20W and 50W integrated amps at reasonable prices. There's a difference in emphasis between the US and the UK (speaking as an American citizen who's lived here for 11 years). It's a pretty fair generalization that the British do NOT share the American obsession with really powerful LOOOOW bass; but that they are much more concerned with cleanly detailed presentation, particularly in the midrange and treble, at fairly low SPL. 50W RMS/channel is a pretty big amp. Normal listening levels might be on the order of 90 db or less measured one meter from the speakers. (Around 1 watt of power, with typical speakers. Everything else is headroom.) Some of this may also reflect the fact that most British houses are of masonry construction, with plaster surfacing; even for interior walls. US houses are mostly stud and plasterboard (or equivalent). British rooms also tend to have fewer or smaller doors and windows. Thus, the normal British listening room doesn't soak up as much of the sound as a normal American listening room. Also, British rooms tend to be much smaller than American ones, except maybe in ceiling height. Having tried both ways of listening during my life, there is one major advantage to the British preference. It's much less hazardous to your ears, and so to your future ability to listen to things. Takes a bit of adaptation for an American to make the change, but I think it's worth the effort. (On the other hand, I'm getting old enough for that to be a real worry, which influences my thinking.) >I attempted to tour the >BBC studios, but the security was quite tight due to recent terrorist attempts >... I did indeed >insinuate my way into a TV studio tour, then leave the group and get a rather >quick look at the radio studios, but the security guard who evicted me did >prevent me from seeing all that much. I'd like to discourage people from trying this. You're lucky, though, that the security guard merely 'evicted' you. Terrorist bombings in London have happened often enough that there are very real fears, and some very paranoid security guards. Keep in mind that under the Prevention of Terrorism act the police can hold you for 3 days without telling ANYONE that they've got you, and for no better reason than that they thought you looked 'suspicious' in the wrong context. > On weekends there is an open-air market right off the Camden Town tube >station which has some audio gear that is worth investigating. Open-air markets require some care for things like this, as there is a fair chance that the goods either won't work (and you can't try them) or that they might have 'fallen off the back of a lorry'. In US-speak, they can be various shades of warm-to-hot. Not to say that all market traders are crooks; but on the other hand, a lot of crooks are market traders. I'd suggest that the markets are best left to people who are here for an extended stay, and can spend some time watching the stalls to work out which traders are still there after a few weeks, and which ones spend a lot of time in loud arguments with people who 'bought this here last week, and...'. The markets CAN be fun, but caveat emptor. >I was rather surprised at the >huge amateur use of 16mm there, which seems even to be outcrowding video. Until recently, a typical decent portable video camera ran in the neighborhood of 1000 pounds sterling, about $2000. Factor in the generally lower disposable income over here, and it's not really surprising. (That's close to 10% of the average family annual income. Prices have dropped dramatically in the past few months.) > Surprisingly, there were some excellent performers in the Underground >as well. The subway is well-recommended as a place to go for some good >classical and folk music, though the reverb does get a bit out of hand. I >was shocked that the quality of the street musicians was so much higher than >in the U.S. You have to be good. The Underground licenses the performers, and tends to chase out unlicensed ones. There are a LOT of unemployed people in London, and 'busking' is a reasonable way to try to pick up some money. However, the demand for licenses is high enough that (I'm told) the Underground actually auditions people before granting the licenses. Performers of various kinds also work the (touristy) area around Covent Garden. That's outdoors, so is best watched in the summer. Advantages there are that there are cafes (so you can eat and listen), and you don't get the same degree of reverb. There's also a good hifi shop in the Covent Garden area, I hear. I haven't checked it out yet myself. (By the way, it's not really a 'garden'.) -- Paul Smee, Computing Service, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UD, UK P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk - ..!uunet!ukc!bsmail!p.smee - Tel +44 272 303132 From: chowkwan@priam.usc.edu (Raymond Chowkwanyun) Subject: Re: Trip Report Date: 28 Jan 91 19:04:22 GMT Gary Glynn of Manhattan writes in the sep/oct 90 issue of Absolute Sound that vinyl can be found in London at: 1. Gramex 84 Lower Marsh (just SE of Waterloo Station near Old Vic) 071-401-3830 Lots of opera. Total disorganization requiring much work to comb thru selection. Lyritas for 10 pounds each. 2. Harold Moore Great Malborough Street in Soho. Vinyl is in the basement. 3. Cheapo Cheapo Records (I kid you not) 53 Rupert Street off Shaftsbury Avenue Small selection, but cheap. 4. Caruso & Co. 35 New Oxford Street Classical and vocal. Any of our readers resident in Britain care to comment? In fact, any pointers about vinyl sources from the European community would be welcomed. Particularly, fax numbers where orders may be placed etc. -- ray ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Feb 1991 7:58:10 EST From: KLUDGE@AGCB1.LARC.NASA.GOV Subject: More London Stores Forgot to mention Caruso and Company, which also is heavily recommended. I spent an afternoon there but didn't buy anything, though I did lust after a recording of Prince Igor recorded by the East Germans. --scott ------------------------------ From: gfo@dmu.ac.uk (Gary Fozzard) Subject: Re: hi-fi, lp stores in London Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 08:24:43 GMT peterchong@VNET.IBM.COM wrote: : Anyone can recommend any good high end or LP stores in London? I will : be visiting soon, and would like to spend some time looking around, and : perhaps buy some vinyl. Check out Grahams Hi-Fi, they are one of the best, and a mate of mine has dealt with them for some years. re good vinyl shops, I include here a report from analogue addicts listserver. ========INCLUDED INFO ========= >From wgd@uk.ac.ukc Thu Jun 3 12:52:39 1993 Date: Wed, 2 Jun 93 18:57:36 BST From: Warren Day To: analogue-addicts@uk.ac.exeter.vortex1 Cc: asjp1@edu.alaska.acad2, mpe@uk.co.clink.cix, sgf1@uk.ac.ukc Subject: Two Ton of Records Hello all, At the weekend I went to London and planned to do my usual HMV, Virgin, Tower Records trip. This has sometimes cost between 100 and 150 quid, mainly due to me not going to London that often. After buying some stuff in HMV this lady outside saw the 12" size bag and gave me a leaflet. On it it talked about some records shops on Berwick Street, so I asked her where it was. "Go down the turning opposite (Poland Street) til you get to the big new building at the end then turn left and right when you see the market stalls." I did so and found no less than 6 record shops, though I only bought stuff in five of them. New vinyl, second hand vinyl. I had taken home that magazine I posted about a while ago, just so I could go into all the record shops in London, just as well I forgot to look at the Magazine and get out the A-Z. I spent 206 quid, though 8.50 of it was for Tori Amos's Little Earthquakes for Neil "look what I've done to my Naim" McBride. ================ hope this helps, Gary