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From: gabe@sirius.ctr.columbia.edu (Gabe Wiener)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: Re: American trip
Message-ID: <9745@uwm.edu>
Date: 25 Feb 91 13:36:23 GMT
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In article <9708@uwm.edu> bms89@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Scally BM) writes:
>
> I am going to be visiting the N.Y. area this summer.
>     1) What are the good shops to visit

Okay.  I'll try to give a good rundown of the notable high-end stereo dealers
and other recording notables...

My choice for the best high-end dealership in New York City is Lyric Hi-FI
(1221 Lexington Avenue, Tel: 439-1900).  Lyric carries such brands as Infinity,
Mark Levinson, Well Tempered, Goldmund Reference, Mirage, Audio Research,
Koetsu, Quad, B&W, Celestion, Proceed, Stax, Spectral, and A LOT more.
Don't be fooled by the rather smallish looking interior and the generous
supplies of relatively mid-fi NAD amps and Sony carousel players when you
walk in.  Once you have a salesman's attention and he takes you through
the back, you'll discover four of five custom-built soundrooms where you
can hear all the top hardware, including the $50,000 Infinity IRS V's.
Be warned, though.  Sound is serious business at Lyric.  If you plan on
paying this dealer a visit, make sure they think you're serious and not
a weekend browser.  Treat them right, and they'll spend hours with you in
the sound room.  Otherwise they'll spare no expense to get you out of 
the store!

What Lyric doesn't carry can be found at Stereo Exchange (Broadway off
Bleecker, I believe...walking distance from the big Tower Records), a
relatively new store that claims to be the largest high-end dealership
in the world.  Stereo Exchange's stock ranges from the mid-fi up through
high-end, and their sales staff is generally more courteous than that at
Lyric.  Of course, their stock isn't quite as high-end oriented as is Lyric's.
Still, it's worth a visit.  They also have a huge used equipment section.

Yet another high-end dealer which I have not visited myself but which has
a wonderful reputation is Sound by Singer.  They just moved, and I don't 
have their address offhand, so I can't provide you with it.  You'll be able
to get it from the telephone book when you get here.

Those are the three major high-end dealers in NYC.  There are many others
in New York (Grand Central Radio, Harvey Sound, Audio Breakthroughs,
Audio/Video Exchange, Park Avenue Audio, and others).  If there are
specific brands you're looking for, the best thing to do is to get your
hands on a yellow pages when you get here and look under "stereophonic."
All the mid to high-end dealers have 1/4-page ads listing the brands that
they carry.  If you just want to visit some high-end shops w/o anything
particular in mind, the three I mentioned are probably the top drawer.


If you're after CD's, you'll probably find the largest selection at
Tower Records. They have two stores, one on Broadway @ 4th St., and the
other on Broadway at 66th St (one block from Lincoln Center).  The 4th
St. store is substantially larger, but the 66th St. store is no small
potato.  Classical section at 4th St. is the biggest in the city.

J&R Music World, located ALL THE WAY downtown near City Hall probably has
the best prices, though I still like Tower's stock better.  Still, it may be
worth a trip.  If you're looking for generic electronics also, J&R will
have what you want, and at probably the best prices in the city.

New in New York is HMV...two stores now exist.  One on 72nd & Broadway, and
the other on 86th and Lexington (three blocks up from Lyric).  The 86th St.
store is the largest record store in the United States, though their stock
is still somewhat limited.  Classical section is rather small.

If you're looking for rare Vinyl offerings, the place to go is G&A Rare
Records, on 72nd St. between Broadway and CPW (Call for exact address).
With over 100,000 discs in excellent condition, they fill a much-needed
niche in New York City.  Most of their selection is classical, but they do
have a decent Jazz section and a few boxes of popular stuff also.  If you
like Vinyl, plan on spending A LOT of time there.  G&A also happens to be
very convenient to the 72nd St. Central Park entrance, so you might want to
go for a stroll afterwards if the weather is nice.

Other notable Vinyl dealers are Gryphon Records, and Music Masters.

>     2) Can any one do a price comparison for me (U.K to America) of easy to
>        carry items such as interconnects and C.D.s

CD's in the U.S. are an absolute BARGAIN compared to the prices in the U.K.
Your average popular CD sells for about $11.99 at Tower.  Classical CD's
at Tower are generally $13.99, sometimes going up to $15 or even a little
higher for imports.  A good 3-disc opera with libretto runs about $40-$45.

With the British pound being about $1.90-$1.95 these days, you basically
can divide the dollar amount by 2 to get an approximate Sterling price.
As you can see, the currency difference will work to your advantage.


Hope this helped....

-- 
Gabe Wiener - Columbia Univ.     "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings 
gabe@ctr.columbia.edu             to be seriously considered as a means of 
gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu       communication. The device is inherently of
72355.1226@compuserve.com         no value to us."  -Western Union memo, 1877