exspes@gdr.bath.ac.uk (P E Smee) (01/25/91)
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