Listening Clubs

[Sligolad]

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/10/31/ar ... yNM1AjoUjg

[tony]

Pearse think Garden shed in Bray, Paddock in Mondello Park, Farm yard in Meath and building site in Rathgar. The only difference is we need to move from listening to nuances in batteries to brightening up the decor and putting ourselves through the pain of listening to each others favourites. I am looking forward to the grimace on Nigels face after a full listening day of a certain musician.

[panda2rom]

Interesting.

It could become a real trend... if less and less concert are acoustic.

I was at Anoushka Shankar concert, a few weeks ago, and while i enjoyed it... i thought that my speakers were better.

[nige2000]

i kinda like the idea
is there a market though?
not much in moynalty anyhow

lots of gigs seem to have acoustics well down on the priority list and manage to be quite unimpressive

[Claus]

It's a great idea. I was trying to encourage a monthly or bimonthly "club night/afternoon" a few years ago but it never really took off. In board gaming cafes seem to be a growing trend in other countries but I think the difference is that hi-fi is very much a solitary hobby. It doesn't depend on others and with every one having different tastes in music and systems, it doesn't encourage social interaction in the same way. Personally I think this is the biggest drawback of the hi-fi hobby: I find it much more rewarding when able to compare and discuss with other enthusiasts without judging etc. (Something this forum excels at). Also my biggest interest is music. So for me, getting recommendations and hearing new artists is more important than listening for the shimmer decay on cymbal 300 times in one week while tweaking. (Not that I don't enjoy that as well:)

I had the business idea years ago to open a cafe with a small retail sections featuring quality LP and CD selections along with some simple playback systems. But I quickly realised how difficult it would be to survive city centre location rent or even leafy suburbs....

Once again I believe Dublin suffers being a provincial town to London as opposed to a true capital city... in the commercial sense only of course... but I would difinitely go (the odd time I got the chance) if we had a place like that in Dublin....

[panda2rom]

There is a market, to some extent at least... but i'm not sure a café would suit.
There are concerts, in Dublin, not live one...
You have andré rieu on the big screen or Jonas Kaufmann: An Evening With Puccini on screen at the pavillon theatre in Dun laoghaire.
And people pay good money to see/listen to that.
And they, seriously, don't get their money worth of good sound.

I guess today you need audio & video. Just watching at speakers is not good enough :)

Now how to make it into a successfull business is another story.

[Ivor]

It's a great idea. I was trying to encourage a monthly or bimonthly "club night/afternoon" a few years ago but it never really took off.

It's not beyond the collective wit or ability of this forum to organise regular meetups. We've certainly had some great ones in the past but it would be good to organise evenings (or days) where we wouldn't be imposing on members homes or workplaces - obviously they can continue in parallel!

With a bit of organisation we could locate hire a suitable venue (accessible and ideally with parking) and supply a good system from our own resources. Later we could invite retailers to provide a system with ourselves providing the music. Obviously we'd have vinyl and CD but it would provide a great opportunity for people to hear what computer audio can do as well. Hopefully we could swap sources without the use of a soldering iron ;)

[rickmcinnis]

First time I heard of this was when reading about Sakuma's amplifiers. There would be pictures of his cafe where he had one of his systems set up.

I can imagine people in Japan actually sitting down with a beverage and listening to music. I cannot imagine it happening anywhere else.

When you attend concerts where the music is loud and there are half of the people conversing/yelling with/at each other you wonder what happens in these places in London or anywhere else in the "lookame" world of the modern "west"? I doubt anyone can hear the music for the conversations that the conversers think are of interest to everyone.

An interesting idea in the abstract. But when you get to the final analysis - no chance.

[Ivor]

An interesting idea in the abstract. But when you get to the final analysis - no chance.

Except that we've had many hugely enjoyable meetups in the past... all that's being suggested here is that become more, for want of a better word, "formal"


"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it." - George Bernard Shaw

[Fran]

As Ivor says, its not beyond the wit of the people assembled here to set this up. I think the hardest thing to organise might be the room - getting somewhere that ticks all the boxes; location, parking, acoustics, availability, cost. Maybe a parish centre with decent rooms and seating? Supplying the equipment and music shouldn't be a problem I think. And I think "build it and they will come" probably would apply.

I've never been to the classic album sundays or vinyl and wine - anybody here gone to them? What were they like?


Fran