HiFi Lounge, The UK's Newest Bryston Dealer, Grand Opening October 27th/28th!

Vipers · « **on:** 9 Oct 2012, 10:50 am »

Hi Guys,

It's been a long hard slog but HiFi Lounge is very nearly a 100% ready, we finished the headphone room yesterday and fingers crossed my BHA-1 should be arriving today which will be the final piece in the jigsaw

To celebrate our opening we are holding an open weekend over October 27th and 28th, I guess most of you on AudioCircle won't be able to make it which is a real shame but if there are any Brits out there it will be great to see you here.

It is going to be a very informal affair where we can play some music, whether that be Vinyl, CD or Streaming, chat about the latest goings on in HiFi or even try out our reference cinema setup with some of the greatest demo movie scenes ever made, with obviously the SP3 taking centre stage along with a pair of 7B SST2's and PMC MB2i's, with our main source being the BDP-1 and BDA-1, I'm guessing that the BDP-2 and BDA-2 won't be here in time, any chance James

In the headphone room we'll have the BHA-1 on demo along with the full range of Grado headphones including the PS1000's and hopefully we can compare them against the Sennheiser HD800's, that is if my demo stock arrives in time.

As a thank you to anyone who comes along and purchases anything we will be offering a 10% discount on most products for that weekend only, no pressure, just our way of saying thanks for coming along to say hi and to celebrate our launch.

It really is amazing to think that from hearing my first piece of Bryston equipment, the BCD-1, along with my love of all things PMC, really has directly led to this moment with me opening HiFi lounge, absolutely crazy , if I can make it work I couldn't think of a better way to make a living though

Hope to see you for our Grand Opening, but if you can’t make that please feel free to pop in any time and say hello. Please see below for a link to our website and some pictures of the journey to get this far.

www.hifilounge.co.uk

After looking at many buildings we settled on a converted granary in the Bedfordshire Countryside.

With Stunning Views.

Let the work commnece!

Dedicated Ring Main being installed.

Then the stock started arriving.

HiFi Lounges 1st working music system, not quite Bryston.

Time to get busy

Building the Bryston Racking.

A mini PMC Shrine

One of our early visitors

Hey presto, overnight it turned into a demo facility

Here are some pictures my friend took with his stunning Leica camera, I love the black and white.

Thanks for looking, hope to see you at HiFi Lounge for the open weekend or in the near future to play with some Bryston goodies

James Tanner · « **Reply #1 on:** 9 Oct 2012, 11:35 am »

Paul

I am extremely impressed

james

Vipers · « **Reply #2 on:** 9 Oct 2012, 12:58 pm »

Thanks James, to be honest it has taken far longer than I ever could have imagined and been far too much like hard work, but now things are very nearly in place I couldn't be happier

What I'm most excited about is that I've now got my own private cinema to really enjoy the SP3 in, the lengths you have to go to eh

klao · « **Reply #3 on:** 9 Oct 2012, 02:15 pm »

Congratulations, Paul. The place looks great and ambience very inviting for the long demo.

All the best for the opening and the continuous business success.

redbook · « **Reply #4 on:** 9 Oct 2012, 03:32 pm »

Beautiful, love seeing a good old hifi shop . Best to you and your efforts....

Stu Pitt · « **Reply #5 on:** 9 Oct 2012, 10:49 pm »

Congratulations on getting this far. Everything looks fantastic. I wish you were in my neck of the woods, because I'd be that guy who you couldn't get rid of!

Bryston, Naim, Rega, PMC. All of my favorite stuff, except Audio Physic. Phenomenal.

mrhyfy · « **Reply #6 on:** 9 Oct 2012, 11:06 pm »

Congratulations,,looks fantastic..I would love to spend many hours in your shop dropping many thousands of dollars,,oops I mean pounds!!
what a classy setup!
I wish you great success,,looks like that will be your fate!

Mag · « **Reply #7 on:** 10 Oct 2012, 12:07 am »

Yikes!! Look at the size of that spider. I was traumatized when a spider the size of a quarter ran past my leg on the recliner. Hit it with the fly swatter I keep handy.

Anyway I seen buildings like that on the show Industrial Revolution. Blacksmith's shops in the 1800's, is that the heritage of those buildings?

spinner · « **Reply #8 on:** 10 Oct 2012, 10:03 pm »

Just gorgeous ....looks like a great adventure. We wish you all the success possible.

JfTM · « **Reply #9 on:** 11 Oct 2012, 12:32 am »

It looks fantastic. Congratulations and good luck!

It's a little out of the way for me (Canada, not too far from Bryston).

myview · « **Reply #10 on:** 11 Oct 2012, 03:09 am »

Hi Paul,

Congratulations for an absolutely beautiful showroom! I am in Asia, so I guess this is as close as I can get to your opening celebrations.

Have a great one!!!

Cheers

tdinut · « **Reply #11 on:** 11 Oct 2012, 06:31 am »

Paul,

You guys have done an absolutely superb job. I wish you were in the USA. I am jealous. Your photos are awesome. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them. Thanks for posting. Who makes those equipment racks. Very nice. I wish you the best of luck in business.

alexone · « **Reply #12 on:** 11 Oct 2012, 06:52 am »

Paul,

once again congrats

. all the best for the entire HifiLounge-Team!! i wish i could have a Bryston dealer like this somewhere in my neighbourhood...

Alex.

Alpha10 · « **Reply #13 on:** 11 Oct 2012, 09:49 am »

Quote from: tdinut on 11 Oct 2012, 06:31 am

Paul,

You guys have done an absolutely superb job. I wish you were in the USA. I am jealous. Your photos are awesome. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them. Thanks for posting. Who makes those equipment racks. Very nice. I wish you the best of luck in business.

The racks are from just down the road from Paul, another lovely little village, you can see them here:

http://www.hifiracks.co.uk/

I seem to remember that James has used these very racks during a show, they are absolutely great and look even better in the flesh.

Cheers

saveloy · « **Reply #14 on:** 11 Oct 2012, 11:06 pm »

Today I made the journey north of my London home to visit Hi-Fi Lounge.
It took 45 minutes door to door - less time than travelling into central London. With the added bonus of having the car (in the car park) ready to take home any purchases (or stolen items).
The building (both inside & out) & surrounding area are beautiful, and there are no issues with noise - ironically.
Paul and his wife, Wendy, were there today. And they make a fine team. Paul is a very eager and enthusiastic man, friendly and brimming with energy.
And combined with the laid back vibe of the whole establishment, it all comes together to form a relaxed and very pleasant atmosphere. Almost akin to being at a friend's home for a night of hi-fi nirvana.

Inside, there are 3 rooms on 2 levels. The main room includes an AV set up & those huge PMC MB2s. Downstairs in the 2nd room it is more restrained, with various equipment, and the 3rd is a dedicated headphone lounge. And it is the contents of this room with which I was very impressed........

The Bryston BHA-1 Headphone Amp had only just arrived. With a full selection of lovely Grado cans on display I began at the very top - the PS1000, costing an eye watering £2000!
Sitting snugly on my little head I began with Alanis Morissette singing in my ears. And then moved on to Queens of the Stone Age, and some classic Faith No More.
I wasn't expecting the excellent detail retrieval or the bright presentation. They certainly didn't have the familiar Grado sound.
Next up was the GS1000, at £1000. These sounded far more familiar, nowhere near as detailed, but the warmth gave the sound a real charm. But they sounded a little muddy after their bigger brother.
Finally I tried the PS500, a snip at £700. And straight away I knew I'd found 'the one'. The warmth of the GS1000 was there, along with a great deal of detail and punch. The bass was full, energetic & nicely defined, and a real sweetness to the mids and highs. And a better balance to the overall sound, too - lovely.
The Bryston BHA-1 wasn't too shabby, either! Very well done, Vipers.

Kyri

dflee · « **Reply #15 on:** 12 Oct 2012, 01:22 am »

Best of luck to you. Simply beautiful building, rooms and equipment. Give us a little history on the building please. It looks like an older one with slate roofing
and older bricks. The doors are fantastic. If it is a newer building, who ever built it did a great job of hiding it. You have given me another reason to visit the UK
some day.

Don

Vipers · « **Reply #16 on:** 15 Oct 2012, 10:58 am »

Quote from: saveloy on 11 Oct 2012, 11:06 pm

Today I made the journey north of my London home to visit Hi-Fi Lounge.
It took 45 minutes door to door - less time than travelling into central London. With the added bonus of having the car (in the car park) ready to take home any purchases (or stolen items).
The building (both inside & out) & surrounding area are beautiful, and there are no issues with noise - ironically.
Paul and his wife, Wendy, were there today. And they make a fine team. Paul is a very eager and enthusiastic man, friendly and brimming with energy.
And combined with the laid back vibe of the whole establishment, it all comes together to form a relaxed and very pleasant atmosphere. Almost akin to being at a friend's home for a night of hi-fi nirvana.

Inside, there are 3 rooms on 2 levels. The main room includes an AV set up & those huge PMC MB2s. Downstairs in the 2nd room it is more restrained, with various equipment, and the 3rd is a dedicated headphone lounge. And it is the contents of this room with which I was very impressed........

The Bryston BHA-1 Headphone Amp had only just arrived. With a full selection of lovely Grado cans on display I began at the very top - the PS1000, costing an eye watering £2000!
Sitting snugly on my little head I began with Alanis Morissette singing in my ears. And then moved on to Queens of the Stone Age, and some classic Faith No More.
I wasn't expecting the excellent detail retrieval or the bright presentation. They certainly didn't have the familiar Grado sound.
Next up was the GS1000, at £1000. These sounded far more familiar, nowhere near as detailed, but the warmth gave the sound a real charm. But they sounded a little muddy after their bigger brother.
Finally I tried the PS500, a snip at £700. And straight away I knew I'd found 'the one'. The warmth of the GS1000 was there, along with a great deal of detail and punch. The bass was full, energetic & nicely defined, and a real sweetness to the mids and highs. And a better balance to the overall sound, too - lovely.
The Bryston BHA-1 wasn't too shabby, either! Very well done, Vipers.

Kyri

Hi Kyri,

Thanks for all the kind words mate, it was really good to see you the other day, although you did hog the BHA-1, I've only been waiting 6 months for it and as soon as I'd set it up you were in the hot seat, perfect timing on your part

I actually need someone to run all my headphones in so if you've got a spare week or so I have a job for you I have to say that I was amazed at the sound leakage from the Grado's, it's the first time I've experienced that as they are usually on my head, I was downstairs with Kyri upstairs and I could sing along to what he was listening to, they really are ear speakers.

I have to say Kyri, if you thought that the BHA-1 was good hooked upto the Naim streamer, just wait till you hear it when working with the BDP-1 and BDA-1, it really is in a different league, BHA-1 + BDA-1 + BDP-1 = Headphone Nirvana

I've posted my thoughts over here if you'd like a read -

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=104028.340

Plus I just posted these pics of the BHA-1 -

In the Headphone room.

Being used as a Pre-Amp with a 4B SST2

Headphone Nirvana

Vipers · « **Reply #17 on:** 15 Oct 2012, 11:00 am »

Quote from: dflee on 12 Oct 2012, 01:22 am

Best of luck to you. Simply beautiful building, rooms and equipment. Give us a little history on the building please. It looks like an older one with slate roofing
and older bricks. The doors are fantastic. If it is a newer building, who ever built it did a great job of hiding it. You have given me another reason to visit the UK
some day.

Don

Thanks Don,

Unfortunately I don't know much about the building other than it is very old and used to be a granary building for most of it's life.

I really would love to find out some more information on it, so when I next see the landlord I will ask him, one things for sure it was never meant to be a hifi shop

pjg66 · « **Reply #18 on:** 16 Oct 2012, 02:26 am »

Beautiful store!! Congratulations and I wish you much success. You couldn't be carrying a better brand than Bryston. The Bryston gear I purchased (a LONG time age) was the best audio investment I ever made.

I envy those who will have ready access to your shop. Although I love the city where I currently reside, it is unfortunately an audio wasteland. Even the few mid-fi shops we once had have all vanished.

In my 55 years in this hobby, one of the most satisfying aspects of it was establishing a solid relationship with a good dealer. I would stay loyal to him and he would take care of me. Great arrangement. Fortunately for me, during most of those years I lived in a city where I could do such a thing.

Alas, for most of us those days are long gone. But there are still some lucky Brits who can have that experience.

Vipers · « **Reply #19 on:** 16 Oct 2012, 01:26 pm »

Thanks pjg66, I'm really hoping to try and create an atmosphere at HiFi Lounge were people feel they can just pop in for a chat and a listen to some of the greatest hifi equipment around and obviously Bryston are central to that.

Once my Open Weekend is out of the way I'm going to start planning the first HiFi Lounge Bryston/PMC Meet, I'll probably do 4 a year, no sales pressure, just a chance for all the Bryston and PMC owners to get together and disclose their love for all things Bryston and PMC, just like all the car meets we have over here, should be fun