Location: New stereos living in In Living Stereo's new location

Late last month, New York City's In Living Stereo underwent two major changes: They made a short move, from a modestly sized storefront to a much larger one—2 Great Jones Street in the East Village—and they went from being a hi-fi shop to being a hi-fi and record shop. On a recent visit to their new digs I was impressed with the latter: While some hi-fi shops limit their music commitment to just a few racks of 200-gram LPs—commendable in and of itself, of course—In Living Stereo has built an entire record loft and filled it with hundreds of well-chosen new and used LPs. (I took it upon myself to lighten their inventory while I was there.)

Proprietor Steve Mishoe has hired some new employees to work just the record side of the business, and the ones I met were unfailingly friendly and well-informed. On the hardware side, In Living Stereo has added Naim to their line-up, and continues to represent Leben, DeVore Fidelity, Rega, Creek, Music Hall, EMT, Dynaudio, Well-Tempered, Prima Luna, Box Furniture, Auditorium 23, and, of course, Shindo Laboratory. (I spent a transcendently happy hour in ILS's enormous main demo room, listening to Charles Mingus on an all-Shindo system: custom loudspeakers modeled after the classic Western Electric 753C monitor, Cortese amplifier, Masseto preamplifier, 301 record player, and "Mr. T" power isolation transformer.) The new In Living Stereo is a short walk from the Astor Place IRT station—not far from where Tower Records used to be—and is open 7 days a week.

The smaller speaker in the title photo is Ken Shindo's recreation of the great Western Electric 753C. In the corners behind these are a pair of Shindo-rebuilt Vitavox horns. In the same photo, the Shindo 301 record player sits atop a Box Furniture D3S rack.

Steve Mishoe, proprietor of In Living Stereo, takes a break in the store's new main listening room.

COMMENTS
tom collins's picture

I really like the part about the records.  When young people see how much entertainment value they can get for just a few bucks for a used record, it will surely generate interest.  I know that an entry level Naim system (Nait 5i and Cd5i) with small dynaudio speakers and rega rp3, while not cheap, is not outrageously priced.  Now, if they started a used gear section, they would really be rocking when it comes to getting those younger folks excited.

My only regret is that I live in the mid-west which is a cultural wasteland and will not have the chance to visit that store.

music guy's picture

Mr. Dudley, We've seen your shop project with a Garrard table and have been taken through the various little darling products you have (japanese buddist monk tube designers...etc) and I wonder...is it music or the materials they're made of?   It is clear that you dearly love music but the equipment you choose must have a noise floor so loud, by modern standards, that it posits the question, is it the romance of the materials or the music?

DetroitVinylRob's picture

Thanks again Art for ferreting out another truly wonderful Hifi place that makes me feel there still is hope for the human race. Funny how small the world seems at times amongst like minded folks, in that, my how Living Stereo in this picture resembles that of a certain audio reviewer's listening room that we are all too familiar with...

Bravo!

A note to Music Guy (preceding comment) Love (of music) and also appreciation of craftsmanship, you can love both for what they are.. and one can enhance the other. I can't say but I'll bet the noise floor (if much of any) gets very little attention at Art's home due to the beautiful subject at hand (the music). It is so at my home with turntable and tube amplification from the TT outputs to the speaker cable tie-downs and the noise floor? Not present.

Happy Listening!

WEschner's picture

 

... by the title photo - ok, I admit the glowing globe attracted me most. The photo transports the feel of great music reproduction in that room, even though none of the equipment ('cept the Naims) would fit with my 8'x13' listening space.

Stereophile being my main source of info on music and hifi for about three years, I have come to regret that some brands (like DeVore) are hardly ever seen this side of the Atlantic. Wish I can make it over to NYC some day.

And - I'm wondering what that footlocker-sorta-thing-that-the-globe-sits-on is - any audio furniture?

Regards,

Wolfgang

DetroitVinylRob's picture

It's an old steamer trunk, used a century ago as luggage for the rich going on holiday abroad for months at a time, by way of a cruise ship (steam liner).

 

And I would agree that the DeVore should get better coverage in the colonies as well,as should the Living Voice OBX-RW's.

georgelouis's picture

Dear Art Dudley,

Your review of the Sony PlayStation 1 is another example of the information you may read at http://www.AbsolutePolarity.com and http://www.ultrabitplatinum.com/?page_id=88 that really shows that many component reviews are more about the playback polarity of the media in absolute polarity (particularly digital media) than about the components themselves.

Best regards,

George S. Louis, Esq., CEO

Digital Systems & Solutions

Website:  www.GetBetterHiFi.com

Phone: 619-401-9876

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