Pops110 Posted June 4, 2017 Posted June 4, 2017 (edited) Hi all, So we arrived in Barcelona from Madrid 2 days ago, got our bearings and started to explore a little bit. We are staying in an apartment right near La Rambla, the main mall heading down to the port. Very touristy, but very beautiful. The street we are staying on is Carrer dels Tallers, very cool little street. Low and behold we walk about 10 metres down the road I come across Botiga de Discos record store. Nice little store, good selection on music. Two doors down on Carrer del les Stiges there is Daily Records, and two doors down again there is this store, devoted to all things metal. Further down Tallers there is Discos Impacto. Very good selection of all music with both new and second hand vinyl, clothes and other goodies. Bought these little numbers there. There are quite a few other little shops in the area that I will try to visit and will let you know what they are like. Cheers Dave. ps more to come Edited June 4, 2017 by Pops110 7
Upfront Posted June 4, 2017 Posted June 4, 2017 Hi all, So we arrived in Barcelona from Madrid 2 days ago, got our bearings and started to explore a little bit. We are staying in an apartment right near La Rambla, the main mall heading down to the port. Very touristy, but very beautiful. The street we are staying on is Carrer dels Tallers, very cool little street. Low and behold we walk about 10 metres down the road I come across Botiga de Discos record store. Nice little store, good selection on music. Two doors down on Carrer del les Stiges there is Daily Records, and two doors down again there is this store, devoted to all things metal. Further down Tallers there is Discos Impacto very good selection of all music with both new and second hand vinyl, clothes and other goodies. Bought these little numbers in there. There are quite a few other little shops in the area that I will try to visit and will let you know what they are like. Cheers Dave. ps more to come Bloody hell Dave! You've hit the jackpot! 1
Pops110 Posted June 4, 2017 Author Posted June 4, 2017 (edited) Stumbled across this place, while looking for a yoga retreat of all places. Werner Musica. Really awesome shop, lots of interesting gear as you walk in. Consonance, Airtight, Siltech, KEF, Pylon audio the list goes on. The salesman asked if I needed help or was just looking? I replied "just looking". We were then promptly ushered down stairs into a very cool little stone walled listening room where they were having a demonstration of some very nice gear. He set up two more seats for me and my partner, I was almost in the sweet spot, along with maybe 5 other people. They place a really wide selection of music on both vinyl and cd, the last song was by Angus and Julia Stone which really surprised us. This was the setup. List of gear: - Graham Audio LS 6 speakers. - Icon audio 845 stereo PP integrated. - Consonance Reference cd 2.2 mk3 hd. - Icon audio phono stage. - Acoustic Solid 111 Metal with matching base. I think? - Siltech Anniversary Classic 770L speaker cables, not sure about other cables. - Pagode rack. This system sounded amazing, even my partner was impressed and said she really enjoyed the experience. The bass control from these monitors is amazing. I have never heard Graham audio speakers before and I was mighty impressed, they portray music in an effortless and very musical manner. Very similar sounding to Harbeth, but they do share a lot of DNA I suppose. Married up to the Icon Audio amp it was truly special setup. I was a very happy chappy, had a bit of a chat to the salesman and the owner who made us feel really welcome. Highly recommend a visit if you are in Barcelona. ( we didn't even get into the really high end rooms upstairs) Cheers Dave. More to come. Edited June 4, 2017 by Pops110 9
Keith_W Posted June 5, 2017 Posted June 5, 2017 Barcelona is a mighty rabbit warren, I am surprised that you managed to stumble across all these places! I couldn't even find the places that I was actively looking for! 2
Tony M Posted June 5, 2017 Posted June 5, 2017 When we were in Barcelona almost 2 years ago, I found an interesting looking hifi store between the hotel we were staying at and the main shopping centre - I suspect it was the same one. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get there during opening hours. But we loved Barcelona and we're keen to go back sometime. Serious envy for you here, Dave. But thanks for telling us about it. 1
Pops110 Posted June 6, 2017 Author Posted June 6, 2017 (edited) 19 hours ago, Keith_W said: Barcelona is a mighty rabbit warren, I am surprised that you managed to stumble across all these places! I couldn't even find the places that I was actively looking for! It is but once you get your bearings it's relatively easy. I have my phone for the maps as well, helps heaps. 19 hours ago, Tony M said: When we were in Barcelona almost 2 years ago, I found an interesting looking hifi store between the hotel we were staying at and the main shopping centre - I suspect it was the same one. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get there during opening hours. But we loved Barcelona and we're keen to go back sometime. Serious envy for you here, Dave. But thanks for telling us about it. I think it probably would be the same shop. It really is good. We love Barcelona too, we are planning to come back for sure. When Sagrada Familiar is completed I think. Supposed to be in 2026. Yesterday was a bit of a fail. Had planned on going to two more shops but there was a public holiday so not a lot was open. We did get to go to a little jazz club which was pretty good. I forgot to take photos so just grabbed one off the net. Jamboree Jazz. Nice venue, really different to anywhere I've been before. Sound was a little off though, they need to work on it a little. Fingers crossed I get to the shops today and tomorrow. cheers Dave. Edited June 6, 2017 by Pops110 1
Upfront Posted June 6, 2017 Posted June 6, 2017 I think it probably would be the same shop. It really is good. We love Barcelona too, we are planning to come back for sure. When Sagrada Familiar is completed I think. Supposed to be in 2026. Yesterday was a bit of a fail. Had planned on going to two more shops but there was a public holiday so not a lot was open.[emoji20] We did get to go to a little jazz club which was pretty good. I forgot to take photos so just grabbed one off the net. Jamboree Jazz. Nice venue, really different to anywhere I've been before. Sound was a little off though, they need to work on it a little. Fingers crossed I get to the shops today and tomorrow. cheers Dave. Love those underground places. Very cool mate. I'm only slightly jealous.[emoji13] 1
Pops110 Posted June 7, 2017 Author Posted June 7, 2017 On 06/06/2017 at 9:30 AM, Upfront said: Love those underground places. Very cool mate. I'm only slightly jealous. They are very cool. So many interesting places over here. Love it.
Upfront Posted June 7, 2017 Posted June 7, 2017 They are very cool. So many interesting places over here. Love it. Photos then mate! Come on![emoji13] Its 4° here at the moment show me some sunshine!
Pops110 Posted June 8, 2017 Author Posted June 8, 2017 10 hours ago, Upfront said: Photos then mate! Come on! Its 4° here at the moment show me some sunshine! 5
Upfront Posted June 8, 2017 Posted June 8, 2017 Now your just showing off Dave[emoji13] !Those brick vaulted ceilings are amazing! Impressive engineering today let alone back when it was built. 3
Pops110 Posted June 8, 2017 Author Posted June 8, 2017 Finally got to have a look in here yesterday, it's right around the corner from Sagrada Familiar. Its a very nice shop. Lots of mainstream stuff as you walk in, but gets a little more interesting as you head out the back. They have lots of speakers in here, mostly midrange but they do have quite a few higher end models as well. KEF, Graham Audio, Harbeth, Audio Physic, Avalon, ATC etc etc Electronics by Sugden, Ayre,Lavardin, Bow Acoustics etc Had a very brief listen to this setup, with unfamiliar music. It did sound very nice but not as good as at the other shop with the Graham Audio speakers. Audio Physic Codex speakers Bow Technologies amp Denon cdp Swiss Cables Reference speaker cables Other gear in the room was Ayre, Lavardin, Sugden, Harbeth 40.2, Perreaux. Also went here but unfortunately it was closed again, the gear they have in there looks very impressive. Also had a look in a few more record stores as they were finally open. They all seem to have very good ranges with lots of hard to find music. This area is pretty special. Picked this little number up for @Tubularbells while I was there. All in all a pretty good day. Cheers Dave. 5
Pops110 Posted June 8, 2017 Author Posted June 8, 2017 (edited) 29 minutes ago, Upfront said: Now your just showing off Dave ! Those brick vaulted ceilings are amazing! Impressive engineering today let alone back when it was built. They sure are mate. Gaudi was a fruit loop with what he came up with, but god damn they are impressive. Edited June 8, 2017 by Pops110 1
Upfront Posted June 8, 2017 Posted June 8, 2017 They sure are mate. Gaudi was a fruit loop with what he came up with, but god damn they are impressive. Amazing to look at. Lucky bastard!
wasabijim Posted June 8, 2017 Posted June 8, 2017 that's awesome ahhh europe.... love Barcelona also (but that could be the rose glasses looking back 15yrs....) was in Vancouver a few weeks back (missed record store day by a week) and got to check out a few record stores, the misses could only tolerate so much however and we only had the 1 day, but still managed to grab a few LPs 1
Pops110 Posted June 20, 2017 Author Posted June 20, 2017 We got off the boat. Docked in Lisbon, have spent the last 4 days here in Portugal. Amazing, beautiful country. We have loved every minute of it. There has been some very sad news while we have been here. Devastating bush fires have swept through north-east of Lisbon. The death toll was up around 70 at last count. Our taxi driver is Lisbon that was taking us to the airport received a phone call on our trip and broke down in tears. His village that he grew up in and his family home was all destroyed and he lost some loved ones. Very sad, and emotional trip, we tried to comfort him as much as we could, in broken English and Portuguese. To be continued.
Upfront Posted June 20, 2017 Posted June 20, 2017 We got off the boat. Docked in Lisbon, have spent the last 4 days here in Portugal. Amazing, beautiful country. We have loved every minute of it. There has been some very sad news while we have been here. Devastating bush fires have swept through north-east of Lisbon. The death toll was up around 70 at last count. Our taxi driver is Lisbon that was taking us to the airport received a phone call on our trip and broke down in tears. His village that he grew up in and his family home was all destroyed and he lost some loved ones. Very sad, and emotional trip, we tried to comfort him as much as we could, in broken English and Portuguese. To be continued. Poor bloody taxi driver. Thats horrible for him.
Pops110 Posted June 20, 2017 Author Posted June 20, 2017 4 hours ago, Upfront said: Poor bloody taxi driver. Thats horrible for him. Yeah, poor fella. We both felt so sad for him. We send all those affected our thoughts. 1
Pops110 Posted June 21, 2017 Author Posted June 21, 2017 17 hours ago, Upfront said: On the up side, what an amazing boat! It was pretty special, so was this one. Both of them owned by a Russian billionaire, the one on the right is for sale. Can be yours for $300m.
Pops110 Posted June 21, 2017 Author Posted June 21, 2017 Didn't have time to get to any stores in Lisbon . Tried to get to a few record stores but they were all closed. Managed to get some time in Porto and popped in here. They have stores in Porto and Lisbon. This place was by far the best shop I've ever been to. The selection of gear, knowledge and friendliness of the staff was second to none. I spent just on an hour in the shop. I was shown around all 3 levels of the store, was given a run down on the gear they sold, what they recommend at all different price ranges etc etc. Had a good talk about Portugal, Australia and talked about my system and gear made in Oz. He was quite familiar with Duntech etc. Had a listen to this system with three different types of music. Martin Logan Neoliths Devialet Pro 1000 monoblocks Metronome transport Transparent top of the line cables. PS Audio power regenerator Probably the best sound I have heard. The scale of the music and the effortlessness of the sound was unbelievable. We listened to a chorale piece which was just amazing. The sound stage and pinpoint accuracy was the best I have heard. There was still some fine tuning to be done to the setup and was using the dacs in the Devialet amps so there was the potential for improvement. Also had these other rooms. The list of gear they sold was unbelievable. Magico Audio Research Krell Dartzeel Sonus Faber Wadia Wilson etc etc etc That was the end of my little adventure, hope you enjoyed looking, I sure did. Cheers Dave. 6
Steve M Posted June 21, 2017 Posted June 21, 2017 Great write up and pics Dave, thanks for sharing. Steve. 1
Upfront Posted June 21, 2017 Posted June 21, 2017 Didn't have time to get to any stores in Lisbon [emoji20]. Tried to get to a few record stores but they were all closed. Managed to get some time in Porto and popped in here. They have stores in Porto and Lisbon. This place was by far the best shop I've ever been to. The selection of gear, knowledge and friendliness of the staff was second to none. I spent just on an hour in the shop. I was shown around all 3 levels of the store, was given a run down on the gear they sold, what they recommend at all different price ranges etc etc. Had a good talk about Portugal, Australia and talked about my system and gear made in Oz. He was quite familiar with Duntech etc. Had a listen to this system with three different types of music. Martin Logan Neoliths Devialet Pro 1000 monoblocks Metronome transport Transparent top of the line cables. PS Audio power regenerator Probably the best sound I have heard. The scale of the music and the effortlessness of the sound was unbelievable. We listened to a chorale piece which was just amazing. The sound stage and pinpoint accuracy was the best I have heard. There was still some fine tuning to be done to the setup and was using the dacs in the Devialet amps so there was the potential for improvement. Also had these other rooms. The list of gear they sold was unbelievable. Magico Audio Research Krell Dartzeel Sonus Faber Wadia Wilson etc etc etc That was the end of my little adventure, hope you enjoyed looking, I sure did. Cheers Dave. Thanks Dave. Looks like I need to get out more!
Upfront Posted June 21, 2017 Posted June 21, 2017 Didn't have time to get to any stores in Lisbon [emoji20]. Tried to get to a few record stores but they were all closed. Managed to get some time in Porto and popped in here. They have stores in Porto and Lisbon. This place was by far the best shop I've ever been to. The selection of gear, knowledge and friendliness of the staff was second to none. I spent just on an hour in the shop. I was shown around all 3 levels of the store, was given a run down on the gear they sold, what they recommend at all different price ranges etc etc. Had a good talk about Portugal, Australia and talked about my system and gear made in Oz. He was quite familiar with Duntech etc. Had a listen to this system with three different types of music. Martin Logan Neoliths Devialet Pro 1000 monoblocks Metronome transport Transparent top of the line cables. PS Audio power regenerator Probably the best sound I have heard. The scale of the music and the effortlessness of the sound was unbelievable. We listened to a chorale piece which was just amazing. The sound stage and pinpoint accuracy was the best I have heard. There was still some fine tuning to be done to the setup and was using the dacs in the Devialet amps so there was the potential for improvement. Also had these other rooms. The list of gear they sold was unbelievable. Magico Audio Research Krell Dartzeel Sonus Faber Wadia Wilson etc etc etc That was the end of my little adventure, hope you enjoyed looking, I sure did. Cheers Dave. Thanks Dave. Looks like I need to get out more! 1
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