Visiting Russia soon... what should I check out?

Gals.

 

If that's his setup, he's definitely taking advantage of the Rosneft, Lukoil, and Gasprom money. That's some pretty sweet AVID gear. Rumor has it Medvedev is a big metal fan.

 

In St. Petersburg now. Really wanna see some live music. You know of any places with music during the day?

Also, which of the places below (or others) would you recommend? Note: we're not looking for anything stuffy. We prefer more of the dive bar set over a place you need to get dressed up to goto.

http://www.waytorussia.net/SaintPetersburg/ClubsJazz.html

 

Sorry, Brian, it's been quite a while since I've been to Peter (as we call St.Petersburg). Don't know about it's current bar/music scene.

 

Those Moscow girls, the way they scream and shout...

 

Oh snap. Just hit the Mother Russia Load. Walking back from a long day out in St. Petersburg, my buddy looks up and see's a "vinyl" shop. I passed on two earlier music stores not wanting to bore him and my lady, but this one said HiFi in English. Thought that was a sign from the HiFi gods.

Sure was. The store had three rooms all stocked with REALLY nice stuff, 90% of which I've never seen in person. Of course, my camera was dead, but the place is 3 blocks from where we are staying. They were closing up shop at the time, but I'll be there first thing tomorrow.

Guy said that he knows where I can score some good Russian tubes in bulk though I have no idea what's worth buying. Anyone?

 

6H30DR
for starters, and here is a site to help avoid the fakes http://www.aca.gr/index/hiend/hiendArticles?row=1988
maybe

Then sell me a couple cheap
Must be "DR" if you want the premium 6H30

 

Thanks!!! If anyone else wants something specific, let me know today/tomorrow. If he has access to them, you can PayPal me the money and I will ship everything before I leave.

 

I should note that the dealer mentioned that some guy came through awhile back a bought up a ton of the stock. I'll dig in tomorrow on specifics.

 

Now you have me

Fingers crossed there are a heap of "DR"s still. and you can get good $$ for them on the open market

 

What's a good price?

 

I'm not sure these days, looks like they are getting harder to come by......but NOS "DR" version get listed from 100 bucks upwards!

Buying bulk and over there I would hope to get them for peanuts, but if they know what they can go for in the west......well. Oh, and the last thing you want to do is pay a premium for the normal non DR's, seen these listed as DR before.

 

I did make it back into the shop, however, my buddy wasn't there to translate. I'm back in Moscow now, so maybe I can find someone here or we'll call the guy back up.

 

Not a lot of time to post a full report, but here are some pics from my visit to the St. Petersburg HiFi store. Apparently my camera ate the pic I took of the outside of the store. My friend says the name is Russia for "Phonograph" which makes since. They are a literal people.

So this is what I see when I walk in...



No, I've heard of several of these brands, but have only seen a few in person. This is only one side of one of 3 big rooms, but it had the best stuff (all were good though).

My time was limited (2 hours only), so I asked to hear the Harbeth 40.1's and the Legacy Audio Focus SE's. The amps were Wavac Audio Lab (didn't catch the model). Not sure on the rest of the equipment, but you can see it all there.



First, I listened to the Harbeth's. I'd say they were so-so. There seemed to be an issue with the setup as some music was quite thin. Then we played some Dire Straits (the Russians love them some Dire Straits). They sounded fantastic... but time was running out.

So we switched to the Legacy's. All I can say is wow! The huge room fully pressurized and you could feel every instrument.



I wasn't there for a critical listening session, just to have an experience. So we played 4 or 5 tunes and then I went in to the room where they sold vinyl (apparently, I forgot to take a pic of this room). They had a nice collection of Japanese pressings that were all in the $45-55 range. I'm sure I over payed, but I never see this in shops in the states unless they are $100+. It was nice to be able to inspect the quality and give them a spin. All were phenomenal. Mental note: Acquire more Japanese pressings.

They had a ton of Russian stuff, however, it was difficult to communicate what I wanted since I didn't even know. I stayed away from the Russian pop and left with some classical / jazz and some weird percussive (huge chimes) LP that was really cool.

Here's my haul (apologies for the rotation... Photobucket edits apparently don't get linked correctly):

 

Brian. Please don't miss the Pushkin museum. I don't know what your tastes are but there some real masterpieces that will never see the light of day from Moscow.

Don't forget the hermitage too. Must see.

 

Went to two record stores today. The first was Transylvania. It was a big disappointment. Apparently they've become as much of an online retailer as anything else. They had VERY little vinyl in the store. It was all CD's and DVD's. Odd. They said that you have to call ahead and tell them what you want and they will pull it for you. You can't just browse. Supposedly they are building a new space to house the vinyl, but I didn't see anywhere to put it.

Next I went to this shop http://uku-uku.ru/. It was a Ukelele and coffee shop that sold records. This place was ridiculously over-priced on just about everything. They really didn't take care or pay attention to the sleeves. Many albums weren't even in plastic. Just about everything was around 1400 rubles (about $39) and this was all used stuff that would sell for $5-10 in the States. Stuff that would sell for $15-25 was all well over $80+. And the pricing seemed really random.

They did, however, have a small collection of New Wave with lots of orifingal UK pressings. Some were way over-priced. Here's what I left with:

• Echo & the Bunnymen - UK original pressings of "Heaven Up Here" and "Porcupine" for $18 each
• Depeche Mode - UK original of "Speak & Spell" for $22
• Some Russian LP put out by a German label called "Russian Party" - $20 - bought because it was funny and had recipes for Russian drinks and dishes on the back
• Muddy Waters - German pressing of "Country Blues" - couldn't find info on this, but it was released in 2000 on 200g vinyl (feels like 200g at least) - Label says "Past Perfect Silver Line" - $39

I know I way over-paid for this stuff. I probably should have passed, but they are European pressings I'd never see in the states. All the vinyl was mint and most of these particular sleeves were in great shape.

I did leave a Leadbelly record from 1962 behind. Price was high and the vinyl didn't look great. I probably shoulda looked it up to see if it was even worth anything.

 

Brian, Transylvania are famous for their great choice of rare and OOP CDs - they NEVER carried any vinyl at all! If you want vinyl try Sound Barrier (I posted a link above) or similar shops. And yes, vinyl, CDs and audio equipment here are all ridiculously overpriced. Customs, shipping, rent etc.

 

Pushkin and Tretyakovka are great traditional "classic" museums in Moscow as is Hermitage in St.Petersburg. Lots of new cool modern art museums now in Moscow - Vinzavod, Artplay etc. But I don't think Brian is into this.

 

yea ya never know though, but even if you are not I would still consider them must see's. I could spend a month in the Hermitage alone.

 

Oh absolutely. A proper Hermitage exploration takes more time than Louvre IMHO. Also one can spend a week in Moscow's museums and never even see the light of day. Plus as I said Moscow's parks, be it VDNH or Gorky Park are something totally worth visiting. And don't forget the nightlife!

 

How's the public bathroom situation?

 

True. You can always view art online at any time. You can't hear certain speakers any time you want.

 

Why is this in hardware forums?