End of an era - Lyric Hi-FI closing after 60+ years

[ahofer]

They were here in the 1970s. Owned by Mike Kay/Madrigal, etc. I believe Mike also bought Mark Levinson’s original brand.

 

[DonR]

That is sad. I remember being in there in the early 90's when I worked in NYC. My office was at Lex and 53rd so just a few stops away.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, they were not the most welcoming bunch in there, especially to someone who didn't earn 6 figures.

 

[Krusty09]

I was more of a cosmophonic sound guy myself. Sure that 0lace is closed too.

 

[Frgirard]

My dream the end of this hifi shop, Temple of nonsense and intellectual stupidity at a high price.
A good news.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

I was much more beer-budget when I was living on the east coast, buying most of my gear at Dixie HiFi and other such warehouse stores. High end dealers would have likely ejected me because they didn't like my looks. The thing is, they'd probably be right.

 

[USER]

They refused to let me into their store. Back then I was doing pretty well for someone in their mid 20s and was genuinely looking for some audio equipment. My brown skin probably didn't help. Screw them and all those like them.

 

[JanesJr1]

The one retail failure that I miss to this day is not a hardware outlet, but the big Tower Records annex on Sunset in Hollywood. My favorite Saturday afternoons in the 1970's and 1980's were spent in the record bins there. I live on the east coast and don't read Stereophile now, but back in the day they had some great record reviews, and I'd scarf those up and go to Tower. We have more choice now, by far, right from our homes; but back then, those big LP record bins seemed like a special form of urban luxury. Actually, I guess Tower is back, or still around, but it must be a fulfillment by mail outlet??

 

[Descartes]

View attachment 186140
They were here in the 1970s. Affiliated with Lenny Kaye/Madrigal, etc.

Another one bites the dust… in this day of the internet no one needs dealer's instead manufacturers should just sell direct and trim the prices by 40 to 50 points which is what dealers get for speakers and electronics! Of course cables are 1000 margins but that’s an other story

 

[Robin L]

I was in the middle of Berkeley's very active recorded music scene, 1984-1998. Worked at Tower Records on Durant, then at the Musical Offering on Bancroft way. db audio, on Shattuck, was the "High-End Audio" outlet, closed a long time ago. They were very welcoming, had a Keith Monks record cleaning machine, $1 to clean a record and get a fancy looking sleeve that wasn't going to last as long as a paper sleeve, but it sure looked slick. I managed to get a lot of demos of gear there and ended up spending some semi-real money. I suspect the folks at Lyric Hi-Fi would have shown me the door at first sight.

 

[mhardy6647]

Spring o'2021, per Stereophile.

Goodbye to the house Mike Kay built

By the time this issue of Stereophile arrives in your mailbox (and on newsstands), Lyric Hi-Fi & Video, the legendary symbol of male-dominated, uber-luxury hi-fi retail, will be closed forever. This makes me sad. I wasn't just a client of Lyric; I worked there. Sometime after 1956, Michael...

www.stereophile.com

They certainly had a checkered reputation.
Sounds, to me, like everything that I find reprehensible distasteful about New York.

Lyric HiFi In NYC Is Gone

I just read in the latest issue of Stereophile that Lyric HiFi has closed its doors in Manhattan forever. Can anyone here confirm that it is gone? I...

forums.stevehoffman.tv

 

[Descartes]

Spring o'2021, per Stereophile.

Goodbye to the house Mike Kay built

By the time this issue of Stereophile arrives in your mailbox (and on newsstands), Lyric Hi-Fi & Video, the legendary symbol of male-dominated, uber-luxury hi-fi retail, will be closed forever. This makes me sad. I wasn't just a client of Lyric; I worked there. Sometime after 1956, Michael...

www.stereophile.com

They certainly had a checkered reputation.
Sounds, to me, like everything that I find reprehensible distasteful about New York.

Lyric HiFi In NYC Is Gone

I just read in the latest issue of Stereophile that Lyric HiFi has closed its doors in Manhattan forever. Can anyone here confirm that it is gone? I...

forums.stevehoffman.tv

Yes obnoxious, pretentious and with a sense of superiority! Went there once and never returned!

 

[ahofer]

Spring o'2021, per Stereophile.

Goodbye to the house Mike Kay built

By the time this issue of Stereophile arrives in your mailbox (and on newsstands), Lyric Hi-Fi & Video, the legendary symbol of male-dominated, uber-luxury hi-fi retail, will be closed forever. This makes me sad. I wasn't just a client of Lyric; I worked there. Sometime after 1956, Michael...

www.stereophile.com

They certainly had a checkered reputation.
Sounds, to me, like everything that I find reprehensible distasteful about New York.

Lyric HiFi In NYC Is Gone

I just read in the latest issue of Stereophile that Lyric HiFi has closed its doors in Manhattan forever. Can anyone here confirm that it is gone? I...

forums.stevehoffman.tv

Yes, I’ve visited the store many times over more than 50 years and had mixed experiences. I did buy Magnepans and a Brystno Bryston Amp from their West Side store in 1987. I love this particular article, as it basically gives up the whole game…in the pages of Stereophile!

I worked at Atlantis Sound in the 1970s, so I knew a little inside baseball about them. It was always about convincing well-heeled finance guys what they needed to buy to “own the best”, and later on, to steer them towards house brands (but everyone did that - Tech Hifi was the only place in NYC that sold Ohm speakers, so they allegedly sabotaged the other brands in their showroom). Certainly, when a 14 year-old walked in (in 1978), they treated me like shit. I’ve gone back in the past few years, with the means to buy anything in the place but the common sense not to, and gotten some karmic revenge. But honestly, the salesman who let me audition the Wilson Sabrinas was very friendly and nice. Sucked up a bit too obviously, perhaps, but that’s the game.

Respect, though, to remaining there for all that time while there’s nothing but wreckage among their competitors. Even Andy Singer is a pale shadow of his former self.

The knock at NYC is unjustified, however.

 

[Slayer]

They refused to let me into their store. Back then I was doing pretty well for someone in their mid 20s and was genuinely looking for some audio equipment. My brown skin probably didn't help. Screw them and all those like them.

Seriously? I mean this is NYC we're talking about. That just seems like a pretty big assumption to make. I can almost guarantee people of all shades were turned away.
Now did they think you didn't appear to have the wealth of their usual customer base, that's possible. It's pretty apparent they were after customers who had at the very least, some appearance of wealth.
Regardless, be happy you were turned away and did not have to pay the over inflated prices.

 

[mhardy6647]

Yes, I’ve visited the store many times over more than 50 years and had mixed experiences. I did buy Magnepans and a Brystno Amp from their West Side store in 1987. I love this particular article, as it basically gives up the whole game…in the pages of Stereophile!

I know (assume) it was just an amusing typo, but I really like the idea of a hifi brand called Brystno.

Reminds me of my early hifi days scanning the Sunday classified ads (remember those?) in the Baltimore Sun for audio equipment.
One of my favorite typos, oft observed in the wild: stero.

To this day, I will sometimes refer to my stee-roe (hon).

Seriously? I mean this is NYC we're talking about. That just seems like a pretty big assumption to make. I can almost guarantee people of all shades were turned away.

Equal opportunity snobs. The American way!

 

[ahofer]

Seriously? I mean this is NYC we're talking about. That just seems like a pretty big assumption to make. I can almost guarantee people of all shades were turned away.
Now did they think you didn't appear to have the wealth of their usual customer base, that's possible. It's pretty apparent they were after customers who had at the very least, some appearance of wealth.
Regardless, be happy you were turned away and did not have to pay the over inflated prices.

There was a dealer on third avenue (kind of a step down, economically, from lex in those days) who would insist that you pay him $75 up front for a ”consultation”. Which meant pushing Luxman equipment at you. Frankly, he was an even bigger ass about it than the Lyric guys (and, yes, all guys).

 

[jsrtheta]

The one retail failure that I miss to this day is not a hardware outlet, but the big Tower Records annex on Sunset in Hollywood. My favorite Saturday afternoons in the 1970's and 1980's were spent in the record bins there. I live on the east coast and don't read Stereophile now, but back in the day they had some great record reviews, and I'd scarf those up and go to Tower. We have more choice now, by far, right from our homes; but back then, those big LP record bins seemed like a special form of urban luxury. Actually, I guess Tower is back, or still around, but it must be a fulfillment by mail outlet??

When I lived in Chicago, I last lived in Lincoln Park. Tower Records was right down the street from me, at Belden and Clark. First stop on payday.

I didn't take any cues from Stereophile on new music. They didn't know shit about New Wave or Punk or really anything else I wanted to listen to. But the late, great Q magazine, from London, accounted for most of my purchases. I rarely waited for stuff to get released in the States. Just bought the imports.

Some of my best hours ever were spent there exploring.

 

[Count Arthur]

Places like that would typically keep me out by playing smooth jazz - the sound of every Hi-Fi shop I ever wandered into.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

That is sad. I remember being in there in the early 90's when I worked in NYC. My office was at Lex and 53rd so just a few stops away.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, they were not the most welcoming bunch in there, especially to someone who didn't earn 6 figures.

Heard they used to charge you just to listen to the gear. So yeah. Went to a few stores like that. Even though I have purchased over $100,000 worth of stuff in my lifetime, there were salesmen at some of these places who treated me like a homeless vagrant who came in off the street when they saw I didn't drive up in Merc, or a Porsche or wasn't wearing a solid gold necklace or $3k shoes. All of them are out of business now. Serves 'em right.

 

[DonR]

Heard they used to charge you just to listen to the gear. So yeah. Went to a few stores like that. Even though I have purchased over $100,000 worth of stuff in my lifetime, there were salesmen at some of these places who treated me like a homeless vagrant who came in off the street when they saw I didn't drive up in Merc, or a Porsche or wasn't wearing a solid gold necklace or $3k shoes. All of them are out of business now. Serves 'em right.

The funny thing is that once I moved to London and had a better salary, I started shopping at places like Richer Sounds because it was right next to my train station. Good hifi at reasonable prices. Ironically, by then I had several young children and wasn't interested in spending so much time or money on hifi.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I was more of a cosmophonic sound guy myself. Sure that 0lace is closed too.

Yes, I was more of a Cosmophonic guy but they are long(er) gone than Lyric.

Respect, though, to remaining there for all that time while there’s nothing but wreckage among their competitors. Even Andy Singer is a pale shadow of his former self.
The knock at NYC is unjustified, however.

Agreed.

There was a dealer on third avenue (kind of a step down, economically, from lex in those days) who would insist that you pay him $75 up front for a ”consultation”.

Yup but that one was on 2nd Avenue, later relocated to a side street and, finally, gone.

Heard they used to charge you just to listen to the gear.

Never heard that about Lyric but they did some earn some other criticisms.

OTOH, they were not as bad as some others and, as I still pass the storefront at least once a week, I wish they were still there.