The Hi-Fi AtlasA city through its listening rooms / United States
Used records in the East Village, collectors’ shops in Brooklyn and rooms that make very different demands on your attention.
In New York, choose a neighborhood and give its record shops an afternoon. A-1, Academy’s East Village shop and Ergot let you move between used collections, dance records and experimental music within a relatively small area. In Brooklyn, Superior Elevation and Human Head reward a longer dig, while Academy’s Greenpoint branch makes sense before an evening at Eavesdrop. The next record is often close; the next borough may not be.
The listening rooms give you a choice of social settings as well as equipment. All Blues makes vintage JBL monitors and McIntosh electronics part of the attraction. Silence Please combines a loudspeaker design studio with tea and listening in a former Bowery gallery. Eavesdrop starts from the pleasure of playing records for friends at home. These are distinct reasons to go, even when the same record might sound from the speakers.
Public Records needs a closer look at the programme: its different rooms support different kinds of night. Moondog HiFi brings DJ sets, live music and a patio to Bushwick; Tokyo Record Bar ties the selection to dinner. For something outside the bar circuit, book a set at The Jazz Gallery or visit Dream House, where sustained tones change as you move through the installation.
Secondhand shops put records from different lives back into circulation. Academy buys broadly, from jazz and punk to house and Latin music; Human Head specifically seeks Cuban, Puerto Rican, Panamanian and West African records. Follow an unfamiliar label or musician across genres. That is a more interesting use of an afternoon than checking off the same canonical albums.
All Blues is the choice for an evening built around vintage hi-fi. Silence Please lets you encounter speaker design alongside tea and music. Eavesdrop takes the domestic gathering as its model, with small groups, food and drinks in Greenpoint. Think about who you are going with and how you want to spend the evening, as well as the equipment you want to hear.
At Public Records, check the room named on the event: the Sound Room and Bar Room have distinct systems, and the outdoor programme adds another setting. Moondog’s radio is a useful introduction to its selectors. For Tokyo Record Bar, make the dinner reservation first. Those details shape the night more than a generic recommendation to “go for the music.”
Start here
New York / 87 Walker Street, New York, NY 10013
On Walker Street in New York, All Blues puts vintage hi-fi at the centre of its identity. Blue-baffle JBL monitors and McIntosh electronics give the room a connection to the equipment of studios and home listening rooms, making the system itself a point of interest for audio enthusiasts.
Possible Pair of 930 ST broadcast decks
Possible 4343-series blue-baffle monitors; suffix requires confirmation
C22
New York
A former Bowery art gallery houses Silence Please, a New York speaker design studio, listening room and tea house. Tea and close attention to recordings sit alongside the work of loudspeaker design, giving visitors a chance to encounter sound as both a craft and a shared experience.
Brooklyn / 674 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222
Eavesdrop draws on the pleasure of friends gathering at home to share records. In Greenpoint, that idea becomes a listening bar for small groups, with drinks and Japanese-influenced food around the music. Co-founder Dan Wissinger’s living-room inspiration gives the venue an intimate social premise.
7B SST
2 × SH60, customised and painted
Radius 4V
Brooklyn
Public Records brings music, design and hospitality together across several Brooklyn listening spaces. The indoor sound room and listening lounge offer different settings, while the Nursery takes live performances and DJ events outdoors. Exploring the venue means moving between distinct musical environments.
Sound Room: 4 × SL-1200MK2; 4 × CDJ-2000NXS2; custom Isonoe mixer
Bar Room: 2 × SL-1200MK2; 2 × CDJ-2000NXS2; Isonoe mixer
Sound Room: Altec 1505B multi-cell horns; Faital super-tweeters
Bar Room: Macro-Tech 5002; BGW 750G and 100B; analogue crossovers
Brooklyn / 119 Ingraham Street, Brooklyn, NY 11237
Moondog HiFi brings records, cocktails, food and live music together in Bushwick. DJ sets and a patio give the Brooklyn bar several ways to spend an evening, while Moondog Radio carries its selections beyond the room. Vinyl is the thread connecting those different settings.
Pair of SL-1200/1210-family decks; low-resolution image, generation unconfirmed
Rotary DJ mixer visible; brand and model require confirmation
New York
Tokyo Record Bar brings records and dining together in New York. The combination makes the musical selection part of the occasion at the table, with listening woven into an evening meal.
Partnership installation; individual models not specified
5 places to follow the records
Record shop / Williamsburg
Listening stations make Superior Elevation a shop to spend time in. The Williamsburg selection brings together new and used records, while its DJ school offers a practical route from collecting to playing. A lesson needs its own arrangement; a digging visit needs an afternoon. Start at the Grand Street shop before exploring Brooklyn’s listening bars.
616 Grand Street, Brooklyn, New York
Record shop / East Village
A-1 has been buying and selling records on East 6th Street since 1996. Make it the start of an East Village digging afternoon: its used-record trade gives you a reason to browse without a fixed shopping list, then continue to Academy or Ergot. Bring a few artist or label names to help focus the search, and leave room for a recommendation.
439 East 6th Street, New York
Record shop / East Village / Greenpoint
A broad used-record specialist that buys across jazz, soul, punk, reggae, Latin music and dance records. The attraction is the range of collections passing through its hands. Choose the East Village shop for a day around A-1 and Ergot, or the Banker Street Annex for a Greenpoint evening at Eavesdrop. The two branches are alternatives for different days, rather than a single quick stop.
415 East 12th Street, Manhattan; 242 Banker Street, Brooklyn
Record shop / Bushwick, Brooklyn
Human Head’s buying interests stretch from Cuban and Puerto Rican records to Panamanian, West African and Nigerian music. Collectors can follow connections across Latin and African recordings, alongside the shop’s rock, jazz and reggae. Browse the used bins with time to spare; the main Brooklyn shop fits a record day ending at Moondog HiFi.
289 Meserole Street, Brooklyn
Record shop / East Village
A small shop with an experimental record label behind it. Ergot’s releases include Ruth Anderson and Annea Lockwood, Dominique Lawalrée and Aaron Dilloway: useful clues to its interest in composition, improvisation and sound outside the usual categories. Make this the stop where you ask for something unfamiliar. Its label catalogue is also a good introduction before visiting.
32 East 2nd Street, New York
Plan another afternoon or evening
Live music / NoMad
An upstairs room where new work gets heard. The Jazz Gallery supports emerging musicians and commissions, so an unfamiliar name on the bill can be a good reason to book. Read the programme, take the lift to the fifth floor and give the set your attention. Concerts are open to all ages.
1158 Broadway, 5th floor, New York; entrance on 27th Street
Art & sound / Tribeca
Leave the idea of a song at the door. Dream House surrounds you with sustained tones and coloured light; moving your head or walking through the space changes what you hear. The sound-and-light work of La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela and Jung Hee Choi asks for a different kind of listening. Check visiting details before heading over.
275 Church Street, 3rd floor, New York
Art & sound / Greenpoint, Brooklyn
A shipping container, an outdoor lot and a stream of selectors make this one of the easiest ways to spend an unhurried hour with New York radio. The public kiosk sells coffee, beer, wine and snacks; you can sit outside while the station broadcasts. Listen to the archive before visiting, then look up a resident whose selections caught your ear. It fits a Greenpoint record afternoon without needing a late-night commitment.
17 Nassau Avenue, Brooklyn
The city in the Atlas
These are the venues in the current city directory, including listening bars, cafés and other music spaces. Check official links for current programmes, opening hours and reservations.
On Walker Street in New York, All Blues puts vintage hi-fi at the centre of its identity.
New YorkBar Orai brings a Japanese-inspired listening room and a whiskey bar together in New York.
New YorkEavesdrop draws on the pleasure of friends gathering at home to share records.
BrooklynHi-Note brings a listening-room focus to New York’s East Village.
New YorkHoneycomb Hi-Fi Lounge gives Brooklyn a neighbourhood setting for vinyl listening.
BrooklynMoondog HiFi brings records, cocktails, food and live music together in Bushwick.
BrooklynPublic Records brings music, design and hospitality together across several Brooklyn listening spaces.
BrooklynRecord Room brings a listening-room destination to Long Island City.
New YorkA former Bowery art gallery houses Silence Please, a New York speaker design studio, listening room and tea house.
New YorkStudio 151 brings listening and dining together in New York.
New YorkTokyo Record Bar brings records and dining together in New York.
New YorkAnalogue pairs a cocktail-lounge setting with a hi-fi listening identity in New York.
New YorkThe Last Call brings Japanese inspiration to a Brooklyn neighbourhood bar.
BrooklynCraft beer and vinyl meet at BierWax in Brooklyn.
BrooklynJapanese-inspired hospitality, cocktails and music come together at Hear & There in Williamsburg.
BrooklynLe Poisson Rouge brings concerts, experimental music and club nights into Greenwich Village.
New YorkA concealed Williamsburg setting houses Mezcaleria Milagrosa.
BrooklynMezze and cocktails meet a funk-oriented soundtrack at Laziza in Brooklyn.
BrooklynIn Chelsea, N’Between pairs Japanese-inspired food and drinks with vinyl.
New YorkMusic For A While makes extended listening part of a New York bar visit.
New YorkFiner Sounds brings a record and hi-fi shop into Ace Hotel Brooklyn.
BrooklynCanto-pop and Mando-pop give 929 a distinctive musical identity in New York.
New YorkMenswear, low-intervention wine and guest selectors share a Greenpoint storefront, with a custom Sloped Systems installation built into the room.
New YorkA Fort Greene brownstone brings Million Goods’ clothing shop, wine bar and hi-fi programme across two levels, with a backyard garden and a custom sound installation.
New YorkArt and recorded sound occupy several connected spaces at Compound in Red Hook. A social Record Bar, a private mezzanine listening room and a balcony DJ area give the gallery different ways to gather around music.
BrooklynMore than 5,000 jazz LPs give Kissa Kissa its centre of gravity on Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights. The selection concentrates on the 1950s through the 1970s, accompanied by cocktails, wine, beer and small plates.
BrooklynGood Bar brings the team behind Good Room into a smaller listening setting at the meeting of Greenpoint and Williamsburg. A curated vinyl library, cocktails, draft beer and late food shape its bar-room format.
BrooklynGreek-influenced dishes, inventive cocktails and vinyl listening come together at Mr. Melo on Withers Street in Williamsburg. Its menu carries the same personality into feta-brine martinis and an eggplant sandwich.
BrooklynDeep Dive is a small listening lounge on Patchen Avenue in Bed-Stuy, shaped by DJs Asen James and Spencer Blake around active, attentive listening.
BrooklynListen before you go
DJ set / Glitterbox
Moon Boots at Public Records, published by Glitterbox.
Live set / Planet of Nhii
A hardware live set from Nhii at Public Records.
Live performance / Orai Sounds
Recorded music at Bar Orai in New York. Follow the original upload for artist and recording details.
A base for the music
A few places to stay while you explore the music. Check your dates on Booking.com for current prices and availability.
Boerum Hill / Downtown Brooklyn
Ace places a listening trip in Boerum Hill, with Finer Sounds’ record and audio shop at the hotel. The lobby hosts a music programme, while selected room categories include a turntable. It is a natural choice if record browsing belongs alongside evening visits to Brooklyn’s listening rooms.
252 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217, United States
Plan around Finer Sounds · Public Records
Check availability on Booking.com ↗Lower East Side
The Ludlow offers a Lower East Side base between Houston and Stanton, with studios, lofts and terrace rooms among its accommodation choices. A lobby lounge and garden provide a place to pause. Choose it for a Manhattan stay, then plan listening visits around the Bowery and East Village.
180 Ludlow Street, New York, NY 10002, United States
Plan around Silence Please · Hi-Note
Check availability on Booking.com ↗These are standard Booking.com links; The Hi-Fi Atlas earns no commission from these reservations.
Know a listening room we should include? Send us a suggestion.