Cathode Bias

Asheville, NC's "Potential New Boyfriend": an alternative standard for US Listening Bars

Cathode Bias -

Over the past few years, not only have I had the opportunity to work on the sound systems for multiple listening bars, I've been fortunate to visit many listening spaces throughout the US and a few in Europe.

I understand while a fortunate few run listening bars as passion projects, most need to maintain a sustainable business model. That is hard, especially in an environment where everyone's time and money is becoming increasingly pressed by the economy. I have respect for anyone who has been able to make the concept work.

Many listening bars position themselves as having a "Japanese" influence, but the demographics and economics of the US will never mimic Japan (spaces are bigger and more spread out, patrons are louder, and a culture of appreciating recorded music and HiFi doesn't really exist in the US). As I've discussed before, many listening bars tend to go down the well trodden night club path. As soon as there is a DJ (vinyl or not) the party flag is immediately raised. With that said, I've seen a few ideas which have stood out as a potential model to combine commerce and listening.

Potential New Boyfriend in Asheville, NC, which we visited yesterday, has gotten a lot right in my opinion. I'd call the vibe "hanging out in your living room and listening to records with friends." This is exactly what I want from a commercial listening experience. The decor was comfortable and lacked pretension. We sat on a vintage sofa directly in front of the main speakers.

There is no bar in the listening room. There is table service only. Service was handled from an adjacent room which was isolated from the main listening space. Other than Shibuya HiFi in Seattle, I haven't seen this type of separation between the bar and listening area. This was the model we planned to use for Reno Listening Room (bar service away from the main listening space), and I'd encourage others to consider the listening-room-with-drinks versus a bar-with-listening model. I believe this is how listening rooms will evolve in the US, especially as alcohol becomes less of a focus for younger customers.

The space features Klipsch Cornwall and Heresy speakers (with a subwoofer) from Klipsch's Heritage line. I've been down on the ubiquitous use of Klipsch speakers in commercial listening rooms and bars, but I understand why so many operators reach for them. Klipsch are easy to procure, well understood, and have the vintage vibe which operators want. In this case I felt the Klipsch were well executed with ample sound damping on the ceiling and throughout the room. The Cornwalls were driven well below their potential output, and a supplemental subwoofer was beneficial and not overwhelming.

Music programming was handled in a simple booth in the back of the space: in the same room, but away from the main listening area. While I used to think the ideal layout was to have the selector facing the main system, I'm starting to rethink this. I don't think the DJ or selector should be the focus: the music, company, and any food or drink should take center stage. The selector brought the type of curation I think works for this space: a playlist of "my favorite records."

The food and drink (wine and beer only) was on point. The focus was desserts including in-house made ice creams, but I think other food ideas could have worked equally well. The wine menu was well laid out in quadrants and easy to navigate. We had a nice Prosecco, salted almonds, and vanilla ice cream. The house provided mango and passion fruit meringue to start.

Overall I came away pleasantly surprised. Sometimes simple execution works best. I think the following were keys to the overall experience:

  • Comfortable decor
  • Vintage style sound system with good sound dampening throughout the room
  • No bar or service handled directly in the listening room (table service only)
  • Vinyl DJ booth away from the main listening area
  • "I'm playing my favorite records for you" style programming
  • Highly curated food and drink program with an interesting theme

Overall I hope to see more spaces like Potential New Boyfriend open in the US. I see this model as a step in the right direction away from the common vinyl night club theme.