BobbyTimmons
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'Many years ago, with my first couple of months wages in the bank, I went to see Thomas Heinitz in Moscow Road, Bayswater, then the top audio equipment shop in London. I wanted a tyrntable and was determined to spend as much as I could. Mt Heinitz sat me down in front of the six foot tall electrostatic speakers in the shop and set up behind me a couple of turntables with the records synced. 'I will switch from one to the other and you must tell me if you can hear any difference,' he said. I listened and after a long few minutes decided that I couldn't hear any difference between the two. 'Now turn round.' There was a Sondek LP12 and next to it a )realitively) cheapo turntable. The interesting thing was that he had put a box of matches under the felt on the platter of the cheap one and that set the record at a very odd angle, with the tone arm riding along like a small boat in a heavy sea. He advised me to buy the cheap one. (That shows how long ago it was.)'
forums.theregister.com
'THOMAS HEINITZ runs a music shop in Moscow Road, London W2. But no ordinary music shop. With its sombre brown carpet and brown leather chairs, its motley collection of speakers and hi-fi equipment, its piles of CDs and reference books, and its large presiding portrait of Toscanini, No 35 looks more like a gentleman's study than a modern showroom. Heinitz is a salesman, but what he prides himself on selling most is advice.
Heinitz, purveyor of hi-fis, CDs and musical wisdom, has enjoyed the trust of classical music aficionados - from bus-conductors to royalty - for more than 35 years. He arrived in England from Berlin in 1934 and initially trained as an engineer. But it was music that he loved ('my natural habitat') and he began reviewing classical music records. His twin-track expertise - sound perfection and musical discretion - has been his meal ticket ever since.
People come to 35 Moscow Road (where Heinitz cultivates a domestic air - 'I don't want to create a musical laboratory') to find out what to buy. Heinitz keeps up to date by reading 'those wretched magazines', but in the course of his career, has seen only three technical developments: 'LP, stereo and CD, and in each case I've been out there fighting on the barricades.'
In terms of stereo equipment, Heinitz asks his clients three questions: what basic facilities are they after? How big a room are they dealing with? And what sort of total do they have in mind? 'I've never been interested in pushing something to someone who can't afford it,' he says, 'I don't work on commission and anyway, equipment is so darned good today, even on a modest level, that the difference between a vastly expensive amplifer and a cheap one is virtually indiscernible.' Not that this rule applies to speakers. Heinitz waxes lyrical on the subject of 'woofers' and 'tweeters' and that little pig in the middle, 'the squawker'. Particularly close to his heart is the 'sub-woofer', a third speaker that catches the very deepest notes. A sub-woofer combined with two more pedestrian speakers could set you back about pounds 900. 'But you should hear it,' he sighs.
Heinitz also stocks several thousand CDs (he sold off all his LPs in a bumper sale eight years ago), ranging from Gregorian chants to the most avant-garde compositions; there's a 20 per cent discount for anyone who's ever bought equipment. And he gives support here too. 'The choice of recordings is frightening and people need help. It's not a field you can judge by scientific measurement, so I am only really interested in people who genuinely listen to music.''
Outside Edge, Edward Helmore Thursday 13 May 1993
'Thomas Heinitz advised me on my first ever HiFi system in 1974. I have to say that the initial attraction was that I had heard that Mr Heinitz allowed one to pay by 6 post-dated cheques. A true gentleman who took it for granted that a handshake (even from a shabby long haired 22 year old he had never met before) was as good a guarantee as he needed. To me, who had been working for less than a year and had no credit record at all, this was a real godsend.
I remember nervously opening the door to no. 35 Moscow Road, Bayswater. The shop was small and there were one or two older customers conversing with a portly gentleman in a cardigan. They stopped talking and looked at me. "Mr Heinitz?" I ventured. He immediately came over to me and asked if he could help. An hour or so later I was writing out six cheques for £25 each and my first hifi system was to be delivered and installed in my bedsitting room that very afternoon.'
pinkfishmedia.net
Katy_B • User • The Register Forums
'THOMAS HEINITZ runs a music shop in Moscow Road, London W2. But no ordinary music shop. With its sombre brown carpet and brown leather chairs, its motley collection of speakers and hi-fi equipment, its piles of CDs and reference books, and its large presiding portrait of Toscanini, No 35 looks more like a gentleman's study than a modern showroom. Heinitz is a salesman, but what he prides himself on selling most is advice.
Heinitz, purveyor of hi-fis, CDs and musical wisdom, has enjoyed the trust of classical music aficionados - from bus-conductors to royalty - for more than 35 years. He arrived in England from Berlin in 1934 and initially trained as an engineer. But it was music that he loved ('my natural habitat') and he began reviewing classical music records. His twin-track expertise - sound perfection and musical discretion - has been his meal ticket ever since.
People come to 35 Moscow Road (where Heinitz cultivates a domestic air - 'I don't want to create a musical laboratory') to find out what to buy. Heinitz keeps up to date by reading 'those wretched magazines', but in the course of his career, has seen only three technical developments: 'LP, stereo and CD, and in each case I've been out there fighting on the barricades.'
In terms of stereo equipment, Heinitz asks his clients three questions: what basic facilities are they after? How big a room are they dealing with? And what sort of total do they have in mind? 'I've never been interested in pushing something to someone who can't afford it,' he says, 'I don't work on commission and anyway, equipment is so darned good today, even on a modest level, that the difference between a vastly expensive amplifer and a cheap one is virtually indiscernible.' Not that this rule applies to speakers. Heinitz waxes lyrical on the subject of 'woofers' and 'tweeters' and that little pig in the middle, 'the squawker'. Particularly close to his heart is the 'sub-woofer', a third speaker that catches the very deepest notes. A sub-woofer combined with two more pedestrian speakers could set you back about pounds 900. 'But you should hear it,' he sighs.
Heinitz also stocks several thousand CDs (he sold off all his LPs in a bumper sale eight years ago), ranging from Gregorian chants to the most avant-garde compositions; there's a 20 per cent discount for anyone who's ever bought equipment. And he gives support here too. 'The choice of recordings is frightening and people need help. It's not a field you can judge by scientific measurement, so I am only really interested in people who genuinely listen to music.''
Outside Edge, Edward Helmore Thursday 13 May 1993
'Thomas Heinitz advised me on my first ever HiFi system in 1974. I have to say that the initial attraction was that I had heard that Mr Heinitz allowed one to pay by 6 post-dated cheques. A true gentleman who took it for granted that a handshake (even from a shabby long haired 22 year old he had never met before) was as good a guarantee as he needed. To me, who had been working for less than a year and had no credit record at all, this was a real godsend.
I remember nervously opening the door to no. 35 Moscow Road, Bayswater. The shop was small and there were one or two older customers conversing with a portly gentleman in a cardigan. They stopped talking and looked at me. "Mr Heinitz?" I ventured. He immediately came over to me and asked if he could help. An hour or so later I was writing out six cheques for £25 each and my first hifi system was to be delivered and installed in my bedsitting room that very afternoon.'
Thomas Heinitz LS3/5a speakers.
There is a pair of Thomas Heinitz 'LS3/5a' spkrs. for sale on eBay by Royal Hi-Fi. I recall TH was keen on the LS3/5a and produced a small speaker of his own. I don't recall the name of it. Is this it ? I notice it has the perforated grilles over the T27 tweeters, as per the '3/5a...
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