Tokyo-style hi-fi audio lounges come to Brooklyn

By Max Kalnitz

To understand what Jon Carlson set out to accomplish with his new Park Slope bar Honeycomb Hi-Fi Lounge, all you have to do is listen.

Honeycomb is a new high-fidelity audio lounge where listening to vinyl records is as essential to the experience as ordering a cocktail from the bar. Every night, the staff spins records from Carlson’s personal collection — which spans just about every genre — one side at a time. A handful of DJs also hold residencies on Fridays and Saturdays.

Thanks to a pair of Bowens and Wilkins speakers, a small subwoofer, a McInstosh amplifier, two Technics turntables, and a mixer, Honeycomb is equipped with a sound system that would make most producers swoon.

On a recent Saturday evening, songs like A Tribe Called Quest’s “Bonita Applebum,” Rick James’ “Mary Jane” and Yasuha’s seminal city pop hit “Fly-day Chinatown” sounded crisp and incredible despite there being a full crowd. The definition allowed for every instrument to come through crystal clear while still granting people the ability to have a conversation without shouting over each other.

Carlson had known he wanted to open a bar, but a hi-fi lounge didn’t occur to him until he found an old Japanese stereo in his storage locker. He had been stationed in Japan for a year with the Marines when he was 20 and remembers hearing about the Tokyo cafes that spun jazz records on high quality systems.

The more research he did, the more he realized audio bars were having a moment around the world.

“There’s absolutely a trend going on right now,” Carlson says. “I noticed, ‘Oh, there’s a couple in L.A. Oh, there’s one in Barcelona. Oh, there’s one in Mexico City. Oh, there’s one in Berlin.’ I could see the different ways people were approaching it. Everybody’s doing their own thing with this idea. [I thought] I can do that too in my own way.”

Honeycomb (Courtesy Jon Carlson)

Put the needle on the record
New York bars have pretty much always had turntables and hosted DJs, but the sound quality was often an afterthought. The idea of building a bar around the enjoyment of vinyl records and high fidelity audio gear is a staple of Tokyo nightlife culture, but still relatively new here: BierWax in Prospect Heights has been spinning records for patrons — and hosting world class DJs like Large Professor — since 2017. Public Records, a hi-fi bar, performance space, and restaurant, opened its doors in Gowanus in 2019 and instantly became a nightlife destination. Good Bar, located on the border of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, has offered audiophile-grade listening sessions four times a week since opening in 2020.

But in 2022, the listening bar scene really leveled up in Brooklyn. Multiple new lounges featuring audiophile sound systems have caught the attention of not just vinyl nerds but the casual Spotify listener curious to hear familiar songs in a new light (or rather, sound).

Then there’s the simple fact that vinyl is more popular than that it’s been in generations. Ten, 15 years ago a vinyl listening bar might have seemed like a crazy idea. But as records currently make up 73 percent of the physical music market, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, it is perhaps no coincidence that vinyl listening bars are on the rise. Vinyl record sales nearly doubled last year going from 27.5 million in 2020 to 41.7 million in 2021. And there’s no sign of the trend slowing down. A mid-year report from the RIAA found that in the first half of 2022, vinyl sales jumped an additional 22 percent.

“When we switch from [streaming] to vinyl, I’ll notice people’s heads come up from their drinks because the sound quality does shift,” Carlson says. “You can actually physically feel it in your body.”

The first of the latest, post-pandemic batch of audio-centric bars is arguably (eavesdrop) in Greenpoint, which, thanks to some viral TikToks, has remained one of the most sought-after reservations in the borough since opening in February. Honeycomb, which opened on October 31, offers a change of pace from the pubs and sports bars catering to the Barclays Center crowd. The Last Call, a new Japanese yakitori bar in Williamsburg that opened on December 5, isn’t calling itself an audio bar but boasts a hi-fi sound system just as good as the aforementioned others.

The bar at Honeycomb (courtesy Jon Carlson)

A sound you can feel
At Honeycomb, the 600-square-foot space is optimized so there isn’t a bad-sounding spot in the house. Perforated panels with a wenge wood veneer float an inch off the ceiling and wall at the center of the bar — where the sound from the bar’s two speakers meet halfway — to create the best mix.

The speakers were purposefully placed out of the way of the bartenders, cocktail shakers, or any glass bottles so there’s no interference with the sound quality — or any chance of liquids ruining the high-end electronics. And since hard surfaces reflect sound while soft surfaces absorb it, the barstools have cushions, the lampshades are a soft material, and the floors are wood instead of tile.

While Carlson hopes people who visit Honeycomb will discover new music, he is in the process of cataloging his vinyl library. Once live on the bar’s website, customers will be able to request to hear a specific side of a record.

In addition to its tunes, the bar has a small list of house cocktails — try the Super Bee (gin, black truffle, honey, and lemon; $16) and the Infante (mezcal, tequila, orgeat, nutmeg, lime; $15) — and a growing collection of Mezcal, sake, and Japanese whiskey.

Whatever you order — and whether you just stop by for a drink or specifically to hear the sound system in action — it’ll be hard to switch back to Spotify for your ride home

Honeycomb Hi-Fi Lounge is located at 74 5th Ave.in Park Slope and is open from 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 4p.m. to 12a.m. Saturday and Sunday.