Capsule Records, a vinyl record store and coffee shop that recently opened in Hove, East Sussex, England, is equipped with PMC loudspeakers to reinforce the playing of selections from its recording collections.
The venute aims to attract new and experienced vinyl collectors with its collection of vinyl LPs – classics, re-issues and new releases – that encompass genres from jazz, soul and funk to disco, dub, house and electronica. A team of music lovers at the store help customers to identify their musical preferences and guide them toward new LPs or labels. A handful of curated record collections is also available, each containing up to 35 albums. Eventually the shop also plans to develop its large basement area and transform it into a listening room that people will be able to hire for private events.
“We want to bring real joy to new music discovery,” says Lawrence Bleach, who co-founded the shop with Sarah Hennessy and Simon ‘Skev’ Skevington. “The LPs we’ve chosen and collections we’ve curated include some surprises and relatively unknown beauties, which sit alongside more established releases. We want to help customers expand their collections by recommending new artists and labels we think they’ll love – think Spotify mixes and playlists in vinyl, but curated by humans, not algorithms.”
The sound system utilizes four PMC wall-mounted Ci30 loudspeakers in the main retail area and two more in the café area at the back of the store. It was chosen for Capsule Records by sound engineer Max Gilkes, who worked with the management team to help ensure the shop delivers high audio quality.
“Matt advised on sound proofing and acoustics, as well as monitoring,” Bleach says. “He recommended PMC loudspeakers because they deliver the clarity and quality we wanted. The first time I listened to them I was blown away. I knew they were so much better than anything I had heard before because the sound was so rich. They made the music sing. Whether you are in the shop or the café, that goosebump feeling isn’t far away.”
