WM issue 5

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| 50 | THE COLLECTORSPhoto by TASPHOSoundDecisionsabout aSound MuseumAlexey Gubarev, CEO and co-founder of app-maker Palta, has one of the most impressive collections of audioapparatus in the world. With over 8,000 items valued at around €10 million, he intends to them in a uniquemuseum. Here, he talks about his passion and the challenges of building such an extraordinary collection.
| 51 |Halfway through our interview,Alexey Gubarev shuts the doorto the room. Acoustic foam tilesare placed on the walls in seeminglyanarchic fashion, whilespeakers the size of flat TV screens and turntablesfrom a bygone era are all around. We occupywine-red leather armchairs that have been purposefullyarranged in the middle of the room. Heshuffles through a few LPs. “Most people havenever heard music – not like this,” he says, beforehe settles on a record. The needle drops and thelights turn dim: the turntable is connected to aset of Avantgarde horn-loaded speakers.Gubarev’s collection is the history of music itself.Starting from the early ‘20s, over 8,000 items, includingturntables, speakers, cassette players andreel-to-reel machines are meticulously stackedand numbered on shelves in several buildingsalong the Limassol seafront. It’s not easy to puta price on this collection. Indeed, he has spentmore than €10 million over the years but someof the pieces in his collection are one-of-a-kind,like the GoldMund Reference turntable, the MicroSeiki SZ-1 and the Yamaha GF-1 speakers.“These – well they are invaluable, aren’t they?”he says. He shows an evident preference for highendaudio systems that were developed between1950 and 1990, which he equates to the Beatles:half-a-century later, there’s still nothing better.Back in the room, the lights are turned on, asthe needle reaches the inner grooves of the vinylrecord. Gubarev gives me a searching look. Hewas right: it was like tasting food after quittingsmoking when the sheer volume of flavours takesyou by surprise.After years of waiting, Gubarev has finally receivedapproval to build a 5,500 sq.m. museumin Limassol to house his extraordinary collection– a first of its kind on the Old Continent. Oneof the rooms in the museum will offer the sametreatment that I have just received. “Our vision isto punch emotion into people, to show how musiccan interfere with your personality,” he says.Gubarev’s passion for collecting audio systemswas ignited nine years ago, when he was 32 yearsold. It was a way to satisfy the kid in him, theone who didn’t have pockets deep enough to buysuch systems when he was growing up. “Peoplebelieve that you can make money just like that,”he says and snaps his fingers. “But I work somuch and so hard every day.”On arriving in Cyprus in 2002, Alexey Gubarevfounded two companies: XTB Holding, a globalprivately-owned hosting network, and Palta, aco-founding company for health and wellnessstartups, which raised €100 million in 2021. “Ihad grey hair when I was only 36!” he jokes. Thefirst sound system he bought was an Onkyo fullsystem, with Onkyo M-508 amps and after a fewyears of random purchases, he started collectingin a much more organised fashion. He evencreated an algorithm that scours the Internet foritems. “I know exactly what I want to collect beforeI start buying it,” he says. That has allowedhim to amass some 500 speakers, 600 recordplayers, an odd 200 reel-to-reel machines andthousands of amplifiers. Sometimes, dependingon the rarity of the apparatus, he would buyduplicates. Having collected 99.9% of the itemshe wanted, that 0.1% remains unbelievablyelusive, as it rests in the hands of equally compulsivecollectors or museums. “I now try to findthings that are extremely rare,” he says. Therewas one particular item he purchased recently,a Technics SB-9500 speaker system (there areonly three of these systemsin the world), for which hehad been waiting in line forseven years! There is alsoa Technics SB-AFP 1000flat-panel speaker with theVienna Opera that he wantsto get his hands on but thereis a small problem: it is theonly one in the world.Gubarev often hosts nightsaround the turntables inthis very room. Although he has dabbled withthe piano, he admits that he knows enoughto know that he doesn’t know enough. Onthe upper floor, where the restoration of theequipment takes place (there’s also a number ofshelves groaning under the weight of thousandsof cassettes), stands a piano, which, according toGubarev, is an exact replica of the one the Beatlesused on recordings of many of their songs. I’mfairly certain that there are many more hiddentreasures inside this building alone – so many, infact, that it would have taken us weeks, maybeeven months, to uncover.Alexey Gubarev is clearly a fortunate man, andhe is also lucky in a way that many collectorswould envy: “You know, my wife accepts thishobby,” he says, “because I don’t take it home. Ihave only one room there that I listen to musicin. Everything else is here – that’s a good compromise!”He says this while trying to keep a straight facebut, in the end, he can’t avoid bursting intolaughter, which echoes around his wonderfullistening room.ALEXEYGUBAREVAlexey Gubarev is a founding partner of Palta andwas previously CEO of the XBT Holding group ofcompanies and founder of Servers.com. For thepast 20 years, he has lived in Cyprus, which he passionatelypromotes as a base for IT businesses.
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Page 39 and 40: | 39 |SPYROS LOIZOUEurobank’sFive
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Page 82 and 83: | 82 | BUSINESS TALKChristoforos Ha
Page 84 and 85: | 84 | BUSINESS TALKPieris Markou
Page 86 and 87: | 86 | BUSINESS TALKThe pandemic, a
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Page 90 and 91: | 90 | INTERNATIONAL WEALTHMichaelM
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| 107 |A REVOCABLE TRUST ESTABLISHE
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| 115 |TYPICALLY, INTESTACY LAWS PR
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| 117 |When did you start composing
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| 123 |ArtForArt’sSakeNomatterhow
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| 129 |Golden Gallery by Kapatays,
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| 133 |LONG-TERM GLOBAL INVESTORS S
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| 143 |THE CHALLENGE NOW IS TO LOOK
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| 145 |Ristorante LocatelliAlso at
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| 147 |Copyright © 2022 IMHAll rig
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