2557 Baseline Road • Opening Friday June 13 2025
If the satisfying clunk of a Marantz 5420 cassette door, the blue-meter glow of a McIntosh MC2505, or the chest-thumping bloom of a 15-inch Tannoy makes your pulse jump a semitone, welcome home. Cassette Listening Lounge is set to crown Baseline Road the capital’s headquarters for hi-fi hedonism, crate-digging camaraderie, all connected to the Ottawa Pinball Arcade, where the flipper frenzy never ends and retro arcade magic flows through a seamless fold in time.
A Love Letter to Ottawa’s Analog Underground
Ottawa has always sheltered a cadre of audio obsessives. From Lansdowne record fairs to Glebe basement tape swaps, we’ve traded needle-drops and war stories since Pinball Wizard Mike was lugging milk crates of LPs to his parent’s basement to lift the licks of his fave guitar heroes. The same grooves that acid etched Jimi’s fingerprints permanently into his mind are still there. Each bend Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, or Ritchie Blackmore carved into lacquer exists physically in the groove—an unbroken analog mechanical echo from a point in time, that rides our stylus, surges through copper, and hits your cochlea exactly as it did in 1969. Cassette turns that time travel into an everyday ritual.
Why Cassette? Because the humble compact cassette was punk’s printing press: mix-tape valentines, tour-van bootlegs, glove-box companions from Nepean to Navan. We honour that DIY soul while running a 100 percent analog signal path—no digital detours, no A/D alibis—straight to your soul.
The Gear: Vintage Muscle, Modern Magic
| Chain Position | What You’ll Hear & Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Speakers | • Tannoy Arden 15″ dual-concentrics (main room) • Tannoy Berkeley 15″ side-fills • Marantz Prestige near-field monitors |
| Amps & Control | • McIntosh MC2505 & MC2125 power amps • McIntosh MX 112 pre-tuner (perfect for CKCU-FM deep cuts) • Marantz 2275 receiver on the lounge rail |
| Mixer | AlphaTheta euphonia four-channel rotary console—Rupert Neve transformer stages for buttery harmonics |
| Source Decks | • Three Technics SL-1200 MK7 turntables on isolation plinths • Marantz 5420 cassette deck—Dolby, chrome, VU swagger |
| Signal Path | Cardas interconnects, custom OFC speaker runs—electrons surfing copper like it’s 1978 |
| Room Tuning | Diffusing soft pine feature walls, hidden bass traps, and an epoxy floor that doubles as an acoustic seal |
Translation: every side you spin sounds as if the band dragged its gear into the lounge, tuned up, and punched you right in the feels.
Weekly Highlight — All-You-Can-Play Wednesdays
Every Wednesday the interior door swings wide to Ottawa Pinball Arcade for our signature All-You-Can-Play deal: one flat fee, unlimited flips from 2 PM → 11 PM, with Cassette’s pure-analog soundtrack riding shotgun all night. Opening-week food-and-drink specials are on the way—stay tuned for the drop.
(More themed nights are in development; watch our socials for updates.)
Food & Drink — Every Bite an A-Side
(Prices & items subject to change as we adjust)
BEER
Draft 18 oz: Domestic $9 • Premium $10
Cans: Domestic $6.5 • Premium $7.5
COCKTAILS (2 oz – $15)
Golden Girl – Citrusy • Sweet • Spicy
Death of Disco – Smokey • Dark • Spirit-forward
B-Sides – Fresh • Herbaceous • Electric
2:22 AM – Rich • Coffee • Raspberry
Dance With Me? – Botanical • Floral • Coconut
LIQUOR & WINE
Rail $7.5 • Double $14 • Premium $8.75 / $16 • Classic cocktails $12.5 • Coolers $9
Wine: Glass $12 • Bottle $45
NON-ALC & MOCKTAILS
Pop/Juice $3.5 • San Pellegrino $4 • Coffee/Tea $3.5
Record Scratch (dark, smokey, sweet) $8 • BPM (light, refreshing, tangy) $8
STARTERS
Taco (Beef/Chicken/Fish) $6 • Pico & Chips $10 • Soup of the Day $9
Mozzarella Sticks $12 • Fried Pickles $10 • Meatballs Marinara $12
Italian Poutine $14 • Chicken Wings 1 lb $13 (vegan available)
Basket of Fries $8 (+Gravy $4) • Classic Poutine $14
SALADS & NACHOS
Caesar 7/12 • Garden 6/11 • Greek 7/12 (+Chicken $7)
Nachos: Classic $16 • Veggie $18 • Chicken $20 • Beef $20 (+Extra Sour Cream $1)
MAINS (fries & slaw or salad — poutine +$5)
Fresh Beef Burger $20 (+Cheese $2, Bacon $2) • Patty Melt $20 • Veggie Burger $20
Club Sandwich $20 • Meatball Sandwich $18 • Fried Chicken $20
BLT $17 • Grilled Cheese $17 • Chicken Tenders $18
Spaghetti & Meatballs $16 • Fish & Chips $20 • Shepherd’s Pie $20
DESSERT
Vanilla Ice-Cream $7 (Chocolate, Caramel or Strawberry syrup)
Cassette × Ottawa Pinball Arcade
Step through a single doorway and you’re immersed in Ottawa Pinball Arcade—EM clackers, Canada’s best collection of Solid State, alpha-numeric & DMD classics, and the newest Sterns, each souped up and dialed in by Pinball Medics to play like they’re on fire! Cup-holders on every game, cocktails in every cup, and the same pure-analog soundtrack following you through multiball mayhem.
Parking, Signage & Street Cred
A freshly repaved lot big enough for a cruise-night lineup, flanked by neon-bright façade signs—Baked Goods, Ottawa Pinball Arcade, Cassette—that pop like rainbow neon from the Merivale turn. The 70’s never looked, sounded, or played better. Snap, tag, repeat.
Opening
- When: Friday June 13 @ 4pm
- Where: 2557 Baseline Road, Ottawa, ON
- Hashtags: #CassetteOttawa #OttawaListeningBar #VinylInOttawa #KeepOnFlippin
Final Groove
Ottawa, the platter is spinning and the stylus is set. Whether you’re a crate-digging completist, a cocktail cruiser, or a multiball master next door, Cassette Listening Lounge is your new Side-A sanctuary. Flip the vinyl, flip the flippers, and flip the script on Ottawa nightlife.
Stay analog, Ottawa.
