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Shop Gossip Page
For older gossip, come dredge the archives - click here
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July 5th - Notice to customers - If you're not prepared to wait for up to 20 minutes, don't come in on Saturdays. Normally we can accommodate you within 5 minutes but when we get really busy it gets somewhat hectic and until we invent Salesman cloning there's bugger all we can do. I say this because some rude bastard complained that he'd been waiting 15 minutes and was told it'd be another 5 minutes before we could get him into the sound lounge so he made a scene in front of all the other customers and stormed out. Actually, it could work well as a screening process as people like that are generally arrogant, stuck up pains in the arse anyway.
I just finished reading the Big Screen Comparison for Plasma and LCD TV's in Australian PC User, if you read my July 4th blog, you'll see that I've just done my own research so I've delved pretty deeply into this stuff and the results published in PC User show why it's a PC magazine and not an A/V mag. They certainly know their computers (which is why I buy it every month) but they know f*ck all about TV's. As I don't sell TV's any longer I have no vested interest in promoting any particular brand so I can tell you unequivocally that most of the stuff they spewed out in their tests was misleading. I haven't the time or inclination to go into the subject any further so all I can say is go out and see for yourself (preferably in a store where someone knows how to set up the display properly).
July 4th - OK so it's been a while since my last update but we've had stock take and it's just taken it out of me (whatever "it" is). The up side for you lot is that we have some stuff we discovered in the store room that needs to be cleared at less than our normal ridiculous pricing (check out the specials page). As you probably know, we no longer sell TV's (apart from the new Sherwood 22" with built in DVD player at $799 - I wanted one for myself but had to buy in bulk to get a good price). What this means is that I have no vested interest in any particular brand or model so when I decided to upgrade the TV in the music room at Chez Neil I went in search of the best 42 - 50" display available with money no object (this is my own little retreat - no wives, kids or mistresses unless invited). I won't bore you with the details of my search but I ended up with a Samsung LA46A650 LCD. Out of the box, the picture was pretty shitty but after turning off the stupid "100 Hz motion Plus' circuitry and toning the colours down a bit (pun intended) it was as good a picture from DVD and Blu-ray as I've ever seen. It's only average on free to air SD and HD TV broadcasts although the majority of watching is movies and DVD concerts so it's not really an issue (issue, issue, we all fall down) - whoops, the drugs have kicked in again. In our rumpus room incidentally, I use the Panasonic 58" Plasma as that's where most of the free to air and Foxtel viewing is done - that unit is better for TV but nowhere near as good for DVD/Blu-ray playback. No correspondence will be entered into as regards the last paragraph 'cause its basically objective (as distinct from audio which is highly subjective).
June 17th
Sorry, you caught me out paying penance, you see I lost another customer because I told him what he should have, not what he thought he needed. Ah well, sometimes it just doesn't pay to speak your mind. Unfortunately (for me) it's what I do.
June 14th - I've been trying out some new stuff at home, some for fun and some by necessity, The necessary bit was when the missus decided to unclutter the rumpus room and demanded a cable free rear speaker solution. As the technophobes out there already know, there's no cheap solution for a wireless speaker system due to interference, amplifier distortion etc. The only system that was good enough to meld with my Yamaha RX-V3800 and Paradigm Studio speakers was the KEF wireless solution which consists of a small transmitter that either plugs into the pre-out of the surrounds or the speaker terminals themselves (the better sounding of the two options) and two matchbox sized receivers with built in 50 Watt "D" class (switching) amplifiers. It sounded every bit as good as a wired set up (surrounds aren't as fussy as mains) and worked superbly with no interference. At $990 however, it's not a cheap way out, but it did keep the wife from physically abusing me, and it's neat and tidy. The other thingy was the new Logitech Squeezebox Duet which I have dubbed "The Thinking Man's Sonos". The reason behind this nomenclature is that I've always loved the idea of the Sonos system whereby the music stored on my computer hard drive (uncompressed wave files) could be wirelessly streamed to any of my audio set ups around the house. The downside of the Sonus is that it's bloody expensive (almost $2000 to get into the club). The Squeezebox Duet does essentially the same thing for $599 if you already have amplification in the appropriate places, the downside is that it's not exactly plug and play as the Sonos is. After playing around for over an hour, I finally got the bloody thing to work (I almost gave up), it's the networking that caused the problems but eventually everything was talking to everything else and I was happily streaming music. The remote has an iPod type wheel with the album covers being displayed on the screen, its all rather clever actually and now I have it, it's staying at home. We're now selling them at $599 (no technical backup) or $699 (we'll talk over the phone to help you) - think I'm kidding? No way, the margin on them is so slim that we can't afford to offer specialist product after sales on a computer margin box.
June 6th - Stocktake time! Lets get down to realistic levels before we have to count it. Go to the specials page and see what goodies we're sacrificing ( we normally sacrifice virgins but stock levels on legal versions of those are virtually non existent so electronics and speakers will have to suffice).
June 4th - Tried to give up drinking two days ago, two night of restless sleep, feeling rotten in the morning, back on the booze tonight, hopefully everything will be back to normal. Been testing the Onkyo TX-SR805, most impressed. It falls right into Yamaha RX-V1800 territory now it's on sale at $1749 and comfortably outperforms the Yammie in most area's (as it should given the Onkyo's retail price of $2499). It was never going to challenge the RX-V3800 which, in my humble opinion, is still the best A/V receiver available under $3500, but between $1400 and $2000 there's nothing to touch it. Well worth considering.
May 31st - This game isn't just about selling HiFi, it's also about buying (so we can sell at a good price), so we have to consider the various offers available to us from the wholesalers. One such offer came our way yesterday which involved purchasing an A/V receiver that was bundled with a DVD Player (kind of, buy one get one free deal) but our experience with that particular DVD player has been so bad that we'd feel guilty selling it off at any price. I say this just to warn you that if anyone offers a cheap DVD player (that used to retail for $799) at a ridiculous price, or offered free with a receiver, even the free price is way too high for the suffering you will probably endure. Don't say I didn't warn you!
May 30th - Panasonic have just announced the release of two new DVD recorders. The most exciting is the DMR-BW500 which is a Blu-ray player/recorder incorporating a 500GB hard drive which can store from 855 hours of crappy resolution up to 72 hours of full HD programming. It has twin HD tuners and can simultaneously record two high definition programs whilst watching a Blu-ray movie. It can also be used as a jukebox with Gracenote (CD database) and can play MP3, DivX and JPEG from USB. It's almost a multimedia centre that is user friendly. I want one. The other unit is the DMR-XW300, this plays SD DVD's and has a 250GB hard drive, apart from that it's essentially the same as the BW500 with twin HD tuners etc. Pricing will be $2199 for the BW500 and $1329 for the XW300.
May 26th - Whilst rummaging around at home, cleaning out relics from the past (no, my wife is still there thank you!) I found an old tape that we recorded as a band back in the mid 60's. Pretty crappy really but I've put it on our fun page for you to laugh at.
May 24th - OK, Onkyo's now in stock and the guys are having lots of fun playing with it. If you're an aficionado, call for pricing - hopefully we're more than competitive. I went to see Joe Jackson at the State Theatre this week and was reminded why I love this business. The whole exercise is to try and reproduce the excitement generated at a well mixed live performance (and Joe Jackson was one of the best mixes I've ever heard), unfortunately, most households don't have the room for eight subwoofer boxes with 4 X 18" drivers in each box driven by at least 10,000 Watts, we do our best however. I've decided to take home a pair of Signature S1's and matching centre C1 to try in my music room, in the absence of aforesaid subwoofer boxes, I'll whack in a Paradigm UltraCube 10 (the room is only 3.4 X 5.5 metres).
May 15th - Well, I did it. After 15 years of being one of Onkyo's largest independent retailers, then 10 years in the wilderness, we've signed up with them again. After checking out the quality and value for money we decided they filled a hole in our product line. We needed a brand to compliment our Yamaha A/V receivers and, unlike Marantz and Denon which tend to be a little too laid back when running our speaker range, the Onkyo is more lively. Still not quite as dynamic as Yamaha but with certain speaker systems that can be an advantage. It means that I get to work with Scott again (McKenzie that is, national sales manager for Onkyo etc) - Scott managed the store here at Eastwood HiFi for over 12 years so he knows how we operate (and I know how he operates, which is more to the point). I'll be taking home a few of their products over the next month or so and I'll let you know how they work in the real world.
May 12th - One of the guys at work gave me a Blu-ray DVD Movie to watch This is quite possibly the funniest movie I have ever seen although there are so many musical "in" jokes that those of you not into rock and roll history may not get all the subtleties. The problem is this however, I was given the movie to play on my home system so I could enjoy the benefits of the Blu-ray format (I'm using the new Panasonic BD-30 Blu-ray player, Panasonic 58" 1080 X 1920 Plasma, Yamaha RX-V3800 receiver and a variety of Paradigm speakers). After the first 30 seconds of ooing and ahhring over the picture quality, I could have been watching a VHS tape (video wise). The movie content was just so interesting and funny that I was drawn into the storyline regardless of the picture quality, The sound happens to be in True HD although it would sound good in any of the digital codecs. Where am I going here? Well, it would have been just as enjoyable in standard definition DVD format and to pay a 50% premium to get it on Blu-ray is just ridiculous. Unless the powers that be are able to churn out Blu-ray titles at standard DVD rates the format will just die. Sure, we'll get all the techno heads saying it's worth the extra but they're not the mainstream purchasers who will decide the fate of the format (just look at SACD and DVD-A). Laugh if you will but I was right about HD DVD not making it (and was pilloried for my views). After 35 years in this weird and wonderful industry, you get some sort of overview.
This is a good one. A couple walk into the store and ask for the best price on a Z11 (retail $7990), I tell them it's not really a discount type of product but there may be a bit in it depending on when they're looking to purchase (obviously, I'll do a little better if we have one in stock). They say they're going to purchase it from the US anyway as it's way cheaper. I point out the "no warranty" bit, external transformer problems, radio stepping frequency incompatibility etc. - OK then, we'll buy it from Singapore cause it's still cheaper. I gave up at this point (there are still issues with the Singapore supplied units but I couldn't be bothered) - THEN they asked for a demonstration! For those that know me, you can imagine the various shades of colour emanating from my cheeks. I was reasonably polite and pointed out how busy we were at the time to which the lady of the duo said "I thought the customer always came first" to which I replied "buying in from Singapore doesn't make you a customer" which was my very polite way of telling them to piss off. They left saying they were now going to Len Wallis Audio to get a demonstration there, good luck Len (and no, I didn't shoot myself in the foot over a potential lost speaker sale as they buy those in from overseas as well).
Mission Speakers have a new importer (Synergy) and the prices have tumbled on their basic range. We're getting some in to play with and I'll let you know the outcome over the next couple of weeks.
May 2nd - Has it been that long since I updated? well, if you've been hanging out for gossip, you should really subscribe as I've sent a newsletter recently. Panasonic are still playing silly buggers with our projector and refuse to replace it even after being repaired three times in 10 months then having failed again. Great TV's and Blu-ray players - really shitty projectors and even worse after sales service (or pre sales in our case). The only good thing to come out of it is that the unit we chose to replace it (PT-AX100/PT-AX200) is the Optoma HD65 http://www.optomausa.com/product_detail.asp?product_id=341 If it was the same price as the Panasonic ($2500 ish) we'd still prefer the Optoma, it's about one third the size, quieter and has a more cinematic picture, the killer however is that it goes for around $1690. It just goes to show, from every pile of shit, a flower grows. In this ever changing industry, the retailer has to move with the times or perish. We tend to do this (change, not perish) on a regular basis in terms of equipment stocked. We no longer support the B&W 600 series for instance as the new range (to our ears) isn't as good as the older models and even though the prices were reduced due to the new models being made in China, they still weren't a match for the similarly priced Paradigm and KEF offerings (not to mention some of Yamaha's up market units). The same applies to Marantz's new A/V range, even after a significant price drop, their A/V receivers just don't cut it in the value for money stakes. We still stock them and they have some great sounding up market equipment but their basic and mid range stuff just doesn't cut it (I guess that's why they're now sold mainly through Harvey Norman and other box movers). Where am I going here? Well, many years ago (in a land far far away - oops wrong story) we were the largest independent retailer of Onkyo in Australia. They strayed a little - as did we - and we parted company around 10 years ago. Their latest offerings however, to be released over the next couple of months, look to be both technically and sonically on the mark. To that end, we'll be looking carefully at the range (and pricing) and maybe we can be friends again. I'd really like to get behind the product as we had over 20 years of association with them and they were as reliable as any other product we ever stocked. Not to mention their national sales manager (Scott) was store manager here at Eastwood HiFi for 12 years prior to him joining Amber Technology (Onkyo importers). Could be interesting - I'll keep you posted.
April 22nd - Sometimes size is everything, Paradigm have just unleashed a monster. http://www.paradigm.com/en/paradigm/subwoofer-dsp-dsp3400-model-5-24-4-19.paradigm It's a 14" 300 Watt brute of a sub which moves more air than 20,000 gluttons at a baked bean fest. Sure, the UltraCube 12 is slightly tighter and petite but this thing just makes the whole store rumble. It's a matter of space really, I'd love one at home but just can't fit it in (I use an UltraCube 10). For home theatre, I'm not sure if even our $5000 REL comes close. At $1799 it's the best boom for the buck we've ever heard. I just went back in our sound lounge after writing the last sentence and it's official, the DSP-3400 moves more air than the REL B1 at $5000! We just blew two light globe filaments playing Star Wars. The major downside is the size, it's bloody big!
April 15th - Clearance time, we have several truckloads of excess stock to clear so get onto our specials page for a bargain. There's a Piano gloss black speaker system from Yamaha which has to be the best looking set up around (sounds great too). We also have a heap of Cambridge Audio scratched and dented stock at ridiculous prices, not to mention runout specials on Yamaha receivers.
April 10th - We have just been playing with the Optoma HD-803 projector, We don't often get too excited by projectors (especially Panasonic whose break down rate exceeds that of a 40 year old FIAT and has customer service only matched by LG). This unit however had the lads in the store drooling (not a pretty sight at the best of times). Now enough of this "but it's only 1200 ANSI lumens" crap, all those 2000+ ANSI lumens projectors just cannot give the contrast or cinematic experience (regardless of what the specification may say) that you get in the theatres. We'll be putting one in store for demo. shortly (as soon as I get enough money). We've also been testing the new Paradigm C1 Signature Series centre speaker ($2095), it is absolutely amazing considering the compact dimensions (heavy little sucker though), as soon as the importer has more stock. As you probably know, the centre speaker is the most important element in Home Theatre reproduction as up to 70% of the overall sound emanates from there and it's very difficult to find a compact speaker with enough finesse and grunt to satisfy a top end system. This thing does it! http://www.paradigm.com/en/reference/speaker_only-specification-70-1-3-17.paradigm The matching S1 speakers should be in stock early next month, we haven't heard them yet but from the reviews in the US magazine, Sound and Vision, they should be absolute killers.
April 5th - it appears that I upset someone by stating I couldn't hear the difference on the Queen Blu-ray disc between DTS and DTS HD Master. How the hell can someone be upset by my findings, I'm only telling as I hear it, if Wally Wanker thinks he has better ears than me, so be it (he's probably right) but that doesn't give him the right to spit the dummy and ring the guys in the store for a moan - I'm all for a good discussion but threatening to complain about me on the DTV forum is just plain childish. I'll bet my left testicle that Wally hasn't even listened to the same disc in both formats. I did mention the caveat of the speaker being able to resolve the difference - maybe he ignored that. The good thing about being on the 'net is that no one is forcing anyone else to read this stuff. Bugger off Wally! It's no wonder I'm up to 1/2 bottle of scotch a night.
April 4th - Interesting! Retailers fail to support consumers after the sale, survey finds
With credit to www.current.com.au - always an interesting source of industry info.
Fun times - we received the new range of Yamaha gear yesterday and have now had a chance to play with them. It just re enforces my thought that it's a great time to buy the superseded range. The new models (specifically the 663 and 863) are sonically identical to the outgoing 661 and 861, the only difference is an extra HDMI input for the 863 and the ability to decode the new HD audio formats (which, given the pricing of speakers likely to go with these receivers, won't make a skerrik of difference).
Two items we did get that excited us however were the A-S2000 amp and CD-S2000 CD Player. Yamaha have made no secret of the fact that they want to get back in to the "audiophile" bracket of two channel stereo. Well, Marantz, Denon and most esoteric brands - look out, this amp/CD combination will blow you away. There's not much I can say except, if you're in the market for a top end stereo package at a mid price, this combo ($2999 for the amp and $2599 for the CD) you deserve to audition these puppies. We tested them using the Paradigm S8's ($11000 pair) and all the guy's here rated the sound to be so much better than when we had them driven by the Marantz PM15S1 that it was a no contest (in fairness, the Marantz only sold for $2490). The test will come when the new Cambridge Audio pre/power combo is released later this month although at $5000+ it should be good.
April 3rd - The old scam is back on - guy's in a white van pulling people over and trying to flog a speaker brand called "Denmark Audio". This stuff is absolute crap (unless you get it for the $299 it's really worth) - I've had over 10 calls in the last week from people who've actually bought the stuff (anywhere from $990 to $2500) or the smarter ones who called to ask about it before parting with their money. It's also popping up on e-Bay although surely no one would be brain dead enough to buy an unknown brand from an unknown source. Sigh! I just received my Blu-ray copy of "QUEEN Rock Montreal & Live Aid" - even though it was made in 1985, it has to be one of the best DVD concerts I've experienced both in terms of sound quality and content. One interesting thing I did note that, through my music room system, I couldn't pick any difference between DTS and DTS HD Master and believe me, I tried. Maybe a more expensive speaker set up could resolve them but mine (around $5200 for the speakers) certainly couldn't. I think there's too much emphasis placed on these new HD audio formats and only the very top end systems actually benefit. I'm going to give the same disc a go in our sound lounge at work using the Yamaha Z11 and Paradigm S8's with the appropriate centre, surrounds and a REL B1 subwoofer ($5000). Total system price would be around $35,000 so if I can't tell the difference on that set up I'll either get my ears cleaned out or ignore the hype.
March 28th - I guess the problem I have with reviewers (professional ones that is, not amateurs like me) is that they don't seem to get to the crux of the matter. A case in point is the test of the new Yamaha flagship RX-Z11 in the latest Audio and Video Lifestyle magazine. I've played with the Z11 in store and compared it to Yamaha's own 3800 along with a few other top end models from other manufacturers - I wanted to find out if this model was better than the opposition and more to the point, is it worth the $7999 price tag. You get my ramblings for free and I obviously have an interest in the product as I sell it so you can take my observations with a grain of salt. When I pay $8.95 for a magazine however, I expect an unbiased objective view of a product with some guidance as to whether it suits my purpose in terms of price and comparative performance. Of the four pages in the magazine, only a couple of sentences referred to the sonic and video processing abilities (actual rather than specifications), and even then the reviewer alluded to the fact that the Yamaha sounded better when his Parasound $6000 power amp was stuck on the back end (well duh!) - the rest of the review I could have gotten from the spec. sheet. Sorry guys, I'm not reviewer bashing, I just expect to get a feel of how a particular product stacks up against others in the market place when I'm spending my hard earned dollars. Oops, just lost my free magazines.
I saw John Foggerty at the Entertainment Centre a couple of nights ago and, as always, a good live mix brings me down to earth in terms of domestic HiFi. I was thinking of an article in the Herald a couple of weeks ago where Len Wallis said that (in essence) he disapproved of subwoofer usage for true stereo music reproduction. Normally I would agree with anything Len said about good stereo music as he deals in way more up market gear than Eastwood HiFi, but my idea of music reproduction is to try and get that "live" feel and reproduce the sound of the concert, be it acoustic or amplified. One of the kicks I get out of the concert environment is that thump in the guts feeling of the bass drum and bass guitar belting out the rhythm. There's no speaker system I know of that gives that feel without the addition of a good, tight, musical subwoofer blending in with the main speakers. Oops, just lost the Audiophile audience.
March 22nd - So this guy rings up and asks for a particular type of HDMI cable (which we happen to stock and used as part of an A/B cable test). I told him we didn't have that particular cable in stock with the length he required but a different model (made by the same company) and there was absolutely no difference in performance. "Oh yes there is a difference" he screamed down the phone, "I've read it on the internet! and the importers of the cable told me the more expensive one gives a better picture". Not much one can do about dogmatism is there?. For the benefit of occasional visitors I'll relay an earlier post.
Just finished reading the January edition of Popular Mechanics (purely in the interests of the A/V articles) and came across a test on HDMI cables. The editors of the magazine tested three HDMI cables, a generic cable ($13), a Monster Cable Advanced HDMI 1000 HD Cable ($200) and a Honeywell HDMI Cable with CURxE Light Technology ($300) and not one of the editors could pick any difference. They say that since the signal is digital, you either get feed or you don't and high prices, gold plating etc. don't affect the 0's and 1's. I agree but with the proviso that the cable needs to be mechanically sound. I've had several customers come in with faulty HDMI cables where the pins were not making contact or one of the cables was O/S. My suggestion is not to buy the cheapest but limit yourself to around $70 (max) for a 1.5 metre cable. Your local Harvey's store makes more money flogging you a $250 HDMI cable than they do on a $1400 42" Plasma (believe me!). I'll probably get hung, drawn and quartered for pointing that out.
March 14th - Seems like the industry is catching up on the Paradigm bandwagon. The latest Australian HiFi Magazine has a glowing review of the Paradigm Monitor 11's. Don't take my word for it, go check it out! I've taken to drinking Scotch and Soda now as I'm on a diet and the Bourbon and Coke thing wasn't helping my waistline. This turned out to be an extremely expensive exercise as I can actually taste the difference between brands and find Dimple to be my preferred drop. The only upside is the 1kg I lost last week! Interesting news from KEF. Their biggest selling Sub/Sat system, the KHT 3005, is now available in the SE specification. Don't get too excited however as they're only available in Black (the Silver version is not available in SE spec.) and they don't sound a lot different anyway (If you didn't hear them side by side you wouldn't know which was playing) so no big deal (even though the Pommie mag's gush over the "improvements").
March 12th - Ha! my apparent bias towards Paradigm speakers has been vindicated. Audio and Video Lifestyle Magazine has just announced that Paradigm swept the field with the best Floorstanding speaker of 2007 - 2008 being the Signature S6 and the Paradigm Titan Monitor the best standmount (bookshelf) speaker of 2007 - 2008.
March 8th - Pioneer has just announced the closure of its Plasma manufacturing plants because, surprise, surprise, there's no money to be made in TV display panels. That's three companies in 3 months (Fujitsu, Hitachi and Pioneer). The fault lies with the large retailers - Harvey Norman, Retravision, Bing Lee primarily in Australia and their ilk in other countries. These retailers absolutely screw the manufacturers and importers down to the bone threatening not to stock their products unless a particular price point is met. As an example, my buy price on the Panasonic TX-50PX70A (which is a superb 50" Plasma) is $2001.70 yet it's advertised in this weeks papers at $1970 from the major retailers. The retail incidentally is $2799. Obviously I can't sell any because I'm not here to lose money but it shows the disdain that the wholesalers have for small businesses and the lack of loyalty from those wholesalers. Back when I was buying Panasonic at the same price as the majors (20 years ago), I was doing over $400,000 a year (wholesale) with them and they were my major supplier of Audio and Video, now it's almost zero even though they have some of the best A/V products around (we still stock their Blu-ray Players). I see that some members of the DTV Forum don't like buying off us because of my "rantings". Well, firstly they don't have to read this stuff and secondly, if we give the best prices, service and advice, why would you preclude us just because you don't like me? Good job I have a thick skin! and pity them for paying more elsewhere because of personal prejudice (their business future doesn't look good).
March 6th - Audiophiles WARNING -DO NOT FOLLOW THIS LINK! http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/audiophiles-cant-tell-the-difference-between-monster-cable-and/
February 28th - That's the last time I ask for suggestions via the Newsletter! Much as appreciate the response, the 400+ emails I received just swamped me. I'll troll through them over the next couple of days. (you had to be a recipient of our newsletter to know what I'm talking about). I don't get too involved in display panels any longer as it all gets too hard. A case in point was the guy (who had no intention of buying off us) who rudely interrupted a phone call I was making just to ask if the Panasonic 42" Plasma we have on the floor was "High Definition" or "True High Definition" because he'd been told that he needed "True High definition". I told him it was straight High Definition, he said that obviously True High Definition was better because it has more pixels. I told him you can't see the difference on a 42" at normal viewing distances and because of pixel density the True High Definition sets are often inferior 'cause their contrast ratio is less. He wanted to argue. I told him to go jump. I hate display panels. Adjunct to previous paragraph - Full 1920 X 1080 can be beneficial in larger screens (but not always)
February 19th - I've never been one to say "I told you so" as I believe it's petty and juvenile, however, as Toshiba announced the cessation of its HD DVD manufacturing facility a couple of days ago, I'm almost tempted to do so. There was never going to be any room for two virtually identical HD formats (in practical terms anyway) so one had to go and with only one company manufacturing and distributing the stand alone players it was always going to be goodbye to HD DVD. I really hope this gives Blu-ray a boost as the picture quality really is so much better than SD DVD (just don't get me started on the sonics). Oh bugger it - I told you so! I was going to do a review on the Yamaha RX-Z11 but after playing with it for a couple of hours yesterday I figured that it would be akin to me being asked to road test Casey Stoners MotoGP Ducati. I could probably take it to 20% of its capability then the rest would be lost on me (assuming I survived the experience). The Z11 is so technically advanced in so many areas that it would take a video expert to run through all the up scaling / up conversion specifications and associated video processing, an electronics technician to go through the audio processing and an musician to appraise the sonic ability of the beast. Whereas I could take a stab at the two latter area's, I'm afraid the video section is way beyond me (hey, it was 1966 when I trained with the ABC). We thought it was fantastic when we did the initial set up with the supplied microphone but after a visit by Simon (Yamaha's Z11 expert) who spent 2 hours tweaking it, the results are even more astounding. Admittedly, at $7990 it'd want to be something special, if I had a dedicated room for Home Theatre at Chez Neil that was larger than the current dog box (it's only 5 X 3 metres) I'd grab one and attach a brace of Paradigm Signature speakers (is "brace" the collective for speakers?) and hook it up to my 58" Panasonic Plasma (which currently resides in the rumpus room) - now THAT would be a system! What I will do however is a brief review on the basics of the Z11 without going into technical specifics. I'm working on it now.
I don't mind giving advice on sound systems (as per our HELP page) but be reasonable about the TV/Sound system price ratio. As a rule of thumb, the sound system (Receiver, Speakers and associated electronics) should be at least as expensive as the TV panel and preferably many times greater. I guess the problem lies in the perception of material wealth - it's a lot easier to brag about your new 70" Plasma than your new Yamarantz sound system. The person who wanted to spend $2000 on a sound system to compliment their 65" plasma needs a reality check, I didn't bother with that one.
February 11th - And you wonder why I knock the Poms (even though I am one) http://www.current.com.au/news/article/RSUUTNLVIL.html
February 7th - First test of the new KEF XQ40 Speakers has just been accomplished. It's impossible to objectively assess speakers as there are just too many variables - room acoustics, source, amplification etc. which is why we always A/B against a known quantity (or quality in this case). My reference speakers were the Paradigm Studio 100's as they retail for $4700 pair and the KEF's $4999 pair, I figured they would be natural competitors and I've lived with the 100's at home long enough to know their strengths and weaknesses. It was certainly an eye opener, KEF UniQ speakers have always tended towards a "soft" sound, much like B&W's. I don't like "soft" I'm afraid, I like accurate, meaning soft when necessary and dynamic when called for. These XQ speakers have a totally redesigned tweeter and crossover, they're actually slightly more forward than the Paradigm's. This can be good or bad depending on the source, for badly recorded material or a cheap source (CD Player or Turntable) they sound terrible but paired with good quality input, the sound is sweet and intimate. Our Sheffield Lab test CD sounded just brilliant with these KEF's. I'll do a full review shortly after I spend a bit more time with them but my initial impression is that, for Classical, Jazz and acoustic music, the KEF's are as good as, and occasionally outshine, the Paradigm Studio 100's, for anything modern or electronic, the Paradigms with their extra bass drivers, have more weight and oomph (that's a technical term) and are my preferred noise generator. I'd be quite happy with either however with the KEF's certainly winning in the aesthetics department. http://www.kef.com/products/xq07/global/productRange_xq40/default.aspx
February 6th - Just finished reading the January edition of Popular Mechanics (purely in the interests of the A/V articles) and came across a test on HDMI cables. The editors of the magazine tested three HDMI cables, a generic cable ($13), a Monster Cable Advanced HDMI 1000 HD Cable ($200) and a Honeywell HDMI Cable with CURxE Light Technology ($300) and not one of the editors could pick any difference. They say that since the signal is digital, you either get feed or you don't and high prices, gold plating etc. don't affect the 0's and 1's. I agree but with the proviso that the cable needs to be mechanically sound. I've had several customers come in with faulty HDMI cables where the pins were not making contact or one of the cables was O/S. My suggestion is not to buy the cheapest but limit yourself to around $70 (max) for a 1.5 metre cable. Your local Harvey's store makes more money flogging you a $250 HDMI cable than they do on a $1400 42" Plasma (believe me!). I'll probably get hung, drawn and quartered for pointing that out.
February 1st - Fun times in the Flat Panel market. I've always said the major stores screw things up for the smaller specialist retailer and wholesalers alike. David Richards of Smarthouse magazine seems to agree with me on that one (one of the few things we do agree on) here's an interesting link How Harvey Norman Screwed Up Over Hitachi... I don't think he'll mind me posting that one. It just shows what a hold the big box movers have over even the largest importers and wholesalers.
January 14th - Not too much to report at the moment except that my new DVD -The Other Side of The Mirror, Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965 is an absolute must for any Bob Dylan fan or anyone interested in music history. The sound is absolutely incredible (age not withstanding) and worth the price of the DVD alone.
January 2nd - Well bugger me (metaphorically speaking of course) if we didn't just have the best December in the 30 years we've been here. Now all I have to do is find the money to pay last months invoices! It's almost time for the yearly Awards to be announced. Unfortunately, I can't list them publicly so you'll have to subscribe to the newsletter to find out who won what, where and how.
2007 - The Year of the HDMI
December 23rd - Perception is a funny thing, I bought myself a little Christmas present, the new Panasonic 58" Plasma. I thought this would beat the pants off my current Yamaha/Fujitsu 55" as it was bigger, had a much higher contrast (10,000:1 against 1000:1) and better resolution (1920 X 1080 against 1366 X 768) so how could I lose? Well, I had it installed on Friday and neither my wife or two kidlings (18 and 16) noticed I'd even changed it. The outer dimensions are virtually identical, it's just the fuller inner frame of the Panasonic picking up the extra 3" diagonal, so when not in operation, even I wouldn't have picked the difference. The picture quality is so reliant on the program source, that apart from the new channel 10 HD, there was no real difference in quality. On SD DVD there was no real improvement, on Blu-ray and HD DVD I could pick the increase in resolution but the rest of the family thought it was just as good as the old unit (albeit significantly better than SD DVD). So did I just piss $7000 up against the wall? Probably, although I still have the feel good factor telling me I have the best picture currently available. Pity the rest of the family don't think so.
So why doesn't 10,000:1 contrast look better than 1000:1, I suspect there are many ways of measuring the contrast ratio and the eye must reach a point where it's hard to resolve any further increase in the real figures. Same with resolution (number of pixels), from our viewing distance of 2.5 metres, the variation between 1920 X 1080 and 1366 X 768 is moot. If you're really anal and get to within 1 metre of the screen, of course you can see the difference, but that's not the point is it? (unless you happen to watch a 58" panel from 1 metre). The move from the old SD panels to HD panels was significant, the slide from HD to "true" HD (or whatever nome du jour some wanker decided to pick) is less than exciting.
December 19th - Oh goodie, all the stock arrived today, maybe we can get it shipped out to the customers for Christmas after all.
If you were in business, would you react better to - "I have a problem with this equipment you sold me, I want it fixed, and I want it fixed NOW!" or "Steve, I have a problem with some equipment you sold me, I was wondering if you could help me resolve the issues, I realise its a busy time of year for you but I'd really appreciate any help you can offer." Hmm, I thought so. Sometimes you have to take a step back and think how you'd react to your own threats.
November 5th - Just a short one today. I've just finished reading the latest edition of HiFi World. There's a review on a one metre power cable (like they'd make a difference after the electricity has passed through 500 kms of the crappiest aluminium wire ever made), anyway, the genius reviewer said this "each cable is run for 48 hours using an Audiodharma 2.5 Cable Cooker before dispatch, which sends special dynamic waveforms at high current through the cables in order to burn the cable in" but hey, it gets better as the cable, "compared to a standard lead, showed improvements in terms of background silences becoming more pronounced" ????????????????? Great jokers these pommie journo's, they obviously have a random word generator, put the words together then giggle as the audiophilia take them as gospel. God, I love this industry.
October 30th - Well, I've been plugging and unplugging away at home over the past three days trying to review the new Yamaha RX-V3800. To do a proper review (rather than the cut and paste we see in most magazines) takes quite some time and a lot of effort as it's impossible to give an objective result on sound and video without having another product to compare or refer to. Fortunately, I had the previous model (RX-V2700) and a Marantz (SR5001) handy for a few direct comparative listening tests. The fruits of my labours can be seen here.
October 19th - Enough already! I now know why shops like Len Wallis Audio have migrated to the higher priced systems. Since we've started to stock some of the lower end set ups (sub $1500 for complete systems) we've had more customer whines and complaints than ever before. It's a market that I'll now ignore once my current stocks of cheaper speaker systems are depleted. For a reason that eludes me, the purchasers in that demographic seem to change their mind and are more subject to agitation when a problem arises than normal. In fact, as the purchase price increases, the complaints decrease, even in the face of adverse equipment operation. It's not worth the aggravation (plus I'm too old for all the crap I'm getting). Speaking of complete systems, I was asked to put together a 5.1 set up for a customer wanting to spend under $4000 with good musical ability and HDMI. After much testing and gnashing of teeth (not everything sounded good) I came up with the following - Yamaha RX-V661 Receiver Yamaha DV-S661 DVD Player Paradigm Titan Monitor speakers on stands (Mains) Paradigm Atom Monitors on stands (surrounds) Paradigm CC190 Centre Yamaha YST-SW515 Subwoofer The total came to around $3950 and was absolutely stunning, it's just one of those set ups which gel. The customer heard the set up when he came into the store and agreed - he bought it. Another win for experimentation.
October 9th - I've finally worked out why Media Centres haven't taken off - HiFi and Computer people seem to be incompatible. Take the Sonos music streaming system for example, a great concept, brilliantly executed (I won't bother you with the details) but in a review from Australian PC World this month, they praised the technical aspects of the system, gave it 4.5 out of 5 rating yet said the sound quality was flat! I thought the whole reason for this set up was to deliver excellent sound. If the sound was "flat" then the rating should have been much lower. Obviously the reviewer was concentrating on technical aspects, not sonics. This is a sad state of affairs as the sonics are actually brilliant, I suspect the reviewer used a set of $99 Logitec plastic speakers rather than the Paradigm Titan Monitors or KEF iQ7's we use to demonstrate the system in store (which results in brilliant sound reproduction). The reviewer gave the right rating for the wrong reasons.
September 20th - At last! An instruction manual with a piece of advice missing from every other I've read - "When using HDMI connection, depending on components, unreliable signal transfer may happen" This is from the manual to the new Sherwood RD-7502, a miracle of marketing and construction. More of that later, the reference about unreliable HDMI transfer should be engraved on every piece of equipment using the HDMI interface. I get around three to five calls every week from people (not necessarily our customers) who are having problems getting a picture when they connect a source to a receiver then to a display panel and can't get a picture, yet when the source is connected directly to the display, there's no problem. The issue can be attributed to a variety of problems from "handshaking" to chip incompatibility. There's no real answer at this time (although incorrect settings on one or all of the three devices takes its toll) so don't blame the manufacturer, salesman or whatever God you subscribe to, as they say, Shit Happens. Back to the Sherwood RD-7502, this is a new release in the budget end of A/V receivers but the list of features is amazing. 2 HDMI inputs (one out), Video conversion up to Component, Auto set up with supplied microphone, 100 Watts X 7 Channels (well, that's what they say) AM/FM tuner, 3.5mm aux in jack on the front for your iPod, MP3 etc. The best thing is the bloody thing actually sounds good. How much? I hear you cry. Try $499 (I couldn't believe it either) - mind you there's FA dealer margin so it'll be a numbers game.
September 8th - What to do? Lady comes in with speakers and amp purchased second hand - we sell the same stuff, she's not happy with the sound so how does she improve it. Mike spends over an hour with her and finds that for her type of music she needs to add a subwoofer (they were bookshelf speakers). We suggest a sub that retails for $900 and offered it to her for $649. She said she'd seen the same sub for $599 at another (box mover) store and would go buy it there if we wouldn't match the price. Do I -
a) Match the price. b) Let her go but charge $66 for the hour + of setting up and advice. c) Get stuck into the bourbon. d) Slash my wrists. e) Open a brothel.
All sensible suggestions will be considered.
September 7th - Now I know why I don't sweat over selling TV's. Johnny Jerkoff comes in with his test DVD and tries out the 101cm LCD panel we have on display, plays with it for 30 minutes THEN asks what the resolution and refresh rate is - I mean. who gives a rats if the picture quality is what your after and is better than the other units he tried at HN? He got the poops with me when I couldn't remember the exact figures so I watched bemused as he stomped out. At least no one these days asks me for THD and frequency figures on receivers (although I still get a chuckle out of power ratings). Hey. I'm an audio guy - when I did my training with the ABC, I was asleep dreaming of guitars and women back then, it was the 60's after all. Don't let anyone tell you subwoofers can be placed anywhere. We've been playing with the REL B1 (sounds like Bananas in Pajamas) and in our main sound lounge it sounded absolutely awesome, we shifted it to our other A/V room it sounded really crappy (and I mean BAD), it was sloppy and boomy, we played for a while and shifted it about 20 cm out from the wall and 1 metre from the corner then Bingo! back to being tight and musical - the problem is more prevalent with up market subs as they have to be "tamed" to suit their surroundings - it's sure worth the effort in the end though.
August 2nd - I know I shouldn't really do this, but I have to share something. We placed an ad. on seek.com.au for a sales assistant, obviously we need someone with good communication skills (to make up for my lack thereof) so we put a screen page in place where the applicant needed to say why they were suitable for the position, well, we received some doozies but this was interesting -
I have no problem with people who are not 100% with the English language (after all, our own Mike The Pom is almost unintelligible both verbally and written) but I figure the spell checker shouldn't be too hard to figure out.
July 26th - It's not my fault I've been recalcitrant and not updated lately. Things have happened, not the least a bottle of the most superb limited edition Bourbon sent by a satisfied customer in Perth - I'm not through it yet as I'm still experimenting with methods of ingestion, Coke (too down market), Water, (not bad but getting the correct proportions right is a bitch), Dry Ginger Ale (interesting and could be a contender) and straight on the rocks - now this is the way, the only problem is estimating just how much I've drunk. Altogether a most enlightening evening of chemical experimentation, took me back to my time working in Chemical Laboratories (although in those days, many different substances were involved). The next day, a most imbibable bottle of WA Red appeared on my desk courtesy of another satisfied customer (Alex) from Broome - Now, I don't know where you guys get the idea that I'm a drunken sot but I sure am having fun trying to teach my liver to behave when visited by C2H5OH, Unfortunately, the welcome mat is not as friendly as it once was and the C2H5OH tends to get attacked by alcohol dehydrogenate (ADH) - hopefully to break it down to acetaldehyde, which is then converted to carbon dioxide and water, then to by flushed from my putrid body. This exercise in chemical balance within the confines of my body seems to have slowed over the years and the rate of conversion has slowed dramatically, consequently, I generally feel like shit the next morning. I'm obviously rambling here as a result of an incomplete flushing process last night. I'll continue this tomorrow when I feel more coherent,
July 12th -Sometimes it just doesn't pay to be nice. We sold a couple of pairs of EV Evid 4.2 Speakers and a 100 Watt per channel receiver to a guy interstate with a clothes shop, he said he wanted background music - two days later he said the receiver wasn't working, I asked if he played loud, no said he. I replaced the receiver with a new one. That one lasted a week. I suggested upgrading the receiver to a more rugged model so he paid an extra $400 - I sent the new unit to him. He complained it kept shutting down so what was I going to do about it? I figured the deal had cost me so much money, I'd bite the bullet and just give him a full refund. Only after all this did he admit in conversation with one of the guys in store here that when he wasn't in the shop, the staff would turn it up and max it out! The equipment wasn't faulty at all - his bloody staff were. The whole shebang cost me over $200 in shipping and now I'm stuck with 3 receivers I'll have to fix (not under warranty obviously) and then sell dirt cheap! I'm not sure what the moral of the story is but I'm sure pissed off with the whole deal.
New toy - it goes under the name of "Porto", yes! I thought it was a new chicken dish myself although I'm assured the feathers are optional. http://www.audiopro.com/templates/audio_pro_products/?id_products=450 Designed and manufactured by Swedish HiFi specialists Audio Pro, the Porto is an iPod player that actually sounds good (good being relative of course). We've had a play with them and at $599 make way more sense than many of the non portable units around the same price that are sonically inferior. They're available in Black, White or Red stitched leather finish (ideal for those S&M Parties). Free shipping on this one.
July 4th - Thought I'd try and distinguish between cheap Digital Fibre Optics Cables and some of the more expensive ones so I took home a really thin and crappy looking no name $9.95 cable, a $60 KORDZ cable, a $149 Gecko cable and a $299 cable (can't mention the name as I don't stock them but do carry other products from the same importer and value the relationship). I used a Marantz DV7600 Player ($1499 and pretty good on the audio), a Yamaha RX-V2700 Receiver ($2499), a set of Paradigm Studio 100 main speakers ($4700), CC590 Centre ($1650), Titan Monitor Surrounds ($1000) and a Paradigm UltraCube 10 Subwoofer ($1890). Not a super high end system but quite capable of resolving differences between variations in connectivity etc.
Just as aside, there's a journo. in one of the Australian mags who reviews equipment at home (so he says) and his set up is so bad that it couldn't possibly show any difference between anything - I think he makes up most of his reviews - in fact I've caught him out at least 3 times writing reviews on equipment that he hadn't even seen - that's why magazine reviews generally mean zilch.
Now, where was I? Oh yes, the differences between the digital fibre optic cables. I tested them by using a switch box with a $299 cable from the DVD to the box, then the four cables being tested from the switch box to the receiver (the cable from the DVD to the receiver is therefore a constant with the only variables being the transmission via the other 3 cables) starting with music, I used our reference Sheffield Lab CD with Amanda McBroome, my remote control was my daughter as I didn't want to move as the cables were switched (the ear only has an accurate "memory" of around 3 seconds).
The results were interesting although (in my view) predictable. The cheap $9.95 cable tended to sound slightly thinner and had less clarity in the soundstage (the imaging wasn't very precise), the $60 KORDZ gave me everything I would expect from the system and was well worth the extra investment, I could hear absolutely no difference between the KORDZ, the Gecko and the $299 cable and I mean NOTHING! Then on to movies (Tenacious D and Ghost Rider) there was definitely an improvement with the subwoofer as the bass was tighter and more integrated once I moved up from the el-cheapo cable, but again, no difference via the other three.
Being methods of digital transfer, I would have expected those results with the cheap cable perhaps losing some info on the way through with inferior plastic strands and lens, once a certain level of manufacture is reached, as per the KORDZ, there isn't going to be any way of improving the digital signal anyway so there shouldn't be any sound differentiation (unlike analogue cables). The only advantage in the more expensive cables in the actual construction meaning the cables should last longer and make a better connection at either end. So next time you read a review on cables in "What, Which, or Who's" HiFi - take the results with a grain of salt as I doubt very much if anyone has actually done a real comparative test.
June 15th - So how come, if a customer buys a Yamaha receiver from JB HiFi and it fails, it's Yamaha's fault (and problem) yet when we sell one that fails, it's our fault (and problem)? It's no wonder they can sell stuff with less margin, as soon as the box leaves the store, it's not their worry or problem any longer - even though the law says the retailer is responsible! And while I'm at it, thanks to the guy who sucked me dry on how and why a particular receiver was best for his set up (it took over 30 minutes on the phone) then purchased the same unit for $50 less than my price on-line. I really hope he has a problem with it (me? nasty?).
On a lighter note, we just received an Outstanding Dealer Recognition Award from Yamaha - we're now the #2 independent dealer in NSW (Yeh, yeh, I know, congratulations to Len Wallis Audio - again) I'm not sure what it means but I guess we're doing something right with the product - I guess the fact that it's the most reliable product we've ever sold helps, even so, we still average 3% returns - boy, you should see the return rate of some of the other brands we sell - or did sell, how about a 20% return rate on some brands of electronics!
June 13th - Just took home a pair of Paradigm Monitor 11's http://www.paradigm.com/en/paradigm/fronts-monitor-monitor11-model-2-4-1-19.paradigm These things are one of the best Bang For Buck speaker we've ever sold. They're big and ugly (just like me) but they sound awesome (not like me) - At a retail of $2400 pair for the Paradigms, the new B&W 600 series out next month would want to be bloody good to compete with these although I have no doubt the B&W's will be prettier in a conventional sense. I notice Clive Peeters shares dropped 20% today after a downgraded profit forecast due to poor NSW sales. Blind Freddy could have seen that there was no room for a middle of the road "one stop shop" home wares retailer in Australia's toughest market. One just has to look (or not) at their monochromatic advertisements in the daily papers to realize they have no idea of how to attract customers in our Harvey Norman/JB HiFi dominated marketplace. Not that I give a rats, it's good to see the screwers getting screwed!
May 12th - Don't get me wrong, I really like Len Wallis, he's as honest as the day is long (although they're getting a lot shorter this time of year) and he has an excellent range of equipment with terrific demonstration facilities but his newsletters certainly leave something to be desired. At the end of one of his tomes (no doubt written by a minion) it say's "It has been reported that for the first time in history, turntables outsold CD players in the UK last year". I'll leave you to ponder on that. I commented on the new Paradigm Titan Monitor bookshelf speakers in my previous ramblings, the more I listen to them, the more impressed I get. At $990 a pair, they are better than most bookshelf speakers under $1500 - not to mention some $1700 floorstanding speakers we've tested. Add a decent subwoofer and be amazed (I was). Panasonic will release the new 50" Plasma with integrated HD tuner, TH-50PX70A, in the next week or so and at around $3500 it's the same price as the outgoing model. Performance is similar although it has a new gloss black surround with better inbuilt speakers. Panel is 1366 X 768 with 1080p compatibility (don't ask - just go to their web site for an explanation). The 42" TN-42PX70A will be released around the same time at around $2499 with 1024 X 768 pixels and integrated HD tuner.
April 11th - I give up! Morrie Moron comes in to buy speaker cable for his recently acquired Harvey Norman purchased No Name speaker system, I show him some 14 gauge stuff which would do more than justice to his rig and he walks because it was only $5.00 per metre and some Wally told him he needs to spend at least $10 a metre on the stuff or his speakers won't work properly. I'm going to triple the price of all my cables to make the customers feel better about the purchase. Danger - do not plug and unplug HDMI cables when the equipment is turned on. We've now seen a number of cases where equipment has been damaged due to hot plugging HDMI and the warnings in the instruction booklets don't give enough prominence to the practice. The resulting damage shouldn't be covered under warranty although we fudge it through as it's an easy mistake to make. We're still looking for a salesperson (the last round of applicants fell over) so if you know of any 25 to 35 year old desperates looking for a lowly paid position (must have drivers license and experience) just give me a yell. Interestingly enough, when I put the advertisement in the Herald, I was told I couldn't mention the age range as it was discriminatory, what a load of crap! I have a specific age requirement for extremely valid reasons and if I can't ask for that age group I have to inform 70% of the applicants that they have wasted their time due to political correctness. I think I preferred living in the '60's and '70's when things were much simpler.
March 16th - Observation - The more people screw you on price, the more demanding they seem to be when something doesn't go right with a piece of equipment. Fact - The service people get is in inverse proportion to their "attitude". Observation - "Please could you help me with this?" will get an instantaneous positive result.
March 6th - An interesting statistic has reared its ugly head over the last few months, more customers are opting for smaller main speakers either in the form of Satellite's or slim line floor standing units (the ones around 15 - 20mm across). A few years ago the reduction in physical size would have meant a severe sacrifice in terms of sound quality, with new technology however, even these small speakers (with the aid of a subwoofer) can produce amazing "big" sounds. The down side of this is that the efficiency of the speaker is reduced i.e. the amplifier has to work a lot harder to produce the same volume level as a larger speaker. This came to light over the past couple of weeks as customers were calling complaining that their amplifier was cutting out after a couple of hours work. This is caused by the output stage overheating due to the excess current drawn by these inefficient speakers, a relay will cut out the power to the output until things cool down. This isn't really a problem unless the unit is being played pretty loud over a long period or the ambient temperature is high. It's not the fault of the amplifier, speaker or the salesman, it's just a fact of life. Having said that, one particular customer was complaining that the system was cutting out when he was playing his receiver at 0dB - that's virtually flat out! Sometimes I wonder what these guys use for ears. For the majority of people this will never be a problem, if you want LOUD however - buy bloody big speakers!
2006 - The Year of the LCD
December 22nd - After much deliberation, I've decided not to join any of the myriad of HiFi associations and will join with Apollo HiFi to form the "Specialist HiFi Independent Thinkers - Helping Other True-believers" (Thanks Rod). We still have a couple of Yamaha RX-V1700's and 2700's in stock (no more 'till February) at $1799 and $2250 respectively. I lost a bunch of e-mails due to a system crash over the last couple of days so if you didn't get an answer, please re-send. Our new floor standing speaker, the Australian Acoustics model 18 will be available the first week of 2007, it's been designed with the help of some highly regarded international audio engineers and fine tuned by an eclectic bunch including musicians, both classical and contemporary, along with a bunch of industry ne'r -do-wells (yeh, that includes me) Priced at $1399 pair, they will compete with (and hopefully bury) most of the "name" brand speakers selling for under $2000 pair. They're constructed in China out of the same factory that produces some of the biggest names in loudspeakers (I can't tell you which ones as we borrowed some of their technology to get a speaker this good at such a low price). All I can say is that they are well worth an audition.
The thinking mans A/V bible - Sound & Vision (American edition) just went up a couple of notches in my estimation, they recommend FOUR subwoofers for a perfectly balanced sound. A retailers dream!
December 4th - It's awards time again. This year we start with the 10 most useless or stupid awards in regard to audio and video. The judges are myself and several random drunks so we can be bought and influenced.
Number 10 - The Automatic Volume Level on the sound system of the Lexus GS300. Its supposed to increase or decrease the audio output level of the sound system to compensate for variations in cabin noise. Considering their is almost no variation in cabin noise at any speed, the system is totally and utterly useless.
Number 9 - The Automatic Volume Level on the sound system of the Nissan 350Z Roadster. As its hooked up to a Bose system, increasing the audio output is somewhat akin to increasing the voltage to the electrodes attached to a wailing cat.
Number 8 - HD DVD and Blu-Ray. Both offer better audio and video than a standard DVD player - but only if you have the screen big enough and good enough to resolve that difference. The average user wouldn't get any major benefit and as long as there are two competing systems, the average punter won't purchase either as no one knows which, if any, of the systems will prevail.
Number 7 - iPod Docks for any A/V receiver $2000+. Compressed music through a high quality audio system? - get out of here!
Number 6 - HDCP digital right management over HDMI. Don't know what I'm talking about? Just wait until a couple of your HDMI devices refuse to "handshake".
Number 5 - Any A/V Cable over $150 (HDMI excluded). If the sales guy can't demonstrate the difference between the $99 cable and the $399 "name brand" cable he makes 400% markup with, avoid him and his store like the plague.
Number 4 - David and Stephen Small (distributors of KEF) for listening to the bleating and whining of grotty little HiFi store owners in relation to my (sometimes) aggressive sales techniques (apart from that, they're not bad guys).
Number 3 - George Nasr at Yamaha for not accepting my offer to buy all the superb HX speaker range at a ridiculous price (I ended up buying them at a much higher, albeit still bargain price).
Number 2 - Specification Junkies. These are the customers who don't want to listen to a speaker unless the frequency response is 10Hz to 100,000 Hz or look at a screen with fewer than 10 gazillion pixels. They don't give a rats that a lower specced unit may actually look or sound better.
And the number one piece of stupidity for 2006 is - Importers (Castel, Samsung etc.) who are distributing high tech gear like HD DVD/Blu-Ray and will not supply specialist stores since the turnover wouldn't justify the effort. You wouldn't believe the number of calls we get from people who have purchased Blu-Ray players from JB HiFi then have the temerity to ring us on technical questions. We tell them to bugger off (well, I do anyway, the rest of the staff are too nice). The main loser however is going to be Castel (Toshiba HD DVD) as the combined advertising budget of the Blu-Ray camp makes their little outfit pale into insignificance. Without the backing of the small specialists (and maybe even with it) HD DVD will fail and Blu-Ray will become a minor player (much like SACD and DVD-A). Pity!
Below is a view of my new room at home (it's mine - all mine, no kids or wives allowed unless invited) It's actually changed since this photo so I'll update when I can work out how to operate my new digital camera.
Here are a few Photographs of The Shop.
This is from the outside (guess who paid for the signage?)
As you can see, the interior is a mess, this is a consequence of too much stock - hence our ridiculously low prices.
This is the interior of Sound Lounge#1. The drapes are more to absorb the high frequency bounce rather than for visual effect.
This is the interior of Sound Lounge#2
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