Not An Audiophile – The Podcast featuring podcast episodes from The Australian HiFi Show Sydney 2025. Roundup of good, bad and new. Chats to exhibitors. Sound analysis and a look at the who’s who of HiFi. Interviews with Brian Rodgers Richter Audio; Geoff Haynes HeyNow HiFi; Jean Marie Liere Microphase Audio Design + more. Backed up by two YouTube videos – Set up and first rooms AND video 2 wanders through some of interesting and new brand rooms.
Podcast transcripts below – Episode 025 & EP026 COMING SOON
TRANSCRIPT
S2 Ep025 HiFi Show roundup Sydney 2025 Not An Audiophile
Audio Marketing and Musical Fidelity lend us an A1 amplifier
Brian Rodgers: Having a relationship with, the guys at Audio Marketing and Musical Fidelity. They are kind enough to, lend us an A1 which we can set up with our bookshelves. Which sounds just fantastic.
Andrew Hutchison: I bet it does. I actually haven’t heard the new A1, but does it kind of sound beautiful and sweet and warm like the original?
Brian Rodgers: It’s definitely warm. Yes. It’s a hot. It’s a hot amplifier.
Andrew Hutchison: welcome back to not an Audiophile. This is episode 25, season two. I’m fresh back from the 2025 Australian HiFi show in Sydney. And today is the first of a series of episodes, of the various interviews that I managed to record with a whole bunch of interesting people.
This podcast is sponsored by Spectraflora. Meet Australia’s newest loudspeaker innovator
First up today, Brian Rodgers from Richter. This episode of not an Audiophile. The podcast is sponsored by Spectraflora. Looking for gorgeous speakers that sound as good as they look. Meet Spectraflora, Australia’s newest loudspeaker innovator. Their flagship Celata 88 is handcrafted in Victoria, Australia. With patent pending wave guide and subwoofer designs, this speaker delivers impactful, dynamic and emotionally gripping sound. Listeners rave about the beauty and breathtaking sound of the Celata 88 that makes ordinary speakers feel lifeless. Experience Spectraflora rediscover meaning in music. Learn more at spectraflora.com so we’re here with Brian Rodgers at Richter and it’s a pleasure.
Brian Richter uses A1 amplifiers at his shows
Thank you, Brian.
Brian Rodgers: Here we are.
Andrew Hutchison: Here we have another city. Another city.
Brian Rodgers: Another dusty hotel room. Another HiFi show.
Andrew Hutchison: I think it’s fairly clean, actually. I think the cleaners are really good here actually. But, you got a hell of an array. it’s. I guess it’s, What you seem to do at shows is you bring a simple range of equipment, but there’s always something new. At least in this case I see a little, modern day A1 musical fidelity, which is obviously not what you sell. But, No, why is, why is that? Here, look.
Brian Rodgers: Why? well, if you look at the M6si.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Brian Rodgers: that’s my own amp.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Brian Rodgers: Okay, so it’s not a loaner. It’s an amp I, I like to use. It’s got the power when required to develop the larger speakers.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Brian Rodgers: it’s just a really nice performing product at a, at a sensible price.
Andrew Hutchison: It is.
Andrew Hutchison: I mean, it’s probably a good match for Richter, isn’t it?
Brian Rodgers: It’s a good match, yeah. And, and having a relationship with, the guys at Audio Marketing and Musical Fidelity, they are kind enough to lend us an A1 which we can set up with our bookshelves. Which sounds just fantastic.
Andrew Hutchison: I bet it does. I actually haven’t heard the new A1, but I’m, it is, does it kind of sound beautiful and sweet and warm like the original?
Brian Rodgers: Is it, it’s definitely warm.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Brian Rodgers: It’s, it’s a hot, it’s a hot amplifier. But yeah, look, it really sounds nice. I, Yeah, I used it in the Melbourne show as well and it really, really did, did well with the Merlins and the Harlequins.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Richter hasn’t had a dragon for nearly a decade
Okay, so you, you have, do you have something new in Richter at this show or are you newish?
Brian Rodgers: Newish. We have the larger speaker here which is the prototype dragon.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Brian Rodgers: Now we haven’t had a dragon for nearly a decade.
Andrew Hutchison: Wow. Okay.
Brian Rodgers: And the reason for that is we just didn’t know. We don’t churn speakers out for the sake of churning speakers out.
Andrew Hutchison: No. Every model has a place, I guess.
Brian Rodgers: Does it, it has to have a reason for being there. And we just weren’t quite sure what a dragon should be. but after doing the Excalibur in the previous Series 6 SE range, that gave us a, gave us a lot of ideas how do we bring a dragon in? And yeah, this is a prototype of the dual chamber unit.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. See there’s quite a displacement between the the two. Well, I guess they’re well, three bass mids. But I, I, what’s going on there? Because the complex design by the looks of it.
Brian Rodgers: Yeah, it is, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a big crossover. we’ve got the dedicated bass driver that we’ve used for the Excalibur.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Brian Rodgers: In, in its own base chamber at the bottom. So while the driver looks the same, it’s a larger voice coil. Oh, I guess greater excursion.
Andrew Hutchison: Same cone and surround, but same one.
Brian Rodgers: Cone and surround. It’s a totally different animal. Double magnet motor, heavy cast alloy basket. You know, it’s a good base driver. we use two of them in the Excalibur. and we use one of them in the dragon in its own chamber which is rear ported separately.
Andrew Hutchison: So the Excalibur is the top of.
Brian Rodgers: The, it’s the top of the range. So the dragon is designed to sit in between the new Excalibur.
Brian Rodgers: And the new wizard coming in what we call the Series 7 Special Edition range which is, it’s well developed at this stage.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Brian Rodgers: Yeah.
00:05:00
Andrew Hutchison: You seem to be constantly, you know, pushing the boundaries with, ah, the assistance.
Brian Rodgers: Of your guru designer, Dr. Martin Gosnell. He’s, he’s brilliant. you know, we really enjoy what we’re doing together. he’s, he’s been engineering the Richter sound for well over 25 years. He’s been the one constant.
Andrew Hutchison: Well, actually, yeah. And I, I remember I went to a product release for Richter, about that year. About that long ago.
Brian Rodgers: Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: And that was his first series that he’d done. Yeah, I mean that is a long time ago. I mean that is, I guess it was the mid-90s or something.
Brian Rodgers: We don’t like to think that actually.
Andrew Hutchison: We shouldn’t say the mid-90s because that would be 30 years ago. So it wasn’t that long ago. Maybe it was the late 90s. But, Yeah. So he’s. So he is been responsible for largely everything in the last,
Brian Rodgers: Yeah, yeah, he’s been responsible for the engineering of every speaker since Ralph Waters.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Okay.
Brian Rodgers: So now Ralph, you know, established the business, but Martin took over when Ralph stepped out. As far as an engineer goes, and that is well over 25 years. So I mean the, the brand is near 40 years old. Next year it’s 40 years old.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Brian Rodgers: not many Australian brands have lasted that long.
Scott Richter: Ralph Waters’ speakers were great value for money
Andrew Hutchison: Well, it almost brings me to my next thought, which is Richter is, I guess, I mean, Richter and Krix. Yeah, but I mean, Krix say they’ve been going for 50 years. Yeah, yeah. They’re listening, of course.
Brian Rodgers: Well, technically I’ve been going for over 60.
Andrew Hutchison: Well, I mean, yeah, yeah. I have a sneaking suspicion that Scott’s speaker was built as a child, as mine was, successfully or otherwise, on the kitchen table. And he’s including that. But, yeah, I mean, and Ralph may have built his first pair of speakers on the kitchen table. I’m not sure. But, he probably mentioned it in episode XYZ that we have, but I can’t remember what episode it was. But if you’ve. If for those listening, Ralph Waters, the founder, of Richter Acoustics, is, interviewed on not an audiophile podcast earlier in our series, season one, Back to current Day Richter. they’re such great value for money. I think that’s the. I mean they always were. Ralph’s speakers were great value for money. He was very conscious of that. And you’ve continued with Martin that tradition, I feel.
Brian Rodgers: Yeah, look, I like a lot of Ralph’s, philosophy, and really we aspire to the Same sort of claims, you know. You know, we’re not an audiophile. We’re not in the HiFi industry. We’re in the entertainment business. Absolutely.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Brian Rodgers: And we want to leave people, you know, excited, you know, engaged. we want to leave people, you know, when people are sitting down listening to our product, looking for the next track to play until they. Oh God, it’s two in the morning.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Brian Rodgers: And that’s actually where Martin and I end up quite often. Yeah, we’ll be sitting, listening, tweaking, designing. And you know, it’s two in the morning because we’re just having such a hoot of time. And if that’s not happening, then why are you doing it?
Andrew Hutchison: Oh yeah.
Brian Rodgers: So.
People seem to focus too much on the 10, 20, 30 thousand dollars speakers
But you look, one thing that irks me about our industry, I’ll say it.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Brian Rodgers: And I’m not sure at what point it became the domain of the uber rich and wealthy. You know, you can buy a damn good HiFi system for not a lot of money, which is very enjoyable. But we seem to focus too much on the 10, 20, 30 hundred thousand dollars speakers.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Brian Rodgers: Then you need an amplifier, then you need a source and suddenly, you know, you’re divorced and you’re living in an apartment on your own listening to.
Andrew Hutchison: A. I think if you hang around HiFi shows too much, certainly you would start to think that an average stereo is quarter of a million dollars. certainly not the case. There’s so much good.
Brian Rodgers: Maybe that’s why people aren’t going to HiFi stores anymore. Because of the perception.
Andrew Hutchison: Well, maybe that is it. That you have to spend a hell of a lot of money. And I, in my retailing career was always focused on value and tended to sell, middling, price range products that offered exceptional performance. M. And I did sell a little bit of Richter way back in the day. But but I mean people perhaps don’t realize how affordable your loudspeakers are. I don’t want to turn this into an ad, but I mean the little.
Brian Rodgers: That’s okay.
Andrew Hutchison: Is it? The little Merlin free ad is good. The little speakers, which I believe are the bookshelves, the bookshelf, the stand mounts, they’re actually more of a bookshelf. They’re not a big loudspeaker. They would go on a bookshelf.
Brian Rodgers: you look at any of our products, they are built stupidly well for the price. You compare them to any competitor at our price bracket or more, our build quality will be way better. You check the crossover build quality way Better.
Andrew Hutchison: I have seen pictures of crossovers on your, Instagram, what have you. And they look from my technical eye, they are made from very good quality components. Considering that that loudspeaker is $1500.
Brian Rodgers: well, in current climate, the Merlin S6 plus is now 1399.
Andrew Hutchison: 1399.
Brian Rodgers: And it’s just been awarded by a sound and image stand mount speaker of the year below 2500.
Andrew Hutchison: Well, there you go.
Brian Rodgers: So bang for buck.
Andrew Hutchison: Yep.
Brian Rodgers: It it ticks all the boxes. It is
00:10:00
Brian Rodgers: a, it is a, it’s a great speaker. It really is a great speaker.
Andrew Hutchison: I think it’s a decent point to make that an affordable streamer, you know, a good one.
Brian Rodgers: Yep.
Good HiFi doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars
Andrew Hutchison: down to something here.
Brian Rodgers: I’m using the Node, icon.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay, so it is a Bluesound product.
Brian Rodgers: Yes. Oh, that’s the new, that’s the new icon.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Brian Rodgers: And again, I’ve purchased one myself.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Brian Rodgers: So you can put together. Let’s take that Musical Fidelity amp.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Brian Rodgers: It’s five grand.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Brian Rodgers: The Bluesound Streamer, round figures 1900.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Brian Rodgers: If you take the floor standing speakers, they’re the wizard S6 plus which last year took out floor standing speaker of the year below $10,000 and they retail for three.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Brian Rodgers: So for $10,000 you go and buy a very good floor standing speaker, the Musical Fidelity amp. Yeah, the Node icon streamer. and you will be very, very.
Andrew Hutchison: And stunned with the sound quality and. Sorry, what’s the, the price of that.
Brian Rodgers: Is about 10 grand.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, about 10. Yeah, yeah.
Brian Rodgers: Round figures. About $10,000. So that’s a damn good HiFi system.
Andrew Hutchison: That is. And I would take that a step further and say that you could buy a very good integrated amplifier with perhaps streaming kind of built into it and those speakers and be spending 6 and $7,000. Or you could take it a step further, further and buy the Merlins with a little nad or a rotel or something that for around a thousand and play some CDs or records through 500 bucks to a thousand and have a three or four thousand dollar system that sounded amazing. So.
Brian Rodgers: Absolutely.
Andrew Hutchison: So really good HiFi doesn’t indeed have to cost, you know. In fact good HiFi costs marginally more than rubbish.
Brian Rodgers: HiFi good HiFi shouldn’t be a scary thing to think about when it comes to investment. As you said the Merlin. A lot of Merlin bookshelf speakers have been sold with products like the Panote Edge.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes, yes.
Brian Rodgers: That’s a little 40 watt a side streamer.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Rodgers: And you are talking. Yeah. Two to $3,000 as a setup for a whole stereo. And it’s a, you know, for an apartment.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. It’s all you need. Well, it’s where you can start. It’s ultimately. Maybe you want more, but it delivers beautiful music.
Brian Rodgers: But it’s affordable entry.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes. Yeah. No, I agree wholeheartedly that, that there’s, there’s. I guess there’s. I mean, my, my point from a technical person standpoint is that, that’s a good quality combination. It sounds great, it’s quite well made. And, if you spend a bit less than that, you get utter rubbish, unfortunately. So you’ve got to spend a little bit of money to get something that’s going to last. That sounds great.
Brian Rodgers: Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Probably J.B. hi fi. without probably mentioning a retailer’s name, but I just did. Not a good place to go and buy hi Fi.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Because there actually is no HiFi in there.
Brian Rodgers: Get a good kettle, though. You get a good toaster.
Andrew Hutchison: These days they do a nice line in washing machines. I would step sideways to any, good, specialist retailer because not only will they sell Richter, but they actually will probably have a nice, you know, a value for money. Sensible choice to power them. Would you, Would you say?
Brian Rodgers: Absolutely.
Andrew Hutchison: I mean, you know your retailers well and you’ve actually got many of them.
Brian Rodgers: Absolutely. Look, these days a lot of people, we promote or try and suggest, to people that a nice modest, streaming amp or amplifier with hdmi, ARC and the Merlin bookshelf speakers is a great alternative to a soundbar. Nobody sits down and listens to a soundbar. No, nobody.
Andrew Hutchison: Not for long anyhow.
Brian Rodgers: Yeah. So, but here you’ve got a great HiFi system that you will sit down, listen and enjoy, you know. And my idea is that, you know, people come listen to music. They come to a dinner party, you’re listening to music, but then it turns into a dance party because they love what they’re listening to. why would anyone buy a sound bar if you want to listen to music?
Andrew Hutchison: So you’re in this business because of music, really?
Brian Rodgers: Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, look, always trying to make the product better because we’re in direct contact with our consumers.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Brian Rodgers: we take comments on board. when we develop a product, you know, those products are in the back of the car. I’m, out around retailers are in store. We’re listing, testing, trying it on different equipment. Every room is different. So we try to build a product that’s going to sound better. Than anything else in most situations.
A good balanced loudspeaker design will work better in most rooms
Andrew Hutchison: Yes. Yeah.
Brian Rodgers: Whereas you’ll find one speaker from another brand will sound great like this.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Brian Rodgers: But then in the wrong space it sounds terrible.
Andrew Hutchison: Well, what they say is the wrong space.
Brian Rodgers: Correct, Correct.
Andrew Hutchison: I’m not sure if it was you that said this, but a few people do, I guess is that it’s it’s something about. It’s not the. Now I’ve blown it because I can’t think of the same. But it’s about the excuses that people use for why the systems are not. It’s always the room.
Brian Rodgers: Of course, yes.
Andrew Hutchison: But in the reality, in reality rooms are rooms are rooms. You’ve, you’ve, you know, the better the equipment, no matter the room, it will sound better. So you know, the great balance of I mean a good balanced, a well balanced loudspeaker design will work better in most rooms.
Brian Rodgers: The good thing about a HiFi show is it’s a level playing field. We’re all got the same cardboard box to deal with. Right. But
00:15:00
Brian Rodgers: some people will bitch and moan till the sun comes on, you know, to the end of the day that oh, it’s the room. I can’t get it right. And they’ll have so much room treatment in the room and it still sounds crap.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, yeah.
Brian Rodgers: If you look around here, room treatment is absolutely minimal.
Andrew Hutchison: Well, I actually. Oh, I see you brought one foam quasi absorber diffuser thing sitting over in the. Oh, there’s four in there, they’re well disguised. Oh, there’s some behind a banner. Yeah, there is no room treatment at.
Brian Rodgers: All in here because you know, most people can’t put room treatments in their lounge room. Firstly, it’s gonna annoy somebody else. So you know, your speaker’s gotta sound good in environments that people live in and ah, that’s how we design our product.
Andrew Hutchison: I absolutely wholeheartedly agree. Yeah, yeah. There’s actually, there is a trend a little bit towards treating your room at the moment. But the reality is that in almost all cases, it will be in a specialised listening space because the other half of that family, if it’s only half, will will almost certainly not give the tick of approval for the array of quadratic diffusers that you’d like to put on each side wall. Correct. so you better buy something that works in what you’ve got.
Brian Rodgers: Well, maybe start with better product in the first place and minimise the requirement.
Andrew Hutchison: Room saying that that’s true. I mean you’ve got. And there’s an obvious step up through the range. So if you start off with Merlins, you may well be drawn into the one of the floor standing models, which produces quite a greater sense of scale and plays a little louder if you need that sort of thing, greater bass extension and slightly higher levels of overall smoothness and fidelity, I guess. Which is partly because it’s a bigger box and more drivers, but partly because your budget’s freed up a little bit, I guess.
Brian Rodgers: Well, I mean, look, I don’t have it here, but the next speaker up from the Merlin is the Harlequin.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Brian Rodgers: So if you were going to buy the Merlin and put them on stands, seriously consider the Harlequin because it’s a decent stand.
Andrew Hutchison: Costs money.
Brian Rodgers: Yeah, correct. So going from 1399 to 2299 for a floor standing Harlequin takes up no more space than a Merlin on a stand and you get a better speaker.
Andrew Hutchison: Would you be, would you indulge us as to what is perhaps the best selling model in the range?
Brian Rodgers: Merlin and Wizard. Merlin wizard, yeah, the two Hero products that are here. please. Thank you very much.
Andrew Hutchison: See, this is a real HiFi show. It is a HiFi show.
Brian Rodgers: They’re emptying the rubbish bin.
Andrew Hutchison: yeah, look, they are.
Brian Rodgers: They’re our Hero products.
Andrew Hutchison: There’s no question about that.
Brian Rodgers: The Merlin is. Look, when I, when I went and developed the Series 6 Merlin, I was rolling two bookshelf speakers into one.
Brian Rodgers: So I was rolling a small Mark V with a five inch driver.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Brian Rodgers: And a M Mark five with a six inch driver and a one speaker. So I wanted a speaker that was small but outperformed a six, you know, the bigger version of that Mark V. And you know, this speaker is the same height as what the 5 inch driver Merlin was in the MK5 range.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Brian Rodgers: and that’s, you know, generally if it’s going on a stand or on a bookshelf, height’s critical.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Brian Rodgers: It’s not so much width. Not so much.
Andrew Hutchison: No.
Brian Rodgers: Height is critical. So that will fit nicely inside an Ikea Kallax bookshelf, conveniently at only 32 centimeters high.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Okay.
Brian Rodgers: and this, you know, if it needs to. Goes well.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes, yeah, yeah. No good sense of scale for, for a smaller loudspeaker. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. thank you, Brian, for your time.
Give us a general wrap up on the range
Brian Rodgers: That’s all right.
Andrew Hutchison: And giving us a general wrap up on the range. And I, mean the brand continues, obviously.
Brian Rodgers: Brand continues and we’re constantly pushing the envelope and seeing what we can do.
Andrew Hutchison: Yep.
Brian Rodgers: How we can improve. I mean, I think Ralph might have actually said it, but, you know, a speaker designer can never be happy.
Andrew Hutchison: Well, no, because you’re always looking. Your latest baby’s always the best, Right?
Brian Rodgers: The latest baby’s always the best.
Geoff Haynes : But.
Brian Rodgers: But you also have to know when to bring something to Marketplace and then when to continue moving on to what will be in the next model. but this is series six. Plus is. They are stunning products for the value, no question.
Andrew Hutchison: No, certainly, they need to be listened to. And, this, episode goes out slightly after the show, so no one’s gonna hear this and come to the show, but good timing.
Brian Rodgers: The Sydney stereonet show is in August
You have retailers over the country and I guess you go to other shows, do you? Oh, look.
Brian Rodgers: Yeah. we normally do them. Well, there’s only two shows in, Australia, which is the Sydney stereonet show.
Andrew Hutchison: The Sydney stereonet show.
Brian Rodgers: The Sydney St. Have I had a drink yet?
Andrew Hutchison: Considering it’s.
Brian Rodgers: Let’s try that again.
Andrew Hutchison: Let’s try take two.
Brian Rodgers: Do you know something I don’t know?
Andrew Hutchison: Let’s start that again.
Brian Rodgers: The Melbourne stereonet show in August will be there. and, you know, fingers crossed, we may have the first run of
00:20:00
Brian Rodgers: the 3 Series 7 special edition models available for initial auditioning. so that’s actually.
Andrew Hutchison: Oh, that’s exciting.
Brian Rodgers: That’s what we’re working to at the moment. And again, these will be products Richter’s never, never built before.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Brian Rodgers: Really? Again? The Dragon, the Wizard, the Excalibur, all done in a natural oak walnut veneer. Real walnut veneer.
Andrew Hutchison: Oh, hang on. Really? Okay. Yeah. Wow.
Brian Rodgers: And it’s, well, actually the same as this here.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, right here.
Brian Rodgers: This is a prototype.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
Brian Rodgers: Returning to a slightly curved cabinet.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Brian Rodgers: And, you know, we’re moving away from black, so, you know, the baffles won’t.
Andrew Hutchison: Oh, well, that’s interesting.
Brian Rodgers: Okay, so we want to make the product a little more lounge room friendly rather than, you know, there’s a big black box on my lounge.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. I mean, they’re simply designed, but they’re very elegant and neatly, and designed and nicely proportioned, I think. Okay, so you’re elevating the, pushing the aesthetic a little bit. Yeah. Okay. Oh, well, that’s interesting. And of course, the Melbourne show, not that we’re here to promote necessarily their show either, but they. My understanding, is it’s on earlier this year.
Brian Rodgers: It’s earlier August, so, that way we won’t get hit with the Melbourne marathon streets down yes, there was people.
Andrew Hutchison: Running past the show last year.
Brian Rodgers: Correct. So. And of course it’s slightly cooler weather as well. So.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, good time to be inside and looking and listening to hi fi.
Brian Rodgers: Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay. Hey, thanks, Brian Rodgers.
Brian Rodgers: That’s all right.
Andrew Hutchison: a pleasure. And, we’ll speak again.
Brian Rodgers: Sounds good. Thanks, Andrew.
Andrew Hutchison: No worries. Pleasure. Bye.
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Geoff Haynes from HeyNow HiFi How did that come to be
So we’re here with, with Geoff Haynes Haynes from HeyNow HiFi And perhaps the first question I could ask is why is it HeyNow HiFi
Geoff Haynes : So she,
Andrew Hutchison: Because I was just. I was just walking past and I met Geoff Haynes in the hall. How’s that going? He was telling me just the other day something. Anyhow. Yeah. Hey now. Hi fi. How did that. Are you a fan of the, Larry Sanders show?
Geoff Haynes : It’s actually just really, really simple. It’s a combination of my last name and my partner’s last name.
Andrew Hutchison: Oh, there you go. wow. Okay.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah, it just came to me in.
Andrew Hutchison: The middle of the night and it kind of works.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah, it does. And it’s like. That sounds pretty cool.
Andrew Hutchison: It’s memorable. Yes. Yeah.
You have some interesting equipment on display at the Sydney HiFi show
So you’re here, at Sydney HiFi show or Australian HiFi show or the. Whatever this show is called. What is it called?
Geoff Haynes : for me, it’s the Sydney HiFi show.
Andrew Hutchison: Sydney HiFi show.
Geoff Haynes : Because I had to drive a thousand kilometers to get here.
Andrew Hutchison: Absolutely. you’ve got some interesting equipment on display. obviously the dohmann turntable, which is. Which is, And that’s a helix one, helix two.
Geoff Haynes : Oh, it is a helix two helix two, mark three. It was, HiFi plus, choice of turntable of the year. price, no object.
Andrew Hutchison: Wow. Okay. HiFi plus.
Geoff Haynes : HiFi plus.
Andrew Hutchison: They’re quite a discerning journal really, aren’t they?
Geoff Haynes : They are, yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: They don’t just give prizes away. No, no. yeah, okay. I mean, it’s a magnificent piece of machinery. I just listened to it and it sounded. I mean, the horns. Sounded like horns.
Geoff Haynes : I just think it looks classic as well. Nice. 40, 60 split of it. It just looks great.
Andrew Hutchison: Well, it gets right away from the blingy euro chrome look of so many, European turntables. Continental Europe. The English are probably slightly more reserved. But, yeah, I Mean, it appeals to me. And of course the fact that it’s, made in Australia is. I mean, we go on and on about it and obviously we introduced Mark, introduced and interviewed him a couple of episodes ago and he regaled us with all sorts of tales. But perhaps most importantly for those that have not heard that episode, lots of useful information about how to set up all the important aspects of any turntable system.
Geoff Haynes : Absolutely. such a knowledgeable person.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, yeah. I mean, he’s clearly addicted to, to it and has been for 40 years.
Geoff Haynes : And I’ve been a part of this project for nine years, I think.
Andrew Hutchison: Is that right?
Geoff Haynes : Yeah, I’ve watched it develop from the original, Helix machines that, you know.
Andrew Hutchison: He built himself with pre production process.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah, yeah. All the way through. So I feel very honored that I can display and present this.
Andrew Hutchison: It’s quite a story, isn’t it, really? Yeah.
Geoff Haynes : So, yeah, this is the third one I’ve had since the last HiFi show.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, that’s a, that’s a pretty solid effort, you know. So you’re turning them over? Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, it’s like you said, HiFi plus. HiFi plus.
Geoff Haynes : HiFi plus.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, yeah. Greatest turntable in the world.
Airtight, uh, tube amplifier which is actually surprisingly affordable
you’ve got some other amazing gear. Air tight, tube amplifier, which is actually surprisingly affordable.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah, it is, yeah. It’s Japanese made. It’s made by the people who. Their father was Luxman, like proper old Luxman.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay, when you say their father, you mean like by blood, by family.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah, yeah. And then when that went wherever it went.
Andrew Hutchison: Haywire.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah, These, this air tight brand
00:25:00
Geoff Haynes : started.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Okay.
Geoff Haynes : And this here is an ATM1E 2024.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Geoff Haynes : It’s the first time that they’ve changed any element of it since 1986.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, well, I guess advances in tube design are limited in a way, but I mean, transformer technology, insulating properties, core materials or something. Yeah, that’s what’s changed. Okay. Yeah.
Geoff Haynes : And so, when you live through the, the idea of model number 1, 2, 3 1, mark 2, you know, all these things that just keep on bringing out new product.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Geoff Haynes : When it’s a classic, it’s always a classic.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, Yeah. I mean, yes, it looks classical. We know it’s well made. It’s a great brand. Surprisingly affordable. It’s less than $200,000. No, it’s actually. What is it, 20 grand or something? 18. It’s $18,000.
Geoff Haynes : Bizarre. yeah, yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Just. I guess they haven’t, I don’t know, they always I guess they always charge what it costs to make and a small profit margin and they keep doing that when other brands have gone up exponentially around them.
Geoff Haynes : A lot of brands have decided that they’re now luxury brands.
Andrew Hutchison: Right.
Geoff Haynes : And so they put a luxury, Luxury tax.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah, I’ve seen products double in price.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Geoff Haynes : And I don’t see a value in it. I see them trying to appeal to a super wealthy customer.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Geoff Haynes : But I think there’s a music lover that always goes out there looking for value. M. Because you can get so much more enjoyment out of something which is a value product that will just.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, I mean that’s, I mean, you know, I mean, I guess there’s a segment of, you know, HiFi buyers who are after, a luxury product, of course. But really the majority of music lovers who can afford a superior system are of course looking for value for money and a quality item. Clearly. I mean there are such. So few products now actually crafted in Japan that. And we know that they are fanatical, about quality.
Geoff Haynes : So it’s one of the things as well. You know, these things unfortunately are finite because these are, handcrafted. Yes. I, feel at some point they.
Andrew Hutchison: Will not be able to make them anymore, will they?
Geoff Haynes : And they won’t have the next generation that wants to make them.
Andrew Hutchison: No, no, this is, this is a concern and there’s a lot of people saying that. I don’t want to go off that tangent, but there’s. Everyone I’ve spoken to so far at this show is concerned about, where we’re going with, with, with, with people with skills, with skill, hand skills as much as anything else. And and so anyone listening to the podcast who’s. Who loves audio should, you know, get some electronic training into you from the Internet. There’s tons of it out there. And buy soldering iron and start getting into it.
Geoff Haynes : So I think there’s a, there’s a whole nother podcast in that.
Andrew Hutchison: There possibly is.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah.
Fischer and Fischer loudspeakers are made out of slate from Germany
Andrew Hutchison: you’ve also got Fischer. and Fischer are loudspeakers. they’re quite a nicely proportioned floor stander from Germany, but they have a couple of unique features. Well, one in particular. what’s the cabinet made out of?
Geoff Haynes : It’s made out of slate.
Andrew Hutchison: Made out of slate. So you could, when you’re tired of them, you could turn them into flooring.
Geoff Haynes : So they, they were rescued from being flooring. Okay.
Andrew Hutchison: So that gag fell flat. so, really? Is that right?
Geoff Haynes : So what happens is brands, Fischer and Fischer, the Fischer Family own a slate mine in Germany under a mountain.
Andrew Hutchison: Under a mountain.
Geoff Haynes : A place called Schmellenberg Schmullenberg. And what happens is that they make roofing tiles and floor slabs. And the best pieces they cut out and keep to make speakers.
Andrew Hutchison: Wow.
Geoff Haynes : Speakers an inch thick, Is that right? There’s no, there’s no bracing or anything inside it. it’s just the slate. It’s beautifully bevelled. If anyone comes past and has a look at them, the seam on them is perfect.
Andrew Hutchison: Well, they probably have some fancy machinery on.
Geoff Haynes : They certainly do.
Andrew Hutchison: So do they make, like bench tops and stuff in house or something as well? Yeah. Okay, so they’ve got some great machining equipment.
Geoff Haynes : They do, yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Some German made cnc.
Geoff Haynes : But I think the, I think the really interesting thing about slate is to explain what slate is because it’s not stone.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay, well, you better tell me about that because I’m foolishly thinking, it’s weirdly stiff and light, isn’t it? Kind of compared with rock. Is that part of it or is it not that light? Tell me about it.
Geoff Haynes : It’s 85 kilos each for this pair of speakers.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay. So these speakers are not light. 85 kilos apiece.
Geoff Haynes : And I’ve taken them everywhere. I’ve taken them Geelong. I’ve taken them to Bayswater in Victoria.
Andrew Hutchison: So this is everywhere. Bayswater and Geelong.
Geoff Haynes : I brought them here, I took them to the Melbourne HiFi show.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Okay.
Geoff Haynes : People say, can I hear them when I put them in my car? And off we go.
Andrew Hutchison: that’s, What do you drive? A Dodge Ram? I mean that you put 170 kilos in the boot of the car.
Geoff Haynes : I’ve got the best car ever for this industry. I’ve got a long wheelbase Caddy.
Andrew Hutchison: Ah, the Caddy. Yeah. It is the best car. Yes.
Geoff Haynes : This drives like a car.
Andrew Hutchison: It does.
Geoff Haynes : I’ve actually managed to do everything that is said in the Dire Straits song.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Geoff Haynes : I’ve, done refrigerators,
00:30:00
Geoff Haynes : microwave ovens, TVs. TVs. And a custom kitchen. The kitchen. Kitchen that went in my Caddy.
Andrew Hutchison: That’s, very cool. Yeah. No, I had a Caddy, ah, for many years and it was super reliable, very capable. We used to call it the, the florist delivery van. We never delivered flowers in it, but it was kind of. A lot of people use it for that as well.
Geoff Haynes : And painters use them as well.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. And, and I also used to drive it around a racetrack and put my motorbike in the back as well. So it’s surprising what you can fit in there. I think you had to like take the mirrors off obviously, but you know, but it wasn’t that high. But ah, they’re a very versatile machine. But yeah, handle well enough to chuck it around lakeside, on two wheels. It was Yeah. The long wheelbase one maybe not so good.
Geoff Haynes : But putting a pair of Fischer and Fischers in one side would help.
Andrew Hutchison: You if you were speedway racing going only one way. But no, they’re back to speakers.
The speakers are made out of layers of silt. Unlike stone
so slate and they. Okay, so they had a ready access to slate. But what’s its acoustic properties?
Geoff Haynes : The acoustic properties are that it’s actually made out of layers of silt.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay. And sedimentary rock which is crushed over time, like.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: So if you left slate there long enough, it would turn into big sheets of diamond. So silk. That’s. So does that mean it comes. Is that why it comes out in quite neat layers or. Yes, yeah.
Geoff Haynes : And it is layers and that’s the magic of it.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Right.
Geoff Haynes : Unlike stone.
Geoff Haynes : Unlike so many other materials that people use outside of mdf.
Geoff Haynes : This works like an acoustic. Acoustically trans. Sorry, A resonant free box.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Geoff Haynes : So each one of those layers is a different density and it keeps the sound.
Andrew Hutchison: Oh wow. So it’s like. It’s. Well, it’s not so much constrained layer but it’s. It’s it’s ah. Sound doesn’t pass very nicely through as you’re alluding to, through different media. If you lay a different media that has different densities, it obviously attenuates different. And I’m not a scientist but we know it works.
Geoff Haynes : It does.
Andrew Hutchison: It’s the basis of good acoustic room designers. You could use different materials, lay them up, particularly if you put a constrained layer between them. But is that what they’ve done though? Do they or do they do. They don’t put a glue in between two layers. They just.
Geoff Haynes : No, they don’t.
Andrew Hutchison: They don’t need to.
Geoff Haynes : It’s just a single. But the property is within the half a billion years.
Geoff Haynes : I checked that as well. It’s like. Sure, it’s half a million years. Billion years.
Andrew Hutchison: So these speakers have been a long time in the making.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah. And the other great thing is you look at some of the mdf. High gloss finished or vinyl finished or. They’re not going to last a lifetime.
Andrew Hutchison: Well, no, they’re not. No. And in fact this, this. Okay, so this is an interesting feature, isn’t it?
Geoff Haynes : That Half a billion years, half life.
Andrew Hutchison: Exactly. Yeah. So, they will. As far as the exterior finish, it will simply not change ever.
Geoff Haynes : No. I’ve got a pair of 270s. This is a pair of 470s. Okay. Customs, opened the box.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Geoff Haynes : Because they couldn’t believe that these things were slate speakers.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Geoff Haynes : And they used a knife and they’ve actually cut into this, into the slate.
Andrew Hutchison: That’s great of them to do that for you. Wow.
Mundorf AMT Air Motion speakers sound amazing. I’ve played some loud, complex tracks on them
Geoff Haynes : There’s a wax that you just put over it and they’re perfect. I can’t even see where they would cut.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Geoff Haynes : Okay, so they’ll last in terms of the finish. They’ll last forever.
Andrew Hutchison: Look, they sound great too. I mean, they seem to have a. I mean, at a glance, a, pretty serious, complement of drive units. On the front, there’s a. There’s a ribbon of some description.
Geoff Haynes : Mundorf AMT Air Motion.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay, so it’s not a ribbon. Okay.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: So it’s a serious, tweeter drive unit.
Geoff Haynes : And what it does is it actually moves like an accordion.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Pleated sort of thing. Yeah, yeah.
Geoff Haynes : And as a result of that, you never get a harshness. You never get muddled sounds. I’ve played some loud, complex tracks on them.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Geoff Haynes : And I hear every note. It doesn’t homogenize.
Andrew Hutchison: There’s a real pace and a clarity to them. the horns that were playing before off the. Off the helix through, that beautiful tube amplifier, sounded incredibly realistic for. I, mean, for a loudspeaker. That’s not outrageously expensive, is it?
Geoff Haynes : It’s not outrageously expensive. Somebody compared them, in his room to a pair of speakers worth three times as much. Did a whole YouTube series on them.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Geoff Haynes : He was looking for things to be able to say, you know, speakers that I’ve bought are worth this much, but this thing here, a third of the value of it.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Brian Rodgers: To.
Geoff Haynes : Performed beautifully. I heard both speakers in his room.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Okay.
Geoff Haynes : Just putting these in place. They sounded amazing.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. No, they’re, I mean, clearly built to typically sort of Germanic standards of excellence. So, I guess the build quality is, amazing. I guess. WBT terminals on the back. Or. I shouldn’t say that without checking first.
Geoff Haynes : They’re actually not. They’re actually okay. But the whole, simple crossover is all mundorf capacity through the whole thing.
Andrew Hutchison: No corners cut.
Geoff Haynes : No corners cut. And I kind of think it’s because they
00:35:00
Geoff Haynes : own the material. So you look at something like. I’m not going to mention any names. But some of these companies, they go to great efforts to buy the material, maybe then have to shape it and all the rest of it to try and create a speaker which most of them are made out of mdf, where so much of the sound pressure is lost out of the box. These guys here, they own the material. So all they need to do is build the drivers.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Geoff Haynes : And the plate, which is 3 millimeters of aluminium, which the drivers are screwed into perfectly through the slate.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Geoff Haynes : And it’s just, they just don’t move. Yeah, it’s just a pistonic movement of the drivers.
Andrew Hutchison: Well, I mean there’s a couple of different ways you can go with loudspeaker design. You can make it really light and sort of so it can’t absorb energy or you can just go the other way, get somewhere in the middle, of course, which is most MDF boxes and try to brace it or do something. But you know, and everyone’s got their own idea. And there’s birch ply, of course we know it has some advantages. but then this is the massive approach. But from a natural material. It has some very positive natural features if you like, in its characteristics and clearly it works. So yeah, so they’re worth a listen. Now this, this podcast is as I’ve mentioned in every segment, so people are sick of hearing that. It’s actually up after the show. But I mean, I guess you’ll be at the Melbourne show.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah. And people can make a time anytime.
Andrew Hutchison: You drop into your store. Ah. So make, preferably make an appointment.
Geoff Haynes : Always make an appointment.
Andrew Hutchison: But obligation free of course. Just come and have a listen to them, be amazed. And for that matter you’ve got offices full of other juicy goods.
You’ve also got actually just to round out the wrap up of the system. Ag lifter from New Zealand
You’ve also got actually just to round out the wrap up of the system. Very nice looking rack, but also
Geoff Haynes : Ag lifter from New Zealand.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay, so that’s a serious piece of equipment.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Right. Yep. Beautifully, made. Beautiful looking in a slightly Swiss Germanic kind of way as well. Really. It’s, it’s got some, It’s a bit massive looking but it’s, it’s, it’s quite stunning.
Sutherland Trans impedance preamp is very fashionable at the moment
But this Sutherland, is it Sutherland?
Geoff Haynes : Yes, Sutherland.
Andrew Hutchison: Phono preamp
Geoff Haynes : Trans impedance.
Andrew Hutchison: Trans impedance. Tell us about that briefly. It’s very fashionable at the moment.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah. Basically it just means that you don’t need to worry about setting all of your impedances.
Andrew Hutchison: Oh. So if you’ve got a moving coil, cartridges, cartridge cartridges, perhaps if you’ve got dual Arm turns.
Geoff Haynes : Absolutely.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes. So. So you, you just plug it in, it just works it all out. Yeah, yeah. Okay.
Geoff Haynes : Very, very simple. Sounds beautiful, warm, rich, and cuts out all the noise.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Geoff Haynes : So we had a instance where we were using a traditional expensive preamp in a person’s home.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Geoff Haynes : Little did we know when we were going out to install this very, very expensive turntable that there was a radio tower very nearby.
Andrew Hutchison: Oh, okay.
Geoff Haynes : And so I went out with Mark dohman n and we had to wrap some alfoil around the cables and stuff, which did not look very nice.
Andrew Hutchison: No.
Geoff Haynes : And the next, about a couple of days later, we took out a, Sutherland little Loco. Perfect.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Geoff Haynes : All of the issues.
Andrew Hutchison: All right.
Geoff Haynes : Guy was so happy, he ended up buying a big loco, which was one of 16 that was later to be made. They’re going to be made for America only.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, yeah.
Geoff Haynes : And he contacted, Sutherland, Ron Sutherland, and said, can you make me one? And he goes, yep, I’ll have it to you in four weeks.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay. All right.
Geoff Haynes : It was 30 grand.
Andrew Hutchison: Serious piece of equipment.
Geoff Haynes : That’s what I took to the, last HiFi show in Melbourne.
Andrew Hutchison: That actual one.
Geoff Haynes : The client lent it to us for the weekend.
Andrew Hutchison: Wow. Okay. And that. So Sutherland is made. Excuse my ignorance, but, Kansas.
Geoff Haynes : America Handmade.
Andrew Hutchison: Kansas. Okay. Wow. Cool. It looks beautifully crafted as well and as it should be at an approximate price.
Geoff Haynes : And I’ve taken the lid off as well, so you can see the engineering.
Andrew Hutchison: How very nice it is inside.
Geoff Haynes : Just perfect, isn’t it?
Brian Rodgers: Yeah, it is.
Andrew Hutchison: And so the, and, and, and to round out the last piece that I can see, that’s, and we’ll, and we’ll. We’ll move on and let you get back to finishing your, setup of the room.
Ed Meitner is one of the architects of DSD DAC technology
Is the, Meitner, streamer.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. That’s a. Interesting looking piece as well.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah. Canadian. It’s a very, very good DAC. It’s called an MA3. The DAC on it as just a DAC. And I’ve had people buy it just as a DAC.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Okay.
Geoff Haynes : Sounds really, really musical. Ed Meitner is one of the architects of DSD DAC technology. When it first came out.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Okay.
Geoff Haynes : And so everything on that is proprietary. Meitner.
Andrew Hutchison: That Right, Yeah.
Geoff Haynes : Doesn’t. Doesn’t use other people’s little chipsets and stuff. It is his own dac.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay. That’s. That’s something.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah, yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Right here.
Geoff Haynes : So. So his standalone DACs are like $60,000.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Geoff Haynes : This thing here is 24 with a streamer.
Andrew Hutchison: Is it really?
Geoff Haynes : Yeah. And he’s putting it on. He’s put meitner on it instead of EMM Labs.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, righty. Yeah. So EMM Labs. Yeah, that rings a bell.
Geoff Haynes : Okay.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. All right.
Geoff Haynes : And it’s often when I’m playing a different streamer in the shop. I know. straight off, it’s like
00:40:00
Geoff Haynes : there is something missing.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Okay.
Geoff Haynes : This is pretty much the system I run every day.
Andrew Hutchison: It’s kind of surprisingly affordable, piece, considering how special it is. What? What? Yeah. So of course you’re kind of. Kind of used. You’ve developed a taste.
Geoff Haynes : I have, yes.
Andrew Hutchison: How the hell do you go back to something ordinary?
Geoff Haynes : That’s very difficult. Yeah, I just. I’d normally run an old 1980s Linn LP12 at home. nothing wrong with that. No. I took home a German turntable which is new. It should have been absolutely perfect. It’s got a really nice arm. It’s got a better cartridge on it than my linn
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Geoff Haynes : I turned to the negro and said, there is a problem with this. There’s something wrong. It was too clear, too clinical. Not what I was used to.
Andrew Hutchison: See, that’s interesting.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: So this is the problem, isn’t it? So, new turntables.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah. Oh. I think all of this.
Andrew Hutchison: Not all of them, of course, but.
Geoff Haynes : All of this sound is very subtle, objective.
Andrew Hutchison: Of course. But you, I mean, you enjoy the musicality of the Linn, right?
Geoff Haynes : Yeah, I do.
Andrew Hutchison: And. And the lack of. Well, to some degree. The lack of hi. Finesse perhaps. And then you brought home a HiFi turntable.
Geoff Haynes : I did, yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. And it wasn’t really. Didn’t work for you.
Geoff Haynes : No.
Geoff Haynes : Origin Live is very affordable equipment, depending on your attitude
so the next thing I’m going to take home is an Origin Live. Yeah, I bought some for the shop.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Right here.
Geoff Haynes : I’m a dealer. I’ve been doing. I’ve been dealing with them for the last six months.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, right here.
Geoff Haynes : Really nice and successful for me. And so.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Geoff Haynes : I’ve got a couple of demo models that are coming in.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, right here. Who brings Origin Live in?
Geoff Haynes : I do.
Andrew Hutchison: Oh.
Geoff Haynes : You have to m. Buy them directly from Origin Live.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, righty.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Oh, good on you. Okay, cool. Good stuff. Okay, so if people are interested in Origin Live, you’ve got that as well.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah, I’ve actually. Since the last HiFi show, I’ve actually really developed my. My place in Analog.
Geoff Haynes : this beautiful diamond has obviously helped it. And then people are contacting me for much more.
Andrew Hutchison: Record related.
Geoff Haynes : Exactly. And I’ve got Tony, who’s with me at the show.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Geoff Haynes : Who’s. He’s my person to set up turntables.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Geoff Haynes : If someone wants to hear a Dohmann in Melbourne or anywhere actually.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Geoff Haynes : Mark will accompany me.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Geoff Haynes : We’ll set it up and let them have a listen to it in their home.
Andrew Hutchison: it’s pretty amazing service really. You get the designer of the turntable to come out.
Geoff Haynes : I know, yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Well that’s the joy of buying local, isn’t it, you know. Well, exactly, yeah, yeah. And then mind you, I have a successful suspicion that Mark happily travels the world to set his turns.
Geoff Haynes : He does, yes. Why wouldn’t you? You know, you walk into a house with a product with your name on it and all of his wealth of knowledge.
Andrew Hutchison: He’s literally living the dream, isn’t he?
Brian Rodgers: Is.
Geoff Haynes : Absolutely. And then here I’ve got Mark Busby who will work with me in my my Sydney setups. Because obviously the reason why I’m here is I’m not here to encroach on Melbourne. I’m sorry, Sydney, market. I’ve got exclusive products which.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, yeah, yeah. They’re not sold in Sydney.
Geoff Haynes : Yeah, exactly. And I figure I was worked with so many people in Sydney for all these years, the least I can do is to get in my car and come up if there’s a HiFi show.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Geoff Haynes : So more than happy to say hi to everyone, shake their hand and thank them for their custom.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. well that’s great. Thank you Geoff Haynes and thank you for your time. great system, very interesting components and you know, I mean within. Yeah. Depending on your attitude, I would say surprisingly affordable. But it’s still expensive equipment. But it does deliver the goods and it’s beautiful quality. And clearly these are pieces you keep for a lifetime if you choose to.
Geoff Haynes : Absolutely.
Andrew Hutchison: We work in or upgrade three months later. Well, I guess you do trade ins, right?
Geoff Haynes : I do trade ins, yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Well, that’s the way to do it.
Geoff Haynes : And it’s all about evolving a system. So just because you bought something today doesn’t mean that that’s thing you want to live with forever. But having the ability to trade back in with the person who started you or was part of your journey.
Why would you want to try and sell it to someone else
Geoff Haynes : Is so important because why would you want to try and sell it to someone else? You know, you may get the perception of getting a better deal if you sell it yourself. But you know, the convenience, the ease and somebody guiding you through so much easier.
Andrew Hutchison: You don’t have to one stop shop and you don’t have to deal with, you know, people that answer random Ads.
Geoff Haynes : All right.
Andrew Hutchison: thank you again, Geoff Haynes . and we will, speak to you another time.
Geoff Haynes : Brilliant.
Andrew Hutchison: And of course, we’ll, keep running your ads.
Geoff Haynes : Thank you. We might try and change the next one.
Andrew Hutchison: Indeed, yes. Due for change. I keep running into you and discussing the same thing.
Geoff Haynes : People should be buying these Lindemanns.
Andrew Hutchison: Well, you’ve probably run out of Lindemanns now, so we’ll.
Geoff Haynes : Oh, I found another stack.
Andrew Hutchison: You found another stack?
Geoff Haynes Haynes: German.
Geoff Haynes : Well, very, very well built indeed.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, they won’t. They won’t go off. All right, thanks. and, we’re over and out. And we’ll be back.
Geoff Haynes : Brilliant.
Andrew Hutchison: See you.
Geoff Haynes : Thank you.
Andrew Hutchison: Bye.
Lindemann Lime Tree offers high end discrete components for HiFi systems
I was chatting with Geoff Haynes at HeyNow HiFi this week. And I asked him, you know, what was happening in the store. He said he had a cool bargain. Really cool. That the not an audiophile listeners might find interesting. Lindemann Lime Tree. HiFi essentials. German made, Compact, high end, discrete components that enhance any HiFi system. He has a music streamer, A music streamer with a DAC and a phono preamplifier all on special. Why don’t you head to HeyNowHiFi .com and search limetree.
What is it, the Australian HiFi show? Yes, the Sydney HiFi Show. Or is
00:45:00
it a sound and image?
Jean Marie Liere: It’s Australian Sydney HiFi show.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes. It’s somewhat confusing.
Jean Marie Liere started manufacturing loudspeakers in France in 1985
We’re here with Jean Marie Liere in the Microphase Audio design. Design room. Mad. Of course, Completely mad. we’ve come to see Jean Marie because, he has some rather unusual looking loudspeakers, some would say. But in reality, as I’m sitting before an original pair that he manufactured in 1985. That sound amazing. he’s really continuing on, really, from where you started in France.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah, that’s right. And so that adventure lasted about, I don’t know, four or five years probably. we had good distribution all around Europe, primarily in Belgium, Germany, where we were selling only the Actives version of them.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay. Yeah.
Jean Marie Liere: And then in Scandinavia, we had an.
Andrew Hutchison: Active version in 1985.
Jean Marie Liere: Yes.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay. All right.
Jean Marie Liere: We do have a new version as well. Now we have the Amplifier.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Jean Marie Liere: But at the time it was a beautifully designed Class A amplifier. Class A made by one of my dealers in Strasbourg. and I’d never heard it was a m. Complete mess inside. But it sounded amazing. And then my German distributor said, I can’t sell that. so we redesigned it on a PC board. So we lost some of the magic. But obviously it Was more manufacturable.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes. So originally it was some kind of point to point wide sort of extravaganza or something.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah, well, we. I don’t know why, because at the time there was, you know, I had a vinyl plant, not far studio. It was all the beginning of the free radios, you know.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Brian Rodgers: Yeah.
Jean Marie Liere: So there was a lot of activities, a lot of new studios that needed small monitors. And these ones, the professional one wanted to get an active version obviously. So that’s how we started. And then, the pinnacle of that. Is that the right word?
Andrew Hutchison: Yes, well, we say pinnacle, pinnacle.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah. Of that was that we equipped the wall of the Norwegian radio with 100 pair of them.
Andrew Hutchison: Wow.
Jean Marie Liere: And some are still working well.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay. That’s amazing. So in fact your, your manufacturing, adventure in the mid-80s was of some scale. So, But at some point you moved to Australia.
Jean Marie Liere: Yes, 1997.
Andrew Hutchison: So you’ve been here a while.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: So you’re almost a local. I mean you sort of really are. And and so as much as you go back to Europe quite regularly, of course, to get a taste of, you know.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah. Oysters primarily.
Andrew Hutchison: What are you saying? Australian oysters are no good?
Jean Marie Liere: I didn’t see that.
Andrew Hutchison: You need to try Kiwi oysters. It’s one thing they do well. so, they do many things well. Sorry, sorry. Our New Zealand friends, the, mussels are also good.
There is a French connection in this podcast
so back to speakers. So you’ve got quite an array here. And what I also notice, and it’s disappointing that we’re speaking historically in a way because this podcast goes out after the show.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: so it’s more of a show roundup than a, than a show. Preliminary sort of, teaser. But, you’ve got quite an array of, sort of. That’s not vintage gear as such, except perhaps the Stellavox little, open reel tape recorder.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Which is, I guess the. Is it the French version of a nagra?
Jean Marie Liere: No, no, no. It’s also a Swiss product.
Andrew Hutchison: Oh, it’s also Swiss, Yeah. I thought just being maybe because of your heritage that you had.
Jean Marie Liere: No, no, there is a big French connection.
Andrew Hutchison: Oh, there is a French connection, yes.
Jean Marie Liere: there’s two French connections, actually. One is, So first of all, the Stellavox SP7, I think was the real one. Production one in 1973, if I remember properly, was the first professional portable stereo recorder.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Jean Marie Liere: At the time, Naira was only doing mono because the film industry was still in mono M. And it took them like four years to compete properly with Telavox and with the Niagra 4s.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Jean Marie Liere: the stellaavox has the advantage of having a very much simpler circuitry.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Jean Marie Liere: There’s only four transistors between the mic input to the recording head where The Nagra has 20.
Andrew Hutchison: I also reckon at a glance that the stellavox is more, diminutive. It’s, lighter.
Jean Marie Liere: It’s slightly smaller and lighter. it’s only 4.5 kilos.
Andrew Hutchison: Ah. And we’re talking about, of course, portable tape recorder as it was in the early 70s, mid-70s. It was not a cassette recorder. It was a, you know, a, open reel, five and a half. is it what size reel? Five and a quarter. Five and a. What’s the size of the. Just five inch reels. What do you call it? But you can put bigger reels on it.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have an adapter, but
00:50:00
Jean Marie Liere: one of our belts decided to break before the show.
Andrew Hutchison: It’s got a little outrigger arm.
Jean Marie Liere: I’m just waiting for new belts to someone in Holland is making them for me. So, anyway, so the first big French connection is I was working for the distributor.
Andrew Hutchison: Oh, okay.
Jean Marie Liere: For a year or so, whatever. And there’s actually three connections. the second connection is that we sold about half of the production in France to the French radio and television because they were all going stereo at the time.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Jean Marie Liere: So my boss made a killing. I did buy a unit at that time, which I sold, you know, of course, later, because as people, you know, you’re young and you say, okay, well, I need the money, so I’m gonna sell it. but it gave me a taste for. I used to think there, that was my first fall into the audio professional industry. Okay. because we were selling Otari and. Oh, were you a very fancy, mixing, console from Italy that was, competing with Navy. I mean, you know, it was good stuff. And also the very first, electret microphones.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Jean Marie Liere: which the current NT range of rode are actually, not copied, but, you know, modern version of the same thing. Pencil. so I bought two of them as well and I started to make recordings because at the time you could just walk up to a venue and put your two microphones there and then say, oh, can I record? And it would say, yes. Okay. So that gave me a taste for that. but it’s not until another 10 years that I really started to design some speakers with the view of selling them, you know.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Jean Marie Liere: the third connection is that the motor, which is, made by Aton. it’s a company in the Jura part of France which is famous for watchmaking. So it’s the French equivalent of Saint Imier.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Okay. So there is quite a lot of. Yeah.
Jean Marie Liere: So that motor was originally designed for Beaulieu, for a, film camera.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Jean Marie Liere: Okay. And then it was adapted by, George Kelly, the owner of Stellavox, together with Aton, to make it work into, a portable wheel to wheel recorder.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay. Well, I can see. I mean, so that’s why the machine’s here. I mean, there’s a very strong love and connection to. To the brand and to the idea of what, you know, open reel tape can. Can bring beautiful analog recordings, which I believe you’ve been doing some.
Brian Rodgers: But.
Swing rate is a term that used to be employed for amplifiers
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, but slipping sideways into the speakers, your. What would you call it.
Jean Marie Liere: Philosophy, I guess, around speakers design principles.
Andrew Hutchison: Is that you’re after pace and speed and lightness, and it’s sort of that slew rate you like to talk about.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah, it’s a term that used to be employed for amplifiers.
Andrew Hutchison: I was going to say it is more of an amplifier term, but I.
Jean Marie Liere: Believe it applies to any piece of electronics, really.
Andrew Hutchison: I think it kind of does. And for those that are, listening who are not quite sure what a slew might be and at what rate it might happen.
Jean Marie Liere: Well, basically, if you input a square signal into a piece of gear, okay. Regardless of what it is, then the time it takes to go from zero to, let’s say, 10 volts or whatever it is, that’s the speed, and that speed is the slew rate.
Geoff Haynes : Okay.
Andrew Hutchison: And literally how square the square wave can be.
Jean Marie Liere: M. Yeah. Because, as you know, if. I mean, you can’t see, obviously, what I’m showing to Andrew, but that, means when the amplifier or the speaker get into the way, the front edge of the square wave just gets slanted a little bit. So it’s the slew. Yes, yes, exactly. And so nobody ever measured the slew rate of the loudspeakers. We do make impulse measurements, which is about the same. Okay. but we don’t transform that into a number, which would be the slow write. I think again, we need to anchor microphones to the history of French hi Fi. I started to be interested when I first listened to a pair of ellipso. There, were professional monitors basically, at a trade show, you know, HiFi show in Paris, way back in the 70s, when you were only about 50. Yeah, yeah. I was very. It’s A long time anyway. And at the time I was doing, my. I was a tune uni, learning electronics. So, you know, it was a kind of an interest. and then, you know, we had a Hue, portable recorder there to do some stuff. I mean, there was a lot of stuff happening at that
00:55:00
Jean Marie Liere: time, you know, in that period of life. And,
Andrew Hutchison: Well, it was the 70s and into the 80s was an incredible era of transformation and improvement in.
Jean Marie Liere: There was a real innovation at the time.
Andrew Hutchison: Innovation and improvements and genuine improvements. Big steps in performance from. From say, 1968 to 1978 was quite astounding. And then into the mid-80s, really. So you sort of rode that wave.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah. Until the, mid-90s, where it started to become, you know, ordinary.
Andrew Hutchison: It was all done.
Jean Marie Liere: Yes.
Andrew Hutchison: Basically, the development had occurred. That’s right. We’d achieved nirvana and things. I don’t know. And of course, at some point in the mid-90s, there was this interest in how can we make things sound worse. Yeah. But cheaper.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah. So. Well, a number of people like me or Jean Marie. Jean Marie Renaud that you probably don’t know about still is no longer alive, but his son has taken over. there was Cabasse and there was Triangle. All these people. If you look at the design we were all doing at the time, we were all trying to do a smaller or less difficult to manufacture than the Ellipson system with the Sphere and the big subwoofer. So if you. If you look at, the Quatron Tours here that I’m trying to sell.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, yeah.
Jean Marie Liere: Okay. That’s basically a baby version of a 4040 from ellipson.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Okay.
Jean Marie Liere: and obviously much, much, easier to make and cheaper too, you know. And I mean, to a degree, if you look at some products from Cabaz and then BMW. Okay. You’ll see they all copy the Ellipse thing. Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Jean Marie Liere: Yes. and so I was not very original in that. In that.
Andrew Hutchison: No, no. In the franchise.
Jean Marie Liere: I was just trying to. The idea of these speakers from 1984.
Andrew Hutchison: Is that when these speakers from 1984 are tiny, they’re literally half a shoebox.
Jean Marie Liere: Because the. The drive. The idea. I had another colleague in at hp, I was working for it at Packard at the time, so that helped as well with the measurement.
Andrew Hutchison: I was going to say, yes, you have. Because you were working for hp, you had access to at the time, test equipment that was simply unaffordable, except to the likes of Ellipse.
Jean Marie Liere: So I could borrow them for a weekend at no cost.
Andrew Hutchison: I mean, these were instruments about 5 and 10,000, dollars.
Jean Marie Liere: HP 3582, which was the very first FFT analyzer that anyone could afford, was still $25,000.
Andrew Hutchison: $25,000 when you could buy a very nice house.
Jean Marie Liere: And that’s in 1982.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Jean Marie Liere: Okay.
Modern manufacturing techniques for speaker enclosures are less than hand assembled
so, Kef was the first audio company buying the bigger one.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Jean Marie Liere: Which was like, you know, 250 thousand.
Andrew Hutchison: Is that right? So in the early 80s, KEF bought a quarter of a million dollar machine.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah. And that’s Siegfried Link, which that you obviously know. most people would know was the guy at HP that sold the system to Kev.
Andrew Hutchison: Oh, was he? Yes. It’s a small world, the audio world, isn’t it?
Jean Marie Liere: And so, the, the design philosophy between the speakers is that, Pierre and I decided to find the smallest drivers that we could find that would still work to our satisfaction and put them in the smallest possible box. And because on the side we were building Onkyo enclosures, on enclosure for, you know, withdrawing raga and all that French, crown. A French Japanese crown. Anyway, so diverse. so that’s how we came with the idea of the, the slanted baffle. Because that was giving us.
Andrew Hutchison: It’s a little bit of time alignment.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah, time alignment. it was not too difficult to make. You have to understand that these things were made manually. There was no CNC machine at the time. and so, if we continue in this street. So by the time I had, you know, really got married to some degree.
Andrew Hutchison: To cut you off for a second. I mean, you’re implying that modern manufacturing techniques for speaker enclosures are less than hand assembled. They’re all hand assembled. Really.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: I mean the pieces are cut with a machine, but the rest is. Yeah, absolutely.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Whether it’s made China, Russia.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Estonia.
Jean Marie Liere: yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: UK or Australia. Australia or America. Can’t make anything there anymore. But I’m sure there’s someone who’s trying to change that. they, Yeah, they’re all ultimately beautifully precision cut.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: Machine, but still have to be.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah. But obviously the fact that you were cutting them on. On a bench saw.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah, it’s a little bit of.
Jean Marie Liere: I did a little bit of, you know, variations.
Andrew Hutchison: A bit of fudging too. Yes. A bit like Jaguars of the 70s. Everyone was different. Yes.
Jean Marie Liere: So, so then, you know, moved to Australia, educated to kids that are now young adults and successful and happy. and then, I know why.
01:00:00
Jean Marie Liere: Because it’s true about 2015, I was working with a lighting company.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
Jean Marie Liere: And they were doing extrusions, for LEDs and stuff.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Jean Marie Liere: And we had a project with the Scott Code College here in Sydney where they need 94 meters of that extrusion with lighting. But all the other services are perforated for the sprinklers. But they needed Also speakers for PA and speakers for EWIs, the emergency speakers. So because, the lighting company that I was working with knew that I was capable of designing speakers, they tasked me with the idea of making tiny little speakers with. I should have bought some actually. But anyway, so they’re cut out. Frequency on the bus is probably 200Hz, but as a PA system it’s more M than enough. And for EWI system it doesn’t really matter. so we did that. I made quite a good piece of money out of that. And I say, okay, well I’m, you know, that’s extra money that I really don’t need.
Andrew Hutchison: it’s good not to need money, isn’t it? Yeah. Yeah.
The Mark 2 is a small drive unit with two active drivers
Jean Marie Liere: Well, because I was doing also things that were working well. So, I decided, I said, well, let’s use, you know, 10 or 20% of that money. Not all of it.
Andrew Hutchison: No, no, no.
Jean Marie Liere: To design a modern version of those of the original. And that’s how the satisfaction Mark two came about. Which is the top of the towers here. I didn’t win one because I don’t want to sell them. I mean, I can’t make them anymore. but that’s also where the idea of the Mark 3 came about. Okay. Because that was the first, satellite into which we put a back drive, an active. Active as in not passive.
Andrew Hutchison: No, an extra driver in the rear.
Jean Marie Liere: Battle.
Andrew Hutchison: That’s a driven drive.
Jean Marie Liere: Yes.
Andrew Hutchison: I’m not quite sure how that works and unfortunately time will defeat us as far as explaining the technicalities of that. But the bottom line is you have like a four inch driver in the front. Or is it five and a quarter?
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah, well, this one is a, it’s a. At, the time it was the 10 centimeter. 11 centimeters.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. So 11 centimeter. Yeah. Which I guess we generically refer to.
Jean Marie Liere: We have now in the market.
Andrew Hutchison: It’s actually more of a three and a half inch driver, isn’t it? But anyhow, so. So it’s a small drive unit. Then you have a larger mid base drive unit in the rear and obviously some kind of crossover arrangement between them. It’s not as if they’re driven in parallel, are they.
Jean Marie Liere: Or are they. They are. Well, basically the front driver is not filtered at the bottom.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes. It’s only two and a half way.
Jean Marie Liere: Kind of. Yes. And then the back one is cut at the bottom, you know, 300 hertz.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah.
Brian Rodgers: Really?
Jean Marie Liere: It’s two and a half way.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Yeah. But it’s interesting.
Jean Marie Liere: And also because they are, like, you know, we use the term isobaric loosely, but basically because the two drivers share the same volume, each driver sees the whole volume of the box.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Yeah.
Jean Marie Liere: Okay. So it looks like you have a small speaker that is twice the size.
Brian Rodgers: Yes.
Andrew Hutchison: It’s one of those things, I guess it’s very hard to predict in any kind of software. You really have to build it and find it.
Jean Marie Liere: Exactly. So we were lucky because, I think one reason why it works and what we could achieve the Mark three as well, is one thing that I found by trial and error and by chance as well, is that if the resonant frequencies of the two drivers are the same or very close, that way it works.
Andrew Hutchison: Yeah. Okay.
Jean Marie Liere: Okay. If you had a 40 hertz on one side and a 60th on the other side, it would go all over the place.
Andrew Hutchison: well, that’s. I’m gonna keep it because we’ve got a lot of.
We’ve got a lot of guests on this show. This episode is going to run for hours. But I mean, I. I really appreciate your time. You have so many interesting stories. and of course, I mean, decades of stories. There is decades of stories. Stories. There are many stories. We’ve touched on it. Yeah. M. The. But the bottom line is, Jean Marie’s loudspeakers are really easy to recognize, because they are built, from birch ply. They are, clear stain or clear lacquered. Really. It’s a terrible expression. Clear stain. Because they’re not stained, you know, in the normal sense. They are simply sealed and and present in their kind of in a finished raw state, I guess. And, they’re tall and skinny and they’re very fast and they’re very. There is something quite, there’s something about the way they sound that other. Many other loudspeakers don’t quite sound the same. And if you like, which is easy to like that kind of lively, exciting way about them, then you should have a listen. I guess you’re at other shows.
Jean Marie Liere: Yeah. We can announce today that we will be at the Melbourne show in August. We have now a listening room in Melbourne, called Groove Audio. Yes, it’s gonna be more active from July.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Jean Marie Liere: and, in Sydney, it’s at my place until we found someone else.
Andrew Hutchison: Yes.
01:05:00
Andrew Hutchison: And the thing is, for our European listeners.
Jean Marie Liere: Yes. So I have, a listening room in Kent in the uk called Val hi Fi.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Jean Marie Liere: And then someone in Paris, or near Paris, near Beauvais, who is a man of, gentilhomme, as we call him. I mean, he’s a musical encyclopedia in his head. And also physically because he has, I don’t know, 4,000 CDs and I don’t know how many vinyls. And just to give you the taste, he has 48 version of the Four Seasons and in.
Andrew Hutchison: Did you say 48?
Jean Marie Liere: 48, yes, on CD. So I’m sure he has more on vinyl.
Andrew Hutchison: I mean, it’s a wonderful piece of music. 48 versions may be a stretch. yes, and anywhere, any other ages.
Jean Marie Liere: So at the moment I can’t confirm. We are working with, Jean Jacques in Beauvais to appoint someone in Belgium.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay.
Jean Marie Liere: and someone downtown Paris as well.
Andrew Hutchison: Okay. All right.
Jean Marie Liere: Well, but this is, you know, so an international brand. Yeah.
Andrew Hutchison: You manufacture locally, export everywhere. And, and you can hear them in all sorts of places. Thanks, Jean Marie, thanks for some insight. Thanks for being by and pleasure, maybe. Well, not a pleasure. Did I say not a pleasure? It was not a flat pleasure at all. It was an absolute pleasure, as always. And I’ll see you in Melbourne. Thank you. Thanks. Great. Bye.
Jean Marie Liere: Thank you.
Andrew Hutchison: Thanks.
Jean Marie Liere: Andrew.
Serhan Swift Bespoke loudspeakers designed and built in Australia
Andrew Hutchison: Serhan Swift Bespoke loudspeakers designed and built in Australia by perfectionists described by reviewers as exceptional. Serhan Swift has received numerous awards here and abroad, including Sound and Image Best stand amount loudspeaker 2024. For full information, head to serhandswift.com if you’ve enjoyed the show, and you must have, because you made it this far, can you please perhaps give us a five star review, if that’s what they call it, on the platform that, that you prefer. So thanks again for listening. See you in the next episode.
01:07:03