The Steinway Lyngdorf Philosophy That Separates Good From Great

Ever wondered why some systems make you forget specs and just feel? We sit with Steinway Lyngdorf UK’s Charlie and Simon to unpack the craft behind statement audio: the brand partnership with Steinway that lends instant cultural weight, the all‑in‑house engineering that keeps signal paths pure, and the calibration smarts that let a system sound like itself in any room. From Essex hi‑fi rivalries and car‑culture origins to a world‑class showroom, their journey explains a sales style built on listening first and letting emotion lead.

We dig into the architecture that separates mixed‑brand stacks from matched ecosystems. Each Steinway system ships with a unique file that predefines crossovers and gain, travels over a proprietary digital link, and arrives with a literal “passport.” On the Lyngdorf side, processors and MXA amplifiers win praise for ultra‑low noise floors, fast control integration, and RoomPerfect—calibration that measures the room’s fingerprint and restores a speaker’s native voice rather than forcing a generic target. That’s why Lyngdorf plays so well with other speaker brands while still shining brightest within its own family.

The conversation also challenges a habit in custom install: hiding everything. Yes, in‑wall has its place, especially in theaters, but there’s power in a visible instrument. Like a grand piano, Steinway speakers—Model A, B, D—are objects of desire and feats of engineering. Clients don’t just hear them; they want them. We cover real‑world pricing, from attainable Lyngdorf FR systems that outclass many ceiling‑only setups to six‑figure Steinway rigs that include the electronics they require. Demos are tuned for everyday life, not “vivid mode,” because clear dialogue, believable dynamics, and that shiver‑down‑the‑spine track are what win hearts.

Ready to hear the difference? Book a dealer‑hosted demo at the UK showroom, bring your favourite tracks, and decide with your ears. If this episode helped, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves great sound, and leave a quick review—your support helps more listeners find their next goosebump moment.

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Transcript

Cold Open: Home Cinema Alliance Ad

SPEAKER_00 0:00

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SPEAKER_04 0:40

Charlie, Skino, thank you for uh taking the time to meet up with me on today's episode of the HGA Tech Talk podcast. Thank you for coming.

SPEAKER_03 0:49

Yeah, we appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 0:50

Now Simon's not with me, he's had to rush off and do family duty. He has. But for some reason I've still ended up in Essex.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

You wouldn't want to be anywhere else. No. But also Simon lives 15, 20 minutes away from here, and he's gone home first. And you live how long away?

SPEAKER_04 1:05

Uh I think it's two hours and 40 minutes for him. Yeah. Good drive, isn't it? Hey, it's lovely. I've got some great podcasts going on. But it is it is a case of like I'm I'm I think I've literally just got one other speaker brand in Essex before we run out, and then I then I'm easy to do it. You have done Essex a lot, I've been like I never knew there were so many technology businesses in Essex. It's the hub. Yeah, mate. Silicon Valley of the UK. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

I think more should move this way. It's funny because a lot of people kind of don't want to come this way at the M25, but actually there's a there's so many people here, there's a lot over here, like you're missing out. Come on, guys.

SPEAKER_04 1:37

Well the thing is, I think the the Achilles Hill in both my journey and your journey is the brush. Yeah um and and whenever whenever I speak to anybody who is in Essex and especially talk about flying from Gatwick because you know we have the lounges of Gatwick. Gatwick's so far.

SPEAKER_03 1:53

How long did it take us when we went to Denmark the other day? It was like Stanstead. I I live 15, 20 minutes from South End Airport and an hour to Stansted, and Gatwick's like felt forever.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Yeah, it is a lot.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

Just went on and on and on and on and on. But we did do it, it was lovely.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

We had a great meal, didn't we? But even the meal nah, don't get me started on that burger, it was tiny.

Meet Charlie And Simon: Origins In Hi‑Fi

SPEAKER_04 2:12

Right. So before we go off tangent, I did say we're having a conversation like three mates, but there is a camera and hopefully uh we'll get on to something. A few hundred people watching this. Um so right, we'll start off with the boss. So I think that's a very loose term. So so yeah, so we're we're at uh Steinway and Sons, Lindorf.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

Steinway Lindorf, yeah. Yeah the UK showroom. Um we opened it three years ago? I want to say it was two. I think it took us a while to build it. Yeah. So we got the keys.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

I'll stop there. I want to go back. Oh, you want to go back? I want to go back. I want to go back about you two. Okay, okay. Because this is a consumer facing podcast as well as a dealer facing podcast. Sure. So I want to know a bit about the people behind the case.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

Okay, alright, fine.

SPEAKER_04 2:59

Yeah. So so tell me about when you started at Rayleigh Hi-Fi.

SPEAKER_03 3:03

I didn't start Rayleigh High. You didn't? Seriously? Drop the bomb there. You're that is phoa. They were like my arch enemy.

SPEAKER_04 3:11

I thought everybody in Essex were everybody in Essex works for them and will only fly from Southend and South, uh, whatever, Southend and Stanstead, that's the other one. Double S. Let's go back.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Oh no, not Rayleigh, God. Well, they were like, ugh. I work for Audio T. Oh, okay. So Audio T used to have a branch in Essex at the Brentwood in Brentwood. Well, you it used to be Audio T and Rayleigh Hi-Fi. They used to be the big like local rivals. I don't know why I did fist signs though, because I would never have bothered to go that far. But uh, so yeah, I started there when I was 14. Um, that's a long story as well for another day, maybe. But uh yeah, I started very young in the world of hi-fi. Yeah, and then uh I worked my way up there. We started doing in-stall work. We were one of the first kind of hi-fi stores doing install back then anyway. Uh, and then kind of I just went on from there. I I if I'm being honest, I never saw audio hi-fi as a career path. I got forced into the job by my my dad, yeah. Um and god am I glad he did now. But like at the time, I just did it for a bit of money on a Saturday and then worked my way up. But it gave me such a cool understanding of obviously audio, but also how to deal with end users, how the hi-fi world is also very different to the CI world now and stuff like that. But yeah, so I'm one of the rare people that have come from the hi-fi world and understand audio. Um, that's not a dig at anyone, obviously, but it's just a different world now where there aren't as many hi-fi stores. Uh, and my dad was always a sales rep, so I always wanted to progress on to be a sales rep. Uh I got a job with a hi-fi furniture company to start with, uh, and then moved into the world of doing uh distribution. Um, stayed in the distribution world for a while, then I worked at for another manufacturer, and now you find me here.

SPEAKER_04 5:07

So, because I first got to know you when you were working with pulse. Yep. Where that's where me and Simon met. Yeah, that's where the dream team started.

SPEAKER_03 5:13

That's where the yeah, the that's a great word for it, dream team. Like that, that's good. Not many people call us the dream team. The dream team. It's good that one. But yeah, that's where we start where I mean I can't remember what year I joined there. It was a while ago now. But um you joined in 2014. Yeah, it was something along those lines, it's been a while.

SPEAKER_04 5:30

Um, because that's when Simon went on out into presence.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

No, do you know why? No, do you know why I know, right? Because I had my white GTI. You did, and then we got the STs. Yeah, we did go racing in the refugee.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

And they were 15 plates.

SPEAKER_04 5:42

Well, it was always a nice uh road in. I mentioned Dagesh quite a lot, but our friend Dagesh, you know, the amount of times that he's been up and down that road to pulse in like he's it's a good road.

SPEAKER_03 5:50

Yeah, we are we used to we used to pull in roughly at the same time. You and Sai used to get there quite early, yeah, and it was weird because even though I lived a long way away from always come in together, and that road in, yeah, yeah, we used to cane that road.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

We used to we used to job our lease had like three tires on it, was it?

SPEAKER_03 6:06

Fully maintained and three tires. We were we do you remember the mini? I had the mini, didn't I at one stage? And the bangs. We we he had a he had a golf GTI, and we I had this mini clubman. So many rules. Oh my god. But like it was I don't know what went we got in the cars, we were different people. We were like, we were the typical Essex boy racers, to be honest.

SPEAKER_04 6:24

Skrillex on the neons. I see it, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Car Culture And Early Sales Hustle

SPEAKER_03 6:26

I had the pop bang tune, yeah, and um we used to I remember do you remember that time where the guy over the road from the from Pulse's unit had the BMW M5? And I remember pulling in one day and I was just behind Sire and he didn't see me, right? And all of a sudden I've just seen him racing an M5 up the road to Pulse. I mean had no chance, but he was on it. So it was like I could hear the I could smell the car from from when I got out of the car. But yeah, that's that's when me and Simon.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Every time he drove past the window from Pulse, then he sort of almost had like a little bit of a wave.

SPEAKER_04 6:59

Like well, it's a bit like I can remember growing up on the south coast, you know, and like all the years I had the 1.3 escort, you know, the 1.1 feet of punto, you know, like everybody used to pull up alongside you at the lights to try on. But when I got my first like decent car, which was a uh Subaru Imprezza, you know, STI, WRX, no one ever pulled up alongside of me. And I'm like, oh come on, guys, finally I've got a car that actually can beat something. Yeah, you know, you might have the occasional 9-11, which is always a good laugh, especially if you're in the wet, you could always beat us. Um, but uh, but yeah, it was uh yeah, the car culture.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

It's funny because like if you look at the industry, there's a lot of car guys in the industry, and there's a lot of football and a lot of golf guys and whatever else, but cars tend to run through, and it's weird because like car audio back in the day was such a big thing as well, wasn't it? And that oh yeah, I'm not saying it's gone, I'm I don't know how big the car audio world is now, but I'm sure it's still doing well. But you don't tend to talk about it as much in the industry anymore. Like I remember being at Audio T and taking drive units from subwoofers and nicking it from your car.

unknown 8:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:04

They were broken.

SPEAKER_04 8:04

Don't send me an infrared three three 15-inch MTX subwoofers in your boot or an MTX. You know what I know?

SPEAKER_03 8:11

I had a Bowers and Wilkins Pv1. Yeah. Do you remember the Pv one, the round ball? I don't know if anyone remembers that. Yeah, I had the two tens from that in the back of my car.

SPEAKER_04 8:19

So that was after a field trip to Bowden?

SPEAKER_03 8:21

Uh that was after someone had a broken Pv1. Um what car was it? I had a few cars. I had a polo. That was that the one with the subs in it. Yeah. And then I had a Fiesta, obviously, yeah. Fold Essex. It's just it goes hand in hand. Um Dagginum, maybe. Yeah, exactly. And uh yeah, they both travelled into that car. They were both and uh but after that I got rid of them.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

I remember in my I had a course at SXI 1.2, it had half leather interior, it was an SXI Plus. Yeah, white dials. I like the fact that it's big enough to be.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

But he's making a big deal of half lever, not even a full lever.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

I don't think it was leather, half, half plastic, half clever. And uh I had two 12-inch alpine subs in the back. Yeah, uh, it wasn't like two separate ones, it was like this big, big unit thing. Anyway, I used to sit in like sick form assembly, and the head teacher would be like, right, some announcements, housekeeping, all this kind of stuff. Can the owner of uh coursa AJ02BVW please turn his system down when he comes into the housing residential area as we're getting complaints? I was like, Yes.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

Funny thing is, you you it's it's just like his personality though, because you hear him before you see him. Yeah, it's the same with his cars, but you hear him before you see him. Well, to be honest, same here earlier.

SPEAKER_04 9:36

We were like we were just like playing to some lovely classical music, a little bit of Billy Island, like, can we put some Skrillax on or can we put some Skepster on? And who asked for that?

SPEAKER_03 9:45

Me and him. Because it's it's never yeah, it's yeah, but yeah, but that's but that's how me and Cy know each other is from the Pulse days. Yeah, yeah. And um and then you left him all on his own.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

We were there for five years together though, weren't we?

SPEAKER_03 9:58

Something along those lines, yeah. We got we we to be honest, you we had a great time. Oh yeah, and we it was the boom period for us. Yeah, and and it was a boom time for the industry as well as Pulse. Yeah, so but we had we had some great brands there at the time and stuff like that. And it I don't know, we we uh uh we just had a good time. I don't know how else to word it, like we gelled together really well, clearly, yeah, because we're still together now, but also at the time we were doing some good stuff at Pulse, yeah. Um and we had we were really young back then. Well, I was I would have been what what yeah, 2014. Yeah, so I was 24. Yeah, Jesus. Yeah, I'm 35 now. You're grayed in and you're grayed out. I know I've lost hair everything out.

From Pulse To Steinway Lyngdorf UK

SPEAKER_04 10:39

This is because of what you do now, it's more stressful.

SPEAKER_03 10:41

Yeah, it is, it is, but it's funny because I started when I was 14, I'm 35 now, yeah, and I don't know anything else. That makes sense. So like I always say to people that I'm I'm I like selling, I'm not a hardcore salesperson or anything like that, and I do know that I probably could transition into another industry, but I don't want to.

SPEAKER_04 11:00

Do you know what makes me ri that makes me feel really old because that's like 20 years? I know, yeah, and like and I and the business has nearly been going for 20 years. Yeah. So cheers, mate. That makes me feel really old now. You wanted us on this podcast, you know you're in for trouble. So obviously, yeah, so you you you left pulse, went to work. I went to acoustics.

SPEAKER_03 11:21

Yeah, me and Paul, and then um from there I kind of got the opportunity to do this, and I could I couldn't turn it down really, could I? You've seen you've seen and heard why today as well. But also, we you know, me and I'm not gonna say I've run it, me and Simon run it. So let's get on to Cy.

SPEAKER_04 11:36

So we have to yeah, we'll draw a level there. Well, he is sitting in the middle. I mean, a technically, actually know that shot is of both of you, isn't it? Yeah, no. So he's he's just gonna otherwise it's just gonna be that weird thing that just sits in the corner and doesn't smoke being the weird thing, to be honest. You've described him well.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

Can we just end it there? Like the weird thing in the middle.

SPEAKER_04 11:52

So, where did your career start with this Simon?

SPEAKER_01 11:55

What a career this is. We funnily enough, we talked about this before, but it's I love helping people out. I know that's so cliche to say that, but I do. I just love even if it's something to do with like when I got done at school for selling stolen sweets, the idea was This is great, racing down a car, uh private, private road, it was private road private road, private road, yeah, selling sweets at school. Well, no, but the thing was, it was like my friend Adam could get these sweets and they were cheaper than the tuck shop. So we were helping, we it was good. It was our buzz.

SPEAKER_03 12:28

By the way, he just says well, we're helping people out by selling them high sugar content sweets, yeah, and lower slightly less than the tuck shop.

SPEAKER_04 12:36

Yeah, but the thing was it was Was the first sample free? No, no, it's not drugs. What you don't know?

SPEAKER_01 12:41

No, but no, I that was later in his career. And it was funny actually, it was at EI Live we were talking about this then. What drugs?

SPEAKER_03 12:49

No, not drugs.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

No, that was when it was in Amsterdam. No, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:53

ISE, yeah. Old school days.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

And where did you just go this weekend? I was in Amsterdam. Yeah, what did you do in Amsterdam? I had a lot of fun in Amsterdam this weekend. I cycled 15 miles. Yeah, whilst legally, yeah. Yeah, legally, legally. No, I um we mentioned this at ISE. I was talking to one of the dealers, and it's funny, like my job now is what I used to do when I was a little kid, and my dad had got a new sound system for the living room or a new thing that was quite cool. That I'd be on my bike in the street and the kids in the road, you'd you'd all come in and be like, Let me show you this, and I'd play this new surround sound system. It's basically what I do for a living now. But I have always sold stuff. I've left school, everyone was going to university doing their personal statements. I just didn't think that was for me. So I got some work experience in car garages, and then I managed to land a job at a company called Pitney Bows, which was like postage machines.

SPEAKER_04 13:45

Oh, so they were postage, weren't they? Frankie machines.

SPEAKER_03 13:47

Yeah, franking machines. Yeah, yeah. But we're talking about booms. Can I just jump in for two seconds? Does everyone know that the reason Mike employed Simon is because Simon managed to sell Mike a Frankie machine. Oh really? So and and it A DM50.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Yeah. 400 impressions a minute. No one, no wonder he offered you a job.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

We never used it once. I don't remember touching that machine once.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

No, but you know what's really weird about that is that I remember sitting at my desk at Pitney Bow's and looking at this website and thinking, wow, like that's a really cool little company. Like it sells projectors and screens and cinema stuff, and there's some geyser called Barry that works there.

SPEAKER_03 14:25

And like so let's let's sell them a franking machine.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Yeah, I sold them with a franking machine,$5.99 a month. Five-year contract. You didn't know that at the time, but it was still in contracts when I started.

SPEAKER_03 14:33

And that and I think people that know Simon will know what he's like to deal with anyway. Hence why me and him worked together because he was the best. I said to the guys when I got the job, it's like, there is one person we need to employ.

SPEAKER_05 14:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:45

Right. I don't care how we do it, we have to get Simon, right? But that's why. If he can sell a franking machine to Mike, right, then how much?

SPEAKER_01 14:57

No, it was like six quid a month rental. Six quid a month. No, no, no, no, no, sorry.

SPEAKER_03 15:00

Oh, I thought you meant 599.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

No, no, no, no. No, no, because they get you in on the freebie. But they we signed you in for five years. Five years on a machine we never touched. They probably earn a bit on the post.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

100% you earn a bit on the postage and try and get out of that contract, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

See what I mean? But he knows his stuff. Like it well, he doesn't know his stuff, but he's but no, I I I essentially learnt resilience. Pitney bows are they're massive.

SPEAKER_04 15:24

They're still yeah, I might have to beep that name out. No, you won't.

The Steinway Brand Power And Partnership

SPEAKER_03 15:28

I don't I doubt anyone watching this will be.

SPEAKER_04 15:30

Does anybody post anymore? That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Yeah, no, but even back then we weren't posting anything, he still sold it to him. Oh yeah, emails existed. Um, but no, I I did that for quite a long time, and don't get me wrong, it was really good money. Like it was at a time where the franc was so much cheaper than the stamp that it was literally all day long making commission. It was great. So I spent my money on silly things like putting a like a stage one on a fiat punto sporting just because it was funny, or doing putting massive sound systems into it. So I kind of had a link in the audio world in that way, but it was my sister that actually introduced me, she had a sandwich van route, yeah. And I'd said to her the family, like, I've I'm not happy doing what I'm doing anymore. And she was talking to Mike, and Mike in invited me in, but it was an admin role, and I just said to him, mate, I've just seen this showroom, I'll clean the toilets, I don't care. Just give me a job, like it'd be great. So yeah, I started an admin in 2013.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

And well, you were six months before me, weren't you?

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Yeah, six months to yeah, six to eight months or so.

SPEAKER_03 16:30

Yeah, it wasn't like I thought it was the way around. No, I I joined I joined when Barry had left. It's probably because he was always in the toilet. Yeah, well true. Funny when they go out in the story story, don't funny story. Because when I joined, yeah, they were like, Oh yeah, there's another guy here called Simon that you're you know, you'll be working with in the in the uh what was you sales at that point? I can't remember, but it was like he didn't turn up for work for like the first two months. I was like, Wait. Two months? What was it then? What was it? Two days, it wasn't it was not two days, and he knows two weeks, yeah. Anyway, because he was off ill. Oh, really? Right, and what did you have?

SPEAKER_01 17:09

So my cat had given me worms, okay?

SPEAKER_03 17:14

Stuart, he was off for weeks, he was awful, and Mike was like, You will meet him at some point. You I promise he does work here.

SPEAKER_04 17:20

I didn't want to spread it to anyone. That's probably why I thought I you were there first because I was there first specifically.

SPEAKER_03 17:26

I didn't see him for literally a month, and it was anyway, but fully vaccinated now though. Yeah, thank God for that. I'm glad I'll see it in.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

No, but I I yeah, I just basically went from an admin position.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Post buffs are gonna go, they're gonna get frustrated a bit and um yeah, just progressed from there, learnt all the products, started to introduce myself to dealers, got the opportunity to do a couple of demos. I think Mike and Cape sort of realised I was okay at that, and then yeah, just kept going and kept going, and then when Charlie and essentially I had looked at what we were doing here, and I had this opportunity to come here, I was in a high position at Pulse. I was like one of their main people. So yeah, it was a big decision. I didn't just go, oh yeah, let's go. It there was a lot of thought that went into what it is that me and Charlie do. But one of the things that was really kind of uh I don't want to say a safety net, that's the wrong thing, but like a real confidence thing was that it was him. Like I trust Charlie with not just work but personally with my family, with everything. So when he was saying to me, look, we've got this opportunity to do it, I fully trusted him. So I'm glad I did trust him because now five years on from there or four years on from there, it's well I think the thing is you always you we've said on the few podcasts you see people moving around our industry.

SPEAKER_04 18:42

Our industry is like that. Well, we've only talked about one guy today that's moved again. Um, and and I think the thing is, it's like I remember texting you, I was what's happening you, and I was having a laugh and joke with you about well, I just if you know uh I need the best uh if you want the best uh um uh processor in the market, uh, you need to get from me. I said, Well, fine, I'll speak to Ske now in the morning. He said, Good because he's coming to work for me. It's like finally that's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_03 19:10

The thing is as well, is like one thing that when we started this, I didn't there was a the reason there's a safety net, like Sai said, but the safety net is also me and Simon. Yeah, you do. I mean, like you we're not jumping jobs, no, like when we're not, and if anything, like the next person that comes along as well, we want again to employ someone that's established uh industry and it's nothing people have to change jobs. I totally get it, right? But the the we have uh spent the last four or five years building this back up to where it needs to be, um, and it's been amazing fun. We've loved every moment of it, and it's and there is like like we've gone through today, I'd had the demo, uh it's so cool what we sell. It's and this is things like it's a passion thing. I I make a point of saying to people is like if I don't believe in a product, I probably can't sell it. It just comes across if I'm being honest. Like it's not uh if I needed to, if I was desperate for the money and I had to take a job, then okay, I'd I'd have to get on with it. But I mean the luxury where I don't have to do that at the moment, but I couldn't go to a company where I didn't think the speakers behind me weren't outrageously good. I I don't want to say the best in the world because that's subjective, but to me they are unbelievable. But everything, like the Lindell stuff as well as the Style May stuff, like uh those FR2s that you saw at the show, EI Live, like they're awesome. Like, I love them. And the amps that we use and everything, and like we'll go into the company a bit more, but yeah, it's it's there's uh with me in sights, like you know what you're gonna get, you know that we work together really well, and you know that we're not doing this for a quick buck or however you want to word it.

Product Philosophy: No‑Compromise And Custom

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Like, this is a but it's funny that you said like in terms of what we do and the fun we have. Like earlier on when we were sitting here listening to the Model D's, I was floating in my own little world and I got my camera out and I took a picture of the downstairs area with the two staircases coming up and the light was coming through the window, it looked really nice. And I ain't been here for a couple of weeks because we've had shows and we've been doing all these things.

SPEAKER_04 21:11

No one was here when I got here this morning.

SPEAKER_03 21:12

He was here, that's the thing. But no, you still got the cat. Yeah, weirdly enough. What did you see this weekend? What was in your apartment in Amsterdam?

SPEAKER_02 21:21

There was a cat in Amsterdam, it brought in two dead rats actually, to be fair.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

But no, it it it you sometimes forget, and like I looked about again and I was like, oh my gosh, like we built this place, we got given the opportunity to work in with this company, we've got the most prestigious speakers worldwide just at our disposal. I can sit and do my emails in front of Model D's, and it's like you really have to sometimes sort of yeah, and when you like meet random people, like I was on the way to Amsterdam this weekend, and I was sat on the plane with these two lovely women, they were going to Amsterdam for some Pokemon Go competition that's going on at there or something big, big thing there, anyway. But when someone asks me what I do, I have to kind of try and keep it down a level and not get too excited and start boring them with the fact that because you do like I'm excited about it.

SPEAKER_04 22:09

I think it's we were briefly talking about it earlier, where it's like you mentioned the name Steinway and Sons. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:15

Everybody knows the company, whether it's from an 80s rom-com movie where you've got the piano on stage or whatever like that, and people just know the brand.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

Do you know there's some crazy stats on Steinway? So there's a we don't obviously we look, we're we are a separate company to Steinway and Sons, the piano company. It's a this is a collaboration between Steinway and Sons and Lindorf Audio. But part of, you know, we get to talk to the guys that run the piano stuff quite a lot. And one of the stats they've got is that 95% of all concert halls in the UK, in the world, sorry, not even the UK, use Steinway.

SPEAKER_04 22:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

Like it's it's monstrous numbers and and for good reason. And the the other thing as well is like the other piano brands, they they pay artists to use their piano. Steinway and Sons have never done that. They won't pay one artist. If you want to use Steinway and Sons, then you you use Steinway and Sons. Like it's there's they don't pay anyone, and they're still the most used out there. It's there's it's such a cool brand. It like even if you don't like pianos, the way they run their company, the the the way they do that, and the their showrooms are amazing. And we've got our kit in the showrooms as well, which is great. It's it is a we said it earlier on, didn't we, when Simon was here. It's like it's it's a bit of a door opener, and it's the one thing that this industry is look, we we have a really cool industry, there's cool tech and it's fun, but trying to explain it and sell it to people is tricky, right? Because there's always a glass ceiling on you know how much people think a cinema costs or a pair of speakers and whatever else. But attaching a brand name like Steinwein Sons to a product like this, it's like people go, Oh yeah, cool. It's different, it's a different reaction.

SPEAKER_04 23:55

I suppose it's it's uh similar but different to like um Porsche Design. Yeah, you know, you've got the Porsche Design brand, which is nothing to do with the car, but it's like it's it's Porsche design and and people know it because of the Porsche name, and then okay, this is the lifestyle brand of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:13

And I think with us it's like you don't you don't have to know the pianos to know the brand, because I think most people I'd like to think a lot of people know the Steinway brand anyway, but the way we build these speakers is on level par to how they build the quality of their pianos. Um it's obviously different how you build a piano to a speaker, but like the audio quality matches the piano brand, if that makes sense. Yeah, uh but like like Sai just said there is like it has to because Steinway and sons won't sign off this product.

SPEAKER_04 24:41

They won't put a name to it, they won't put their name to it. They've got like one of the biggest most recordabiers will name it. Elitist recorders.

System Architecture: Files, Networking, And Passports

SPEAKER_01 24:48

This is the thing from the original kind of concept of what Peter had and what the opportunity he was presented to Peter Lindorf, you're talking about Peter Lindorf, sorry, I'm talking about like he's my best mate or something. No, no, some of these guys won't know Peter Lindorf is Peter. Pete, he uh Pete P Dog, P Dog. Um he essentially it was gonna be almost like a Steinwein Sons, a Steinway, like it was a nod to Lingdorff to say these guys have developed this digital technology, we as a an incredible force in the music world say that it does our pianos justice. But that was the kind of soft original idea of what it was gonna be. But when they actually heard it and what he'd brought to demonstrate, it wasn't a case of I'd want to do a marketing exercise, I want this to be a Steinwein Sons thing. I want this to be a Steinway and Sons product. So uh what is it, 170 years or something? Steinway, roughly as a company. Uh I can't remember. To be the only company, a small little Danish company in 170 years to ever have an opportunity to collaborate with Steinway and Sons is something that is really powerful.

SPEAKER_03 25:48

Well, the other way I look at things, they don't collaborate with anyone else. And they uh from what we can tell, they won't. Like they don't see the point. But the the what went from, like Saiya said, what went from being like the Model D's was going to be like a signature one-off thing that we collaborated them on, ended up, and that was in 2007, I think it was.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:07

Has turned into what we're in now, 2025. Yeah, and now we've got a big range. 100 products. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Yeah. No, maybe a bit less, but well, including the custom install elements of it as well, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:18

For sure. All with the Steinwehr and Suns branding on it. You know, it's it's gone from more than well, I think we all thought it was gonna be, but yeah, now it's it's an unbelievable range from floor standing to outside audio to on-wall to in-wall. But the where we're different is that uh all the products are no compromise. So when we say outdoor audio, it's it's not your traditional subsat package.

SPEAKER_04 26:44

Yeah, you're not gonna plant put them in the planter.

SPEAKER_03 26:47

No, and maybe you can put a picture up of them or something to show them or whatever, but like they're unbelievable. They're unapologetically Steinway, yeah. But they're they're next level, like there isn't really a product out there like them, and that's what we do, is like we're not we're not gonna bring out a a Me Too product with the Steinway brand on it. It still needs to be different, it still needs to stand on its own and be timeless, yeah. And like the out I I pick on the outdoor ones, but things like the sound bar, it's a it's it's not a normal soundbit. It's not a sound bar, it shouldn't be called a soundborn, it's not called it should no, it's a super bar as someone called it in our lives.

SPEAKER_04 27:22

A speaker bar, I think, is what Bowers sometimes say. It's a speaker bar, it's it's it's ridiculous, and it sounds outrageous. So, how did you get involved with the brand initially then? Because obviously you were both at Pulse, and you were both having a great time.

SPEAKER_03 27:38

Yeah, I left Pulse to go to Arcoustic. Sorry, then you went to Arcoustic.

SPEAKER_04 27:42

And then um it's it's a funny story in that you don't have to talk about killing Paul. We talked about that earlier about you know, there's no high, you can't really go any higher in Arcoustic without getting rid of Paul, and he's a nice guy.

SPEAKER_03 27:54

He's got a family, wife, poor Rachel. Hello, love you lots. I didn't say about killing Paul, but it's I said about killing Paul, yeah, exactly. Um the simple so to cut a long story short, yeah. I remember a dealer coming to me at Arcoustic and saying, Have you ever heard of this Lindorf brand? And it led from that, right? That's where it started. I remember them saying to me, like, Have you seen these price points? Because Lindorf, so we run two brands. You've got Steinway and Sons and Lindorf Audio. Lindorf Audio is bang for buck, right? It's it's I've got to be honest, it's almost like the polar opposite to Steinway. Steinway is no compromise, build it as best as we can, and away you go.

SPEAKER_04 28:33

Charge what you need to, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:35

Well, it's expensive. Like, look, the the speakers you see behind us, that is 24 karat gold you can see shining. Like it is non-apologetically like perfection. Like there is no other word for it. Lindorf is all about bang for buck. How can we impress you and build you something that sounds amazing for as l almost, I don't want to say as little as possible. It's an attainable stuff. Yeah, it's like most people, it's expensive, but it's attainable. Yeah, but but the quality is again another level, another level for the price point. Anyway, so someone has shown me some of the Lindulf stuff, the little amp, the 1120, and it was an MH and BW package, so our little satellite speakers with our little subwoofers. And uh, I couldn't believe the pricing on it. And and what I what what I found even more funny was that when I digged into it, I didn't know any dealer in the CI world doing it. Like not one dealer I knew. Well doing be really careful here, but yeah, there wasn't no, there were just no one that we knew in the mainstream CI world was doing it.

SPEAKER_04 29:32

I think we all know the reason why I think it was it was we have a company that wasn't really pushing themselves.

SPEAKER_03 29:40

Um no, they were pushing themselves, they weren't pushing the product, yeah. Yeah, they weren't pushing the brand, yes.

SPEAKER_04 29:45

But they they weren't they weren't in front of the they weren't in front of me. They weren't in front of any dealer. They people knew about them and they weren't really in front of the dealer, so people then just overlooked the brand. And they had other brands as well which were in the same situation.

Lyngdorf Processing And RoomPerfect Explained

SPEAKER_03 29:58

And it wasn't just us, and again, we're like, I'm not trying there's no point bringing up old ground, but it was um I looked into it and I was like, I just couldn't understand. I couldn't work it out, and then I dug into it and then I heard the stories that some people will know and some people won't, but it it you know, I then approached them, approached Steinway Lindorf directly and said, guys read me the email that you sent. Yeah. And this was this was before Chat GPT, by the way.

SPEAKER_04 30:23

I did not My name is Charlie. Can I have a joint six? I didn't fly out of Chelmsford and Southend. Chelmsford now. Oh, where are we? Southend Southend and Stanstead. Chelsea's got an airport code, apparently. Does it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very small one. It's just for it's just for cinema rooms, it's got a private gym now.

SPEAKER_03 30:40

Only and only flies to Denmark. Yeah, yeah, only flies to Denmark rooms in Essex. That's it. Yeah, but yeah, no, I I I sent a message and I just said, look, like maybe I'm going mad, but how can you have a brand stuff like this and no one in the UK know it? And um, yeah, we got chatting, I presented to them a few different ideas, and I'm I'm so thankful because they gave me their full trust to do it. And I like they were with a distributor for god knows how many years and like really never changed. So for me to convince them, I'm privileged, but I knew what they had, and it took it took a while. It wasn't like an overnight thing where they went, cool, yeah, we'll do it. It took almost like six months of talking to them and and uh kind of convincing them that it was the right way of going.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Um but it was when you phoned me that night, I remember it because I was I was walking the dog, come back, and he's on the phone, and he's like, Right, I've done something pretty big, and you're involved in it. So just keep keep just understanding. Just say you were with me. You were with me that night.

SPEAKER_02 31:48

But when he first told me about it, I was like, there was a part of my head that was almost thinking, How is that possible?

SPEAKER_04 31:53

Like, well he'd already left you once, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

Well, yeah, no, but it wasn't that. It was it was it was this kind of wow, like really you've gone and done that? I couldn't believe it.

SPEAKER_03 32:02

And then one thing I was I was very conscious of was I'm not, I've making my sound sound a lot bigger than I am, I'm not, but I put my reputation on the line to do this. Yeah, you mean so it was like I'd gone from respective jobs at Pulse, Arcoustic, and other places that I've been at where I'd people knew me for being a good guy and and knew enough to get by. I'm not the most technical guy in the world, as people know, but um to then kind of come into a place like this where there was no track record in the UK, no one knew the brand, it was like a brand new beginning.

SPEAKER_04 32:36

That's good because you're always gonna beat last year's sales figure for the first year's radio. Sell one speaker, sell one speaker this year, you've already beaten next year. And to be honest, to do your yin for the yang, you were very much like, you know, I can't believe they've gone with me. There was people I got a speaker to like, they've done what or gone with who?

SPEAKER_03 32:54

Well, that's what I mean. It was, and and you've got to remember, I'm I'm I was young, right? There's not many people at my Simon age in the industry full stop. So to have two people our age doing this as well. But I mean, fair play to the guys in Denmark, I'd like to think they're called.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

I feel like what's been quite interesting though about the and some of the guys in Denmark will watch this as well, but I feel like some of us, some of their ways have rubbed off on me and Charlie, and some of our ways has rubbed off on them. It's become quite an interesting dynamic to have. Like when we see the guys from Denmark again, like we went over there recently, or when we see them at shows, there is a real like we were the new guys when we first started, and it was all kind of fresh and what's going on, and now we've we've it's like this big team, even though they're in Denmark, you speak to Fleming or Anders or Heller or Anker and all these guys daily, you kind of feel like you're working daily with them, even though they're in a bloody another country. It's it's a really nice group of people.

SPEAKER_04 33:51

I think if you if I was to put it to a car, I'll be always analogize our industry to the car brand. Look at Jaguar. You see someone in the Jaguar, you think retired, elderly person, and and you look at where Jaguar's going with their brand now, as in EV, very opinionated, sort of like, well, what the hell? You know, for us even just wandering around here today, and to have two people that will look at you and go, can you play some Skrillex on these? You'll be like, come on. And it's like, and that would put some people massively off with the heritage of that name. But actually, I think that you know, a lot of people, you know, a lot of people look at social media and go, oh, you know, I don't use, you know, people of my age, you know, 50, probably even 40, so look at TikTok and go, I'm not don't use TikTok, it's just for my son and my daughter. But you have to sit there and go, yeah, but that's for your son and daughter's age of person now. In five, ten years' time, when they've created something using Chat GPT that's now worth 30 million, they're gonna be buying your product. So actually to to not take away the the the upper class image, but to to put a bit of you know, put to sit here in front of these and go they are a beautiful piece of engineering as well as furniture, yeah. Um but they will also play anything for a billion eye.

Noise Floor, Amplifiers, And Real‑World Setup

SPEAKER_01 35:08

You don't want to shoehorn them into one type of person, like you're saying, and it's probably like what Jaggy was doing as well. Is it from my perspective? Yes, as a technical piece of equipment, looking at the way it's designed, looking at the cabinets, the acoustic engineering behind that Model B speaker, there's a character that wants to buy it for that purpose. But also, there's a character that wants to buy it because they are wickedly loud, they look the nuts, and I'm sorry, but they're just a cool product, cool thing to have in your house. There's there's different types of customers that purchase stuff.

SPEAKER_04 35:40

What's the big ones at the end there? Model B them ones. We were saying that they're nightclub speak.

SPEAKER_01 35:45

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:46

The the volumes they can go at. And they're not, yeah. No, and they're pure 1600 watts and they've got six 12-inch drivers on them and stupid things like that. But the the the I always like link back that back to look at pianos. Yeah. How many people buy pianos because they play piano? Yeah, exactly. People have me. Why do you think they bought out Spirio, which is their self-playing stuff, right? A lot if you talk to the guys at Steinway Hall London and things like that, obviously they still sell pianos to people who play pianos and they're looked at as the finest instrument out there. But there's a lot of people that buy them for the look, for the brand name, for the heritage, because they build an amazing-looking bit of kit. And do they get used? Probably not. And it's like again, I think like the audio world and the CI world especially, like the Hi-Fi guys are still pretty good at it, but the the CI world hasn't jumped onto that that that kind of sal yet. In that there's clients out there, especially with the houses that we see in the CI world, where they want a statement piece. Like, and and the go-to to the CI world at the moment, unfortunately, is let's plaster in a speaker for you.

SPEAKER_05 36:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:53

So you don't see it. And I get it, I'm not knocking it, but it's completely different to maybe sometimes we are missing an opportunity. I'm not saying we're the perfect brand to fill that opportunity, but sometimes if they want something that looks like a Model D, maybe, or a Model A, or even S15s, or the sound bar, like we've got the brand name, the sound, and the build.

SPEAKER_04 37:15

And it's but they are a statement piece, in the same as you know, a Ferrari Porsche, McLaren or a Lamborghini. So you're very hard to put someone in front of something that says Steinwein Saronite and not realise who it or what their heritage is.

SPEAKER_03 37:28

But the weird thing is, and uh we do it, we do hidden stuff as well. So like all the in-wall range, and especially cinemas, where it goes all in wall normally, um, where they don't know it's they don't see the Steinway product, but they like knowing it's the Steinway brand still, even if it's being hidden. And there's a obviously there's a there's a big advantage for us because we build everything. So on the Steinway system, it's our amps, our processor, our speakers, our subs. You cannot order that all individually, it has to come as a complete package. But that means the client is guaranteed that he's got the right amplifiers, yeah, he's got the right processor. We are almost saying to you, look, we've we've done the hard bit. Like it comes, so each for example, a cinema will come with a file that locks that processor into just that system, but we've done all the all the crossover points for you. We've done all the hard bit that because because we know how to set these systems up all day long. And we do things slightly differently to other brands, like higher crossover points because our subs can go higher up the frequency range and stuff like this. But we guarantee almost like guarantee that it's going to be perfect, it's almost going to be amazing every time.

SPEAKER_04 38:36

Well, it's because it because it's come from the same factory. Exactly. And it's it's all designed to work together.

SPEAKER_03 38:41

It's like product A works with product B. It's like we said earlier on downstairs, it's like um, you know, the world of cinema and whatever else, and you've got speaker brand A, processor brand B, and brand C.

SPEAKER_04 38:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:56

And a lot of the time, a lot of the guys out there are buying completely different brands for all free, and you have no idea of what they're going to sound like together. You can do all the maths, I get all the maths and and SPL output this and sensitivity that and all this and and dispersion patterns and whatever else. But each brand, there's a reason why some people like Bowers and some people like Monitor, and some people like Kefs and what a million other brands. But like if you look at the hi-fi world, there's a reason why hi-fi stores carry X amount of amplifier brands, X amount of speaker brands, X amount of source brands, cable brands, because they all do something slightly different, yet the CI world doesn't seem to look at that. It doesn't, it never, it's never done that.

ISE Demo Room: Queue Out The Door

SPEAKER_01 39:44

But I think that's one of the biggest reasons why I love selling the Steinway product and the Lingolf product to an end user in a demonstration with a dealer, is because it's the first real brand that I've represented that when you are talking about it, the emotional side of the client's brain kicks in. They're not thinking about the fact that this AMT is doing that, or this mid-range driver's doing this, or this frequency response is affecting this in the room. It's their emotional mind is there of wow, this is Steinwein Sons. I'm in this beautiful showroom listening to these incredible pieces of equipment. They want it, they desire it as opposed to it just being something of, okay, I need to put this in my property as a cinema or as a whatever, and I'm being told what I need to do to do that. I'm making an emotional decision of I want that statement in my property. And I really feel like the people that buy, especially things like Model A's, they love them. They're not just buying a pair of speakers as a tick box exercise to put into room zone A. It's I love my Model A's. I'm really excited about getting them.

SPEAKER_03 40:49

And it's a really developer spec, is it? No, it's it's a we're selling these to private residences, if that makes sense, rather than the developer kind of side of market, because that that wouldn't work, I don't think.

SPEAKER_04 41:00

The thing is, I I, you know, I've been doing this 20 years, I've been into some of the best cinema rooms in the world, uh, if not the UK. Um, and you sort of get used to it, you get blase to it. Yeah, you do. But then when I get to sit in front of, you know, a set of these or you know, and and or it's just hi-fi in general, because I'm not in the hi-fi world. I sense emotion coming out, and I always I always remember go, I always go home and speak to my wife afterwards and just go, we need a bigger house. Yeah. Because it's like I need a house where I can put a set of speakers and listen to music. Because I don't listen, I mean, two hours and 40 minutes here, two hours and 40 minutes back, I'll listen to podcasts. I don't really listen to music because I don't stop enough to listen to music. I don't I don't believe. But I believe with something like you know, with a decent hi-fi system, and then you listen to your favourite tracks, how it was meant to be recorded.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

It's you're so right. It's absolutely trans. Sorry, Charlie, it's absolutely transformed the way that so my children are four and seven, and my wife loves music, but we had like a sound bar at home, and it was great, and blah blah blah, we listen to it or whatever. Since getting so we've got like FR2s that we take out on the road and stuff, and they're in our cars, or that when I set up the FR2s at home now with our 11:20 am, my wife she picks up her Spotify, I'll come home from work, the kids are listening to music, they're enjoying it. Even my children are like they for a laugh, they call me Daddy Lindorf. It's like they know the brand. It's like weird though. Imagine what Peter Lindell's thinking about that, right?

SPEAKER_04 42:31

Does that I mean he is Daddy Lindorf? Does that exist? It's funny when when Betty draws a picture, probably does now, someone's bought with it.

SPEAKER_01 42:37

You know, when kids draw pictures of like their parents or whatever, I'm always in a black t-shirt with white writing, but it's it's transformed the ways because they stop now and they listen to music in the living room. We have it playing because it's a theme, it's it's something they want to use.

Stereo Vs 5.1 And Everyday Listening

SPEAKER_03 42:52

I I think as well, there's two two two things really. So like I think the downside is is I'm not saying it's a but I don't think we should call them hi-fi systems. Yeah, it's because I think there's a connotation with the word hi-fi, unfortunately. I love the hi-fi world, I've lived in it long enough, but I don't think they're the right, I don't think people looking for these kind of systems are looking for hi-fi systems, they're looking for music systems or experience, an experience system, and that's what it's sounds a bit cliche to be honest with you, but it's it's they're not don't think of them as these tube amplifiers and turntables and and whatever. You don't see any electronics here, right? This is the whole point, it's all hidden away. But the and the other thing as well is like music, I think like me and Sai are mainly on the CI side, right? Uh Hi-Fi side we deal with another way. Um the CI world definitely isn't listening to uh clients enough in terms of you know, they want they want to listen to music, right? And music's more powerful, I think, personally, than video. I've always said that audio over video all day long in terms of the passion sal. And um like Music can change your mu mood in like seconds. Oh, 100%. Like in a big, big way. I can we we've made we've made people cry here. Not on purpose. I've not said rude things to them. We sent you hard. But you know, we play the right track on especially the Model D's. Yeah, they get it. And you get, I mean, we had I had a demo on Saturday, and um really lovely client, and the guys from um New Trucks. Were awesome. And the client it was different, it was on it was a not a normal demo. The client loved audio, he'd had a good system previously, or still has a good system, and um he knew what he was listening for. So I didn't need to go too much, and he bought his wife again who would sit who would sit down with her husband and listen to music, right? I think that world is growing now. They don't necessarily want a hi-fi system to listen to that because that's the wrong wording. So they're not they're not buying traditional hi-fi, but I think the world of sitting down and listening to music and taking a moment to kind of enjoy it, enjoy stuff. But like we sat down and it was great because I was playing tracks, they were playing tracks, and we all sat down and listened together as a big as a big group, and like they were playing tracks for me that I hadn't heard, and I was playing tracks them, and the amount of times that we turned around and went, we've got goosebumps. Yeah, take a moment and like you I had goosebumps on my arms listening. I listened to this stuff all day long, yeah. But like I still it doesn't music doesn't get boring, and you're always under you're always discovering new things with music, and like I think music is more powerful than anything else in this industry. Forget lighting and forget blinds and HVAC and whatever else. I I do understand lying, it's really good, but it's not it doesn't make you emotional, and I think like that's the big thing I would say that this the CI industry needs to wake up to is emotional, like imagine that the feeling of driving a Ferrari for the first time, putting your foot down, hearing that noise and whatever else. That's an emotional cell. Yeah, and what do they do? They end up buying the Ferrari, yeah. It's always the way car sal is a great kind of analogy, but like audio cell could be exactly the same. I'm not saying every client wants a pair of Model D's, it could be a pair of like our FR2s, which are what just under five grand for a pair. Like that could be enough for some people, but I don't think enough people understanding the the the how good a music system can be for them.

SPEAKER_04 46:19

I think you if you go to like what we touched on earlier about you know people don't necessarily ask for brands or people are you know, I can look back at you know the last 12 cinemas that I've built, I could probably say maybe one or two of them probably know what is in it. Yeah. Um, and and majority of people know what's in it because when they start up the kaleidoscape, it comes up saying kaleidoscape. Yeah. Very few would be able to say what projector, definitely what speaker. So I think that it's a case of I think a case for the CI market, a case for the hi-fi market, or or just a client in general, which is what do you enjoy doing? I put a document together years ago for a for a lady, and it was just like, right, imagine standing in your kitchen. What do you want to be able to do? Do you want to be able to watch TV? Do you want to be able to do this? Do you want to be able to do that? And it was, I wrote it from a sensory point of view. Like, just imagine you are in your house, what do you want to be able to do? And I think what's great with what you've got here is you could, like you did with me and Sai earlier, you could take people around the different systems, yeah, and you can hear the different okay. So, what's your favourite music? Yeah, let's listen to that same track on these three. Yes, don't necessarily have to talk about price or anything like that. What do you feel the emotion from? And which one gave you the word gave you the tick?

SPEAKER_03 47:38

And the cool thing is, is the way we've built the build, the the the setup, the kind of the electronics behind the scenes. We didn't even tell you this, but but we're because the way we work with Steinway, so everything we're known. So Lindorf has four core technologies, we're you know, four pillars to how we build every system. We we came up, we were the first ever digital, fully digital amplifier, so not class D. This is not class D, this is ones and zeros all the way through. Um, we were the first to develop that, so that's one of our core technologies. We have something called Room Perfect, which is probably a whole nother podcast again, but it's a room correction system. Yeah, it's another it's another day of we'll go on to that for too much. It's the what we class as the only actual room correction system, it's listening to the room. Um, so that's the other one. Something called boundary woofers and the way we do our base management, right? There are four pillars, but one thing that we do with the Steinway product is it's um there's there's a lot of hype over audio over over IP at the moment, right? Dante, AS67, whatever else. Well, in the Steinway world, we've been doing that since 2007. So between processor and power amps, we run a Cat6, right? And it's our own proprietary um link system. Yeah, link system, however else the word that I'm not sure. But it what it allows us to do is like I said earlier, we have a file that tells the processor what it's what it's playing to, um, and then we do all the crossovers on these files and whatever else. But each processor, so like our P100 processors, which is what we're using here, I think it's 12 systems, 10, let's say 10 for safety. I can have 10 different files on there. So what we do up here is in where we gave you the pricing for each system, that included one of these processors, yeah. But actually, here we're running one processor and then lots of different files on it, and we can get the processor to turn off and on different power amps. So like we can literally within a button press, we can just pause the track, change the speaker file, yeah, and you're back on. There's no big delays, there's no, it doesn't, it takes two seconds.

SPEAKER_01 49:42

But also from a house perspective, that's quite a powerful thing in that, for example, if the client has I don't know, a pair of floor standards in their living room area and then they have a pair of soundbars in their bedroom, for example, then they could just have one processor in the property because they can switch between the two rooms.

SPEAKER_04 50:00

But do you have to so you have do you have to put do the processor come with it? No, the processor doesn't come with it, doesn't it?

Pricing Reality: From Attainable To Iconic

SPEAKER_03 50:05

No, so you there's a price there's a price for everything individually. Yeah, but what will happen is when you order something, we have to make sure that it we know it's going with our electronics. So it might be going to a house that's already got one of our systems. Yeah, as long as we know that and we talk to the dealer, then it's fine, we'll get it through. The amplifiers are sold, the speakers are sold, then the files uploaded to the processor. Yeah, so it's nice and simple, but it's again, it's that every single Steinway system now is one of one. That makes sense. Like, because like we make everything to order on Steinway, but that file makes it unique for them. So it's not even a case of like even the electronics. Yes, it's the same AMP and processor throughout the throughout the range, but the file that goes onto it makes it theirs.

SPEAKER_01 50:47

I feel like it like Chris today. I spoke to Chris at Revolve. Hi, Chris. Hi, Chris. He's uh on site doing a calibration on a pair of Model O's for the client that's got IW66 and Model A and Love Steinway. Had a SP1, which was uh one of our first stereo processors, and has upgraded to the P100 in his bedroom area. It's got a P300 running his cinema, but wanted to get the new processor because HDMI and blah blah blah. Anyway, Chris actually almost said it, it's like it feels like it's a key. It's like you've got this incredible processor, it's great, but even when you've got it, you've still got to unlock it. There's not put the key in it. There's something about like uploading the file, getting it on there, and it going, yeah, I'm ready to play these model loads. It's quite a bit. Well, what about the system passport? System passport, they yeah, they each come with a passport, every processor with the serial number information, all the warranty. It's like, yeah, it's it's you're owning something special. It's proper. That's the best way I can work.

SPEAKER_03 51:42

Like that sounded really Essexy, then it's proper, mate. But it is it's it's a step-on again, step up again from what I think is on the market.

SPEAKER_05 51:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:51

Um, the way we do it, the fact we do everything as well, all the electronics, all the subs, all the speakers, all made in Denmark. The new app, the new app is all in-house, like everything's we're one of the only manufacturers where we do everything. I can't name many others, so but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:09

So looking at the range, so if if someone was to come in here and you know, you obviously entry levels a bad word, but the affordable side of it is that the Lindorf is downstairs. Uh, I mean, obviously, we've done a couple of Lindorf systems and they're brilliant.

SPEAKER_03 52:25

Yeah, and you know, and well, ampens uh pet, let's do a stereo system. So FR1s and an 1120 amp would be 612. So you're looking at 3,200 pound retail. Yeah. And then up from there. So, I mean, the ones that most people are looking at at the moment is things like the FR2s, which are look which you saw at the essential install show, the floor standards one, standalone speaker of the year. Big shout out on that one. Four years in a row, now three years in a row.

SPEAKER_01 52:52

Three peak. Oh, sorry, three speakers in a row and then an amp the first year.

SPEAKER_04 52:56

Yeah. And you were there this year, last year, which I actually can have to get you send me his photograph. Last year, there's an iconic picture of uh Simon standing there holding the trophy with uh Stephen from Sonos, I think it was. And Charlie is on the phone because his wife's about to give birth.

SPEAKER_01 53:12

Yeah, but I'm not that was like obviously winning the award was a big thing in my head at that moment. But the first thing was thinking is ring Charlie. Well, because I wanted to be there, I just couldn't be that far away from home.

SPEAKER_03 53:25

But but yeah, no, like FR2 system, which is like you need to hear that one. That if I'm telling everyone now that FR2s are the right product, that is a floor standard that goes against the wall, like literally the idea is you have it right against the wall, but you can also wall mount them and they're nice and slim. They come in a different range of colours. They work with all the amplifiers, yeah, all the amplifiers. So you can do a system from those at uh so what's it, 2250, so four and a half plus two, so yeah, six and a half thousand gets you an FR2 system stereo, and that kicks us. That most people will like that.

SPEAKER_04 53:59

So that's processing amplifications.

SPEAKER_03 54:01

Well, that's an all that's an integrated amp, yeah. Um, but it comes with all the streaming on board, room perfect correction, like everything. We don't compromise so not even our smallest amplifier at£2,000,£120 watts per channel. Uh it's got all the inputs you're ever gonna need: optical, coaxes, analogs, it's even got HDI arc, but it comes with all the streaming built in as well. So you could do tidal high-res, tidal high-res straight to it, tidal connect, Spotify Connect, uh, QBOS as well. Now connect, rune, airplay two, Chromecast, Bluetooth, anything I've missed, internet radios on it. Like it's a great, we try and give you like a one-box complete system.

SPEAKER_05 54:37

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_04 54:37

I suppose better because you've got EARC on it, you could take the Audio 80 TV. You know, and I'm a I'm a big, I'm a big fan of, you know, I remember years ago, I think it was uh Ed Selly uh from Avi Forums, he's completely right. A good two-channel system can outweigh a bad or good-ish 5.1 system.

SPEAKER_03 54:59

Please listen, everyone, right? Stereo is the way forward if you're doing 5.1.

Statement Pieces, Hidden Installs, And Emotion

SPEAKER_01 55:04

Especially in these really like high-end looking projects that we're seeing coming through, the way the rooms are designed now from a from an architectural perspective, an interiors perspective, there often isn't room for a surround in the walls behind you. Exactly. There's sometimes not room for the subs.

SPEAKER_03 55:21

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, sometimes floor standards are the answer, guys. Like uh the I've not I said earlier on about the plaster over scenario and whatever else, but if you want to put a 5.1 plaster in ceiling speaker system up versus our stereo system, feel free.

SPEAKER_04 55:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:35

Come come and let's have a go. Have a listen.

SPEAKER_01 55:37

Come and have a go if you think you're funny enough though, if you do want to put a pair of Model A's in the wall, we have actually designed that. Oh really? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:44

You can see just sit flushing the wall. We've got a brack, we had to we had a project on a on a yacht where the client absolutely loved the Model A's, but obviously on a yacht you can't really have floor standards because if you hit the wrong wave, they're going flying. It's a very expensive insurance flow. Yeah, yeah. So um we probably could kill someone down the way of those.

SPEAKER_01 56:03

I don't think they're bothered about that. Bothered about the floor, they're damaged.

SPEAKER_03 56:07

So we had to come up with a way of mounting them in the wall, but he still wanted to see the speaker, if that makes sense. So it literally, it's like we've built a bracket where you can mount them in the wall, but you still see all the strings, all the black, the gold, everything. He adores them. Yeah, absolutely adores them. So and that's the thing, is like because we're manufacturing everything, we've got our own cabinet facilities, everything like that. On the Steinway side, we have something called custom standard custom where you we we can build you custom subwoofers size-wise, we can build you custom stereo uh sound bars, whatever, whatever you want. We could if there's a certain project where you need something bespoke, we can do that, but because we do everything in-house, so it's it's yeah, it's really cool.

SPEAKER_04 56:48

Tell me a bit about Lindorf processing, because obviously you've got the standalone processors which are compared with some of the other brands that have been on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 56:58

Just sitting in the middle like this, listening to both of you talking, picking up a meat in our sandwich, aren't we?

SPEAKER_04 57:03

Yeah, I am a bit of sourdough, you're a bit of uh white white white. He's a bit of white white life, in the warbones.

SPEAKER_01 57:13

Yeah. Um, is that essentially we've we've talked a lot about Steinway's system and and the it's a locked ecosystem. Don't get me wrong, putting Lingdorf speakers with Lingdorf electronics is a very, very good thing to do. Advantageous kind of thing. Yeah, exactly. It's it's that chocolate caramel fusion of loveliness, it makes everything work and it's all voiced together, blah blah blah. You've got it. But what's really important to understand is that, especially with Room Perfect in the processors, is that that system is not trying to change the signature sound of that speaker. So if your customer has bought a pair of pick-up brands, Sonos Favour floor standards, for example, it's because they listen to the Sonos. It's a bit like we're talking about with the car analogy. Some people like the sound of a Maserati, some people like the sound of a Ferrari. If they have spent that money on those things and they want something to give it the processing or the amplification side of it, then it gets rid of that signature sound they've listened to. That's a problem. Lingdorf plays very well with others, and that's an important thing to understand is that yeah, if you favour another speaker brand for your cinema, great, but try Lingdorf electronics within it. If it's the other way around, if you always use uh Lingdorf Electronics, but but then remember there's Lingdorf speakers. So that's been a big journey for us, I think, with the processors is to re-educate the dealer base in understanding that it plays well with others, you know.

SPEAKER_03 58:35

Well, I think Room Perf and that that's like again, we said up there's another podcast on Room Perfect, but Room Perfect, it's it's trying to let your speaker still sound like your speaker. You know, it doesn't give you, it doesn't let someone set a target curve where you can ruin what that speaker's doing. It what it's trying to do is it understands or it's trying to understand the room versus the speaker. Yeah, you know, what what has that room added or taken away from that speaker and what can I do to bring back that speaker's signature? Um rather than a good way of putting it. Like and and like the other systems out there that which I'm sure are all great, but you it relies on someone setting a target curve and a lot of the time everyone thinks flat's the way forward, it's not like to for a speaker to sound different, it can't be flat. You can't make everything flat, but then you also might be getting your speaker to do something that it can't do. Um, there's lots of things like there's lots of reasons for room perfect over others, right? But the big thing as well would be from our point of view, like our MXA amplifiers, right? So the big thing at the moment is things like noise flaws in cinemas and whatever else. Because you know, everyone talks about the quiet place film, and when it goes dead silent, you know. Charlie won't let me watch that with you in cinema, I won't, I w I don't want that.

Visit The Showroom And How To Get In Touch

SPEAKER_04 59:52

I don't want that. What's the one Paul always played at the beginning? Uh Closefield Roads. Clofield Lane. Which chaos, wasn't it? Yeah, it was just like car crash. I played I played that in my old dem room, and my wife was sitting there. I swear she punched me and walked out.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:04

I remember I remember saying to Paul, I don't like scary films. Yeah, man. He went, watch this.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:11

The last thing he said to me was, um, you haven't got a heart condition, have you? I've just got I've got go, I've got to go and answer the phone. You haven't got a heart condition, have you? Well actually, I was like borderline when I was young, that'll be fine, just listen to this, and it's like scared of me.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:25

Yeah, I've done Cloverfield Lane is I have to be fair, we haven't put it in there yet, but I I thought those quiet moments are the best moments in that film. And that's the thing, is like so we build a right to cut a long story short, our MXA amplifier has the lowest noise floor, whatever you want to word it. Yeah, THDs and C N S N Ds and whatever else, than any by by a long way, right? And it is a big, big thing because when you're powering 16 speakers and subwoofers in a cinema, if you've got an amp that has a really high noise floor, you can hear it hissing and humming and whatever else. It's working hard. Of course it is, yeah. Whereas our amp is designed to give you 400 watts per channel, plus it's bridgeable, so if you want to run it at 800 watts, you can and drive uh less channels but more powerful. But the noise floor is non-existent. Like we did a demo early on, didn't we? When you put your head up to the tweeters, nothing and there was Diddley Squat.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:21

I gotta admit, all three of us were slightly scared he was accidentally gonna do that. I was waiting for it to press the channel. You say accidentally, we know what he's like, but it would have done damage to that that us.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:31

He's still got young ears. I'm I'm deaf in one. Well, I thought you might need it, but it yeah, I mean it's it's a big thing, but then again, like like we said, it's like we like Lindolf, you can buy it all individually. Our amps and our processors, I mean, if you you only have to go online and look at the reviews to see like an MP60 is one of the highest-rated processors out there, and it sounds phenomenal on everything, that's the beauty of it, and it's so it's plug and play. So, like if you want a processor which you can plug in, get working, and calibrate in about an hour or so, it's the way forward.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:04

And and get working on a control system really quickly. I'm gonna put that one out there because my good friend uh Matthew, who flew somewhere to buy one second hand and not buy it off me. Really? Um, yeah. Um, I went to he's like, right, okay, I'm made a decision. The Lindor's staying in, he's a bit of a tinkerer. Lindor's staying in. Can you come again into control four? And it was literally like SDDP, add dirt, dirt, dirt, done.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:27

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's a good one thing that I think we're really good at uh understanding is like the industry. Let's not overcomplicate things, yeah. Right? Overcomplicating things is time and money, right? And callbacks, and callbacks and problems, and then not retained margin, yeah, right? More complicated. Like our stuff. One thing that I will definitely say on the podcast is our stuff is built to last. We've got systems out there that are very, very old that don't go wrong, right? Our amps are bomb-proof, like they just do not feel like.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:04

And if we can set them up, anybody can find no problem. Even a child can. Exactly. Literally, you have zero problems, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:11

And and I think that's the big thing, and but like our processes and power amps are underestimated, I think it's the right word. Like the you really listen to them, and then and then yeah, come and listen to the cinema, and we've got the Lindorf speakers to go with it as well. But even if you don't want the speakers, I get it, right? But the electronics should be definitely used more often, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:33

So downstairs you have the Lindorf downstairs suite with the dedicated cinema room, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:38

And the cinema's got two systems in it, it's got a Lindorf um cinema with the D60 fronts and D5s and D5 IS. People heard ISC.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:47

Yeah, it's the ISC, which I've got to say. My demo of ISC. Thanks for watching. And there was, I mean, there were some very good rooms there, yeah. Um, um, and from some very good other manufacturers, but actually for I don't know, but not bang for your buck, but just sitting in the listening to, and that was by far the best, my best, my favourite.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:07

The audio system there, I think we worked out was 60-ish K from memory. I can't remember exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:11

That's because we had an MP60 with extra surrounds. Yeah, and we had four subs and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:16

Yeah, and there was rooms there up to a million quid.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:18

Yeah, I mean, we went in with the underdog card basically.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:21

Yeah, but also we we put in a system that we know most dealers will sell. Yeah, I think that's the right way of wording it.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:29

Everybody likes looking at a Pagani Zonder, but there's only a very few finite people who could afford to buy a Bagani Zonda.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:34

So we went down the mainstream route of let's show you systems that you actually are going to sell daily.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:38

And there was constant, constant, constant queues, you know, because you're on that main phone job of the queue. Oh my god, and it was literally just like every single time I walked past there with Simon because we were doing a lot of recording, that queue never shrunk.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:52

We we we loved that stand, and this year we're back on that stand, yeah. But we have redesigned it so the queuing system can be better, right? Put it that way because it's like a deli, take a ticket, come back. Well, hand out pages.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:04

It kind of linked to the restaurant bit, didn't it?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:06

So it looked like you were queuing for the restaurant. So the problem was so I don't know if everyone's been to ISC or not, but we were on the main thoroughfare through hall two into hall three, yeah, and we were on the right hand side, but we were a little bit further down the hall, and that one stage we had a queue that went from the door for the cinema all the way down to the exit doors, and I had to move them. I mean, you can imagine as well, like all the different nationalities and languages going on. So there's me from Essex trying to go, guys, we need you to go round this corner here. We were blocking other people's stands. I'm apologizing now, I didn't mean to, it was not my fault. But we in the end, I had to get them to go into the corridor across to the other side of the hall. It was carnage, really, it was unbelievable. But again, the downside of doing a demo cinema is you can only fit X amount of people into each demo, yeah, and you want to show them certain clips. You know, you know, but we had Barco in there, they wanted to show off something for their projector, we wanted to show something off the audio. So we I think we got it down. To four clips, but that was 20 minutes. 20 minutes with only I think it was 12 people in total you could fit in there.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:06

I think adds up. What made that room really nice as well was that like Prime Theatre with the partnership with them, like it was a nice place to sit in. It was a lovely room. So brilliant. And that's that's what's important is that it it the demo wasn't about this is this, this is that, this is the other. It was just this whole encompassing experience.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:23

Sit and listen. Well, it was ambulance, wasn't it? You were playing in the ambulance. Yeah, and it's the it was literally just sit and listen. This is a Lindor system with a bark and a projector, you know, groove designed by the theatre, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:37

Yeah, and it was it was awesome, and that's and that's the way we do things. We're not here to lecture people, we're not here to, you know. I'm sure there's much more clever people than me out there that could could could out tech me. And well, don't you can barely talk. But you know, we're not we're I'd say we're a bit different. People that know me and Simon will know that we're not here to out-tech you and out mind-boggle you and and ask stupid questions. It's not a lot of people.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:00

You've got people at Lindov, what's the right thing? We've got I mean the guys at head office, honestly. And Steinway who could do that.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:05

Well, like Henrik and and Brian and Tom Thomas, I mean Thomas, Jesus, the the the brain cells in that guy's head is unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:14

The brain works at like a rate that you're not even finished your paragraph, and he's already come up with five reasons why it's either good, why it's bad, how he can work with it, what the commercial sense of it, the technical element of it, and then he just gives you this one-line sentence and you're like, all right, yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:29

But like I say, like you, this is what we boil down to is like at head office, because we're building, I don't think I've sold it enough about that. We build everything ourselves. So, like, we're building cinema processors next to another person that's designed and come up with a whole range of speakers to run perfect is totally ours as well. So we've come up with our own run correction system. Uh, we build our own power amplifiers, we build our own subwoofers, we build our own app. Like the technology level, like the the brain power a lot of companies would outsource that. Everything would be outsourced, or they just build one part of that. So, you know, this is where it's not really fair to compare us to hardly any brand, to be honest with you, because like you've got processor brands, you've got power amp brands, you've got speaker brands. Well, we're all of that, plus a load more tech behind the scenes as well. Um, so yeah, it's like I say, when when this comes back to why I took the job or why I pitched it, because as soon as I looked into the company, I was like, oh my god, these guys are awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:27

Like, everyone needs to know about this product. And they love a beer when you go out of them. Don't drink it anymore. No, I know you don't. You can have it at zero. Well, to be honest, in fairness, sure, it's not about you, mate.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:37

In fairness, we we were out. Is that my invite out there, by the way? Um in fairness, we were out at another manufacturer early this year, podcast still to come, apologies. Um, and um, but actually, I've got to say, some of their non-alcoholic beers, oh my god. Yeah, wait, wait until why the hell did I drink beer all these years when the non-alcoholic beers are that good?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:56

Wait, wait until you come out to Denmark. So the rule in Denmark is that the import duties on beers are extremely high. So if you want a peroni, yeah, you're paying 12 euros everywhere, not even in main towns.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:08

How come we haven't heard about their Trump tax then?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:10

Well, because so what they do is that each each region in Denmark has a local brewery. Yeah. It's Han. So our one is called Hancock. But what they do, it's not just on beers, it's on soft drinks as well. So Hancock make a really good range of beers, like really, really, really good. But they also have their own Coca-Cola, lemonade, sprites, fanta's, yeah, yeah. Like, and they're all amazing. Do you remember we were out there and they have something called sports cola? Yeah. Right. And they were like, wow. What would that be though?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:38

It's like a Pepsi Max kind of thing. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:40

So I I drank a few and they've got different these sports colas, like their new range, and it's all like these different flavours that they've not done before. So it's not Coke and it's not Fantas and whatever else. It was iron brew. And they were like, You need to try this, Charlie. You've got nothing like this in the UK. I literally had one sip of it. I was like, it's iron brew. And but yeah, anyway.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:01

We don't have we have it in the UK, it's just up that north. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:05

Yeah, up there somewhere. But um, but yeah, look, that's us. And I I just think everyone needs to at least experience it once. Come and listen to the Model D's for Christ's sake.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:12

So the showrooms are open to the members of the public via uh through a dealer, and and look, we will do our best to accommodate demos as best as we can.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:22

We're not here all the time. Like this is a or very early, or very early, or some someone was started locking a room out of that so no one could hear them. That's a story. But it's uh yeah, like we're not like you're ganging up on me. It's easily done. Um we try and stress the dealers like if you can bring your clients here, let them experience it. Because I don't think like explaining it to people is like that we're trying to do on this podcast until like we until you heard the Model D's, right? Or the Model A's or the Cinema or whatever else, you have to come and hear it. So yeah, make the trip. It's worth it. We'll make it worth your while. Trust me, there's a lot here, and you can have a great, great time.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:59

Well, I think, and from from my point of view as the installer, it was, you know, when I've done the first few systems with you, it was uh it was like, how much? Surely that's for like, you know, that's wrong, that's not that can't be that cheap. And you started looking into it, you're like, okay, I can get a good little system. Actually, I can have a add a couple of more channels. Yeah. It's probably gonna sound like and then you're like, actually, no, it sounds really good. And and also you were the first to turn around to me and go, Well, look, you know, I'm obviously gonna say to you, put our amplification process with it. However, if budget doesn't dictate that, put a a paranoid, I put an anthem with it, put a Marance with it.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:38

I think our speakers are a bit, I mean, we we are known for our electronics because that's how the company started. Yeah, right. We're known we're really good at electronics, but like that system in there, that's the speaker system, the D60s and the D5s and the BW20 subs, they're really good. Like they're really, really, really good. And if you add a good AVR to it, like I wouldn't, I wouldn't drop down too low, but like a decent anthem or RCAM or whatever you want to use, good amplification, I would call it. Yeah, you've got a really good system still. There is a big advantage, and I keep stressing it to people, is like if you can get them to processors and power amps, there's a huge advantage full stop. But I understand that there is a price point.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:18

Well, it's like I was I would one of the systems I did was a 5.2.2 in the end, I think it was. And it was a lovely lady near the showroom, and we we got a unit built for her, it was just a little media wall, yeah. And we even, you know, we even spoke to is it Gabrielle Gabriel Fabrics Gabriel Fabrics because it's almost like I've got to put the centre somewhere, so I put it in the cabinet, yeah, um, but then took the set section out of the middle and covered that in the Gabriel fabric so it looked the same. And you know, and you had a den Den and AVR on that. It was Den on AVR um uh with a full indoor system, yeah, and it sounded really good. Yes but more importantly, we sat down and played some stuff together, and and she was like, This is exactly what I wanted. And she was a she was a record deck player, she was a fire stick player, she was an Apple TV player, she was a Humax P VR player, she uh but she also liked to listen to music. Yeah, you know, she wanted a record deck.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:11

And I think that's one massive, massive, massive point I would like to make before we end the pod. Yeah, is you know, like the the cinema demos that are out there, and actually it's almost you said you said this in the cinema, right? Is you wanted a bit more punch, right? And that's fine, we can do it. We've got punch, as you heard when we He actually turned around to me.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:30

When you want punch, I'll give you punch.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:32

Yeah, it wasn't hard for me to show that we can do it, though. But the way we've calibrated the systems in here is I want you to listen to them. Yeah, I think this is the way I've always done the demo or sorry, uh set up the systems here is how would you have them at home? Yeah, it's almost like we've built these systems. Um I always go back to the days of previous companies and whatever else, but it was almost like there was a showroom mode and that you know the bass was tweaked 10 dB and all this jazz, right? It's almost like when you go to John Lewis and you look at the TVs, they're all in vivid mode. All vivid, yeah. Yeah, right. We can do that, as as I showed you today, right? We've got modes on there that if you really want us to show off and you've got 15 seconds to sell a cinema to someone because they need to do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:13

We want to get the loudness part.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:14

We've got the loudness bar. But we also what we want to show is that actually everyday listening, how you're actually going to end up having this system at home is how listenable they are. And if you want to put a music track on them, they can do it. Crash bang wallop is easy. I've said this for years, right? Getting a sub to do things and getting a speaker to go loud is not hard. I don't care what anyone says, right? It's really not hard to get a car crash to get sound like a car crash. Um doing music properly with good bass is different, yeah. Or or vocals in general with bass or whatever. That's the hard bit. And that's what we're trying to show more is actually when you sit and listen to a film, you're not listening to that demo clip for for two minutes, you're listening to a two, three-hour-long film where you need to understand everything that's going on throughout the whole film, not just the crash bang.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:02

You can go back to quiet place. You're you're you're wanting it to have that dynamic range of loudness, yeah. But also when Emily Blunt is saying something, you want to be able to hear what she's saying without having to rewind it or put subtitles on.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:14

And that's my bugbear.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:16

And that's why I have we have concentrated on making that room sound good on everything at all times, rather than just crash bang wallops. Yeah. And that's why we pick certain demo clips as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:27

And then when you come up here, your Steinway, the sun. So over there we've got the three systems which are put up some B-roll.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:34

Yeah, model O, model A, model B, and then in the middle we've got S15s, sound bar, sound bar, and then here we've got the uh model D's.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:43

Um, and then in the cinema, there's a Steinway cinema as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:46

And then buying for Steinway is sort of like so a complete Steinway system. If someone wanted one retail was about 60k, did you say?

SPEAKER_03 1:15:54

30-ish and up, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:15:55

Yeah, start around.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:56

And that's with electronics for the little floor standards or the S15s with subs, but again, like Siger said, that's everything. That's terrific. That's a that's your amps, processor, and speakers in one. That's steric.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:07

Whenever we give a price to uh an integrator for Steinway, it will include electronics. And actually, that's often a surprising factor.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:12

I've got I've got you see your you're buying a Ferrari and going down the road and getting part one tires off a guy. It's ridiculous. Don't do it.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:19

One of the remix to have the Steinway and Sons branding is that they want to make sure that every system went out with the right amplification and processing.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:26

You're not going to give value for money, and it's a lot of money.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:28

It's a quarter of a million pound these. 200k. Yeah.

unknown 1:16:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:31

Say it quick and then it doesn't sound as bad. 200k. How much well A Daniel? 200k. Yeah. 200k. Bye. Yes, you can have that new dress. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, no, it's it's it's let's say it's a complete system, it's time. Um, and it makes a huge difference. Because the downside would have been someone buys a lovely pair of Model D's and then puts an amp.

unknown 1:16:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:49

A doesn't sound right or B doesn't power it well.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:51

But I think that's what's really important for us as well to understand is that we throw these numbers around 30 grand, starting point, 200 grand for these, blah, blah, blah. Something like a Model A, for example, that starts around 60,000. There's a lot of products in our industry that are of the same, let's say, category that are more than that. And that's not including electronics. So I think when you start presenting that and dealers start seeing it and getting it in front of their clients and their clients coming back and saying, Oh, I was looking at these and actually they were 60,000 just for the pair of speakers, then what electronics do I use? It actually makes people realise that, yeah, of course, 60,000 pounds a lot of money for speakers. It depends if you're in that market and you want to spend that kind of money on speakers. But in terms of what you get as an encompassing system, is actually a very pragmatic cost to do it.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:40

I mean, you look at you look at those and you go 60 grand, and if you put it from a pure financial point, you think that's a lot of money. But actually, that's a lot of product, that's a lot of sound, and a lot of engineering's gone into that. And actually, it's a they're they're proper. I mean, you put it to watches and things like that, they're a proper way, and and as you say with one of your clients you had here, it's an emotional purchase. Yeah, you know, it's like and listen to it and actually fall in love with the product and be happy that the fact that you're investing it is an investment, it is an investment. Because especially with Steinway, no, especially with a Steinway brand, that is an investment. You will be able to sell us on, but you won't.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:16

But uh, it's like there's the term, isn't it? Endgame. And this is this is the end game system and whatever else. Like, actually, with Steinway, like model A's as an example, to most people that will be end game, they will never change again. Yeah, because what what's the point? Well, they might, they might move up like we did have one client. But the other thing I would like to put in is that the fit and finish of these speakers are not for 60k, you're getting or even 30k, forget 60k for a minute. Go to the go to the smallest system we do. You can get them in the piano black, and you can have 24 karat gold, and you can like you get these things can look amazing, and the build on them, like let's let's take go back to the 60k ones, the model A's, like they're 60 kilos each. Um, they come in like the most craziest crate you've ever seen in the world. Like, we've got to box them up in a minute. Yeah, really not looking for it.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:11

If you can put them in the back of the van, if you can put them in the back of the van, that would be yeah, well, that's it.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:15

Like it's like these here, right? The Model D's, they're 200 kilos each from memory. Like, well, they are horrible lift. I'm not gonna lie to any dealer that's gonna be putting them in. They are not fun to lift.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:26

Well, didn't we say earlier where we said, Do you think you'll ever move from here? And you're like, No, because I've not taken these.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:30

No, and if we do move, then the lady who owns the farm can have. She's got a lovely set of speed. That'll pay for us some rent. Yeah, but like they they are built within like an inch of their life. Like they do not compromise. We do not compromise.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:42

Didn't you say that actually in there they use the same wood as the pianos?

SPEAKER_01 1:19:45

No, it's got like the same, like the back um soundboard element of it. When you look at the soundboard of the pianos, like inside the Model D, for example, the colouring, the soundboard, the material, the all the nuts, the bolts, everything like that, has that same is the same look.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:01

And of course, the strings on the front are a visual representation of the few.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:05

But what's been really quite fun with the Steinway element of when someone's like up here looking at a model O or model A, model B, it's quite cool to tell them the story that that's named after a piano. But what actually happens often is that we'll get dealers call us and say, right, clients having a renovation done in their property, they've got a Steinway model A. And it's like brilliant. Talk to them about Steinway Model A speakers, and often it it doesn't come down to them even listening to it. It's like, wow, okay, brilliant. I wanted speakers in that room. Let's get the Model A's. It's it's a no-brainer, and it's it's great when it comes to that story.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:43

Anything else you want to touch on? I've got one important question to end on, but anything else you want to put on whilst you've got the podcast of yourselves?

SPEAKER_03 1:20:52

No, come and listen. Yeah. Proof's in the pudding, right? And we're confident. So come and listen. W.steinweylindorf.com.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:07

And is that the best way for them to get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_03 1:21:09

Yeah, or our email address. We have a UK one which is uk at SteinwayLindorf.com. Um, you can find us on social media. We we have our own social media as well, which is Steinway Lindorf UK. Follow us on Instagram.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:22

It's one of our main hubs of where we present information. It's also one of the main hubs of where we present comedy, the personality of us through our product.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:31

And touching on the reason I asked that question is go look on our channel for the ISE videos from 2025 and look at the uh interview I did with Charlie because Simon was nowhere to be seen, so it's like, oh, I'll do it. And at the end of it, we we get him to wrap it up and he cannot remember the website address.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:49

I just it was like it was like a deer in headlights. I just I just I just went I just went, Who do I work for? What am I doing? Like I just had no idea. You did get me on like the second day of ISE and I would already it was the husband. I'd already done the show building.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:03

It was like Lidl Snowden. So how do we how do we contact you if you and you were just like uh well uh email us? Yeah, just email us, ring me.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:11

Ring me, give me a call. Most people got most people got money.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:14

I turn around and went, so without giving your uh email address out on YouTube, yeah, what's your what's your website address? And he goes, uh Lidlstonwood.com and it just ran off camera. I tried in vain to edit it and then gave up on about the seventh table. I stayed in it. I just yeah, I'll be better this year. Next year. Next year. We're nearly there, nearly there, October. Excellent guys. Thank you very much for time. Thanks, Jude. And uh yeah, we'll we'll pick up a game maybe next year. We'll pick up at ISE.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:42

Yeah, we've got some fun stuff to show you.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:44

Yeah, or maybe we could do something out at the factory or whatever, because I'm very keen to look at how they're being made. I'm sure you are.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:50

I'd love to get one of these podcasts done with with like Thomas and Frank.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:54

Uh well that'll be cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:56

But that would be cool. Thomas.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:57

We've got another manufacturer that we want to go and speak to the person who's in charge. Yeah, yeah. Not actually in charge, he is in charge. I don't know why I did that. But because actually they are a they sound like a similar company in respects, and there's passion. Yeah, that's it. There's passion behind it.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:11

We are audio lovers. Yeah. That's that's all that needs to be said. Like we're not gonna bring stuff out if we're audio lovers that we don't love.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:18

Awesome. Good way to finish it.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:20

Thank you. Cheers, guys, thank you, mate. See you later.