Audio Lounge - London

[panditji]

Read an article about Mr. Ajay Shirke launching a high end audio salon in the heart of London, close to KJ West One (where I bumped into him)....

Sad to see an Indian owning a highly respected speaker and cables company and setting up shop in London which is in a state of recession...Would have been nice if he could atleast appoint some Spendor dealers in the 5 metros but it seems no one has any confidence in our country...

 

[ranjeetrain]

Who is going to have confidence in country being ruled by rouge thieves? In last 4 years the "image" of India has got a severe beating abroad, every single day. And no one feels it more than Indians living abroad. It's a very awkward situation when a female friend/acquaintance/stranger asks you in a social gathering or such - "why is there so much rape in your country?" You can't imagine the shame, the feeling. You don't know how to respond to that. Sounds like the word Indian has become such an abuse. All because of this looting UPA government which is neck deep in corruption and the nation is hostage to pickpockets/thieves/burgulars/rapists/murderers.

Forget new investments, people/companies who invested in past are withdrawing slowly. What do you think rupee has lost close to 50% in 6 months just because of petrol and gold? No, there are too many reasons. One of them being withdrawal of FDI.

I wish the situation could at least be stable, rather than sliding down so fast.

 

[bhagwan]

Read an article about Mr. Ajay Shirke launching a high end audio salon in the heart of London, close to KJ West One.

Would have been nice if he could atleast appoint some Spendor dealers in the 5 metros

Yes; I agree with you;
Cadence & Siltech & Crystal & Spendor need to have some presence in 4 cities at least.
If Meridian & Goldmund & B / W etc. can have dedicated showrooms here - why not these brands ?

In fact the product is good, but no place to listen to them;
Therefore - without an audition - how can a product be purchased ?

 

[panditji]

Mazher, the sad part is that Mr. Shirke is the OWNER of Cadence, Spendor, Siltech and has made his money doing business in India but he does not have the confidence to distribute those very products in India when he knows how much money our country has - whether black or white....

As everyone knows, he was also the Treasurer of the BCCI and an important member of the BCCI/MCA and therefore knows the country inside out....

So if an Indian businessman does not have any confidence in selling high quality goods in his own country and instead prefers to setup a highend showroom in a recession hit country, it makes me sad, scared and completely knocks my morale down....

 

[panditji]

A link to the website:

Audio Lounge | About us | Audio Lounge

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

a highend showroom in a recession hit country

Recession least affects the very rich. It is the poor and middle-class that suffer.

 

[bhagwan]

A link to the website:

Audio Lounge | About us | Audio Lounge

Super Link - Thanks;
Much appreciate.
Good Web site - I feel..

As everyone knows, he was also the Treasurer of the BCCI and an important member of the BCCI/MCA and therefore knows the country inside out....
....

Interesting;
I never knew.
I was always under the understanding that he was Pune Cricket Association 'boss'
BCCI 'Treasurer' - well brilliant;;
Thank You - again - great news !

 

[ghatgepatil]

Did I miss the mention of Cadence in the website??

 

[Nikhil]

I think setting shop in London is also about having a store in the UK for Spendor which is after all a Brit brand in the storied BBC tradition. Adding on the rest probably just comes out of convenience and added exposure etc. The London music scene is extremely sophisticated - quite frankly as cities go only maybe New York and Tokyo come close - so its good for them to setup a flagship store there.

I am pretty sure that stores will follow in other locations with success here.

 

[panditji]

Dear Nikhil, Spendor already has a very good dealer presence in the UK and they even sell through some of the electronics retail stores such as sevenoaks.... My point is that he chose to open another store in the UK where they already have some 35 odd dealers even though Spendor does not even have a single dealer in even Delhi or Mumbai....They are also distributing the brand in 48 countries ...

 

[Nikhil]

You have a point but I think with so many on our own forum members itself looking to buy from out bypassing the formal distribution channels, you can't blame them for giving the India market a pass. Save for a handful of buyers, India is not ready for high end audio.

 

[bhagwan]

I am pretty sure that stores will follow in other locations with success here.

I have a slightly 'different' take on the matter....

a]
Indian is 99 % HT Market.
All the Products that Audio Lounge sells are 2 channel products - so there is no market that they are catering to.

b]
Even if Audio Lounge were to open a store in India - who would buy from them ?
How many Indian people you know of that use products that they sell / represent ?
Siltech Cables / Crystal Cables / Crystal Speaker / Siltech Amplifiers etc.
Except for a few Spendor Speakers & many Cadence Products - nothing from their portfolio has a market in India.

So, even if I want to see a store in India - it may never open - not because India has no money - but the market is going to accept the products that Audio Lounge represents.

IMAX Private Theatre

 

[arj]

i agree on the above by bhagwan . this is a business decision..am sure he has not opened a store in london for the sake of it and it must be because he sees a return on that investment

Even I am not sure if a store in india will give him enough business to risk this as an investment

 

[bhagwan]

Save for a handful of buyers, India is not ready for high end audio.

I 100 % AGREE with you;

We are not ready for 2 Channel in India.
1 to 2 decades to go - even then we will not get there.
Simply because we are a Movie Obsessed Nation.

People watch movies & OST of Movies are doing very well & most need to be played in Club Sound kind of an environment - not meant to be played in hi end 2 channel set ups.

Besides, MOST 2 Channel Set ups in India are Sub Rs. 300/-K [so I feel] & therefore none of the big brands even 'qualify' to be part of this....:sad:

 

[bhagwan]

This is a duplicate post - sorry - please do remove

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

i agree on the above by bhagwan . this is a business decision..am sure he has not opened a store in london for the sake of it and it must be because he sees a return on that investment

Even I am not sure if a store in india will give him enough business to risk this as an investment

Absolutely, this is a business decision. He has opened a luxury store in a posh, expensive area. The overheads will be huge, the capital expenditure very substantial, and the chances of failure very, very real.

I think people who do not know the city would be surprised how few very-high-end hifi shops there are there.

 

[panditji]

Thad is right...there are few very high end stores in London and most of them are in the suburbs....My point is that Spendor has over 35 dealers within the UK and not a single one in India even though it is now owned by an Indian who is an audiophile himself....

The basic Spendor models are more affordable and Mr. Shirke should not have a problem in getting a fair amount of stock to bring down prices...The basic price for customs can also be much lower to pay lower custom duties...He can also eliminate the middlemen if he chooses to open a simple store each in Mumbai and New Delhi...The point is he chose NOT TO...

Obviously it makes sense to open a very high end store in London, home to the very rich Arabs, Russians, Indians, Asians etc but the basic Spendor models will definitely have takers in India if sold at reasonable prices or even at UK,SG, HK MRP

The reason we try to buy from abroad is because the Indian prices are 40-50% higher than the MRP prices in the above mentioned countries..if the prices are the same or lower, are we stupid to go abroad and import stuff ourselves????

 

[bhagwan]

audiophile himself....

The basic price for customs can also be much lower to pay lower custom duties...He can also eliminate the middlemen if he chooses to open a simple store each in Mumbai and New Delhi...The point is he chose NOT TO...

This looks a little difficult;
Cadence never 'declares' any LOW Value.
They pay full VAT / Octrio etc.
So full 'by the book'

 

[panditji]

I don't mean under invoicing...The price that is given to distributors all over the world includes the profit margin which is used to calculate the customs duty....Since he himself is the distributor in India, he can remove the margin and charge the same margin when selling to the end consumers....that way, the profit remains the same for Spendor/Cadence and they end up saving the customs duty on the margin which would have been levied at the distributor price.... Nothing illegal on selling goods to a subsidiary at cost...

 

[panditji]

I believe Transfer Pricing is the term used for the above method....