Being born in the North of England this L.S.Lowry painting of a factory town under snow sadly exemplifies my own sense of childhood Christmas cheer/grimoire. Living in Australia for the festive season iremains a diversion into paradise, away from the real world of Glumness where one dreams of a white Xmas while inside warmed by coal burning in the open fire with stockings of tangerines. In this lucky country we get Hi-Fi for Christmas and our children have genuine opportunity.

Happy Christmas ... we are open Boxing day and onwards.

It seems that there may be a kickback against the Black Friday Americanisation of our retail commerce with our favourite brands dropping in heir own seasonal promotions specific for our market in Australia. This is a good one ... choose one of the excellent new Yamaha 600/800/2000 loudspeakers and be able to get a matching amplifier half price.

This is a beautiful range of German Turntables that are a specialty of Carlton Audio Visual. They are uncompromisingly precision engineered for the lowest possible noise floor. It is a particular privilege to be able to offer this range. They are not inexpensive but can justifiably claim to be amongst the very best available.

Awards and Reviews of Acoustic Signature Turntables

The Pole House is a distinctive part of the landscape on the Great Ocean Road here in Victoria. One of Australia's smartest people bought it when it finally came up for sale by the original pylon engineer who had built it initially in the 1960s. Like many people who actually do something really useful for society this gentleman is incredibly modest and unassuming but has an unbridled love for good music and video.

We were called in at the early stages to conceptualise and iterate the audio visual systems and automation. Peculiar to this residence is the fact that the Pole House itself is available for lease to holidaymakers and needs to be able to operate both independantly and contiguously with the new primary residence that has been constructed on the hillside behind it.

The home systems are operated via Control4, this automation product that Carlton Audio Visual has been purveying and installing since 2004 is now Australia's leading home integration system for combining all of your lighting, AV control, HVAC and other functions with elegance and simple accesability.

From the point of view of a small medium enterprise like Carlton Audio Visual, the sovereign entities of Google and Facebook have evolved by placing themselves in the way of every consumer and every purveyor in every transaction. The question is ... have they added or subtracted value to consumers and purveyors?

On a busy Saturday afternoon I took a phone call from a gentleman asking if we sold Sennheiser TV headphones … I said not and suggested he contact JB Hi Fi who I knew carried that range … only he told me he had already tried ring JB in Doncaster but hadn’t been able to get through and asked me if I could recommend a store. So I suggested he contact the Bourke st branch where I have found the staff helpful and engaging. 

However he then went on to tell me that he had actually purchased the headphones from Amazon for  $100 less than the normal go price and actually was simply looking for help on how to set them up as he was having issues ….

So here is the thing … this perfectly decent consumer was happy to buy the product from a ruthless global entity that launches pointless phallic rockets into the upper atmosphere … and then ring to get setup advice and consultation from bricks and mortar retailers at their peak time and labour cost basis.