How could a war in Eastern Europe possibly affect a Hi-Fi Audio Visual store in Carlton, Australia?

We take it for granted now that we are going to sell record playing technology. We have always been invested in it as an organisation. During the long dark years of digital dominance of our marketplace ecosystem we would keep a Rega Planar 3 on demo, often with an abused copy of Dark Side of The Moon collecting dust on the platter, and would demonstrate to those who cared to listen how ... fundamentally satisfying ... the sound was.

As a small business we are a leaf upon the waters and have no influence on the marketplace as such but through demonstration of our wares effectively can modulate the direction of an individual who cares to listen.

Turntables were always a part of our business therefore even though by 1991 when we opened most manufacturers had thrown the towel in and many beautiful replay instruments were being sold for a fraction. Most people were happy with CD as it was presented to them in the eighties. The "indestructible format with huge dynamic range" that took up less space and didn't scratch and crackle.  Turntables and records were officially declared obsolete in the early eighties, as exemplified by this Rodrigues cartoon from Stereo Review in 1984.

In a world of alternative facts I contend that the local specialist Hi Fi industry has never been more ... honest ... than it is now. Not because it has seen the light of good ethical practice but because competitive factors make being honest more successful. 

Where would we be without the binding energy of Christmas? I gather that the 25th December was the winter solstice in Roman times and that the date has been conveniently reassigned from those Pagan times to fit the messianic needs of 4th century Christianity.

The association of Christmas with gift giving has created a Western purveyance industry all of its own. Every advert at this time of year and every single retail outlet will associate itself with this annual event and it is ubiquitous in the English speaking world.

Actually as a business we are not really on board with the feeding frenzy of normal family suburban Christmas shopping. The Xmas consumption aspect of Carlton Audio Visual is usually iterated as a carefully planned reward purchase of a particular piece of audio that may have been under consideration for months beforehand, or as the culmination of a constructional project involving Audio Visual and Automation.

This year is different.

Lets face it TV is boring ...not only for broadcast content but as an aesthetic inclusion into the home. Occasionally manufacturers have attempted to break the constraints of aspect ratio and they have always failed. Finally there may be some light on this horizon.