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View Full Version : We’re Expanding - HiFi Lounge Upgrade, 2 New Showrooms Opening Soon!



HiFi Lounge
06-02-2017, 11:51
Hi All,

Many of you already know this but in true HiFi style we are upgrading :-) Well we are opening 2 more showrooms to be exact so I thought I would start a blog that I will update regularly with progress reports and pictures.

We are now in our 5th year, not quite sure where that time has gone to be honest but firstly Wendy and myself would like to thank everyone for your support over that time, it really has flown by and has been great fun. Looking back I would say We have tried to grow HiFi Lounge organically during that time adding brands that we think will fit in well with our portfolio with not too much crossover so over the last 4.5 years I feel we have grown steadily. A couple of years ago we took on another building and started Highend Headphones which is Wendy’s domain and has become a very popular part of HiFi Lounge, and then a couple of months ago the 2 stables that link HiFi Lounge and Highend Headphones came up for rent so it was decision time, now for the last 12 months HiFi Lounge has really been running out of space so we thought we would go for it and make a substantial re-investment in pushing HiFi Lounge forward again and signed the lease on the new buildings and started to think on what we would do with the new space.

So the master plan is 2 knock a few walls about to link HiFi Lounge and Highend Headphones to create one big space with several demo rooms offering HiFi and Headphones at many different price points, hopefully offering something for most people who are interested in quality music playback.

So the good news is that work started seriously a couple of weeks ago with the police monitored alarm and security camera’s going in which it could be argued is the most important part being how isolated we are, then all being well the builders are starting next week which could cause a little disruption as they have got to knock through into HiFi Lounge’s downstairs demo room to create a door into one of the new demo rooms + another one through to Wendy’s but then at least once that is done it will feel like real progress has been made. Then finally they have to got to put up a partition walls in each demo room.

In theory this should take a couple of weeks, then it is just a matter of installing appropriate electronics and networking, then making good and decorating, getting the carpet down and then start kitting out the new rooms, bizarrely enough it is the new sofa’s which could let the whole process down as they are going to take around 12 weeks to come in. Funny really as when the units came up I thought yes we’ll go for that but it isn’t until you get stuck in that you realise how much work and cost is involved into getting them converted for use as HiFi demo rooms, it will be well worth the effort though in the end, well hopefully :-)

So what are we going to use these new showrooms for? Well the first one that is going to lead off from HiFi Lounge is going to be a dedicated Naim room, we have most of the Naim range on permanent demo so it will be nice to have it all set up in one dedicated space. The 2nd new room is the cause for most of the investment as we have decided to dip our toe into the higher end of audio by bringing on brands such as Audio Research, dCS and Wilson Audio so that will be our Highend Room, so really looking forward to getting that up and running :-)

Needless to say we will announce plans for Open days once we have a better idea on how the work is going but we plan to hold 2 launch events hopefully around April time, one for the Naim room where Naim are going to bring along a Statement which we will hook up to a pair of PMC MB2 XBD’s or BB5′s and we will do another event to launch the highend room shortly after.

So that is the master plan for 2017, I will try to update this regularly with progress reports and pictures as the rooms start to take shape but here are a couple to get it all started.

External Views - From HiFi Lounge

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/IMG_7599_zpsbpqevrzz.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/IMG_7599_zpsbpqevrzz.jpg.html)

The 2 New Stables To Be Coverted

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/IMG_7601_zpszvrvrcrx.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/IMG_7601_zpszvrvrcrx.jpg.html)

From Highend Headphones

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/IMG_7602_zpsnurzjuua.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/IMG_7602_zpsnurzjuua.jpg.html)

Internal - The Naim Lounge

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/IMG_7311_zpszqbcvigg.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/IMG_7311_zpszqbcvigg.jpg.html)

The Highend Audio Lounge

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/IMG_7305_zpsgiuyrbel.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/IMG_7305_zpsgiuyrbel.jpg.html)

Let The Work Commence With The Security Going In Fisrt!

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/IMG_7554_zps3orto4hh.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/IMG_7554_zps3orto4hh.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/IMG_7557_zpsrnlc6zxo.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/IMG_7557_zpsrnlc6zxo.jpg.html)

Hopefully things will progress pretty quickly now.

Cheers,

Paul.

HiFi Lounge
11-02-2017, 09:26
Hi All,

Well it was certainly a big week this week, after what seems like ages of waiting work really started in earnest with the builders coming in to start knocking through the walls and building the partition walls.

Obviously when you start knocking around a really old building you don’t really know what you are going to find but other than the adjoining wall between HiFi Lounge and the new Naim Showroom being extremely thick which took far longer to break through than the builders expected and the fact that our downstairs demo room is a foot lower than the new Naim Showroom meaning some kind of steps are going to have to be put in place, but other than that everything went really smoothly and it really feels like we are making progress now :-)

Please find a few pictures below of the progress so far, next week the partition walls should be up then there will be a small break whilst the doors are made. -

Time to find out how thick the walls are where the door is going!

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/0_zpsoo2cn9nw.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/0_zpsoo2cn9nw.jpg.html)

Here we go!

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/1_zpsavm3qnoy.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/1_zpsavm3qnoy.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/2_zpsjtwrvk3v.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/2_zpsjtwrvk3v.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/3_zps5u6jtald.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/3_zps5u6jtald.jpg.html)

It’s quite a drop from here into HFL

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/4_zpsir66lms7.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/4_zpsir66lms7.jpg.html)

Time to knock through to Highend Headphones!

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/5_zpskhwjs13v.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/5_zpskhwjs13v.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/6_zpsnogtdjdx.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/6_zpsnogtdjdx.jpg.html)

MMMM, Thought it would be a good idea to support the ceiling, wouldn’t want the MB2′s coming through the floor know half the wall is missing :-)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/7_zpskovtnuue.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/7_zpskovtnuue.jpg.html)

Cheers,

Paul.

hifinutt
11-02-2017, 12:13
great watching progress . thanks for posting pics . good luck

SLS
13-02-2017, 09:29
great watching progress . thanks for posting pics . good luck

Will there be an opening event?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

HiFi Lounge
13-02-2017, 18:16
Thanks guys, yes we'll probably 2 do opening events, one for the Naim room on April 22nd with Naim bringing the Statement hooked up to some big PMC's and another for the Highend room where I'll finally get the Wilson Yvette's unboxed, the date is still TBC.

HiFi Lounge
25-02-2017, 10:29
Hi All,

Another big week for the new showrooms as the partition walls went up to make the rooms a little smaller, over the next month it should really all come together quite nicely as next week we finally knock through from HiFi Lounge right through to Highend Headphones and have all the doors installed.

Also next week the electricians are coming in to install unswitched power sockets with 10mm cabling on it’s own circuit + ethernet points, the following week both units will be decorated from top to bottom then finally the carpets are going down mid March and hopefully then the Sofa’s arrive and we can then start filling the rooms with kit :-)

The most nerve racking part of this whole process is what are the rooms going to sound like when complete as at the moment obviously everything is very echoey and with the glass along one side I feel it may be a little challenging so I am expecting that some acoustic treatment will be required as in reality it really doesn’t matter what the rooms look like as it is all about the sound quality and this is something we can’t test until the rooms are completed unfortunately so fingers crossed :-)

Anyway please find below a few more pics of the partition walls going up in each room, these have been filled with acoustic insulation so they really are very ‘dead’ when knocked which is obviously very important.

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/2630CF0C-0096-4036-9F2A-F94FC1B0893B_zpskg1hvejl.jpeg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/2630CF0C-0096-4036-9F2A-F94FC1B0893B_zpskg1hvejl.jpeg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/DSCF4222_zpstnq4fap8.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/DSCF4222_zpstnq4fap8.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/DSCF4223_zps6dukiujh.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/DSCF4223_zps6dukiujh.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7732_zpsgczgl0zf.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7732_zpsgczgl0zf.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7733_zps4j3smjri.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7733_zps4j3smjri.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7878_zpsvilpxmmp.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7878_zpsvilpxmmp.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7881_zpsk2ebtrjw.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7881_zpsk2ebtrjw.jpg.html)

Regards,
Paul.

HiFi Lounge
04-03-2017, 16:14
Hi Everyone,

So yesterday was the day I had been waiting for for what seems like forever, the builders finally knocked through from HiFi Lounge’s downstairs demo room into the new showrooms so it really feels like all systems go now.

They are back next week to knock through from the new showrooms to Highend Headphones and finish hanging doors etc and they will be done, I have to say they have done an awesome job and couldn’t recommend the guys anymore highly.

On Monday the electricians are in to fit the power and ethernet sockets and the decorating starts on Wednesday, the end really feels like it is in sight now :-)

Please see a few pictures below of the big moment yesterday, I would imagine it was this exciting when they built the channel tunnel, obviously that was far more straight forward :-)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7982_zpsjvol2zjo.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7982_zpsjvol2zjo.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7983_zpsadhuh376.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7983_zpsadhuh376.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7984_zpsspav3z1k.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7984_zpsspav3z1k.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7986_zpss9jbcwrm.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7986_zpss9jbcwrm.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7987_zpsphnosv9x.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7987_zpsphnosv9x.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7988_zpsj6ym6xjk.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7988_zpsj6ym6xjk.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7989_zpsf1lgzaoy.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7989_zpsf1lgzaoy.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7990_zpseqrc8bdk.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7990_zpseqrc8bdk.jpg.html)

The View into the new Showrooms!

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7993_zpsnwil7flm.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7993_zpsnwil7flm.jpg.html)

Back Into HFL!

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7994_zps1ubwln16.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7994_zps1ubwln16.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7999_zpsbypi5e9n.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7999_zpsbypi5e9n.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7997_zpsynj0jcwl.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_7997_zpsynj0jcwl.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_8001_zpsvf23ohse.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_8001_zpsvf23ohse.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_8002_zpsmowfh6sv.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_8002_zpsmowfh6sv.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_8005_zpsvfiqg36i.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_8005_zpsvfiqg36i.jpg.html)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_8004_zpsqwr2g9fz.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_8004_zpsqwr2g9fz.jpg.html)

Cheers,
Paul.

HiFi Lounge
11-03-2017, 17:03
Hi All,

Thought I’d try something different for a change and do a small video as on Thursday we finally broke through into Highend Headphones so no more cold walks outside and through the car park to go from HFL to HH so please see below for the internal walk through from HFL to HH.

I must admit it isn’t the best quality video, for the next one I won’t swing the camera around so much and will try and keep my hand steadier but it will give you the idea :-)

I would actually like to do some more video’s in the future but the trouble is being stuck on a farm it means our internet is painfully slow so it took me 8 hours to upload this video but I think we may be getting satellite internet soon so hopefully that will be a little quicker.

Anyway onto the video with my rubbish commentary :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2POoHRWralc&feature=youtu.be

Also we put our first piece of HiFi into one of the new rooms on Wednesday to see if the ARC Ref 75 would sit on the Quadraspire X Reference OK, luckily it just fits :-)

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/Mikawen/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_8045_zpsyn6wzmfu.jpg (http://s474.photobucket.com/user/Mikawen/media/HiFi%20Lounge/IMG_8045_zpsyn6wzmfu.jpg.html)

So the following week is going to be full on finishing off the electrics and decorating as the carpet is being fitted the following week as we found out also that the new sofa’s are being delivered the same week, it is almost as if we had planned this to perfection as it is all coming along quite nicely but in reality we have just bumbled through it all :-)

Cheers,

Paul.