Customers tell me it’s mostly because of our trusted approach, reputation for integrity, professionalism, and great results.

Liquid Audio is an ethical, specialist, small business, cherishing classic audio and educating the community, in an industry heavy with ‘recappers’ and substandard workmanship, and light on informed, passionate and genuinely respected technicians and enthusiasts.

People everywhere tell me how much they appreciate our approach and wish we were nearer, a sentiment that has been expressed since I started this business. It’s immensely gratifying that people see the difference in what we do and the way we do it.

That’s the short answer. Here’s the longer one…

Reputation

I’m honoured to assist local, interstate and occasionally even international customers, and proud to be entrusted with so much beautiful hi-fi equipment. Some of Perth’s best hi-fi retailers and equipment owners use and recommend Liquid Audio, and I’ve declined several prestige service partnership offers, preferring to remain small and independent. *

Liquid Audio is respected as much for what we do/offer: attention to detail, knowledge, absolute professionalism, reliability, consumer advocacy, trust, and extensive contributions to the hi-fi community, as what we don’t: unprofessional behaviour, terrible reviews, court cases, multiple business name changes, ruining equipment, ranting at customers, using low-grade parts, being barely literate or able to solder, lying about qualifications, etc.

Authenticity

A reputation like ours can’t be ‘crafted’; it must be earned, something we’ve done through hard work, original thinking, and dedication to excellence for 15 years. Others are much lazier, and I’ve spotted my words, repairs and style in many places over the years, shamelessly stolen, because copying is easy.

I’ll tell you what’s hard: Designing, building and maintaining this huge website, handling all the technical work, inventory, photography, writing over 650,000 words, editing, managing the admin, and manually replying to every enquirer, not stupid bots —basically, creating and doing everything —is uniquely challenging and authentic. People appreciate that, especially today.

Contributions

As a youngster, I deeply appreciated retailers like John Negus and Frank Prowse, but lamented the lack of technically knowledgeable hi-fi specialists and unbiased sources of hi-fi information. Fuelled by my passion for hi-fi, electronics, science, and my unhealthy obsession with detail, I set about creating that business, one small step at a time.

Fast-forward 15 years, full-time since 2017, I’m still amazed to be constantly at capacity with local and interstate work, and to have such strong engagement with my content. Our customer engagement and loyalty confirm that people appreciate the unique content, perspective and quality of our articles. This site was visited nearly 400,000 times in 2024, and we have over five million combined views, numbers large businesses would be proud of!

Scale

I don’t need a Ferrari, eight houses, or the greatest turnover. My drivers are working on great gear, for great customers and being trusted and respected by those I choose to work with. I could have scaled Liquid Audio three times over, years ago, given the amount of work I turn away. Instead, I choose to work from home and book enough work to keep me busy and ensure that all of it is 1) done by me, 2) to a standard that I am happy with.

I’ve deliberately not hired help despite numerous requests, and not moved into a shop despite turning away work. I don’t own a boat or a holiday house. I’ve chosen to keep my business small by keeping a lid on things and Ive chosen to write, as a part of what I do, to educate and help. Genius, naivety or otherwise, that’s how I do it.

Integrity

The most important things for me are honesty and integrity. Customers and friends of the business will always be supported, and I deal fairly with everyone, even those who don’t deserve the courtesy. My science teaching background helps here. Even the worst Hall of Shamers begrudgingly appreciate my ethics and honesty, hard-wired in, thanks to my parents.

Work is never farmed out, as one notorious Perth ‘repairer’ does. Everything is created, managed and done here, by me, with care, honesty and integrity. I’ve retained one business name since the beginning, whilst others have been through four in their attempts to ‘start again’, minus the bad reviews and reputation.

The Bottom Line

I don’t know if this matters to you as an individual, but this approach means we will always be busy, and naturally, I apologise for any delays this may cause. Some complain about delays, but it’s an inescapable result of careful, methodical work on complex electronics. Apologising for that would be silly.

There are not enough hours in the day to assist everyone, but I genuinely appreciate your interest in our services and encourage you to use our booking status table. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions.

* One famous four-letter UK brand starting with ‘N’ repair partnership was very tempting!