The British Audio-Visual Dealers Association, the specialist hi-fi and home cinema industry’s leading trade association, has today launched its new website, which is designed to help consumers find their nearest specialist retailer and give advice on buying quality home entertainment products.
Just two clicks of the mouse, via an interactive map of the UK, and the enquirer is taken to a map of their area, with rollovers showing the details of the closest store. From there they can view the store’s own website, send an email, call them or get directions.
The interactive map locator has been installed on every page of the new site, so the visitor is never more than two clicks away from their local BADA member.
“Want to know why you should visit a BADA retailer?” Here you see an explanation of the benefits of shopping at one of the network of BADA members, with information about their commitment to customer service, comparative demonstration facilities, impartial advice, and most importantly, their membership of the UK’s only national network of retailers trained to agreed industry standards.
Friday, July 23, 2010
BADA's new website, designed to help consumers
The British Audio-Visual Dealers Association, the specialist hi-fi and home cinema industry’s leading trade association, has today launched its new website, which is designed to help consumers find their nearest specialist retailer and give advice on buying quality home entertainment products.
Just two clicks of the mouse, via an interactive map of the UK, and the enquirer is taken to a map of their area, with rollovers showing the details of the closest store. From there they can view the store’s own website, send an email, call them or get directions.
“Want to know why you should visit a BADA retailer?” In this section you will see an explanation of the benefits of shopping at one of the network of BADA members. With information about their commitment to customer service, comparative demonstration facilities, impartial advice, and most importantly, their membership of the UK’s only national network of retailers trained to agreed industry standards.
Check it out at www.bada.co.uk
Just two clicks of the mouse, via an interactive map of the UK, and the enquirer is taken to a map of their area, with rollovers showing the details of the closest store. From there they can view the store’s own website, send an email, call them or get directions.
“Want to know why you should visit a BADA retailer?” In this section you will see an explanation of the benefits of shopping at one of the network of BADA members. With information about their commitment to customer service, comparative demonstration facilities, impartial advice, and most importantly, their membership of the UK’s only national network of retailers trained to agreed industry standards.
Check it out at www.bada.co.uk
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Will the digital revolution kill music?
There was a time when music was a thing to be cherished, now it could be argued that is just a commodity which is unvalued and throw-away.
It would be churlish for me to say the music of yesteryear was better quality and the charts now are full of talentless pseudo-celebs. But, regardless of my personal prejudices, there is certainly something fundamentally different about what’s being bought now compared to 20 or 30 years ago. It may not necessarily be the quality of the musicianship or composition, but simply just the quality and all that that word encompasses.
Everything develops and music is no exception, but is there perhaps a fundamental shift in the importance of music in our lives? It is true that there are many more people listening to music than ever before, but how critically are they listening? Do they even hear what they’re listening to and what are the implications for the hi-fi industry?
Hi-Fi is a luxury product and with such a purchase goes a degree of pride of ownership. I would like to think that most people who buy hi-fi equipment do so because they appreciate the benefits it gives to them in terms of enjoyment of the music. The owner is justifiably proud of the new equipment and is probably just as proud of the music played on it. When music was purchased on vinyl, cassette or CD there was a tangible element to the purchase. Both the music and the carrier medium were inseparable items to treasure, it was as if one couldn’t exist without the other. The human interface with a music collection was rather similar to the action of taking an old book off a shelf or a bottle of wine from a rack, blowing the dust off and settling down to enjoy it.
There are some startling statistics on downloads, which really do give food for thought and I’ll leave you with these whilst you ponder on whether the digital revolution will be responsible for the death of quality music and hi-fi or the opportunity to reach out to a new market.
From the British Music Rights survey:
84% of 18-24 year olds own an mp3 player
63% of those questioned illegally download music
80% thought music was the most important thing they bought in a given month
Of those still buying CDs, only 7% buy them for the sound quality
It would be churlish for me to say the music of yesteryear was better quality and the charts now are full of talentless pseudo-celebs. But, regardless of my personal prejudices, there is certainly something fundamentally different about what’s being bought now compared to 20 or 30 years ago. It may not necessarily be the quality of the musicianship or composition, but simply just the quality and all that that word encompasses.
Everything develops and music is no exception, but is there perhaps a fundamental shift in the importance of music in our lives? It is true that there are many more people listening to music than ever before, but how critically are they listening? Do they even hear what they’re listening to and what are the implications for the hi-fi industry?
Hi-Fi is a luxury product and with such a purchase goes a degree of pride of ownership. I would like to think that most people who buy hi-fi equipment do so because they appreciate the benefits it gives to them in terms of enjoyment of the music. The owner is justifiably proud of the new equipment and is probably just as proud of the music played on it. When music was purchased on vinyl, cassette or CD there was a tangible element to the purchase. Both the music and the carrier medium were inseparable items to treasure, it was as if one couldn’t exist without the other. The human interface with a music collection was rather similar to the action of taking an old book off a shelf or a bottle of wine from a rack, blowing the dust off and settling down to enjoy it.
There are some startling statistics on downloads, which really do give food for thought and I’ll leave you with these whilst you ponder on whether the digital revolution will be responsible for the death of quality music and hi-fi or the opportunity to reach out to a new market.
From the British Music Rights survey:
84% of 18-24 year olds own an mp3 player
63% of those questioned illegally download music
80% thought music was the most important thing they bought in a given month
Of those still buying CDs, only 7% buy them for the sound quality
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Reporting from the Gadget Show Live
probably expect, there's 3D TV everywhere and it's drawing a lot of
attention. But it's also great to see a good amount of hi-fi on show.
BADA members, Pioneer are hosting the Hi-Fi Theatre along with Hi-Fi
Choice, Home Cinema Choice and T3 magazines, with the company's
Dominic Feeney taking part in a Q&A panel with Jason Kennedy of Hi-Fi
Choice and Rik Mucha from Superfi.
BADA itself was also on show, sharing billing with its Associate
members Onkyo, The Chord Company, KEF and Dolby. And our fellow trade
association, Cedia, were there also, hosting presentations on the
technology to look out for this year.
The show runs until Sunday and is worth a visit if you get the chance.
Friday, November 20, 2009
BADA welcomes Focal to its membership
The British Audio-Visual Dealers Association is pleased to announce the addition of Focal JM Lab UK Ltd. as the latest manufacturer to join to the growing list of Associate members of the UK’s leading hi-fi and home cinema trade association.
Focal has been expanding its presence in the UK market over the past few years, at the same time as BADA has been strengthening its position as the most progressive of the UK trade associations. At a recent meeting of Fraser Robertson, UK sales director for Focal, and Simon Byles, BADA chairman, the joint responsibility of BADA and the manufacturers in the setting and upholding of standards in retail was discussed and agreed. Focal's indicated support for BADA's Demcraft, Salescraft and soon to be launched Visioncraft courses is very much welcomed by the association and therefore the application for membership was approved unanimously by the board of directors.
Speaking shortly after the application was approved, Simon Byles said "We are delighted to welcome a company of Focal's calibre to BADA and it is fitting that their growth in the UK has mirrored that of BADA's. I look forward to working with Fraser and his team for the benefit of the wider industry."
Fraser Robertson said “We have been steadily increasing the market penetration of the Focal brand in the UK over the past few years and it has been impossible to miss the growing influence and importance of BADA and its standards focussed efforts during that time. We felt that the time was now right for Focal to take a seat at the table with other like minded manufacturers who, as BADA Associate members, want to help the work being done by the association to drive up standards in the UK industry for the benefit of consumers.”
Friday, November 13, 2009
The public's view of mp3 'v' CD
I've just had this video link pointed out to me:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/8351921.stm
It's really encouraging to see something like this on the BBC - it kind of vindicates everything that BADA dealers have been saying for years about mp3 quality. There's no denying that it's a superbly versatile and useful format for transporting music and opening up the ears of millions of people to music, but we've all known for a long time that it really is the poor relation when it comes to sound quality. And sound quality really does matter - that's why the best recording studios exist and why the best engineers are worth their weight in gold. So watch this and then dig out yor CDs and enjoy!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/8351921.stm
It's really encouraging to see something like this on the BBC - it kind of vindicates everything that BADA dealers have been saying for years about mp3 quality. There's no denying that it's a superbly versatile and useful format for transporting music and opening up the ears of millions of people to music, but we've all known for a long time that it really is the poor relation when it comes to sound quality. And sound quality really does matter - that's why the best recording studios exist and why the best engineers are worth their weight in gold. So watch this and then dig out yor CDs and enjoy!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
BADA really screwed it up in Room 101
At the National Audio Show , in a presentation entitled “How to really screw up your hi-fi system and what to do about it”, the UK hi-fi industry’s trade association shared elements of the multi-award winning Demcraft course, normally used to train dealers in the art of system setup, with hi-fi consumers. Demcraft trainer, Roger Batchelor, along with BADA chairman Simon Byles and operations manager, Phil Hansen, demonstrated the importance of correct system setup to scores of people who visited BADA in the ironically selected Room 101.
Using two separate hi-fi systems, a £1,800 system well set up and a £7,000 system very badly set up, the trainers were able to show that the carefully prepared system sounded better than the significantly more expensive system that had been badly prepared. After putting right the 10 faults that had been deliberately introduced into the system it was demonstrated again, clearly showing how much its performance had improved. The attendees were shown the faults and given explanations of what their effect on the sound was and how they were rectified, so they could check their own systems and make simple, free, improvements to them.
BADA succeeded in training all customer facing staff in all BADA members’ shops earlier in 2009, creating the UK’s first ever network of hi-fi dealers trained to the same standard.
Find your nearest BADA dealer at www.bada.co.uk
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