SPELL Tivoli backwards and you get an inkling as to why the store’s recently finished renovation is a case of mission accomplished for owner Philippe Luder and his highly experienced team.

Director Philippe and the boys - Craig McNeil, James Tranchina, Darren Walker and Geoff Haynes, have been beavering away recently making one of Melbourne’s top audio/video specialist stores bigger and better.

Walk through the door and every shelf holds an example of the world’s best audio and visual equipment... and that’s no idle boast.

Where else in Melbourne could you audition flagship speakers from Wilson Audio, B&W, Focal, Castle, ALR Jordan and Martin Logan with the privacy and comfort offered by one of Tivoli’s three dedicated stereo listening rooms?

Of course speakers of this pedigree require the best of electronics and that is why Tivoli Hi-Fi stock audiophile dream machines from French brand YBA, Norway’s Electrocompaniet or svelte valve amplifiers from bella Italian brand Synthesis.

That all may sound a bit “high end” but Tivoli understands that “high end” need not mean high cost.

Tivoli prides themselves on catering to any music lover on any budget.

The Tivoli team understand audio history. That’s why music lovers can still audition quality budget to stellar-priced high-end systems using their favourite vinyl as well as CD and SACD.

The store has a mouth-watering range of vinyl spinners, tone-arms, pick-up cartridges and get this... new audiophile quality LPs! The range of players start at $499 for a fully equipped turntable made by UK brand Rega, all the way up to a high-end Acoustic Signature deck sporting a Kuzma Stogi arm and Garrott Brothers P89 cartridge which together cost a heady $18,000

But along with renovation comes innovation. While respecting audio heritage, Tivoli is keeping up with the times.

Everyone loves their iPods. Some want their stored MP3 music streamed through selected rooms in their home.

Others can’t have enough table-top radios, while there are those that need the full surround sound experience. Tivoli caters for all the new formats.

iPod devotees are in for a treat when

they hear how their wee MP3 player sounds docked in a classy Geneva iPod system.

And radio buffs who think they’ve heard it all will change their minds when they hear programs streamed from all around the world using the Tivoli Audio Networks Internet radio.

The renovation includes five fully equipped high-end home cinema and multi-zone audition rooms.

Each can showcase a budget surround sound system or a mind blowing home cinema comprising a flagship Sim2 video projector, an LP Morgan screen, in-wall or in-ceiling speakers and hundreds of watts of cinematic bliss generated by Arcam, Denon, Electrocompaniet and NAD electronics.

If wall-to-wall pictures and sound isn’t your thing and you’d like quality home cinema gear that suits your modest living space, look no further than a sub/satellite speaker system linked to a German made Loewe LCD TV or a cost-conscious model by boutique brand Schaub Lorenz.

THREE decades on, Philippe Luder and his staff at Tivoli Hi-Fi remain true to the ideals that lured them to their audio/video careers.

“It’s simple", says Tivoli’s owner Philippe Luder. “We want our clients to enjoy their home entertainment using equipment capable of providing the same standard of quality reproduction that we would use ourselves,” he says.

It’s this passion to experience a music album, MP3 track, art house movie or plain vanilla Hollywood blockbuster at the highest level of quality your budget allows that continues to drive the folk who work at Tivoli Hi-Fi.
“Anyone can cobble together a hi-fi or home cinema system that goes through the motions and more or less provides a skimpy taste of the musician’s or film director’s vision," audio/visual specialist Geoff Haynes says.

“But it takes years of working day in and day out with a plethora of equipment before you learn the skills which help you guide a client gently through the maze and choose the best equipment $3,000 or $100,000 can buy."

He is also quick to add, “The quality of the installation can make or break the final result.

Tivoli Hi-Fi‘s specialist system installer Darren Walker explains, “It’s my job to make sure every system we install performs at its best and ensure the client is not left scratching their head trying to use it. I’m amazed at how many systems out there are hardly used because this critical step is overlooked. A system that is in constant use offers incredible value for money for our clients.”

Tivoli Hi-Fi audio consultant James Tranchina spends hours painstakingly pairing loudspeakers with amplifiers, CD players and turntables.

He’s on a quest to find out what makes a synergistic match.

“Audio synergy isn’t jargon," he insists.

“Synergy is what separates audio or surround systems endowed with a magical ability to communicate the spiritual heart of music or movies to a listener or viewer."

Press Tranchina a little more and he explains synergy in such a simple way you wonder why you hadn’t been introduced to the concept before.

“When the components that make up an audio or surround system provide an experience greater than the sum of their parts, that’s synergy’.

His colleague Craig McNeil agrees. But the devil is in the detail of what comprises a synergistic system.

“You can swot away listening to combinations of quality equipment but you get an inkling that something is missing," he says.

“So you audition various interconnect and speaker cables, equipment racks and other accessories and bingo, you find some Transparent or QED cables that make everything fall into place."

Tivoli Hi-Fi boss Philippe Luder believes his own life experience has proven the adage that life is too short to put up with second best when it comes to great music and movies.

“I love cars. But why spend $150,000 on a set of wheels when you could get a superb ride for $100K and a $50,000 music system that could change your life?”

The audio/video chain is only as good as its weakest link.

While you are right to expect a world class demonstation in one of Tivoli Hi-Fi’s showrooms, what will surprise you is a genuine dedication and passion for all things music and movie.

In the jaded ambience of cash and carry bulk stores where the equipment in the long run is neither cheap nor cheerful, when you hear staff talk about the job it’s all numbers and moving boxes.

Tivoli Hi-Fi’s audio/video consultants talk about their craft to anyone genuinely keen on exploring the magic of sound and moving pictures.

“Our highly qualified technicians; Tony McKay and Carl Tranchina can refurbish your much loved speakers or classic Quad, Audio Research or McIntosh amplifiers, rebuild or retune a Linn LP12, Thorens 124 or 150 or a Garrard 401 turntable and the owners will walk away gob-smacked with the sound,’’ Philippe Luder says.

“One can understand the technical aspect of this kind of expertise through years spent in education and academic learning, but it is worth nothing if you haven’t learnt the audio/video craft.’’

A fundamental tenet of this amazing blend of science and lived experience is at the heart of the audio/video experience.

“We always advise our valued clients that choosing a great $1,500 or $35,000 system is as easy as understanding that the signal source is the place to start,’’ Philippe Luder says.

“Start with the best CD player, Turntable or Bluray player you can afford and the rest of the audio system snaps into place.’’

Luder believes the same tried and tested principle also applies to home cinema systems. But he bemoans the fact that young audio/video consultants haven’t been taught such an obvious or basic principle of the craft.

“It’s all about balance. If you insert a cheap and cheerful video projector into an expensive system built up from a classy surround receiver and beautiful sounding speakers, the lack of image quality won’t match the crystal clear surround sound.”

“But use a Loewe TV with a well-chosen, budget priced surround system made up of NAD or Denon with mid-priced Castle speakers and it will stomp all over a surround system which is mismatched with a $3,000 projector.’’

You can put this theory to the test yourself. It’s as easy as accepting the warm invitation from Philippe Luder and his team of audio/video enthusiasts to look and listen at your leisure in one of the comfortable, private and superbly equipped audition rooms at the newly renovated premises of Tivoli Hi-Fi.

TIVOLI - I LOV IT