Welcome

Audio Reference Co for HiFi stereo equipment & audio gear, amplifiers, DACs, CD players, blu-ray players, music servers, loud speakers, turntables, cables, headphones, racks, acoustic panels and home theatre.

Hi, I’m Terry Humphries...

HiFi audio is my passion!  I’ve travelled the world to bring together the finest gear for you to audition in our studio.

Greenslade House, Hamilton, New Zealand

Our studio is located in one of Hamilton’s iconic homes, Greenslade House. We welcome visits by appointment.

Tube or solid state amplifier?

It’s a personal preference, so why not come and experience both in our studio?

Turntables

Enjoy the ultimate in analogue sound with your vinyl collection and the world’s finest turntables and accessories

Craftsmanship + Technology

We're proud of our audio gear. It represents the culmination of superb craftsmanship and leading-edge HiFi technology.

All the latest audio gear

Visit our studios to experience an extensive range of the latest gear from world-leading brands. We have everything from entry level to absolute top end.

Welcome

                       MASSIVE RELOCATION SALE ON IN-STOCK ITEMS

With our impending move to Auckland, we thought you might like to take advantage of a generous relocation sale and save us the trouble of shipping and storing all our gear while we get ourselves re-established.

With these long winter nights approaching, now is the time to grab this unique opportunity to upgrade your audio gear at these once only bargain prices.

We welcome your call to discuss an opportunity and are open to all reasonable offers.

                      Phone Terry on 021 880 884 or email: terry@ar.co.nz

Visit our Specials pages to catch some incredible bargains before they walk out the door, our specials wil be added and changed regularly so keep an eye on them, don't miss out!
 

Audio Reference: your specialist for HiFi / stereo equipment & audio gear, valve and solidstate amplifiers, preamplifiers, mono blocks, integrated amps, DACs, CD, SACD & blu-ray players, turntables, phono stages, bookshelf & floorstanding loud speakers, cables, music servers, headphones, racks, power conditioners, acoustic panels, isolation feet, home theatre & more.

Welcome to our website:
We import and source for you some of 'best-of-class' HiFi gear, from affordable entry level through to unique, specialised high-end components, all chosen to bring a special outcome at their price point.

A select range of our products is available through a number of respected Hi-Fi resellers and we also sell direct through our base in Hamilton, sometime in the coming months we are movoing up to Auckland, and we will let you know when the big move takes place.  Please phone to discuss how we can help you best enjoy your experiance with our extensive range of very special audio gear.  

If you choose to come to Hamilton then we invite you to bring along your favourite music for a personal audition and spend quality time discovering new opportunities to enhance your enjoyment of music and videos in, boutique, surroundings,  
It is all very relaxed and informal, feel comfortable to come by just for a look at what's on offer or if you would like we can set up an audition with your music, there is no pressure or expectations, it's all about enjoying music and our passion, I enjoy catching up and discussing ideas, however to ensure we can give you an uninterrupted experience and to help avoid overlapping with another client's audition time we ask you to please phone us first.

Please phone : Terry on +64 21 880 884 to arrange a suitable time, thank you.

News

MASSIVE RELOCATION SALE ON IN-STOCK ITEMS

With our impending move to Auckland, we thought you might like to take advantage of a generous relocation sale and save us the trouble of shipping and storing all our gear while we get ourselves re-established.

With these long winter nights approaching, now is the time to grab this unique opportunity to upgrade your audio gear at these once only bargain prices.

First shipment ot the Highy Awarded Sutherland Phono pre-amplifiers has arrived and is available for audition

Our 1st shipment of the hightly regarded and award winng Sutherland Phono pre-amplifiers have arrived, this time around we bought in the:

Sutherland PH3D @ RRP $1,575ea
TAS 2007 Editors' Choice Award Winner! TAS 2007 Phonostage of the Year Award Winner!
Highly Recommended by Hi-Fi News! 

New range of Brodmann Festival speakers being well received

It has been pleasing to note that out of 2 demos, 2 pairs of Brodman speakers have been sold.

SGR Audio racks attain a rare 6Moons Blue Moon award - April 2012

Steve Kramers summarry comments:

"more focused imaging perspective with a marginally deeper soundstage and more precise lateral placement"......

You are invited to audition the very unique BSG Technologies - "QOL" Sound Completion Stage

qøl™ - “The DNA of Sound,” dramatically improving the sensory experience of sound whenever electronics are used

Clearaudio's new, Ovation, "Turntable of the Year Award winner" has arrived

The revolutionary Clearaudio Ovation turntable is here and ready to sing for you!
We have both the Ovation Black and Ovation Wood, these are the new big brother to the multi award winng Concept turntable: The new clearaudio "Ovation" turntable includes many existing clearaudio innovations and introduces new cutting-edge technology:

Our 1st Brodmann Festival loudspeaker shipment has walked in the door

Our eagerly awaited shipment of the very elegant Brodmann Festival range of loudspeakers has arrived at last.  We have  set them up in the studio with the beautiful Electrocompaniet components and they are already amazing us with their very full yet detailed and dynamic presentation, the music feels alive.  

Stereo Times 2011 Publishers Choice Award for BSG Technologies Qol signal processor now in stock.

A signal-processor of sorts that's designed to "restore phase anomalies" in audio signals. Inserted between ones preamp and power amp, admittedly, I was skeptical considering all the newer "enhancers" that work independent of ones components. However, I like the open, airy sensation the QOL delivers and find it also very transparent in that I didn't notice any negative effects from its insertion between my components (review in the works Clement Perry).

The first pair of Franco Serblin's beautiful Accordo stand mtg speakers are now avaiable for audition

These new Accordos are like nothing else you have seen, pure Italian atristic crafmanship, they are beautiful little gems that will sing their heart out, well above your expectations.

Sangtao's Accordo comment:
I covered and conduct first review of Franco Serblin Ktema loudspeakers and it seems I could get my hands first on official review samples when they're ready. Thanks to I... again.

TAS-The Absolute Sound 2012 Editors Choice Awards - Clearaudio takes out an amazing 13 awards

 

We would like to congratulate Clearaudio on the significant number of awards they achieved at theis years 2012 TAS awards including: 
4x cartridge awards 
5x turntable awards 
1x phonostage award 
1x record cleaning machine award
 2x accessories awards 

TAS-The Absolute Sound 2012 Editors Choice Awards - Audio Reference has 16 components (excl Clearaudio)

Keeping abreast of the many innovations and ongoing product development within the audio world can be somewhat daunting but it has been pleasing to see a wide selection of our Brands have been picked up by TAS - The Absoulte Sound for their 2012 EditorsChoice awards, including:
Bel Canto, BSG, Exposure, Electrocompaniet, Krell, Sutherland, Triode, Usher and Clearaudio (shown on a seperate news item).  

Tellurium Q "Graphite " NEW RELEASE

Tellurium Q introduce their new high-end "GRAPHITE" reference cables into the market.

Hi Fi World will be doing a piece on the Graphite speaker cable coming out at the end of this month 

A comment from Geoff Merrigan about their new Graphite cables:

Introducing the legendary Stirling Broadcast BBC monitor speakers to the NZ/Australian market

Introducing the Stirling Broadcast (ex Rogersrange of BBC monitor speakers including the legendary BBC LS3/5a V2, designed to meet the exacting requirements of the BBC LS3/5a specification. and Stirling Broadcast's latest creation, their all new BBC LS3/6 which has just been released onto the market 

Quadral Platinum M4 easily wins multi-way floorstander test

Image preview

Speakers on test:

Quadral Platinum M4- Sound quality score: 85%
Paradigm Reference Studio 60- Sound quality score: 75%
Mordant & Short Aviano - Sound quality score: 73%
Dali Lector 8- Sound quality score: 78%

Electrocompaniet very evident at RMAF driving a number of name speaker brands....

The high regard for Electrocompaniet brand was very evident at RMAF - Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver this year with quite a number of the high end speakers brands choosing to drive their speakers through Electrocompaniet components, including Avalon and new Brodmann brand (ex Bosendofer) to name just 2, 

Our latest shipment of the Electrocompaniet components is now in store, we welcome your interest and encourage you to phone for your personal audition to discover just how special this gear from Norway is and what it can bring to  your musical enjoyment.

Electrocompanient PD 1 DAC became the group test winner in HiFi Choice

Electrocompaniet PD-1 wireless DAC awarded 5 Stars in DAC shoot out.
In a Hi-Fi Choice group test competing with DAC’s from Cyrus, Lavry, M2Tech, Moon and NuForce the Electrocompaniet PD 1 DAC won.

QUADRAL loudspeakers - winner of coveted iF-Award and top test result in Audio magazines

778 contributions were honoured. A total of 1,016 participants from 39 countries made a bid for the renowned iF product design award. The manufacturer Quadral successfully triumphed with its products in a highly qualified international competitive class.Quadral Platinum M 4 / Aurum Wotan VIII wiiner of coveted iF product design award plus attained excellent test results in the Audio magazines : 
- Montan: “Excellent high-end class” audio 
- Montan: “Areadvd Reference” areadvd.de 

Exposures NEW enhanced S2 series of Amplifiers & Cd players now in stock

EXPOSURE S2 RELEASE:
Late in 2010 Exposure released their new enhanced S2 series which has taken a significant step forward over the previous S1 series. It would be well worth your while to come along and audition for yourself the Exposure difference.

Exposure Electronics has been committed towards engineering real hi-fi at real world prices since 1974. Back then, the original Exposure products were born out of founder John Farlowe’s obsession for excellent reproduction of recorded music, having worked in studios with the likes of David Bowie and Pink Floyd.

Cable shoot out:

Like many, we believe good cables can make a significant difference, In March George Fracchia of ZenSati cables came to demo their #2 & #3 ranges of these unique Danish hand crafted cables.  

Many of you may not be aware of this brand however  ZenSati cables from Denmark claim:
“to be the most neutral, super fast and musical cables currently available. They are the new reference”.