When will be the 7th AE Super Hi End Audio Show?
I was touched to receive so many enquiries on this question over the past few weeks. To my surprise, many of these enquiries came from people that I don’t know in person. A few told me they had been attending since the very first one held in 2013. AE is very thankful of your support.
Thought leadership is a pivotal driving force of this small company. I don’t like to follow the status quo. The whole industry in the world has been going nowhere for many years. Intense competition compromises incentives to drive new imperatives. We are mired in a vicious cycle of price competition (supermarket does better empirically due to an oligopolistic market structure) consistently dragging services quality downward and fending away potential new customers.
The irony at the macroeconomic level is profound. The West sees opportunities in China. That is true if we compare only the headline macroeconomic variables between US/EU and China. But that is only the surface. At the microeconomic level, the picture is entirely different given the dominance of mercantilist practices alongside absence of modern financial concepts such as return of equity and return on assets.
After establishing a clear positioning in the niche market, the next move is to radiate the AE philosophy to a broader world. We had chosen South East Asia two years ago in our business plan. Finally, AE SEA is about to operate in Singapore in the near future. Renovation had already begun this week after heavy consultation with acoustic engineers doing numerous measurements. We want to take excellent care of acoustic treatments before construction/renovation. Ideally, it should begin operation in the fourth quarter this year.
We reckon tremendous sound quality is inadequate to capture more customers. They are everywhere and nowhere. Advertisements are ineffective in the short term. They only add value to company brand equity over the long run. And that’s it. However, consumers nowadays primarily react to comments on internet due to the convenience of mobile phones. Verbal descriptions obviously cannot reproduce musicality and writings at best convey the sound orientation of any given product without consideration of the big picture. The AE Super Hi End Audio Show is a better holistic configuration to demonstrate because everyone could experience by ears. Although it only lasted for 3 days, many people like this show as evidenced by widespread coverage locally and globally. Thank you.
I want to break new ground in the next show by focusing entirely on “client education” in conference format. How to associate technical knowhows with consumption of musicality? Why should that matter? How to achieve in steps? Without education, customer acquisitions are largely a random process. Education plants a more solid foundation of customer loyalty because it is the knowhow that grabs the heart. Education also radiates influences with longevity. What I have in mind is a “conference” type of event with thematic seminars backed by well-crafted demonstrations making up 2-3 days of events. Speakers should be drawn from around the world concurrently with authoritative representatives from Hong Kong.
We must also spend considerably amount of time on music selections that resonate soulfully with audiences. That matters very much. I adopted such approach in two small focus groups this year. In April, I invited Roy Gregory of ”theaudiobeats.com” to educate the importance of curve selection on vinyl playback via the Zanden JINPU phono stage alongside the global premier of the Wadax Atlantis Reference DAC. In June, I hosted “the Italian School of Super Hi End” seminar introducing Luca and Silvio of Riviera Labs to the public. The next thematic group session is 匠心 by Robert Koda tentatively set in Sept/Oct. These functions liberate the logistic burden on my crew. We can focus much on choosing the right music materials for demonstrations. The mingling environment is cozy enough to facilitate continuity of conversations amongst all participants. The resultant impact of such approach on the audiences was sheer joy.
And then I would like to announce a very new exciting venture between AE and Mr. Stirling Trayle. Stirling is an audio system optimization expert. He is the only one qualified to set up the WAMM Master Chronosonic Speaker by Wilson Audio throughout the world. He is introduced to me by Roy Gregory. His service is to help client to optimize their Hi End Audio systems. This is a new concept because we are selling a professional service (charged by daily rate in USD). After reading 3 pages of work flow descriptions of what Mr Stirling will work on any system, my jaws dropped because it involves so much physical labor and scientific knowledge. I immediately contracted him to work for AE clients. He will spend 4 days to optimize Divin Lab and AE Sheung Wan in late July. Roman and Marvel also respectively booked 1 day of his service. Without professional knowledge in system optimization, there is no distinction between Hi-End and Super Hi-End. We are eager to learn from Stirling. He has an international reputation of being professional, rigorous and hardworking. His comments and opinions are highly valued by audio connoisseurs around the globe. AE is honoured to initiate a long-term relationship with him.
The big conference concept is only at a conceiving stage now. It requires meticulous planning. Before that happens, please bear with us for awhile longer. Thank you for your patronage.
Chris Leung
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