A Personal Approach

When we spoke to uhes, the company was in the process of planning an installation for a new customer: he’d just been in for his demonstration and was expecting the team to arrive within a few days. Norman Solomon explains that while every customer’s requirements and eventual system choices are different, this one was fairly typical of the kind of systems the company has been installing of late.

The client originally came to uhes for a demonstration of the Ovator S-400 loudspeakers – the company keeps just about every Naim Audio product in stock for immediate demonstration. “So he motored over this morning, came and had coffee and a tour of the house,” says Solomon, “and then we started listening and going through the system possibilities.

He genuinely thought he wanted a CDS3, to replace his CDS2 but, following a demonstration, he quickly warmed to the idea of digital streaming.” The customer went on to order an NDS with a 555 PS, NAC 252 with a SuperCap, a NAP 300 and a pair of Ovator S-400 loudspeakers.

“We spoke this morning (Thursday) and scheduled the installation for next Monday.” Solomon says that, subject to stock availability, it’s possible to do such set-ups in so tight a time frame, but he emphasises the company’s willingness to set-up systems purely for the purposes of demonstration.

Quite apart from the obvious elements – sorting out the proper support, positioning and cabling of the system, and taking the customer through the operation of the system to ensure they’re familiar with every aspect of it – such an installation will also involve the all-important ‘digital plumbing’.

That involves the set-up of the ripping system and NAS device, and making sure the customer is familiar with this side of the system, too. And of course uhes offers full after-sales service and advice, should the customer stumble across something they feel isn’t clear. “The difference between a poorly set-up system and one which has been professionally installed can be night and day.” Solomon exclaims. “That includes in the user experience, with the correct digital set up, and perhaps even more importantly in the sound quality.”

Naim Audio retailer in focus: uhes

Uhes offers an exceptional retail experience. It can do anything from demonstrating a UnitiQute 2 to installing a complete system with a six-figure price-tag. Co-founder Dr Norman Solomon says that a customer defined what sets it apart best as ‘lavish customer service’. That means anything from providing lunch for visitors to complete custom installation services. Of course, the premises help: it started up in a castle but now, though still in the Cotswolds, is based in Stirling House, which Solomon calls a ‘footballer’s mansion’, in the village of Great Wolford, Warwickshire, and offers six demonstration rooms plus service and other back-up departments.

As well as the excellent rooms, proportioned and furnished like the rooms in customers’ own homes, the new location is also the base for a thriving installation business. Talking to Solomon, he emphasises the role played in this installation work by his business partner Ian Rocchi [pictured] whose background is in industrial robotics and automation. Rocchi is responsible for planning and seeing through often complex home installations. Whether a customer comes to buy a single component or a complete system, the treatment is the same: the chance to listen to as many options as they wish in a number of rooms, followed by the offer of an extended home trial period, and then installation of their chosen product to their satisfaction. That’s what lavish customer service is all about.

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