Brands

Here is a list of all our major brands with

links (where available) and our opinions of

them. All comments are from the staff of

Eastwood Hi Fi therefore are subjective and

not necessarily accurate. For a full listing of

our product range please see the products

tab of the navigation menu above.

Paradigm

For over 22 years, voted the best value for money loudspeaker in the US. Our pricing in Australia is pretty close so it bodes well for local consumers. Their flagship speaker, the Signature S8, was listed in Stereophile as one of the best 25 mass market speakers available - although not cheap (RRP $14,000) they blew away much more expensive speakers. Eastwood HiFi is one of the largest Paradigm dealers in the world outside of North America and will not be beaten on any genuine price for in-stock items. Go to our dedicated Paradigm page to get more information. Yamaha One of the largest A/V companies in the world. Yamaha were the first electronics manufacturer to mass produce surround sound for the home. They consistently are awarded accolades for having the best A/V receivers available with receivers ranging from $399 to $7500. Over the last few years they have also concentrated on reviving their musicality and offer superb stereo components along with some of the most accurate speakers (Soavo and 700 Series) around. They also sell a premium range of A/V equipment called the “Aventage” series. This is only available from specialist stores such as ourselves and is for the consumer who wants the best in both video and audio reproduction.

Onkyo

Believe it or not, Eastwood HiFi is probably the one of the oldest surviving Onkyo dealers in Australia. We were selling the product in 1979 when it was imported by Rank Industries. Onkyo have had their ups and downs with quality and design issues but their current range is well made and performs above the norm. Very musical A/V and Stereo electronic gear, it’s highly regarded throughout the world and their up-market products are hard to beat. Parallel importers spoiled the market for a while with regards to this product so ensure you buy off an authorised dealer.

Triangle

Ah yes, the French! Slightly quirky but with a point of difference. The Triangle Speakers have an extremely broad range from cheap and cheerful up to $100,000+ behemoths. They have factories in France, Malaysia and China although the QC is great regardless of origin. The reason we decided to run with them is that they have a range of mid priced speakers called “The Colors” and offer a great looking speaker (Gloss White or Gloss Black) for a reasonable price (RRP $2799 pair for the floor-standing models). They have a great presence and sound-stage. If you can get them whilst we have sales on them, a fantastic buy with some real aesthetic flair.

Cambridge Audio

Recently updated website and great innovative gear. They started with good basic stereo amplification and CD Players but have now branched out into music streaming and Sonos killing devices such as the Minx. They offer some hard hitting, high power amplification at reasonable pricing. Another example of British Design brilliance with Chinese manufacturing to get top quality audio gear at reasonable pricing. Highly recommended for the enthusiast. Q Acoustics Q Acoustics is a multi-award winning hi-fi brand, which was founded by experts in the audio industry with the sole aim of developing a highly successful loudspeaker brand. It has been 10 years since Q Acoustics was founded, and in every year since we have continued to drive innovation and develop multi-award winning products. REL One of the worlds first designers and manufacturers of subwoofers for music enhancement, REL have been around since 1990 and was started in Britain by Richard Lord. The ownership has passed on since then but the goal of making one of the most musical subwoofers available remains. Varying from the tiny REL Zero at around $700 up to the massive $6000 G-1 which can be stacked (what the...) there’s a subwoofer for everyone. Definitive Technology Makers of the worlds best subwoofers? Possibly, they developed a subwoofer (The Trinity) for the electronic organ in New York’s Trinity Church. It goes down below 16Hz and will huff and puff until it blows your house down (OK, a bit of poetic license there). It’s a toss up between Paradigm’s Sub 2 and the Definitive Technology on which is the best but either way you know that their more affordable models have the benefit of the R&D work needed to reach such heights. Definitive Technology also offer some excellent speakers with the BP models (built in powered subwoofers) as their claim to fame. Martin Logan Originally started in Lawrence, Kansas by Gayle Martin Sanders and Ron Logan Sutherland in the late ‘70’s, Martin Logan are renowned for their high end Electrostatic Speakers. Their new Motion series was designed to offer a more conventional way of producing the “open” sound of Electrostatic speakers without the very narrow dispersion angle for high frequencies. As a result, the new Motion range (especially those using the XT Tweeter) are amongst the best performing speakers on the market today. They still produce extremely high end Electrostatics for those who can accommodate them both physically and selfishly. Now under the Paradigm banner, Martin Logan also make some of the best subwoofers we’ve tested. Rega Rega are a British company and probably one of the few audio companies in the UK that actually make most of their products in the homeland. Designers and manufacturers of many products including amplifiers, speakers, DAC’s etc. Their main claim to fame however is the Turntable. They say Vinyl is making a comeback and our sales of Rega turntables certainly supports that. Their turntables are extremely basic - i.e. fully manual - but have low feedback and superb tonearms. Priced from around $500 - $600 they’re one of the worlds most popular turntables, highly recommended and used by the staff here (except for me as I sold all my vinyl in 1984.) Tannoy Based in Scotland, Tannoy was founded in 1926 and is one of the worlds oldest existing speaker companies. Famous for their Dual Concentric drivers, they offer fantastic value for money speaker systems ranging from $999 pair up to $99,000 pair. A bit livelier than the typical “British” sound (which can be a bit dull and restrained in our larger Australian rooms) the Tannoy range tends to bring the performer into the room rather than leave them in the speaker box. Emotiva Based in Tennessee, Emotiva is the Poor Mans Audiophile Brand. That’s not to denigrate the product at all, it’s just that they manage to produce Audiophile grade equipment at prices that most boutique manufactures can only dream of. Sure, they have to cut some corners but the overall product experience both sonically and mechanically is far better than the price would indicate. Emotiva is a great way to enter the world of esoterica at a realistic price. Highly recommended! Sony Sony arrived in 1958 (although, originally existing under other names since 1946). Sony is one of the largest and most diverse electronics companies in the world, as far as we’re concerned however their innovative music upsampling and streaming devices, Amplification and upmarket speakers are more of interest to us. Lately, their Projectors have come to the fore with the 40ES being one of the more popular mid-priced projectors available in Australia. Optoma With continental headquarters in the USA, Europe and Asia, Optoma is one of the premier Projector companies in the world today. Along with Texas Instruments, they helped pioneer the DLP technology as used in Home Theater Projectors. They were also one of the first to use LED light sources in Home Theater Projectors (although still a little expensive). Optoma has won numerous awards including Best Home Cinema Projector Brand in the prestigious UK AV Magazine (2011) KEF KEF are a British Hi-Fi company that have one of the biggest names in the loudspeaker industry. With over 50 years in speaker manufacturing they’ve produced some incredible models for both the domestic and commercial market and have featured in many production studios around the world including the BBC studios in the UK. With their forward thinking and constant innovation they are truly at the forefront of the industry.