Be Hear Now

It hard is to believe Cloney Audio, founded by Noel Cloney, has been in the home entertainment and hi-fi business since 1966: the year of The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and Bob Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde. Forty seven years on and Cloney Audio – still based in South Dublin – remains the premier high-end audio retailer in Ireland. Stockist of prestigious brands such as B&W, System Audio and Harbeth, speakers, Arcam, Rotel and Classe amplifiers and Clearaudio turntables, they continue to offer the discerning hi-fi enthusiast an invaluable service at affordable price levels. In recent years, Cloney has expanded to include high quality home cinema and surround sound systems, as well as embracing high-end solutions for portable audio.

Now, with the launch of a new online shop, cloneystore.com, they’ve entered fully into the digital sphere in order to meet the growing demand for new technologies such as the iPads and smartphones.
“It’s a new part of our business,” explains Ivan Cloney, who along with his brother Alan is centrally involved in their father’s company (although Noel himself remains at the heart of the enterprise)
“We’ll always be based here in Blackrock and we’re not trying to discourage people from coming into us. To survive in this kind of business you have to move with the times and we have to recognise that there are people out there who just want to be able to click and buy. Many of our younger customers, who are looking for the latest Dr. Dre headphones or Sonos wireless music system, will immediately go online and we’ll be there to meet them with this substantial investment.”
He insists however that Cloney will continue to provide a comprehensive and personal service for those who prefer the bricks and mortar audio experience.
“We’ll always be interested in music and we’re still very much two-channel orientated,” he says. “And we’ll always have people who want to drop into our showrooms to listen to high quality equipment. The majority of our customers are normal people who are looking for value – and that’s what we offer, excellence at an affordable price. We also sell pre-owned and ex-demonstration products, most of which were sold by us originally.”
The growth in streaming-based, multi-room hi-fi such as the acclaimed Sonos system is one of the reasons Cloney have decided to expand their online presence.
“It’s the kind of product people more and more tend to buy online. A system such as Sonos is very user friendly and easy to set up. Another positive with having access to a huge amount of music is people tend to listen to more music which can only be a good thing.”
The growth of computer based music listening has also ensured a market for high-quality DACS (standalone Digital To Analogue Converters) which, according to Cloney, are popular with those who listen to music streamed from their hard-drives or smart phones.
“The problem with a lot of these streaming products is that the DACS built into them can be a bit Mickey Mouse. Adding a decent DAC such as the Arcam D33 can improve the sound immeasurably.”
Still, some things never change and despite the advances in digital streaming and computer based systems, Cloney Audio still offer solutions for the vinyl enthusiast.
“It’s amazing,” Cloney enthuses. “In the last four or five years turntables have been outselling CD players by about five to one. They’re more popular than ever and the fact is even a cheap turntable can sound better than a cheap CD player.”

For more see cloneystore.com