Sound man whose business is all about listening

Now 40 years in the business, Cloney Audio is a byword for quality hi-fi systems, writes Rose Doyle

You'd never know, passing Cloney Audio's modest frontage in Blackrock, Co Dublin, that behind the discreet hall door, the unassuming, homey-looking window, lies the haunt of the serious sound man and woman, the once and always, some say only, place for those who know what they want when it comes to acoustic and music listening needs.

Not so much a supplier as a way of life, Coney Audio (hi-fi in the house since 1966 is its by-word) conducts business from a semi-detached, three-storey house built in 1860 - the house in which writer Charles Kickham lived and died.

"Every inch is used for the business," Noel Cloney gives an affectionate look around the home cinema room, "we've divided the house into showroom, demonstration room, offices and storage. We've kept fireplaces and such where we could and are due to make a few minor structural changes. We'll reorganise as a result."

Nothing major, though. Nothing that will change the welcoming feel, the secure sense that this is where listening, and latterly viewing equipment, is king, expertly selected and knowledgeably sold with care and affection.

Latterly, too, a large part of the Cloney Audio business involves multi-room hi-fi, full home automation, plasma and LCD TVs and home cinema systems. All a long way from where it began in 1966 - but still with its heart in the core, music listening business.

Cloney's a Wexford name, according to Noel Cloney, founder and managing director, father of Ivan and Alan, between them in charge of sales and programmes/technical support, husband to Anne, who over the years since they married in 1968 has been "the other half of the business", handling the financial side of things. Daughter Emma is the Cloney not in the business; she's got a very successful IT career of her own.

Noel Cloney had something of a peripatetic upbringing, the family "moving all over the place. Living in London I developed an interest in music, worked in the hi-fi business in Shaftesbury Avenue and went to the Royal Albert Hall and the proms and jazz concerts at night where I got to know what it all sounded like live. In my early 20s I came back to Ireland."

It was the mid-1960s and he decided electrical engineering was for him. Never one to sit around, he studied radio and TV in Kevin Street by night while working for Brown Lee Bros of Molesworth Street by day. (He qualified as a pilot in the mid-1970s and flew planes for 25 years . . . just by the way). Brown Lee manufactured radios and TVs on the premises, and sold them, too, so the young Noel Cloney got an intensive and all-encompassing knowledge of the business.

Talking about it brings on a nostalgia for brand names now gone. "Big names like Leak," he says, "who made amplifiers, and Goodmans who made loud speakers. I got the buzz that maybe I should set up my own company. Not many people were doing hi-fi at the time, it was seen as a niche market. TVs had become the huge new market and the radio dealer was the man selling them."

In November 1966 he opened his first place at 108 St Stephen's Green. Things got off to "a great start" but the lease was short and by February he'd moved to Lincoln Place. Cloney Audio did well there, became quickly familiar and sought out by customers who included president Erskine Childers (who politely joined the queue with his modest sound system under his arm) as well as sound afficionados nationwide. "The business then was strictly sound," Noel points out, "mostly high quality sound systems, and we were one of very few people dealing in it. Peter Dand in Clonskeagh was another; he's recently retired."

Noel Cloney has always aimed to deal in "good quality sound at all price levels. Because we did the job properly and looked after customers the perception was that we were expensive. But we're not. The typical hi-fi customer is someone on a modest income who appreciates good music. Here he can buy what he wants second-hand and we guarantee the product. Hi-fi separates are unique in the sense that they retain a high proportion of their value year after year."

In the mid-1970s Cloney Audio moved to Rathmines. But Noel Cloney had always hoped to set up in the Blackrock/Dún Laoghaire area and did so, eventually and in 1986, when he bought the present premises at 55 Main Street. By then the company had acquired the agency for such as Bowers and Wilkins - now Europe's largest loudspeaker manufacturers, and Arcam, the UK's biggest hi-fi equipment manufacturers.

The biggest changes in the business have happened in the last 10 years - and they're big.

"In the beginning we sold open reel tape recorders. The first I ever sold was a Sony TC500A. It weighed 76lbs! A hi-fi system then was a record player/turntable, a stereo amplifier and pair of loudspeakers. The customer might add a radio tuner, followed by an open-reel tape recorder or, as times moved on, a cassette tape.

"Things have and haven't changed. People still buy a CD player, an amplifier and pair of speakers and build up a sound system. Some of the better manufacturers, like Arcam, have finally come round to making single, high-quality one box solutions.

"Back in the 1960s we surprised people by showing how close to the real thing a good hi-fi could sound.Nowadays we're still doing the same thing. Most people are staggered, too, at how good our basic hi-fi system sounds and say they've never heard anything like it. Without exception they expect to pay more than the €800 it costs. We find it educational and it's always great to introduce people to great sound."

The market has changed. These days Cloney Audio has "several different types of customer, many who want sound throughout the home, usually controlled by key pads in walls or by remote control. We do lighting and full home automation - which effectively means automatic control of heating, specialised lighting and security just about anything which can be controlled by electronics."

For all of this Cloney now has a team of electricians, installers and programmers, along with those who work in the shop.

"We still have the quality aspect high in our value system," Noel Cloney assures. Their customer mix hasn't changed greatly, he says, lovers of classical, jazz and pop music swinging through the doors regularly.

The biggest latter-day problem is, he says, "the downgrading of music quality - iPods and MP3 players offer convenience but they compress the music and so we've a new generation of listeners who really never have heard how good stuff can sound."

Cloney, and he is adamant, will not sell iPods and MP3 players.

He has a few different systems of his own. A favourite is made up of a couple of Quad electrostatic speakers used with high quality CD player and record player with valve amplification. "The sound," he says modestly, "is staggeringly good. I've also got a system with Bowers and Wilkins modern speakers in conjunction with AV Audio system with Plasma TV. Now that's an absolutely great sound. I listen to classical and jazz mainly, and 1960s pop music. The Beatles are the best ever!"

He's got the odd other speciality too. Peter Sellers used be a customer - and gave him a BASF tape of Goon Shows never broadcast. Taped in 1958 they're hilarious and precious. Other customers through the years have included The Chieftains, The Corrs, Christy Moore, Adam Clayton and Elvis Costello.

Cloney Audio is "looking forward to the future" Noel says. "There are lots of exciting things happening. All sorts of new formats and new opportunities."

He pauses. "I'm happy," he says.

A passion in life will do that.