The Audio Therapy Demonstration Room

The Audio Therapy demonstration room is always a busy place, whether it is a customer listening to a new amplifier or loudspeakers or the evaluation of new products or brands there is always something going on.

I don’t operate from a shop or retail unit – instead I am based from my home, an old farmhouse. I often get asked why I don’t have a traditional shop and the honest answer is it would be closed for 75% of the week, I spent the majority of my time visiting customers in their homes, demonstrating and installing new equipment, highly specialist retailing has dramatically changed over the past few years and this way of working allows me incredible flexibility which customers seem to like.

The demonstration room tends to be used the most by new customers often visiting me for the first time. I always enjoy welcoming a new customer through the door, some people can occasionally be a little wary about visiting due to the fact I operate at home, but it never takes long for that to fall away once the music starts.

It’s not unusual for someone to listen to a couple of different products and then continue with a home demonstration before they make their final decision, the demo room has become an indispensable tool for the business and it serves as a tremendous ice breaker.  Typically with most customers once a relationship has been established I tend to simply visit them, a home demonstration is crucial to ensure that any potential purchase is right for your system and also your room.

The room itself serves me well, it’s fairly modest space, measuring 4.5 metres by 3 metres with a 2.8m tall ceiling.

When we purchased our home in the summer of 2022 I was incredibly keen to refurbish the demonstration room as it looked rather tired. But there was a substantial list of work that was needed to be done around the house that took precedence so the demonstration room was put on the back burner whilst other work was carried out, primarily to the outside of the house. We had scaffolding installed which was initially erected for a 6 week period, but it was still there 9 months later.

With the business continuing to grow combined with cut and thrust of everyday life I did not start the demonstration room refurbishment until the summer of 2025. What was originally planned as new decoration, new carpet and a nice listening chair turned rather quickly into a full blown refurbishment. It become rather apparent that the wallpaper was holding the plaster up on the walls, so we took the room back to 4 bare brick walls and started again. This work started in July 2025 and the room was completed in January 2026.

I always said I wanted the room to be step change from the original look and I think it’s fair to say we achieved that. Before we started the refurbishment the room had been acoustically mapped by Acustica Applicata and I was using a number of their products in the room. But, I was unable to follow the room map completely because the picture rail and dado rail prevented the vertical installation of a number of Eco DaaD devices.

The completion of the new room allowed me to finish the acoustic installation to the specification of the original room map and a sizeable selection of their room treatment products have now become a permanent installation in the room.

This has been a tremendous addition to the space, effectively allowing me to control and optimise the acoustic environment which makes the room sound like it is 2 or 3 times larger than its actual size and as result it never fails to take people by surprise when they experience it. The effectiveness of the Acustica Applicata products is incredibly easy to demonstrate as well and this has resulted in many customers unintentionally asking me to map their rooms and integrating some product into their space. It is a powerful addition to any system/room and it frequently demonstrates again and again that the listening room itself is what holds a system back.

Airt Audio, the UK importer of Acustica Applicata, Entreq and Stillpoints has long championed the concept of “Lowering the Noise Floor” when both designing a system from the ground up and also when optimising an existing system. This concept involves improving musical performance by lowering noise levels in both a system (electrically and mechanically) and room (acoustically). By extracting more information from our music leads to improved performance which in turn allows us to better connect with both our favourite music and musicians so it’s a great thing to experience.

In the summer of 2026 Airt Audio announced that they were setting up a process of Accreditation for dealers who have completed a number of training courses based around the principles of lowering the noise floor. There were 3 levels of accreditation available and I’m proud to report than as of September 2026 Audio Therapy is the first UK dealer to have been awarded ‘Accredited Room’ status as well as Accredited Partner and also Accredited Specialist.

Acustica Applicata have on their own website a listed of certified listening rooms around the world, the Audio Therapy demonstration room with the first UK room featured on their own website.

This level of accreditation hopefully highlights the focus and commitment that we have placed upon the core principles of “Lowering the Noise Floor”. We have the ability to allow visitors to experience systems with incredible synergy  — where grounding, vibration control, acoustics combined with carefully matched components work together to reveal new levels of performance.

I carry an extensive array of products on permanent demonstration – electronics, loudspeakers as well as a significant amount of noise lowering products. If you are looking for a complete system, a single component upgrade like a new pair of loudspeakers, the listening room is a great place to a get a feel for a selection of products before we visit your home for a more extensive demonstration.

Many assume the demonstration room is only reserved for the most expensive products I carry, the reality of it couldn’t be further from the truth, customer demonstrations for more modest equipment is a frequent occurrence and if a customer isn’t decided by the end of the demonstration I would always encourage a home trial.

Ultimately, the demonstration room is here for customers to take advantage of!