HWM Singapore — May 2017

Q&A

PHOTOGRAPHY

TAN WEITE

ART DIRECTION

KEN KOH

WAKING THE

SILENT HOME

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I think what has changed is the

context. As an audio consumer

myself, 30 or 40 years ago we

wanted high quality, and we

wanted the experience to be very

meaningful. That’s still consistent,

what’s different in the world we

live now is the medium, instant

gratiï cation, and accessibility.

What we’ve found is that people

want their own music experience.

Everyone has their own perspective

on how they like to hear things and

the artist thinks the same way. So,

striking that balance is something

we spend a lot of time on, and we get

names like Hans Zimmer and Giles

Martin as sound advisories because

we take this very seriously. We try to

make it as authentic as possible in

the rooms where music and sound

exists.

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 O

Streaming is still what we see as

the trend that sticks out. When I

joined the company seven years ago,

our mantra was, “Within ï ve years

everybody is going to be streaming.”

It’s taken slightly longer than ï ve

years, but I think we’re now ï nally

seeing that tipping point where

money is starting to be made.

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Well, we’re about listening out

loud, but we’re also about waking

up the silent home. We don’t think

headphones achieve that. We’re

constantly challenging ourselves to

unlock more homes, more rooms

with music. Headphones are a

very personal way to consume it,

and we want it to be a more social

experience, so it’s more about

listening out loud at home.

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    O

When I’m demonstrating a product,

I always ask people if there’s a piece

of music they really want to hear.

Because familiarity with music is

almost everything. If there’s a piece

you know really well, that would

be the ï rst step, but then we would

go on to think about how you want

to use the speaker, the different

situations and options you will use

it in.

It’s about the ability and ð exibility

that the system offers. You’re not

just auditioning the speaker, you’re

thinking about how the system

works in the home. There are many

cues that bring you into home design

now, and to have sound to be as

considered as lighting or pieces of

furniture just opens up a broader

market. Who doesn’t want more

music around?

42 +:0 | MAY 2017