It’s all about the music
Music has the power to inspire us, take us on a journey to another time and place in our memories and to connect us with the passion, heart and soul of the song writer or artist. It tells stories, connects us to others and helps us to express and release our emotions. Music reflects our culture, our experiences, our time & place and is ultimately an expression of the human condition. It nurtures us, helps us get through our day and is immensely enjoyable.
The word Music is derived from Greek μουσική (mousike)… “art of the Muses”
What do we do?
We are music lovers who enjoy sharing our passion for great music and equipment which brings it to life in a way that allows us to fully appreciate it. Nirvana Sound is an audio distribution and consulting business based in Melbourne, Australia and is dedicated to representing the finest audio equipment to discerning music lovers. Some of our products can be auditioned through a carefully selected network of national dealers and others via our own demonstration rooms. We enjoy developing personal relationships with our clients and assisting them as their musical and sonic journey evolves.
We search the world to find exceptional audio reproduction equipment that has the ability to give you an experience of ultimate musical enjoyment. We offer you our experience and bring you these exceptional brands to help you attain that feeling that you are searching for, the experience of musical ‘nirvana’.
What makes us different?
We believe that there are a few key elements that differentiate us from other audio distributors:
- Our aim is to offer our clients the top end of what is available in the world today. The very best sounding brands are not necessarily the best known brands as they are usually small operations without substantial marketing budgets producing high value low volume pieces.
- Ultimate sound quality, realism, emotional ‘goose-bumps’ & reliability are our key criteria.
- We only sell brands that we personally love and use.
- We are not ‘box movers’ and do not work with brands that impose sales KPI’s on us. Instead, we work with enthusiasm and integrity by only representing brands that we are passionate about.
- Despite the fact that our brands are representative of the upper end of the market, we believe that high-end does not necessarily need to be high-cost. We see high-end audio representing a bespoke approach to all the details that result in high performance.
- We provide personal, highly attentive service. Every client has different needs and we work tirelessly to understand these needs and achieve a high level of satisfaction for our clients, which we consider to be our Nirvana Sound family.
- It is important to us to nurture and foster friendships and a sense of community around the appreciation of music and great sound. We do this via an active events program.
Our People
Nirvana Sound is comprised of many passionate, experienced and talented people. Each person that works within our team or within our network is first and foremost a ‘music-nutter’ with an infectious enthusiasm for music and a desire to help others achieve a great sound. Beyond that, our people are carefully selected for their experience with equipment, room set-up and all the factors that combine to achieve enjoyment of this hobby. We welcome you to contact Nirvana Sound and meet our wonderful team but here’s a brief introduction to some of our people:
PAUL ASTBURY
General Manager
Paul brings a lifetime of audio experience to the Nirvana team. His love of music (and the audio equipment to reproduce it) began as a young teenager. When he moved to Melbourne in 1990, his love of music saw him go to as many live bands as he could. His first long-term employment was selling audio and video components in a boutique hi-fi store. After only a few years he moved into wholesale and has since spent his entire working life immersed in music, movies and audio-visual components, whilst occupying a wide range of roles in sales, training, product management and marketing of multiple high-profile brands. He feels very fortunate to have made a career out of his passion and there’s nothing more satisfying to Paul than sharing his infectious enthusiasm with the Nirvana Sound community.
SOPHIE LE MINH
Office & Operations Manager
Sophie’s extensive experience in many disciplines places her in a great position to service the needs of Nirvana Sound’s clients as our Office & Operations Manager. Having grown up in Paris, Sophie is a lover of culture and an appreciator of the arts, which resonates with what Nirvana Sound celebrates. Overseeing the company’s day to day operations ranging from admin, purchasing, logistics, accounts and digital marketing, Sophie brings with her experience in systems management, customer service and a degree in ‘getting things done right’. A much-loved member of the Nirvana team, Sophie’s contagious positivity and tireless effort are central to the experience our clients receive.
MARK DÖHMANN
Technical Services Manager
They say that when you are born with a passion for music, you can’t escape it. This is certainly true for Mark Döhmann, who’s lifelong love of music and audio design has led him on an interesting journey. A keen student of analogue systems, Mark began servicing and repairing turntables in the 1970’s and ultimately designed and manufactured some of the most acclaimed high end turntable designs in the last 25 years, for which he won a Sound and Vision magazine Lifetime Achievement award for services to Analogue and Industry in 2018. With over 40 years of experience in audio, Mark oversees Nirvana Sound’s customer experiences, including auditions, events, community activities and equipment recommendations. Drawing on his extensive experience with all technologies & formats, Mark relishes the opportunity to serve Nirvana Sound’s clients and assist them to achieve a greater enjoyment of their music systems.
GEORGE MORAITIS
Founder
One of George’s first childhood memories was the joy of listening to his father play guitar. With a professional guitarist father and a folk-singer mother, there was almost a feeling of inevitability that George would have a strong connection to music in his life. Known for his passion for music and the wide range of equipment that has graced his listening room, George enjoys nothing more than sharing music with people.
Due to his travel & involvement in high-end audio over decades, George has experienced some of the most well-known & accomplished audiophile systems in the world. He has a passion for music and an infectious enthusiasm for achieving great sound. Overseeing the company’s sales & marketing activities, he writes blogs and spends a lot of his time critically listening & curating the product offerings. “One of the benefits of this hobby is that you meet very interesting people and the friendships formed over listening to music are very precious to me. I am driven to give our clients the same joy that I feel when I’m at a concert or immersed in my favourite record at home.”
JIM ANGELOPOULOS
Founder
As a teenager, Jim remembers the usual Saturday routine of catching the train to the city record store, hanging out with friends exploring new music, then coming home in the afternoon with virtually all his pocket money spent on a bag of records. “I guess it was obvious from then that I had a fascination with music that most people around me thought was crazy”. Jim remembers key moments of his life based on which concert he went to at the time, which band was popular or which song he had ‘on repeat’.
Jim has noted that there’s an emerging trend in the audio community now that he can really relate to. In a world where we are immersed in convenience gadgets, people are beginning to say ‘I like that I can have music whenever I want it but I want to connect with it more like I do at a live event’. Quality over quantity. Emotion over convenience. Overseeing Nirvana Sound’s Operations & Logistics activities, Jim is excited by what Nirvana Sound does for their clients. “I love watching the reactions people have when hearing a great audio system for the first time. It’s like they just heard the actual song for the first time”.