Who are we?

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I'm Paul the founder & owner of Solid-Sounds. Solid-Sounds was born from necessity as I was looking for a hifi rack to house my own system in our living room. Every option I showed my wife was discounted for reasons such as too shiny, too big, too expensive and not hiding the cables at the back. The question was posed to me "why can't you make something that is both visually appealing but also does what you need it to do?". The very first commission was designed and made!

Fast forward from that first rack design in 2017 and Solid-Sounds has built hundreds of bespoke hifi racks each delivering both style and performance for customers who like me wanted a rack that isn't like the usual mass-produced stuff. The ability to tailor a design to the customers equipment and space has been the real success of the business with no two racks being the same. Using traditional highly skilled cabinet making methods each commission is painstakingly brought to life with love and care.

Along with our hifi furniture we also love to add innovation to the turntable market with a range of plinths and accessories that break new ground. Our creativity is one of our biggest strengths so when the idea of developing a speaker was born it inevitably had to be something unique. After numerous progressive prototypes the HEX3 compact open baffle was finally realised. With our trademark design aesthetic, the HEX3 are a truly striking loudspeaker and by working in partnership with the hugely talented Alchris Audio founder the crossover has made the HEX3 a world class product.

In 2022 space was proving a challenge so we made the decision to start looking for larger premises ideally with a space where we could display our designs to the public. This search finally found the new home of Solid-Sounds in a 19th Century textile Mill in West Leeds. The new space was named the Solid-Sounds Spinning Room in homage to its textile heritage.

As an obsessive audiophile who has lived and breathed this hobby for decades it was always the plan to have working systems housed in our furniture in the Spinning Room. This idea quickly developed into deciding to stock a carefully select small range of products that our customers could buy rather than just admire! Choosing products that we are comfortable representing has been challenging, it was never our aim to hold brands that are commonplace in the usual high street Hifi shops, they're already catered for. Setting ourselves the challenge to only hold brands that excel in both design, value and performance continues to be challenging but with our network of fellow enthusiasts helping us we have curated a range of hifi electronics that we are very proud of.

The final piece of our journey was to take what we have in the Spinning Room and share it with others. Our regular open days, product testing & launch events are becoming a key part of what we are about. The space is like no other retail space in the UK and when shared with fellow enthusiast comes to life with shared energy and passion for all things music and hifi.

Solid-Sounds Founder - Paul Knipe

We love to bring like minded enthusiasts together and our regular open days do just that. We get a huge amount of satisfaction seeing how the Spinning Room fosters new friendships and bonds.