price. Find a system that suits and we will happily strike some form of a deal (within the constraints that many of our suppliers apply).

Oh, and we don't do valves (Stax energisers honourably excepted). Many years ago I found myself preferring a lowly Densen B100 amplifier to many thousands of pounds of Unison monoblocks and valve, even expensive passive, preamps. I honestly think much of the valve following has its roots in trying to take the edge off dreadful digital sources. Sure, there are good valve amps. No really, there must be. It's just that I have yet to hear any that have any that come close to offering the coherence, bass to treble, and overall transparency of good solid state. Even the imaging can be bettered with transistor designs.

We won't treat you like an idiot. You don't need to be a hi-fi buff in order to tell a good music system from a bad one. In fact the lack of knowledge could well be an advantage in keeping prejudices at bay. So many people are sure that they don't have "golden ears", only to become quite fired up when they discover how easy it all is. We might sell a two-and-a-bit grand Nordost interconnect (and with feeling) but we are certainly not elitist.

Both Andy and myself could live happily with the entry level Naim system with Castle Richmond 3i speakers. OK, so we might save up for a CD5X and some decent mains leads, hmm, all right, the Arivas too.

The fact remains that a sub £2000 system can still offer real involvement and genuinely addictive music.

First of all, reassuring stuff:

We don't do hard sell. Ever. Having only last week resorted to asking a car salesmen to stop trying to close the deal and simply let us go, I know how detrimental pressure can be. We are in this for the long haul, not the quick one - off sale.

Less reassuringly, we don't 'do' choice, at least not oodles of it. At a given price level we are unlikely to have more than a handful of combinations of products. Within my first two years of trading I met with a bright clear thinking customer. Despite his intellect and, worse, dammit, wealth, we got along well and he asked to see what other products I had in the stock room. I had already amassed an Aladdin's cave of products that were rarely played to customers. "Why do you have them?" "Um, well, they are going to suit someone. . . "

His pearl of wisdom? "If you don't rate them, in the context of other pieces of kit that you sell, then the odds are neither will your customer." Obvious as hell but frequently overlooked in the desire to offer choice. Even now we occasionally have to remind ourselves that if we are going to impress you, we must first be impressed ourselves. It is all too easy to be taken in by the next 'big thing'.

We only stock things we really get along with. Mistakes still happen, of course, but they are usually dispensed with at a discounted price in fairly short order. In a given listening session none of us have a tolerance for more than three or maybe four 'flavours'. We don't want to waste anyone's time on dross.

Over time Signals has evolved a house sound. Strangely, even our progression towards Naim products represents a progression of our preferred character. Customers who 'connect' with it tend to remain. It won't be for everyone, but the success rate is pretty high.

We don't offer discounted prices over the phone either, so please don't ask. It's not that we're mean, tight or want to rip you off, it is just that we know what it's like to demonstrate products, only for the customer to ring around for a better

Arcam, ATC, Audio Technica, Creek, Chord Company, Eichmann, Dynavector, Epos, Focal / JM Labs, Grado headphones, Harbeth,

Isoblue (and special branch), Kudos Audio, Lyngdorf, Lyra, Michell Engineering, Naim Audio, Neat Acoustics, Nordost, Origin Live, Ortofon, Nottingham Analogue, Partington, Primare, Rega, Roksan, Sim2, Graham Slee, Shahinian, Something Solid, Stands Unique, Stax Earspeakers, Sumiko, Trichord, Wireworld, Wyrewizard