Chance or Fate? It was quite by accident that The Soul of Music discovered HGP loudspeakers.

This happened during the 1999 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas in January 1999. DIVA designer T S Lim and I were exhibiting DIVA amplifiers at THE SHOW next door to CES. We shared the room with a small American speaker company (nothing to get excited about) and DH Ceramic Cones.

It so happened that someone from HGP visited our room to check out the DH Cones. So later, we returned a courtesy visit just to say "Hello".

That was on the last day of the show. I had a few more courtesy calls to
make, many more exhibits I wanted to check out, so I did not spend much
time at the HGP room, nor pay much attention to it. But T S Lim stayed on
and talked a while with the designer, Horst Gunther Paul - Mr HGP.

Later, Lim told me: "Great speaker. The best I've heard in this whole show!"

Really? Somehow it did not grab my attention. Maybe it was because I was
rushing about. Maybe because I was not familiar with the test CD that Lim
used, Buddhist Chant (Hugo HRP-753-2) featuring a solo Chinese instrument
called the Zheng.

The real reason, I must confess, is that I am not a very experienced
listener. I am not very good at evaluating equipment and telling whether
the good sound comes from the speakers, amplifiers, CD player or cables.
Lim has 20 years more experience than I, plus he has had hifi "teachers".

"What's so good about the speakers." I asked Lim.

His answer: "So expressive, you really get the feeling. And so powerful, so
dynamic, yet so peaceful."

By this time the show was over. I missed the chance to hear the HGP speakers again.

I trust Lim's good judgement and would have imported them on his recommendation. But I did not have the money.

Many months later, an "angel" came to help. He came in the form of Werner,
one of my very good customers who became also a good friend. Werner had
earlier bought, through me, a pair of ProAc 3.5 but he was going to sell them to his former boss and buy something better. He was thinking of maybe the ProAc 3.8 or even higher model.

Since Werner was going back to Germany for a few weeks, I asked him to check out HGP.

Werner was so impressed that although he heard only the Fuga, HGP's second
top model, he decided to order the top model Lyra So Nova. He also offered to help me import another two models so that I can get the HGP dealership. In return, I offered him a good discount on the HGP Lyra. It was a win-win
arrangement.

And so HGP finally reached Singapore. Within a week, I sold the Fuga to another of my long-time customers, Roland, who had been shopping for speakers for several months. I kept asking him to wait for the HGP. He was
glad he waited.

The designer, Mr HGP himself, came by last November when we showed HGP at the hifi show at the Meridien.

The HGP brand is not yet well known outside Europe, but German magazines
rate it very highly. All HGP models are classified by German hifi magazines
as being either "Reference Class" or "Top Class", alongside other brands that cost much more.

HGP only recently began to export more to the US and elsewhere. The Soul of
Music is proud to be HGP's first dealer in Asia.

What really impresses about the HGP is that all models posses the same
characteristic sound. When you switch from the most expensive to the cheapest model - a switch from nearly $20,000 to just over $2000 - you will not be disappointed.

Instead, many customers have reacted with a smile: "Hey! This is still very
good :-)"

Richard Seah

Back to HGP Speakers . . .

The Soul of Music / DIVA Classic Audio
E-mail : seahss@singnet.com.sg
#03-46 The Adelphi
1 Coleman Street
Singapore 179803
Tel / Fax : (65) 33 777 15
Handphone : (65) 9712 0616
Business hours: Tuesdays to Saturdays, 1.00 pm to 6:30 pm

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