Welcome to Phonostage Audio

Who are we?

Phonostage Audio is a trading name of Phonostage Records. We are a small family business, based in Lancashire and it is fair to say that we are obsessed with music!! Anyone who is into records may well have come across Phonostage Records before, either to buy records or even to sell them! We have been sending orphaned vinyl records to caring owners all around the world since 2014 and we have sold over 10,000 records since.

Phonostage Demo Room

What do we do?

Here’s the thing… we don’t just sell records; we also sell stuff to play them on… lovely stuff! Phonostage Records has branched out into Phonostage Audio and we sell a fine range of gorgeous HiFi equipment from our website.

The products that we sell are a bit special. We are not just ‘box shifters’ here… there are no robots working at Phonostage Audio, not even one of those little things that goes round and cleans the carpet! I have given much thought to the things that mean something to me, and this has shaped how we have developed much of the range of things we sell.

Many of the companies that I have chosen to deal with are those that have moved me some way in the past or that I have owned myself in recent years and been over the moon with - like Graham Slee products, hand made in a small workshop in Yorkshire with great care and with some of the best thought out electronics I have heard!

How did we get here?

My name is Tony Hesketh and I started Phonostage Records back in 2013 with a dream of making my way in the music business in some way. I have had a life of being in bands, dreaming about the big time, playing guitar, collecting records and HiFi equipment and generally obsessing over music! I remember trawling the free ads before the Internet took over the world, looking for old Rogers and Spendor speakers or old Quad valve amps…If only I still had all that stuff now!

When I was 12 years old, I dismantled one of my radio-cassettes to tap into the speaker wiring to add another speaker… I was convinced I had made it stereo! Then I learned to add tweeters to cheap Ferguson or whatever speakers that had only one (cheap) speaker in… That’s a big step when you are 12!!

My interest has never waned... and I have learned such a lot since then!

I have had loads of components, various rooms to try them in and all manner of budgets to buy them with - some big, some small. I realised that I had amassed a lot of knowledge about what goes well with what and why - and I learned a lot about records! I had amassed quite a collection of all kinds of rock covering five decades and I had really learned to get the best out of my equipment and get the best out of my budget! Starting up a record store that also sold HiFi equipment seemed like a natural progression.

Now I really enjoy sharing my experience and knowledge with other people. I love it when I get a call from someone asking, ‘What would go with this?’, or ‘How could I do that?’ I get to use that experience, combined with a sound knowledge of the products that we have here - to help find that perfect solution (and of course it is another good excuse to talk about HiFi, which never wears thin!)

Tony Grading Vinyl Record

How can we help?

  • We can help you to discover a brilliant listening experience. So much better than you thought possible!
  • We can help make it simple and less complicated.
  • We want you to feel comfortable and never feel intimidated when you are shopping for HiFi.. no matter what you know and what you don’t… We never take ourselves too seriously and are such an approachable bunch!
  • We can help you to see where to start... when it seems so overwhelming, by offering good advice and making things more understandable.
  • You’ll get no sales pressure here! and we never tire of talking about music!
  • We want to help Improve your listening experience without you having to go crazy - just spend what is right for you and don’t over-buy (unless you specifically want to like I do sometimes!)
  • We have a diverse range of both vinyl records and HiFi equipment.
  • This is a small, independent business - friendly and knowledgeable so you get a more personal service.

What makes Phonostage stand out?

We don’t just sell HiFi Equipment, we sell wonderful, collectable vinyl records… This makes so much sense - I have often wondered why so many car showrooms don’t sell petrol! They sell the cars but not the stuff to make them run.

 

  • Phonostage has now been selling premium brands of HiFi equipment for seven years and we have a superb track record for customer satisfaction.

You can be part of the Phonostage community - with thousands of others! We have over two thousand followers on Facebook, a steadily growing Insta crowd and a fast-developing YouTube channel! You are more than welcome to join us... Follow us and see what we are up to… We are always up to something!

Thanks all and happy listening!