I studied Chemistry for five years at secondary school, retaining many treasured memories of my principal educator, the late Fr. Malcolm Galt. In addition to his mirthless humour - “Why did the oxide (ox hide)? Because the acid (ass hid),” he relentlessly drilled into his students - “When you lapse into a state of torpor, you stagnate and when you stagnate, you become putrid!” These sobering words have been fully digested and used as a guiding light for all of my professional endeavours over the past thirty-three years.

At seventeen I entered the University of the West Indies to read Physics and became part of technology’s evolution from vacuum tubes to the (discrete and integrated circuit) solid state era. I built amplifiers and loudspeaker systems, meddling ad nauseam as my love for audio quickly became a money-sucking fetish.

Today the microprocessor ruthlessly dominates all spheres of our lives with its complex internal architecture and mind-boggling, number-crunching capability. In business, emphasis has shifted from the manufacturing sector to service industries; the Internet and social media have become essential marketing tools as the global audio industry prepares to fully endorse and embrace the computer-based front end.

Nevertheless the audiophile community has remained relatively stable as financial trends indicate that it is still possible to grow sales amidst a shrinking world economy; this requires time, diligence and creativity. So as I chart a new paradigm for Sanch, I accept that high-end audio systems and related music will continue to be an essential part of its portfolio, but not necessarily the company’s bread and butter.

Our main distribution will continue to be Canada’s NAD Electronics and matching PSB Loudspeakers. Audience high-resolution line conditioners and cable will compliment these with additional hardware supplied by MIT Cables, Torus Power and music servers sourced from Widealab of Korea. For listening, I will definitely be adding a few more labels to the Sanch repertoire, including a Classical return to Delos, as well as mainstream Jazz from Tosky Records and Ozella Music.

Sanch’s primary focus will now be centred on delivery of its proprietary Pan in Education suite of software products and related services. As such, I am pleased as punch with the new banner hyperlinked to the PETE the Panstick Infomercial. It is prominently perched atop the home page of one of the Caribbean’s oldest, largest and most stable financial institutions. Republic Bank celebrates its 175th anniversary this year and my congratulations are in order. The tagline “We’re the one for you” is appropriate and timely.

Being the quintessential paper merchant, I have resumed submissions to ultraaudio with this month’s new feature. Additionally, Editor-in-Chief Jeff Fritz has asked me to write more historical articles based on my lifelong experiences, similar to the one that I penned about the unwavering Mc Intosh in 2008. So in addition to this month’s roundup of TWBAS 2012, there will be lots more forthcoming from my pen...

Simeon L. Sandiford
Managing Director

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