Dealer Profile

Carlisle, Newcastle and Workington, United Kingdom

We recently spoke with Matt Tyson of Peter Tyson, one of the UK’s premier HiFi and audio dealers. Here’s what Matt had to tell us...

How did Peter Tyson’s start up?

‘’The business was formed in 1966 when my father, Peter Tyson, who was a TV engineer, built up a business from repairing and reselling televisions. The business then expanded into selling televisions, VHS, white goods and other appliances. In 1981, the business branched into Hifi and Arcam was one of the first brands to this portfolio along with other well-known British Brands. Most of our business is online; we sold our first product online in 2000, so we have a wealth of experience in the ever-changing retail environment. We also have 2 outlets; 1 big superstore in Shaddongate where the head office is based, and a shop in Newcastle – both of these stores have a full Dolby Atmos theatres featuring an Arcam AVR.’’

How many people are in the team?

‘’We have 50 people across the business but 10 of those are Hifi specialists who are experts in the brands. Most people have never heard of Hifi, so having dedicated experts to this category is one of our unique selling points. Because we sell a range of products for the home, we expand the opportunity for Hifi to be introduced to new consumers, allowing Tyson’s to cross-sell hi-fi products’’

Thoughts on the importance of training?

‘’Training is massive to Tyson’s, especially for our ‘brand’ experts. We have at least 2 training sessions a month with the manufacturers of the products we sell, and we take training opportunities at manufacturer premises whenever we can. Arcam has always been great for providing training, and the quality of training has always been good. The training we get for our in-house brand experts really sets us apart from the competition which again, provides one of our unique selling points’’

What do you like most about the products and which ranges do you see as the key products?

‘’We have been a retailer for Arcam and other well-established British brands such as Linn, Naim and Marantz for over 30 years. From the Harman Luxury Audio brands we have recently added some of the JBL Loudspeakers lines.

Arcam’s AVR’s are one of our key hi-fi products, is it our go-to brand for home cinema. The AVR’s are a cut above anyone else’s – high performance, simple to use, simple to set up and install. This is why we feature them in both of our theatres. The JBL L100’s are a great addition to our product ranges with their unique styling - they have a great story and sound great – we are also trying out some of the other Harman Luxury Audio ranges’’

How do you think the audio industry is currently doing?

‘’I think the industry faces many challenges because music is now predominantly streamed, but it’s also consumed more than ever which provides a great opportunity for the industry to deliver new products and services. We consistently invest in our business to keep up with the changing environment to provide the best products and service to our customers.

Many of us at Tyson’s have a passion for Hifi – my first Hifi product was 20 years ago, I bought an Arcam Delta 290 along with the matching CD player – we have been in the hi-fi business for over 30 years which is rare to see, this gives us great knowledge and experience in the industry.’’

What is Peter Tyson’s mission?

‘’Our mission is to deliver a fantastic service at a competitive price. We are focused on providing the best service and experience to our customers. We are a forward-thinking company with a level of experience and knowledge that puts us in a unique position to provide the highest level of customer care. We not only have a great online and retail store presence, but we also have dedicated teams who can deliver and install products too.

As an example of our forward-thinking ethos, we hold many events in our superstore to promote products and engage our consumers. We recently held an event that featured a celebrity chef and, we have hosted many movie nights!’’

Any final comments?

‘’To summarise, we are a loud and proud Arcam dealer, and we think there are some really interesting products coming up for the brand which we are excited for. The JBL L100’s are a great addition to our portfolio and provide an excellent match to the Arcam 2 channel Hi-fi products. We have a great relationship with the team at Arcam, the support from the team has always been great, and we look forward to the new product launches and further training opportunities.’’

You can learn more about Peter Tyson on their website at petertyson.co.uk