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Vale Josef Riediger


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I am really saddened by this loss. Joe was one of the first of the "big boys" to support me personally and my vision for StereoNET. He didn't hesitate getting behind us, even though he was a little old school and didn't totally understand what we did. That was over a decade ago, and in that time we would argue back and forth most often by text messages, about what StereoNET does and how we do it. This even happened as recently as just weeks ago, and even after he understood his diagnosis. His commitment to what he did and loved was second to none.

 

I owe a lot of thanks to Josef. He carved out the high end industry, and delivered many brands to the market that this country may otherwise never have experienced.

 

With help from the family and industry colleagues, we have prepared a much larger tribute piece to Josef, almost a biography if you will, that will be published later today.

 

Rest in peace Joe.

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Very sad to see,  Joe was a real legend and a character in the industry , I learned early on to not get in an argument with him he was always opinionated but he was invariably correct !

 

I bought most of my gear from him and followed him from his humble days at Bankstown Hifi to his flagship AudioConnection store(s). 

 

I fear for the future of any form of high end retailers with Joe no longer around.

 

Vale Joe

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Damn, this is terrible news. 

 

I only saw him a  few months back - he was still his normal self telling me to upgrade my gear as the new models are so much better:).   I had known Joe all the way back from his days at Bankstown.  I will spin some songs on my big Wilsons today as my own tribute.

 

RIP Joe.

Edited by metal beat
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This is devastating news for the Australian hifi industry. He was so passionate about this industry and it always showed whenever I spoke to him, which would have been about a six weeks ago. He always graciously gave his time to me whenever I visited his store. I grew up in Banktown and fondly remember 'Bankstown City HiFi'.  I went there as a kid and bought all my records from there and lusted after all the equipment. 

 

I'd like to express my sincerest condolences to his family and all those at Audio Connection.  He will be missed. 

 

Vale Joe 

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Sad news indeed-whether one liked him or not--I agree one of the giants of a depleting Bricks and Mortar industry.

 

I can count myself as a friend having known him since 1987 and we'd done many buy/sell deals together over the years since.

 

I actually spoke to him about 6 months ago but knew he had been not in good health for awhile.

 

The Nigel fellow I don't know -I gather Phil is no longer associated-also the Son -wonder if he will step in.

 

Maggie is smart I'm sure she will steady the ship--condolences to her and family.

 

RIP my friend

 

Willco

Edited by Willco
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When I was a young pup sometime in the ‘90s, I saw an ad for a local hi-fi shop, so wandered down as I wanted some bookshelf speakers. I was amazed at what was on display, this place wasn’t the usual white goods store that sold electrical equipment that I was used to. I was automatically attracted to the items with the highest price tags, if stuff was this expensive I thought it must be good- right?

 

I ended up talking to this bloke standing next to me in paint spattered overalls (apparently he was painting his new shop). Well this bloke really knew his stuff, he directed me away from looking at the price tag, and explained what I should be looking at, and pointed out me to this lovely black pioneer amplifier as an example.

 

After talking to him for a while, I decided on some bookshelf speakers (along with a Krix centre speaker). On my way out I thanked him for the chat, then he gave me his card, it was Josef.

 

I remember leaving thinking ‘”what a top bloke”.

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Vale Josef.

 

I also grew up only about 5km from the store at Bankstown and subsequently, as a budding audio enthusiast  I used to visit the shop when I was on my lunch break from a job I had in Bankstown, as well as any free time I had.

 

To me as a young man starting out, this was like getting the Golden Ticket to the Wonka Factory and I shall never forget  browsing the treasures therein, wishing I could buy them and planning on how to get the money to buy some of them in the Golden Age of audio.

 

RIP Joseph and thank you so much for the memories.

Edited by rantan
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I never met Josef, but bought an amp from Audio Connection. My first and only visit to the store was only a few weeks ago and I must say it's probably the most impressive Hifi store I've seen. They have an incredible range of medium to very high end gear. You could spend hours there. Undoubtedly, a great legacy of the man.

 

R.I.P Josef

 

 

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A very sad day.

There will be many stories told about this characterful and very knowledgeable man.

I was fortunate to first run into him in 1992 at the Bankstown store where I was treated with respect and made to feel welcome even though I made a relatively small purchase.

This relationship continued to the present day .

In the early days he would come and set up the equipment himself even though I lived south of Sydney.

His mind was very sharp as he would quickly identify what could be done to improve your system often with recycled/recently traded items.
One time at Leichhardt many years ago he wandered in when I was there.He was in hospital garb having discharged himself from the cardiac surgery ward.

Josef stated that he was just lying around wasting time and that it was time to get back to work.......

I will really miss you Josef.

My sincere condolences to Maggie and family as well as his loyal staff at the Audio Connection.

We will not see his like again.

Edited by Road Kill
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Very sad day indeed. I had the pleasure of knowing Joseph for 3 decades and always popped in for a chat with him and Janson when I was in Sydney.

 

I still remember how Jo and his Brother (he always joked that he had about 20 brothers) drove down to Melbourne from Sydney with a pair of traded in Sonus Fabers to hand deliver to me in the 1990's.

 

He was a warm honest and funny guy. 

 

My sincere condolences to his family and the team at Audio Connection. We lost a great Australian Hi-Fi personality.

 

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Thanks to Joe I had the wonderful experience of owning and playing with so many pieces of hi-fi in the Golden Age of the Bankstown shop.  It started for me around 1989. The days of VTL amps and the Martin Logan CLS speaker and REL subs. I still have my Artemis Eos speakers (were driven by VAL 211 SET monoblocs) and Clearaudio T/T and Cardas Golden Cross I/C. I regret selling my Kebschull 150 preamplifier (with the matched phono tubes E283CC in situ)...

 

But the real attraction was the gregarious personality and generous nature of Joe himself. He would lend me anything I wanted if the occasion called for it, and identified me as a music lover first--and hi-fi nut second--early on in our acquaintance (this after my listening to his Kondo Ogaku and Sonus Faber Guarneri speakers playing).  We got on famously because of this. So did nearly everyone else who met Joe as he had time for every music lover and hi fi lover he met.

 

A mate bought his Sonus Faber Extremas from him and that seemed to me then to be the Everest of attainable sound reproduction. Thanks to Joe I was able to hear the Quad ESL-63 at home for extended listening, as well as the Jadis Defy 7 amplifier. What a great time to be alive!

 

I suppose that things got out of hand after that decade in terms of cost, as many top components became 'excessively' priced as far as I was concerned. But for many years you could get your hands on great gear without selling an organ or something.

 

I used to try and understand how everything matched together--or, rather, how I could buy a piece of gear and just have it slot into my system. Joe was a stickler for system matching. Once he said to me, "I wish you would just trust my judgment instead of buying what you think will work...". Usually I did trust that knowledge...it was expensive and detailed. Coupled with a very fair resale process and a very fair profit margin Audio Connection was the place to be.

 

Thanks for everything Joe.

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5 hours ago, muzzagruzz said:

This is devastating news for the Australian hifi industry. He was so passionate about this industry and it always showed whenever I spoke to him, which would have been about a six weeks ago. He always graciously gave his time to me whenever I visited his store. I grew up in Banktown and fondly remember 'Bankstown City HiFi'.  I went there as a kid and bought all my records from there and lusted after all the equipment. 

 

I'd like to express my sincerest condolences to his family and all those at Audio Connection.  He will be missed. 

 

Vale Joe 

RIP.

 

I always thought Bankstown City Hifi (Rudi) was downstairs and Audio Connection (Josef) was upstairs and they were two different entities?

 

Bought my first amp from them (still have it).

 

Josef, Len and Ceto were the big 3 in the day and if they couldn't help you....

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Rockford said:

I always thought Bankstown City Hifi (Rudi) was downstairs and Audio Connection (Josef) was upstairs and they were two different entities?

 

That's correct - it's mentioned in our tribute, and Josef often said that had it not been for Rudi's advice and early guidance, The Audio Connection would never have survived those early years.

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19 minutes ago, Marc said:

As mentioned, here is our tribute to Josef - it would never be to a standard he would be satisfied with, but then he always strived beyond perfection.

 

https://www.stereo.net.au/features/a-tribute-to-josef-riediger-founder-of-australian-high-end-audio

Just read this, what a wonderful read. Really brought back some memories for me. The horrible parking at Bankstown and invariably having to carry that 25Kg amp about 200M to where ever you found a spot or you risked the drop off zones and hoped the parking inspector didn't get you. But you knew you'd be in the store for ages talking to him about things.

 

Sometimes you wouldn't even get upstairs as Rudi would be chatting to you and sell you something instead!

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