About Instant Classic

Beautiful music for everyone.

Howdy.

You'll find us looking at sites like Turntable Lab, Vinyl Me, Please and The Vinyl Factory, along with the many great record stores across Australia like Dutch Vinyl in Melbourne (our hometown), Record Store in Sydney, Beatniks in the Gold Coast and Urban Records in Perth.

We're into design and enjoy stuff that looks as nice as it sounds. Some of you nerds might recognise the font and colours on the site take inspiration from one of the great all-time audio brands, Braun.

We've offer a small, curated selection of vinyl on our site. When it comes to sound systems though, we kept hearing that our friends found it confusing and expensive to find good quality.

It's time to get back to basics.

The principles of great-sounding audio haven't really changed in the past 50 years, but convenience and I guess you could say 'fashion' have taken us backwards.

The earbuds that come with your phone aren't great, as anyone who's listened to the same music on a proper sound system knows.

A portable Bluetooth speaker is fine for travel, but it's a sad way to listen to things at home. And those record players that look like little suitcases? Please, for the love of god, stay away.

You'll see some great products out there under the umbrella of high-end audio or hifi, but they can be obscured by abstract specs and scary prices.

We can take you from 50% to 90% but without spending mega bucks.

Let's help you listen well.

We're not vinyl snobs - it's a beautiful and fun medium to get into, but if CD or streaming is your flavour, we've got you covered there too. Here are the rules we went by when deciding what audio products to put on our site.

Long-lasting and upgradeable.

All of the products we sell are built to last for years and years. They come from brands that have been in the business for decades like Pro-Ject Audio, Rotel and Monitor Audio. These guys build by hand using quality materials like wood and aluminium with a minimum of plastics.

As our products are separate components (just like traditional hifi always was), you can upgrade them one-by-one rather than having to replace everything when you want to make upgrades or additions on your journey.

Separate components for separate jobs.

It's common to see audio products trying to be a jack-of-all trades. E.g. turntables with built in speakers (this is heresy) or Bluetooth speakers / active desktop speakers that have an amp inside them too.

Separation of components (source, amplifier and speakers) is what you want as it avoids electromagnetic and vibration interference from one part to the other.

Stereo sound only.

A good set of two speakers helps reproduce the full width and depth of the recording, tending to both of your ears and helping you feel sound in the space around you.

Mono sound (what you often get in streaming and portable speakers) is the antithesis of this, coming at you as a mushy, blended beam.

Make it easy to buy.

There are plenty of good-value stereo systems out there for $1,500+. But it's still a lot of money! We've worked some magic to bring you full stereo systems from the great brands for under $1,000 upfront.

You'll also be able to pay with your flavour of Afterpay, PayPal, Zip or plain old Visa / Mastercard.

We think no one's done anything like it in the world, and if they have, you should tell us.

We'll do the right thing by you.

We're an online-only outfit, and that helps us deliver amazing value. But shopping online shouldn't mean bad support. Our favourite brands are the ones that treat their customers like humans, so we do too.

We've killed crappy return policies. We HATE them.

If you've bought a turntable, amp or speakers upfront, you can return them within 30 days for a full refund, no questions. Even if you've opened the equipment and used it. Just keep the packaging and make sure it stays in good condition.

Expect fantastic support.

We'll be available at (almost) any time for any question. No robots here - real product geeks whose mission in life is to make you happy with your set-up. Get in touch with us by live-chat, phone, WhatsApp or email 7 days a week.

In the rare event your purchase suffers a fault, no worries - we're backed by the brands that we sell, and each product comes with a full Australian warranty.

You won't see a crazy amount of choices and brands.

We've just chosen the best options for anyone who doesn't want to spend more than $2,000 on a single component. If you want to take that next step, awesome! Here are some great hifi stores we'd recommend.

This is a no bullshit zone.

Our product pages don't fit the normal mould of exaggerating the positives and hiding the negatives. We've tested and abused all our products, and if there's something that isn't perfect, we'll call it out for you. But if it's no good, we won't sell it, full stop.

Also expect us to give you info about the products we don't sell - some of which we love. If we can help you on your way, and that means you end up buying somewhere else or keeping the system you have, that's fine by us.