My relationship with amplifiers and CD-players used to be like it is for any average Norwegian. When I started working at Soundgarden's shop in 2008 I had to spend a lot of time trying to get to know the different equipment we had at the shop. My method was to try and listen to all of it, using records I knew well and to some extent records were I sing and have done the mixing myself.

Tell us about your band. You called it "pepper-pop". What is that?

Well, as I said I am lead singer in a band called ASIAGO. It is a indie-band, playing melodious rock with a hint of pop. That's what we call "pepper-pop". We are six guys - drums, bass, keyboard, two guitars and finally me on vocals. We spend a huge amount of time working on each song to get the right tonal harmony between the different instruments, never playing the same tone on two different instruments at the same time. This gives a compact, solid and complex, yet really entertaining and melodious soundstage. You need serious hifi to play it right!

I imagine this has affected your taste in hifi?

With this in mind I spent my time trying out every conceivable combination of hifi components. To make a long story short; listening to Hegel the first time became a revelation for me. It was Hegel H200 and CDP2A playing on a pair of Dynaudio loudspeakers. For the first time I could hear all the combinations and details of ASIAGO's relatively complex music. It felt like I was back on stage or on practice.

What do mean exactly?

You know, I have it in my bones. I know the sound from 3 practices a week for 2 years. The feeling when I heard it again on a hifi system was really fascinating. I wasn't really planning to buy a new system at home, but I spent a weekend with the Hegel/Dynaudio combination at home and was totally lost. The next day I bought it.

And this did something with your sales...

Of course. After that experience it was only natural for me to try and recreate this moment for every customer that seems to have a passion for music. It's about showing everyone that comes through the door what it can do. Giving them an experience that is not only about money but about music.

In that sense you could say that my sales effort is on auto-pilot.

Find out more about Asiago by visiting their home page here