Seaside Sounds

As my career in mobile electronics moved into finally joining the Rayner Family Scam of selling words in a row or becoming a journalist, I became aware of the famous operations. Those shops that were head and shoulders above the rest. Those who entered sound off contests. Some even had their own teams.
One of the very best and consistently most successful was that of Huets of the South coast. Two shops in the Brighton area, run by two brothers Chris & Peter. Second generation and raised to the in-car craft by both parents, (like Mark Turner in Sunderland, who is also second generation and one of the top installers in the UK!) I used to rep to the Huets shops when I was on the road for what was then called Electrosystems. But in my new task as a writer, it was clear that their standard of work, their level of expertise put them in an elite group of three along with Prestige and ABC.
While other stars have come and gone to our industry (notably Phil Leach in Manchester) and both their former peers are no longer in in-car (sadly through the untimely loss of one of the industry’s greatest audiophiles Peter Prince) Huets remains as being one of the most recognised sources of top quality kit, advice and craftsmanship.
As part of their active efforts to promote their business and garner some recognition for what they do as well as to further enthuse their loyal customer base, the lads held an Open Evening at their Portslade location recently.
Cars from the likes of Kenwood and BBG were there as were some of their finest customers’ installs. The Kenny Scooby is for sale and yet when I mentioned the scratches visible on the surface of the Perspex sheet over the amplification in the Scooby’s boot floor, their bloke immediately set to replace it from their own stock. No way was it going to be left looking like that.
An old school Golf bursting with MTX was parked in the shop and three other audiophile installs were in the works area as well as a mad Honda with a pair of W7 JL Audio subs. It was just bonkers loud and clear and deep and tight all at once.
And all finished in the legendary Huets quality of fit and fettle.
There was a raffle in aid of the Local cancer hospice called the Martlets and over £70 was raised with some wicked prizes of swag from Kenwood and Alpine in the sartorial department and some sexy equipment in the shape of some head units, speakers and a big old wiring kit.
Two of the players from Brighton & Hove Albion came along, Adam Virgo and Tommy Fraser, who play defence and midfield and can be seen here playing Pro Evolution Soccer on the PS2 in the back of the Junior Seagulls’ Vauxhall Zafira. This transports the junior team to away matches and a ride in this vehicle is part of the suffocating excitement of getting into the ‘Seagulls’ youth team. Like all the superb vehicles in the place that night, it is of course a Huets installation. It goes on school visits, too.
So, whilst they are still kings of the simple headunit replacement or can easily get around any set of stock equipment that you really can’t change but want to upgrade, they remain utter lords of the show car market.
Shiny beautiful, well conceived and above all, done so well that a Huets punter is a customer for life, it was an absolute ball to go take part in their evening.
The biggest nutter I met was Darren The Breakdown who runs a recovery firm called DJW Recovery and he races motorbikes as well. The recovery truck has a huge 12V conversion to the power system to support a big sound system but the box in the back of the van he uses to sleep in at race meets and to carry the bike, has a huge enclosed volume and supports an insanely powerful rocking rig they bought from Huets. It was running high 140s in dB and it’s just their mobile race cabin!
Bonkers but utterly Huets type people and as well as being the vendor of choice for all those posh Brighton dwelling famous folks (that I’m not allowed to mention, like Boxers and DJ/Artists) they are clearly still the spot that’s hot for those that care most about their car audio.
Huets 01273 430 533
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And here’s where to click to see a funky cool slideshow in the newly imported gallery system. We LOVE this!
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