About Us

One of the most frequently asked questions is “why PJ?”

The answer is that the original owner of the business, which started as PJ Equipments in the late 1940′s, was a very forward thinking man called Peter John Oram.

The business operated initially from premises at 3, Onslow Street, where they were the only shop in Guildford selling and hiring out PA Equipment, Sound Systems – specifically for use in cinemas, Jukeboxes and Hi-fi equipment of a decent quality, so PJ is Guildford’s original hi-fi shop. (I used to pop in and buy ex jukebox singles when I was at school in the 60s!) Names that are still prominent today which were featured then include QUAD and Wharfedale.

With the advent of the major development that became The Friary Centre, in the 1970s, PJ Equipment moved to the present location in Bridge Street.

The business evolved through the 70s and 80s, until 1989 when Richard Taunton took over and changed the name to PJ Hifi, thereby retaining the original identity and adapting to the more modern terminology associated with the products being sold.

Richard had been visiting the shop for several years as a Sales Representative for Rotel Hifi,  and had recognised the latent potential for quite some time.

Initial success was achieved utilising just three rooms of the building, two being demonstration areas with a comfy sofa in each – both of which got plenty of use !

Many exclusive brands were introduced to the discerning Guildford customers for the first time, including Linn, Meridian, NAD, Rotel, Kef Reference, Mission, B&W, Marantz, Nakamichi, Thorens, Yamaha, and then later on Rega, Cyrus, Tag McLaren, Denon, Naim, Audiovector, Dynaudio.

The addition of an on site Service Department, proved to be a great success, and reassurance, to the many customers who had experienced problems with older equipment, and of course items covered by the 2 year guarantee then offered by PJ Hifi.

All of the staff worked in the busy shop environment, dealing with customers on a day-to-day basis, helping them to select the best sounding systems to meet their budgets, this was achieved by excellent demonstrations and followed through with careful and meticulous installations in their homes.

With more and more customers’ requirements progressing from purely 2 channel (stereo) towards multi channel audio for both music and film, and multi-room applications, PJ moved rapidly into these new areas.

PJ Hi-fi has always been keen to ensure that the system or individual components purchased have been installed correctly and of course this is even more important with comprehensive and sophisticated multi component, multi room and Home Cinema systems.

PJ Hi-fi still caters for all budgets; a carefully selected comprehensive range of Amplifiers – both stereo and multichannel, 4k Blu ray players, Streamers, CD players, DAB/Fm Tuners and Loudspeaker packages are all available for comparison. High performance Turntables are still a major product featured in PJ Hifi, and after 25 years in Guildford alone, the Linn LP12 is still the best that you can buy!

A whole new world of listening pleasure has been brought to the discerning customers of PJ Hifi with the advent of streaming devices – don’t miss out on this amazing new generation of sound reproduction – pop in today for a listen!

A good selection of high quality stands/wall brackets – for loudspeakers, televisions and all electronic equipment – is also available to compliment the chosen system and integrate with the environment in your home. These are from Solid Steel, HiFi racks, Naim, Quadraspire, Clik and others.

At the showroom we have three demonstration facilities; HiFi lounge for 2 channel and vinyl featuring an integrated bespoke room acoustic solution, Media room featuring bespoke cabinetry and discrete Dolby Atmos speaker system and finally our reference Bespoke Home Cinema room featuring a fully immersive audio system with 4k projector. The entire showroom also features a smart home experience centre for Control 4 for door entry, CCTV, Audio and Video distributuion, Smart Lighting and much more.

The full listing of Hifi manufacturers stocked currently is as follows;
Audiovector, Anthem, Audiolab, Anthony Gallo Acoustics, Arcam, B&W (incl 800 series), Chord Company, Chord Electronics, Classe, Cyrus, Denon, Dynaudio, Epos, Exposure, Genelec, IsoTek, Kaleidescape, Linn Products (Incl LP12), Marantz, Michell, Musical Fidelity, Naim, Neat Loudspeakers, Ortofon, PMC, Project, QED, Quad, Rega, Rotel, Sennheiser, SME, Spendor, Wharfedale.

PJ Hifi’s cheerful and knowledgeable staff, are all waiting to meet you, play you some wonderful music or a heart stopping movie, and change your life.