The highly talented and very experienced Clarke is about to add to his distinguished CV by taking up a senior position with a new division created by audio distributor, Interdyn.

Speaking with Jeremy Bouris, managing director of Audio Active today revealed Clarke’s move was unexpected. He said:

We were really surprised when he resigned. But we understand everyone needs a new challenge now and then and we wish Paul all the very best.

We are now actively looking for a replacement and we’ll announce that when we’ve completed our mission.

Bouris told StereoNET that the relationship with Clarke commenced in 2009. He said:

We started Audio Active with Paul from scratch in 2009 and in those nine years, Paul has been a key driver for building our brand. We’ve also had a lot of fun working together along the way.

Few remember that Clarke’s rich audio history started at Natsound. The store in Elizabeth Street was an audio institution during the 70s, 90s and 80s.

Visitors to Philipe Luder’s Tivoli HiFi store in Camberwell can see a picture of the fresh-faced lad, Clarke was back in the day. The picture hangs on one of the store's walls and shows a smiling Clarke alongside another young, colourful audio consultant called, Bill Busby.

More recently Clarke held a senior position with Melbourne based distributor, Synergy Audio Visual.

Clarke’s outstanding sales and marketing talents have earned him praise from some of Australia’s distinguished audio professionals.

Michael Henriksen, CEO of Australia’s leading audio distributor QualiFi once described Clarke’s abilities as “outstanding”. He said:

Paul is one of the most professional salespeople I’ve met over decades and decades in this industry. His sales radar and overall polish and presentation are what I’d call outstanding.

Clarke is finding a new home at a company created by the legendary Alex Encel widely regarded as the godfather of Australian Hi-Fi.

The company was then called International Dynamics, and it was originally based in Bridge Road, Richmond in Melbourne.

International Dynamics or ID as it was called, lived up to its name. It certainly was dynamic and made household names of brands including Rotel, Luxman, Polk, Sonus faber and more latterly Loewe.

These days, at the company now known as Interdyn, Alex's deeply talented son, Sam Encel, is shaping the direction and character of the company.

Sam Encel, Interdyn

Clarke will be heading up Interdyn's new division in the position of 'Leader - Growth Markets'. Asked about his move Clarke said:

The management at Interdyn really has a clear vision for the future of audiovisual distribution, so partnering with them was an exciting decision to make. I’ll be able to leverage their market-leading software innovations and combine them with my own experience and strategies to take Interdyn’s brands to the next level.

It’s one of those ironies of Australian audio history that as a young Alex Encel was building an audio empire in Richmond, an equally young Paul Clarke was learning to ply his trade at Natsound, just a suburb away.

These two audio trajectories have now aligned, and a new chapter in the history of Australia’s Audio Industry begins.