ELECTROCOMPANIET AS filed for bankruptcy

[gasolin]

ELECTROCOMPANIET AS filed for bankruptcy today 19-06-2018

Norwegian link https://w2.brreg.no/kunngjoring/hent_en.jsp?kid=20180000356018&sokeverdi=987470445&spraak=nb

 

[Paulq]

I'll strike the ECM1 streamer off my demo list then.

 

[Electro]

If true this is a very sad time for me and the HiFi industry as a whole .

It also looks like I also won't be getting the Electro streamer. *cray2*

Lets hope they rise from the ashes again as they have done before .

I will try and find some more info .

 

[insider9]

Would this mean discounted gear though?

 

[Blacksabbath25]

That’s a shame it seems there’s a lot of companies going bust lately I wonder who else we will lose

 

[nopiano]

What a shame. I guess it may not be fatal, but they’ve been a bit of the mark for a while. A great history and legacy though.

Rightly or wrongly I think of brands like Densen, Primare, Hegel as contemporary rivals who’ve moved better with the times. I hope they are bought out.

 

[Andrewjvt]

Is far too overpriced these days

 

[nopiano]

Is far too overpriced these days

I agree that many products seem a lot pricier than a few years ago. Trouble is, they need both volume and a decent margin to survive, as well as the none too usual efficiencies of production, design, etc.

 

[MajorFubar]

Is far too overpriced these days

Prices increase because sales drop. Do...repeat until the company folds.

Electrocompaniet focussed entirely on what must surely have been for some time a next-to-non-existent market for premium-priced electronics. I'm surprised they have lasted this long. I don't know how other manufacturers survive who solely or primarily focus on the same market sector. I can't tell you one person I've ever met in nearly 50 years of living who owns high-end hifi.

 

[DIB]

I can't tell you one person I've ever met in nearly 50 years of living who owns high-end hifi.

Not just high end either. In my entire family and group of friends I am pretty sure I'm the only one with anything remotely hifi. However my daughter has just bought herself a little £25 bluetooth speaker so she can play Spotify off her iphone. (tbh for what it is, it sounds bloody good!)

.

 

[Electro]

It seems it might be true although there has been no anouncement from Electrocompaniet that I can find anywhere.

It appears that they have debts of just under 5 million pounds although again I don't know if that is correct.

Electrocompaniet ( the classic range ) is one of those products that is once heard never forgotten, they are almost too good but they as a company have never been able to translate this superb sound quality into ongoing sales.

Their biggest problem (imo) is that the classic range was so good and reliable that once bought they were kept for 10 or 20 years before changing or upgrade which severely limits repeat sales, why change something or buy new if you can't get anything better !

Electrocompaniet owners are not box swappers for very good reason which is great for the customer but not so good for the company.

They refused to tart up the casework and tweak the spec every couple of years and call it a new model to boost sales to the people that just have to have the latest version, the company altruism and straight forward honesty has cost them dearly, although some people might call this a very bad business model .

The only consolation is that my Electrocompaniet equipment will probably outlast me. *smile*

 

[plastic penguin]

Trouble is you can only make a profit if you have a turnover. If Electro's price point is higher than competitors, they lose out. It's simple business acumen.

The other problem is UK outlets -- over the last few years they have diminished. No retailer, no sale.

Prices are increasing because of greed, instead of need.

 

[Electro]

Trouble is you can only make a profit if you have a turnover. If Electro's price point is higher than competitors, they lose out. It's simple business acumen.

The other problem is UK outlets -- over the last few years they have diminished. No retailer, no sale.

Prices are increasing because of greed, instead of need.

It's true that the prices have risen over the past few years but the Electrocompaniet classic range was still far cheaper than it's sonic or build quality / design equivalent.

In the past Electrocompaniet equipment was sold far too cheaply to be taken seriously in the high end arena and was not flashy or fast changing enough for the midrange market that demands a new model on a regular basis to feed the insecurity of mid range box swappers, you could buy say an ECI5 integrated for 3 grand that out performed a 6 grand or more amp in all areas and was far better value for money, so why upgrade from it .

Electrocompaniet equipment was / is too good for it's own good in a nutshell .

 

[Andrewjvt]

Trouble is you can only make a profit if you have a turnover. If Electro's price point is higher than competitors, they lose out. It's simple business acumen.

The other problem is UK outlets -- over the last few years they have diminished. No retailer, no sale.

Prices are increasing because of greed, instead of need.

It's true that the prices have risen over the past few years but the  Electrocompaniet classic range was still far cheaper than it's sonic or build quality / design equivalent.

In the past Electrocompaniet equipment was sold far too cheaply to be taken seriously in the high end arena and was not flashy or fast changing enough for the midrange market that demands a new model on a regular basis to feed the insecurity of mid range box swappers, you could buy say an ECI5 integrated for 3 grand that out performed a 6 grand or more amp in all areas and was far better value for money, so why upgrade from it .

Electrocompaniet equipment was / is too good for it's own good in a nutshell .

Electro
I understand the brand loyalty but
I'm picking up some bitterness in your recent posts.
Let me explain

The original per Abrahamsen went bust as he was not a good business man but made good amps. Was taken over so if the new businessman was not clever enough to change stategy that's his fault.
I felt you had a dig at other quality brands that release more regular upgrades.

Another comment that I perceived as an unnecessary dig was the ' other speaker manufacturers that don't use transmission line design are taking the easy way out or selling out as if it's a fact that TL sounds/works better.

I'm not trying to cause a fight I'm just being straight forward.

I'm also not debating the quality of electro products either.

 

[Pedro2]

I can't tell you one person I've ever met in nearly 50 years of living who owns high-end hifi.

Not just high end either. In my entire family and group of friends I am pretty sure I'm the only one with anything remotely hifi. However my daughter has just bought herself a little £25 bluetooth speaker so she can play Spotify off her iphone. (tbh for what it is, it sounds bloody good!)

.

+1

I too am the only one amongst family/friends with hi fi kit. I once knew a guy who shared an interest in hi fi but lost touch some years back. It really is a niche hobby these days although many who hear it are impressed. Comments are invariably positive from visiting family and friends, some of whom stay over enjoying (very) late Saturday nights listening to recorded music as it never normally sounds.

Trouble is, the age profile of hi fi 'enthusiasts' (dislike this term) is probably skewed towards the over 50s with an under representation amongst the under 40/30s. Our 8 year old boy is growing up with a love of music; he both plays and listens to it. When I ask him about his own school friends, he isn't aware of any that have hi fi systems at home. The only other individual he knows with a decent system is his violin teacher!

It's sad to hear about the loss of decent hi fi companies - Electro appear to be one of them although I've never actually heard their kit in action. Other posters on here rate them highly and I've rarely seen a bad word written about them. Trouble is, hi fi doesn't appear to be sexy enough these days unlike TVs and mobile devices. Hope that they get rescued.

 

[MajorFubar]

To an extent, hifi as we know it began to die a death with the advent of CDs. The sound quality from the worst sounding cheapest CD players was so far ahead of the sound quality from the worst sounding nasty plastic scratchy record players. it wasn't even funny. This new bare minimum was suddenly good enough for most people.
So if CDs were the first fleshwound, the fatal blow has been the advent of all-in-one technology, like Sonos, Amazon Echo, Apple HomePods and active speakers. These devices produce a sound quality on par with or better than most people heard from their lounge full of ugly boxes and wires trailing everywhere, and they wouldn’t go back to the latter if you paid them. Even myself: I own a pair of active speakers which I stream to via Airplay, and frankly I’ve never had sound so good.

The days of the legacy hifi system are numbered really.

 

[Electro]

To add to my previous post .

I believe that the introduction of the Electrocompaniet lower midrange 'Prelude line ' was a big mistake, they tried to take on a very cutthroat market filled with some already very good products and the Prelude line simply wasn't special enough to compete with the other very good products from other well known manufacturers.

They should have gone more Hi end using the Dynamic Precision product line template that they had bought and was almost ready to go.

 

[davidf]

To an extent, hifi as we know it began to die a death with the advent of CDs. The sound quality from the worst sounding cheapest CD players was so far ahead of the sound quality from the worst sounding nasty plastic scratchy record players. it wasn't even funny. This new bare minimum was suddenly good enough for most people. So if CDs were the first fleshwound, the fatal blow has been the advent of all-in-one technology, like Sonos, Amazon Echo, Apple HomePods and active speakers. These devices produce a sound quality on par with or better than most people heard from their lounge full of ugly boxes and wires trailing everywhere, and they wouldn’t go back to the latter if you paid them. Even myself: I own a pair of active speakers which I stream to via Airplay, and frankly I’ve never had sound so good.

The days of the legacy hifi system are numbered really.

I have to agree Major. But I do think it’ll come to a point where legacy hifi will become so scarce, that it’ll only take a handful of those to hear a good quality legacy type system and realise just how good they can sound. Then, like most things, the trend comes round again. I still say that vinyl’s comeback was partly down to the decade around 1995-2005, where people’s expectations with regards to sound quality were at an all time low - MP3 was all the rage during this era, and TVs became so thin that sound quality was non existent. After being used to that, stick a record on and it’ll sound nothing short of sumptuous. I think people either discovered - or remembered - just how “nice” records sound...

 

[Electro]

To an extent, hifi as we know it began to die a death with the advent of CDs. The sound quality from the worst sounding cheapest CD players was so far ahead of the sound quality from the worst sounding nasty plastic scratchy record players. it wasn't even funny. This new bare minimum was suddenly good enough for most people. So if CDs were the first fleshwound, the fatal blow has been the advent of all-in-one technology, like Sonos, Amazon Echo, Apple HomePods and active speakers. These devices produce a sound quality on par with or better than most people heard from their lounge full of ugly boxes and wires trailing everywhere, and they wouldn’t go back to the latter if you paid them. Even myself: I own a pair of active speakers which I stream to via Airplay, and frankly I’ve never had sound so good.

The days of the legacy hifi system are numbered really.

I agree there is a lot of truth in what you say , if any part of Electrocompaniet survives it will most probably be the EC living line which is exactly the type of equipment you have described .

https://ecliving.electrocompaniet.no/what-is-ec-living/?lang=en

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19QlaNfhuiY

 

[Electro]

Trouble is you can only make a profit if you have a turnover. If Electro's price point is higher than competitors, they lose out. It's simple business acumen.

The other problem is UK outlets -- over the last few years they have diminished. No retailer, no sale.

Prices are increasing because of greed, instead of need.

It's true that the prices have risen over the past few years but the Electrocompaniet classic range was still far cheaper than it's sonic or build quality / design equivalent.

In the past Electrocompaniet equipment was sold far too cheaply to be taken seriously in the high end arena and was not flashy or fast changing enough for the midrange market that demands a new model on a regular basis to feed the insecurity of mid range box swappers, you could buy say an ECI5 integrated for 3 grand that out performed a 6 grand or more amp in all areas and was far better value for money, so why upgrade from it .

Electrocompaniet equipment was / is too good for it's own good in a nutshell .

Electro I understand the brand loyalty but I'm picking up some bitterness in your recent posts. Let me explain

The original per Abrahamsen went bust as he was not a good business man but made good amps. Was taken over so if the new businessman was not clever enough to change stategy that's his fault. I felt you had a dig at other quality brands that release more regular upgrades.

Another comment that I perceived as an unnecessary dig was the ' other speaker manufacturers that don't use transmission line design are taking the easy way out or selling out as if it's a fact that TL sounds/works better.

I'm not trying to cause a fight I'm just being straight forward.

I'm also not debating the quality of electro products either.

No bitterness from me at all , it's all just my opinion for what it's worth.

I do think regular unnecessary model changes / casing tweeks are a little dishonest or misleading but at the end of the day it's the customers choice and if they want to spend their money that way then thats their prerogative.

You take great pains to point our products that you consider to be snake oil as is your right, and all I have done is to highlight a practise that I consider to be less than straightforward and a pure marketing exercise to boost sales that is of no benefit to the buyer imo .

As for the Transmission line thing I was just reacting to the rather scathing Alan Shaw article.

He made no mention of the decades of reasearch and development since the original TL speakers were designed.

If you want to hear from a real TL hater look for articles by John Atkinson.

 

[iceman16]

Electrocompaniet is back!

Check their FB page on new announcement.

 

[Andrewjvt]

Trouble is you can only make a profit if you have a turnover. If Electro's price point is higher than competitors, they lose out. It's simple business acumen.

The other problem is UK outlets -- over the last few years they have diminished. No retailer, no sale.

Prices are increasing because of greed, instead of need.

It's true that the prices have risen over the past few years but the  Electrocompaniet classic range was still far cheaper than it's sonic or build quality / design equivalent.

In the past Electrocompaniet equipment was sold far too cheaply to be taken seriously in the high end arena and was not flashy or fast changing enough for the midrange market that demands a new model on a regular basis to feed the insecurity of mid range box swappers, you could buy say an ECI5 integrated for 3 grand that out performed a 6 grand or more amp in all areas and was far better value for money, so why upgrade from it .

Electrocompaniet equipment was / is too good for it's own good in a nutshell .

Electro I understand the brand loyalty but I'm picking up some bitterness in your recent posts. Let me explain

The original per Abrahamsen went bust as he was not a good business man but made good amps. Was taken over so if the new businessman was not clever enough to change stategy that's his fault. I felt you had a dig at other quality brands that release more regular upgrades.

Another comment that I perceived as an unnecessary dig was the ' other speaker manufacturers that don't use transmission line design are taking the easy way out or selling out as if it's a fact that TL sounds/works better.

I'm not trying to cause a fight I'm just being straight forward.

I'm also not debating the quality of electro products either.

No bitterness from me at all , it's all just my opinion for what it's worth.

I do think regular unnecessary  model changes / casing tweeks are a little dishonest or misleading but at the end of the day it's the customers choice and if they want to spend their money that way then thats their prerogative.

You take great pains to point our products that you consider to be snake oil as is your right, and all I have done is to highlight a practise that I consider to be less than straightforward and a pure marketing exercise to boost sales that is of no benefit to the buyer imo .

As for the Transmission line thing I was just reacting to the rather scathing Alan Shaw article.

He made no mention of the decades of reasearch and development since the original TL speakers were designed.

If you want to hear from a real TL hater look for articles by John Atkinson.

 

 

Would be interesting to read his thoughts as he is good with measurements.

Imo it's not a good strategy for manufacturers to promote Thier own products by trashing other people's design at all as it comes across as insecure.
I like manufacturers that don't fall into this category.

I only know of one company that doesn't get involved but I suspect there is a few more around.
Good for them.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Yes that’s correct just looked myself but what they have done not sure because they do not go into it but I reckon they probably got some new backing or the bank has helped but the same people will still be running the company so no charge there but the company said they will be stronger then ever for the future which is great news .

 

[gasolin]

As fare as i have read it's not the first time the gone broke,bankrupt

http://www.lydogbilde.no/nyheter/hi-fi/electrocompaniet-er-dod-leve-electrocompaniet

 

[Andrewjvt]

500 million in debt.

Consider the cost of the products.
I can't imagine how they get in that much debt in the first place.
It's mental