ELECTROCOMPANIET AS filed for bankruptcy

[lindsayt]

... 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.

Active speakers pre-date CD's by 20 years. Making them about as legacy as legacy hi-fi can get.

 

[plastic penguin]

Cast your mind back: I have mentioned about the companies lack of UK suppliers. If people don't have access to the brand it won't sell. Up until the last 12 months there were two stockists in my location (one in Kent and one in London), both have now ceased supplying Electrocompaniet.

The sound quality becomes totally irrelevant if you can't demo... to a lesser extent, it's a similar situation to Leema. But at least with Leema they are a British-based company. It's all negative when it comes to Electrcompaniet.

 

[Al ears]

Cast your mind back: I have mentioned about the companies lack of UK suppliers. If people don't have access to the brand it won't sell. Up until the last 12 months there were two stockists in my location (one in Kent and one in London), both have now ceased supplying Electrocompaniet.

The sound quality becomes totally irrelevant if you can't demo... to a lesser extent, it's a similar situation to Leema. But at least with Leema they are a British-based company. It's all negative when it comes to Electrcompaniet.

I would agree that it was a strange marketing plan. As you rightly say that, certainly at this price bracket, the need to audition is paramount. If you cannot do that because of lack of dealers then you have basically cut out the whole of the UK potential market.

I suppose the only possible people that would buy blind might be those that have bought Electrocompaniet products second-hand in the past and are convinced an upgrade to a new product would produce similar audio qualities but in a new box. The issue of warranty and shipping is still an issue though.

 

[lindsayt]

There is always the direct selling model. Sell direct via ebay. With a month long full money back, no questions asked guarantee if you don't want to keep it for whatever reason.

Basically a straight onto home demo (with a 100% deposit) basis.

 

[davidf]

The process of building up the UK dealerships for Electrocompaniet was underway, and had been for around 6-8 months. A UK rep was appointed, and he was looking for reputable dealers to be dealers for the brand. Other than myself I know of one other one, but I don’t know who else had been appointed, nor how many have been up to this point.

I’m just saying that the lack of dealers was/is being addressed.

 

[MajorFubar]

Active speakers pre-date CD's by 20 years. Making them about as legacy as legacy hi-fi can get.

Not in any kind of domestic environment they don't; it was obvious I meant in that context considering the rest of my post. For ruture reference I don't have any agenda to push active speakers down folks' throats like they are the second coming Lindsay, so when I bring them up in conversaton you don't need to immediately get on the defensive.

 

[Andrewjvt]

The process of building up the UK dealerships for Electrocompaniet was underway, and had been for around 6-8 months. A UK rep was appointed, and he was looking for reputable dealers to be dealers for the brand. Other than myself I know of one other one, but I don’t know who else had been appointed, nor how many have been up to this point.

I’m just saying that the lack of dealers was/is being addressed.

We can expect a certain hifi shop to advertise electro components for under £400 soon then.

 

[Electro]

Electrocompaniet is back!

Check their FB page on new announcement.

Fantastic news ! *yahoo* *drinks*

I had enterered a mild form of mourning, it was like loosing a faithful friend .

 

[Electro]

The process of building up the UK dealerships for Electrocompaniet was underway, and had been for around 6-8 months. A UK rep was appointed, and he was looking for reputable dealers to be dealers for the brand. Other than myself I know of one other one, but I don’t know who else had been appointed, nor how many have been up to this point.

I’m just saying that the lack of dealers was/is being addressed.

We can expect a certain hifi shop to advertise electro components for under £400 soon then.

If he does then I will be first in the queue !

 

[Electro]

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

Norwegian Krone not GBP *smile*

I think the figure is under 5 million pounds .

 

[Electro]

Cast your mind back: I have mentioned about the companies lack of UK suppliers. If people don't have access to the brand it won't sell. Up until the last 12 months there were two stockists in my location (one in Kent and one in London), both have now ceased supplying Electrocompaniet.

The sound quality becomes totally irrelevant if you can't demo... to a lesser extent, it's a similar situation to Leema. But at least with Leema they are a British-based company. It's all negative when it comes to Electrcompaniet.

Very True Electrocompaniet disribution has always been patchy in the UK but as David F says they were / are trying to remedy that atm .

If they can get enough exposure and people add Electrocompaniet to their audition lists they should do very well in the UK in theory .

I took a chance on Electrocompaniet 15 years ago and have not regretted it one little bit.

 

[insider9]

The process of building up the UK dealerships for Electrocompaniet was underway, and had been for around 6-8 months. A UK rep was appointed, and he was looking for reputable dealers to be dealers for the brand. Other than myself I know of one other one, but I don’t know who else had been appointed, nor how many have been up to this point.

I’m just saying that the lack of dealers was/is being addressed.

We can expect a certain hifi shop to advertise electro components for under £400 soon then.

 

If he does then I will be first in the queue !

Right behind you!

 

[Electro]

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

Yes that is true it was in 2004 but that was a far more serious situation than the current one it seems .

 

[lindsayt]

Active speakers pre-date CD's by 20 years. Making them about as legacy as legacy hi-fi can get.

Not in any kind of domestic environment they don't; it was obvious I meant in that context considering the rest of my post. For ruture reference I don't have any agenda to push active speakers down folks' throats like they are the second coming Lindsay, so when I bring them up in conversaton you don't need to immediately get on the defensive.

Oh yes they do in a domestic environment. Altec Boleros being one example that springs to mind.

I was just correcting a factually incorrect / misleading statement on your part. If you think it's defensive to correct factually incorrect statements - then that's up to you.

 

[chebby]

Active speakers pre-date CD's by 20 years. Making them about as legacy as legacy hi-fi can get.

Not in any kind of domestic environment they don't; it was obvious I meant in that context considering the rest of my post. For ruture reference I don't have any agenda to push active speakers down folks' throats like they are the second coming Lindsay, so when I bring them up in conversaton you don't need to immediately get on the defensive.

Oh yes they do in a domestic environment. Altec Boleros being one example that springs to mind.

I was just correcting a factually incorrect / misleading statement on your part. If you think it's defensive to correct factually incorrect statements - then that's up to you.

Meridian M1 active speakers were launched over forty years ago so pre-date the availability of CDs (in the UK) by about 5 years.

 

[Al ears]

There is always the direct selling model. Sell direct via ebay. With a month long full money back, no questions asked guarantee if you don't want to keep it for whatever reason.

Basically a straight onto home demo (with a 100% deposit) basis.

Would only work if they paid the cost of shipping it back if you didn't like it... ;-)

 

[Electro]

There is always the direct selling model. Sell direct via ebay. With a month long full money back, no questions asked guarantee if you don't want to keep it for whatever reason.

Basically a straight onto home demo (with a 100% deposit) basis.

Now this is an extremely good suggestion *good* .

The only fly in the ointment is the huge weight of some of the amplifiers, the Nemo monoblocks being a good example at 90lbs each, even my AW180's weigh 48lbs each !

I can see it working extremely well with the smaller products though, in fact I might email them and suggest your idea.

I think it would work more efficiently if they had a small warehouse distribution centre in the UK that could be run from a unit like a Big Yellow storage centre like so many other businesses do now .

This would also help with the roll out of dealerships as well .

The most important thing must be that the price remains the same wherever you buy them from or the whole system would collapse .

 

[MajorFubar]

Meridian M1 active speakers were launched over forty years ago so pre-date the availability of CDs (in the UK) by about 5 years.

Can't say I'd heard of them but fair enough. Point still stands that alternative technologies are washing away what we once called hifi, and that's just the way it's going to be.

 

[lindsayt]

Meridian M1 active speakers were launched over forty years ago so pre-date the availability of CDs (in the UK) by about 5 years.

Can't say I'd heard of them but fair enough. Point still stands that alternative technologies are washing away what we once called hifi, and that's just the way it's going to be.

Now that we've, quite rightly, eliminated active speakers from your list of "alternative technologies" due to them actually being an example of legacy hi-fi; that leaves us with "Sonos, Amazon Echo, Apple HomePods". None of which are a serious alternative to hi-fi from the likes of Electrocompaniet as they are all lifestyle audio devices and nowhere near the level of Electrocompaniet electronics with suitable speakers.

They are merely variations on the (upmarket) ghetto blaster theme started in the 1980's. Or even the cheap nasty plastic all-in-ones started in the 1970's.

It's always been the case that most of the population in general have never been into hi-fi.

During the 1970's and 1980's a larger minority of the population were into hi-fi. But then in those days there were fewer alternative consumer goods hobbies than there are today, with PC's probably being the main one attracting the sort of geeky types that otherwise would have gotten into hi-fi.

It's also not helped by the average fidelity level of mainstream recorded music being far higher in the 1970's to 1980's than in the 2000's and 2010's thanks to loudness wars.

All in all, if there's any washing away it started a long time ago - like in the 1990's or earlier. So no, I don't think that your point does still stand.

 

[davidf]

The process of building up the UK dealerships for Electrocompaniet was underway, and had been for around 6-8 months. A UK rep was appointed, and he was looking for reputable dealers to be dealers for the brand. Other than myself I know of one other one, but I don’t know who else had been appointed, nor how many have been up to this point.

I’m just saying that the lack of dealers was/is being addressed.

We can expect a certain hifi shop to advertise electro components for under £400 soon then.

*biggrin*

 

[Leif]

I’ve met numerous people with high end hifi. They were all fairly wealthy. Like posh watches, high end hifi is aimed at wealthy people who want the best. As to whether or not it is the best, you can decide. There are plenty of wealthy people about, so maybe Companiet failed somewhere. Presumably competitors are more appealing. Or maybe the market is saturated. I must admit their kit is very ugly, then again a lot of hifi looks ugly to me.

 

[Electro]

I’ve met numerous people with high end hifi. They were all fairly wealthy. Like posh watches, high end hifi is aimed at wealthy people who want the best. As to whether or not it is the best, you can decide. There are plenty of wealthy people about, so maybe Companiet failed somewhere. Presumably competitors are more appealing. Or maybe the market is saturated. I must admit their kit is very ugly, then again a lot of hifi looks ugly to me.

It seems Electrocompaniet didn't fail as such but there was a glitch in money management for an unknown reason ( to us ).

I don't really consider my HiFi system to be 'high end' it's probably upper midrange but I suppose some people might call it high end.

I am definitely not wealthy being a sole trader self employed car repair / tuning business .

To be honest I don't think very many extremely wealthy people would give two hoots about a high end HiFi system, they would rather spend that wealth on things that are visible like houses, cars, yachts, watches and clothing.

Impressive looking HiFi systems only impress audiophiles and they are like hens teeth, so it is not cost effective when it comes to displaying wealth, plus the fact that most non audiophiles think the whole thing is a little weird and nerdy.

My number one priority is sound quality, the equipment itself could look like the back of a bus for all I care, I listen with my eyes closed anyway *i-m_so_happy* , but I realise many people consider looks to be very important even to the point of sacrrificing ultimate sound quality.

I don't know anyone who has a decent HiFi system apart from people on this forum and a mate who is a serious music collector, I managed to persuaded him to buy a fairly good system to play his 6000 Cd collection on.

In my opinion HiFi companies need to target music lovers if they are to survive, if they can be convinced that replay quality is worth spending money on there there is a whole new market available to sell to.

I guess that the market for good HiFi is shrinking by the day and there will be many casualties in the process all we can hope is that a few of the best ones survive.

I will wager that if you came to listen to my system for a few hours any qualms about the Electrocompaniet challenged / dated appearance would quickly dissapear . *biggrin*

 

[Sliced Bread]

Is far too overpriced these days

Yes indeed. Prices have rocketed.

Very sad about Electrocompaniet though. I love their house sound...beautiful.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

I’ve met numerous people with high end hifi. They were all fairly wealthy. Like posh watches, high end hifi is aimed at wealthy people who want the best. As to whether or not it is the best, you can decide. There are plenty of wealthy people about, so maybe Companiet failed somewhere. Presumably competitors are more appealing. Or maybe the market is saturated. I must admit their kit is very ugly, then again a lot of hifi looks ugly to me.

It seems Electrocompaniet didn't fail as such but there was a glitch in money management for an unknown reason ( to us ).

I don't really consider my HiFi system to be 'high end' it's probably upper midrange but I suppose some people might call it high end.

I am definitely not wealthy being a sole trader self employed car repair / tuning business .

To be honest I don't think very many extremely wealthy people would give two hoots about a high end HiFi system, they would rather spend that wealth on things that are visible like houses, cars, yachts, watches and clothing.

Impressive looking HiFi systems only impress audiophiles and they are like hens teeth, so it is not cost effective when it comes to displaying wealth, plus the fact that most non audiophiles think the whole thing is a little weird and nerdy.

My number one priority is sound quality, the equipment itself could look like the back of a bus for all I care, I listen with my eyes closed anyway *i-m_so_happy* , but I realise many people consider looks to be very important even to the point of sacrrificing ultimate sound quality.

I don't know anyone who has a decent HiFi system apart from people on this forum and a mate who is a serious music collector, I managed to persuaded him to buy a fairly good system to play his 6000 Cd collection on.

In my opinion HiFi companies need to target music lovers if they are to survive, if they can be convinced that replay quality is worth spending money on there there is a whole new market available to sell to.

I guess that the market for good HiFi is shrinking by the day and there will be many casualties in the process all we can hope is that a few of the best ones survive.

I will wager that if you came to listen to my system for a few hours any qualms about the Electrocompaniet challenged / dated appearance would quickly dissapear . *biggrin*

+1 its about the music and to to get music to sound real as possable and its not always about money and i have worked for a rich man in the past they spend there money on cars , houses , holidays , and party's and normally very tight with there money too so a hifi is nothing to them as they never have the time to hear one anyway as they are always worring about the next deal .

So none of us are rich just poor *blum3* as we keep buying new hifi but if thats what makes you happy then its not an issue as long as you have a roof over your head and food on the table but this hobby has got the snob side of it which is a shame but you kind of guess what i would spend some money on if i won the lottery more hifi *biggrin*

 

[Andrewjvt]

If record companies focused on providing very good recordings..........

Do you think interest in quality hifi would take off more?