ELECTROCOMPANIET AS filed for bankruptcy

[mond]

I agree with the comment about people with spare money (or at least want people to think they have money even if they don’t) spending it on cars - this is mainly as people see them in their cars but people don't generally see their hifi - unless they come to their house of course. Why else do you see so many German cars on the roads - most of these people haven’t even got a hifi at home, and if they did it would have come from Curry’s.

I am surprised that even the music magazines like Mojo and Uncut carry no adverts for Hifi, I would have thought this a good place to advertise ..... though that said a lot of people that buy loads of music usually have some beat up old system from the 70s and when you suggest they may possibly want to upgrade to better hear their music collection they look at you like you're mad. What's wrong with this system they say, I inherited it 30 years ago ......it's great..

 

[davidf]

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

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

It can’t harm things! I think it would to an extent, as the high quality systems that are available now will sound much better, making it easier to convince people of their worth.

 

[insider9]

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

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

Not sure... If roads were better would sports car sales increase?

I think the issue is that most people don't listen at CD quality as it is, because they simply don't care. Making a better recording and compressing it to mp3 makes little sense.

On top of that the whole industry would have to change. Better quality recordings would require better quality musicians and here's the big issue. It's not like sound engineers and producers intentionally make poor recordings (sure it happens). They generally do the best they can with what's being recorded.

 

[Electro]

I just spotted this on the Electrocompaniet website.
Press release June 21, 2018 TAU, 21. june 2018
Electrocompaniet AS, as well as certain of its affiliates (collectively, the “Company”) filed applications to commence insolvency proceedings in Norway. The Company immediately ceased all operations and the courts have appointed insolvency practitioners Hammwervold-Pind to act as the independent administrator for Electrocompaniet AS.

Over the past several months, Electrocompaniet AS have been struggling financially and failed to reach an agreement on restructuring of debts with its major creditors which led to the bankruptcy. However, on June 21st, a group of investors led by Mr. Roy Gausaker purchased the estate, and the company and factory will be fully operational from Monday 25th.

“The group of investors are restructuring debts as well as bringing fresh capital to the company, which will give it a very strong financial position for future growth and product development moving forward.” – says Nils Arne Bakke COB of Electrocompaniet AS.

The management team will be augmented by Øyvind Lundbakk taking over as CEO and Mikal Dreggevik taking the position as BDM. The rest of the team will be the same, and continue to produce, market and deliver the best HiFi products in its class. And as always, our slogan will continue to be “If music really matters....”
http://www.electrocompaniet.no/news/item_0003.html

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Replying to Andrew

I think it would make us lot happier if all recordings where top quality but for everyone else’s I am not sure they would notice if the recording was very good which most people do not feel the same way about music like us as they would be quite happy with the radio or the car radio or even there iPhone because that’s how things are now as much as I hate it .

So the only people it would benefit having a really good hifi and top music recordings is us which we are just a very small piece of pie and most probably why hifi companies no this so most probably up the prices so they can keep going because they are not supplying everyone in the world with a hifi but weather I am right or not it’s just a educated guess that’s what’s going on .

 

[Andrewjvt]

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

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

Not sure... If roads were better would sports car sales increase?

I think the issue is that most people don't listen at CD quality as it is, because they simply don't care. Making a better recording and compressing it to mp3 makes little sense.

On top of that the whole industry would have to change. Better quality recordings would require better quality musicians and here's the big issue. It's not like sound engineers and producers intentionally make poor recordings (sure it happens). They generally do the best they can with what's being recorded.

In south Africa there are lots of dirt roads.
Hence lots of sales for Bakkies.
4x4 pick ups as you call them.
Most men (myself included would love a sports car if I could afford one)

 

[iceman16]

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

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

Not sure... If roads were better would sports car sales increase?

I think the issue is that most people don't listen at CD quality as it is, because they simply don't care. Making a better recording and compressing it to mp3 makes little sense.

On top of that the whole industry would have to change. Better quality recordings would require better quality musicians and here's the big issue. It's not like sound engineers and producers intentionally make poor recordings (sure it happens). They generally do the best they can with what's being recorded.

In south Africa there are lots of dirt roads. Hence lots of sales for Bakkies. 4x4 pick ups as you call them. Most men (myself included would love a sports car if I could afford one)

 

[lindsayt]

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.

Leif, I suppose it sepends what you call high end and what you call fairly wealthy.

Something like a £3k Electrocompaniet amplifier is affordable to anyone on an average UK wage. As long as they're not into smoking, gambling, running a new or fairly new car etc etc.

That £3k amp could be very much a part of a high end (by sound quality) system. All you'd need is the right (affordable) speakers.

On the sports car analogy. If every county in England had a Nurburgring, performance car sales would increase. They'd still be a minority interest, but the minority would be larger. And if the UK had no speed limits on motorways that'd also increase sales.

In fact thinking about it, Loudness Wars is a lot like driving on congested, regulated UK motorways. Whilst pre 1990 recordings are like the autobahn.

 

[woodbino]

Hmm. Just read this thread. How interesting. Quite an insight into the 'audiophille'.

High end hifi will always be very niche.

Interesting analogy with cars and roads....

On that same analogy, most people are interested in the destination rather than the journey. The car just being used as a tool.

I used to be really into computers. Really into them. I now couldn't care less about them as long as what I have gets the job done. I still use them a lot, almost every waking hour. But it's just a tool to get the job done (whatever that may be).

It's very hard to get passionate about a tool.

 

[Macspur]

I just spotted this on the Electrocompaniet website.
Press release June 21, 2018 TAU, 21. june 2018
Electrocompaniet AS, as well as certain of its affiliates (collectively, the “Company”) filed applications to commence insolvency proceedings in Norway. The Company immediately ceased all operations and the courts have appointed insolvency practitioners Hammwervold-Pind to act as the independent administrator for Electrocompaniet AS.
Over the past several months, Electrocompaniet AS have been struggling financially and failed to reach an agreement on restructuring of debts with its major creditors which led to the bankruptcy. However, on June 21st, a group of investors led by Mr. Roy Gausaker purchased the estate, and the company and factory will be fully operational from Monday 25th.
“The group of investors are restructuring debts as well as bringing fresh capital to the company, which will give it a very strong financial position for future growth and product development moving forward.” – says Nils Arne Bakke COB of Electrocompaniet AS.

The management team will be augmented by Øyvind Lundbakk taking over as CEO and Mikal Dreggevik taking the position as BDM. The rest of the team will be the same, and continue to produce, market and deliver the best HiFi products in its class. And as always, our slogan will continue to be “If music really matters....”

http://www.electrocompaniet.no/news/item_0003.html

Top news Electro!

Mac

www.realmusicnet.wordpress.com

 

[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.

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*

You clearly think you know everything but you’re quite wrong. So called audiophiles are a small group of obsssive eccentrics. People with money don’t have to think about buying, they just want a top audio system for a room, and buy it. As I said, I’ve met such people. When you sell your company for a few million, you don’t worry about a few thousand.

As for the sound of a system, over a certain price - which is not that much - you are paying for the looks and the marketing.

 

[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*

You clearly think you know everything but you’re quite wrong. So called audiophiles are a small group of obsssive eccentrics. People with money don’t have to think about buying, they just want a top audio system for a room, and buy it. As I said, I’ve met such people. When you sell your company for a few million, you don’t worry about a few thousand.

As for the sound of a system, over a certain price - which is not that much - you are paying for the looks and the marketing.

I most definitely don't know everything far from it in fact, I do have opinions and sometimes they are right and other times they are wrong. *smile*

If you know better than me then I bow to your superior knowledge . *yes3*

 

[davidf]

You clearly think you know everything but you’re quite wrong. So called audiophiles are a small group of obsssive eccentrics. People with money don’t have to think about buying, they just want a top audio system for a room, and buy it. As I said, I’ve met such people. When you sell your company for a few million, you don’t worry about a few thousand.

I agree with Electro - those who are very wealthy generally don’t care about hi-fi, they’re more interested in holidays, houses, cars, and probably other investments. A friend of my father who was well off only had a £1,000 B&O system (the all in one with the opening glass doors), and even then he hardly used it. He could’ve bought any system he wanted.

 

[ellisdj]

if you walk around the Munich show you see a lot of ultra expensive systems.
people must be buying them some of those business have been going over 20 years.

You need to be pretty wealthy to buy their wares and you would have to be quite passionate to want them.

Look at companies like McIntosh they don't make cheap products yet they have been going for a long time.

You will have enthusiast and keen audiophiles with all budgets all over the world and it's great that we do.

 

[gasolin]

What is the point of buying extremly expensive hifi if it's so revealing you can't stand listen to it, that the focus is so much on being analytic that they forgot about being musical, the thing where yoy want to listen to music instead of analysing the music.

 

[ellisdj]

Its not like that at all, what would make you think those systems sound like that, mine doesnt sound like that and its miles away from the stuff at Munich, not anywhere near that level

 

[Electro]

Its not like that at all, what would make you think those systems sound like that, mine doesnt sound like that and its miles away from the stuff at Munich, not anywhere near that level

I agree,

I think the problem is that so many people have never heard a well set up top quality HiFi system .

I often listen using my i pad as a source with spotify premuim at 320kbps ( connected as in my sig ) and the sound through my system is absolutely amazing even playing mainstream not so well recorded music, with well produced music the sound is extremely good .

If someone was blindfolded I bet they would not guess that it was spotify playing !

A good expensive system will get the best out of all types of recording.

 

[lindsayt]

Its not like that at all, what would make you think those systems sound like that, mine doesnt sound like that and its miles away from the stuff at Munich, not anywhere near that level

I think you're being overly critical on your system. A change of room (and therefore house) and a change of speakers (not necessarily for ones that would cost you more than yours did) and you'd get there.

And your system as is, is not too far off.

 

[lindsayt]

What is the point of buying extremly expensive hifi if it's so revealing you can't stand listen to it, that the focus is so much on being analytic that they forgot about being musical, the thing where yoy want to listen to music instead of analysing the music.

I would agree. I'd also say it wouldn't be worth buying cheap hi-fi if it's so "revealing" you can't stand to listen to it.

The key word here being "If".

The trick here is to use hi-fi that's revealing AND enjoyable to listen to. Some systems are relatively better at this than others.

 

[iceman16]

Its not like that at all, what would make you think those systems sound like that, mine doesnt sound like that and its miles away from the stuff at Munich, not anywhere near that level

There are some speaker manufacturer that makes their product really excel with certain music genre like jazz or classical where you can hear and feel astonished. Some costs several thousand £ but when played other types of music like rock/pop/metal etc. they sound average.

 

[woodbino]

First of all, what is wrong with a hifi from Currys???

If you really enjoyed the music then you would enjoy the convenience and simplicity of a simple all in one unit.

For 99% of the time, for 99% of people, this is more than enough and will sound just as good. No need to faff about with positioning, room, and other acoustic nonsense etc...

This is exactly what has happened... Consumers are not stupid. They could see that spending money and effort on bs high end hifi does not yield any more bang for their buck, so have opted to go for convenience, and to be honest with the technological progress, the audio quality is not far off either. Consumers have ditched 'audiophille' hifi for the likes of Sonos, Spotify and other easy to access and use systems.

You know who makes the bet DACs? Apple. Why people spend money on bs external DACs is beyond me. Eventually consumers will wake up to this and it's goodbye overpriced cr*p.

When I was at uni all I had was a 'boom box'. With that (and booze and girls) we had an amazing time and no one could say we were not enjoying the music.

It's all well and good now that I can afford it to buy nice hifi, but it irritates me that people on here seem to think there is some superiority to what they listen to on £10k+ systems.

Buying expensive hifi is not about the music. It's buying into a lifestyle. Nothing wrong with that. It's nice to get into cool electronics, admiring the quality workmanship, electronics and the community surrounding it. However this does not equate to better sound quality.

Moving back to the car analogy; an expensive sports car has great engineering, but day to day, on a commute to work, my new Peugeot 208 is far more comfortable and practical and will get the job done better than a fussy sports car. And safer too.

If I was really just into the music then I would do away with all the faff and bs that comes with high end hifi and spend £400 on a decent all on one unit from Currys, and spend the rest of my time, money and effort supporting the music I love.

Companies like Electrocompaniet went bust for a reason; because they were not offering anything consumers wanted or needed, and that's a good thing. Michael Jackson loved them?!??!? That's supposed to be praise? Have you seen the utter crap he wanted his money on? He went bankrupt too as he was duped into buying utter crap. More companies will follow this path too. As the generation of audiophiles ages and passes on, companies like Linn and Naim will struggle too. Sure they have innovated in the past, but if they do not wake up and start smelling their own bulls**t, they will follow suit too.

 

[davidf]

First of all, what is wrong with a hifi from Currys???

If you really enjoyed the music then you would enjoy the convenience and simplicity of a simple all in one unit.

For 99% of the time, for 99% of people, this is more than enough and will sound just as good. No need to faff about with positioning, room, and other acoustic nonsense etc...

This is exactly what has happened... Consumers are not stupid. They could see that spending money and effort on bs high end hifi does not yield any more bang for their buck, so have opted to go for convenience, and to be honest with the technological progress, the audio quality is not far off either. Consumers have ditched 'audiophille' hifi for the likes of Sonos, Spotify and other easy to access and use systems.

It’s not a case of people not being stupid, nor seeing high end as BS. It’s a case of being lazy. We’ve been here before with CD. Sound quality aside, people went for CD because the discs didn’t need cleaning, they were smaller and more convenient, and apparently you could play frisbees with them with your dog and they’d still play. People cannot be bothered with multi-box systems like those you see at many hi-fi shows. They want something simple that they can buy, take home, plug in, and forget about.

Calling high end audio out as as BS is a very sweeping statement. A small minority of it probably is, but then that also applies to budget audio too, as well as many other different industry’s products.

 

[Andrewjvt]

First of all, what is wrong with a hifi from Currys???

If you really enjoyed the music then you would enjoy the convenience and simplicity of a simple all in one unit.

For 99% of the time, for 99% of people, this is more than enough and will sound just as good. No need to faff about with positioning, room, and other acoustic nonsense etc...

This is exactly what has happened... Consumers are not stupid. They could see that spending money and effort on bs high end hifi does not yield any more bang for their buck, so have opted to go for convenience, and to be honest with the technological progress, the audio quality is not far off either. Consumers have ditched 'audiophille' hifi for the likes of Sonos, Spotify and other easy to access and use systems.

You know who makes the bet DACs? Apple. Why people spend money on bs external DACs is beyond me. Eventually consumers will wake up to this and it's goodbye overpriced cr*p.

When I was at uni all I had was a 'boom box'. With that (and booze and girls) we had an amazing time and no one could say we were not enjoying the music.

It's all well and good now that I can afford it to buy nice hifi, but it irritates me that people on here seem to think there is some superiority to what they listen to on £10k+ systems.

Buying expensive hifi is not about the music. It's buying into a lifestyle. Nothing wrong with that. It's nice to get into cool electronics, admiring the quality workmanship, electronics and the community surrounding it. However this does not equate to better sound quality.

Moving back to the car analogy; an expensive sports car has great engineering, but day to day, on a commute to work, my new Peugeot 208 is far more comfortable and practical and will get the job done better than a fussy sports car. And safer too.

If I was really just into the music then I would do away with all the faff and bs that comes with high end hifi and spend £400 on a decent all on one unit from Currys, and spend the rest of my time, money and effort supporting the music I love.

Companies like Electrocompaniet went bust for a reason; because they were not offering anything consumers wanted or needed, and that's a good thing. Michael Jackson loved them?!??!? That's supposed to be praise? Have you seen the utter crap he wanted his money on? He went bankrupt too as he was duped into buying utter crap. More companies will follow this path too. As the generation of audiophiles ages and passes on, companies like Linn and Naim will struggle too. Sure they have innovated in the past, but if they do not wake up and start smelling their own bulls**t, they will follow suit too.

Yes bring back the 3000w peak power all in one plastic space age looking hifi.

 

[davidf]

You know who makes the bet DACs? Apple. Why people spend money on bs external DACs is beyond me. Eventually consumers will wake up to this and it's goodbye overpriced cr*p.

Yup, that’s why people buy high quality headphone amplifiers with better sound to ADD to their iPhones...

It's all well and good now that I can afford it to buy nice hifi, but it irritates me that people on here seem to think there is some superiority to what they listen to on £10k+ systems.

Well they have auditioned their purchases, so presumably have heard something superior against what they were using before.

If I was really just into the music then I would do away with all the faff and bs that comes with high end hifi and spend £400 on a decent all on one unit from Currys, and spend the rest of my time, money and effort supporting the music I love.

That’s like saying if you were only interested in getting from A to B, you’d be happy with a Ford Ka. Some are, some aren’t.

I have a £4,300 processor now over my previous £1,250 one. Going by your theories, my current one wouldn’t sound any better and is just the same thing in a fancy case - you’re so wrong it doesn’t bear thinking about.

 

[drummerman]

Its not like that at all, what would make you think those systems sound like that, mine doesnt sound like that and its miles away from the stuff at Munich, not anywhere near that level 

I agree,

I think the problem is that so many people have never heard a well set up top quality HiFi system .

I often listen using my i pad as a source with spotify premuim at 320kbps ( connected as in my sig ) and the sound through my system is absolutely amazing even playing mainstream not so well recorded music, with well produced music the sound is extremely good .

If someone was blindfolded I bet they would not guess that it was spotify playing !

A good expensive system will get the best out of all types of recording.

There is another way of looking at it; These days with very capable smartphones and superb headphones many experience HiFi of the highest order for very little money. So much so that you probably would have to spend many times as much on a home set up to get as much.

That is if you get on with headphones.