Tandberg was a Norwegian brand, but I don't know of any currently.
Unusual countries for audio gear
We all know that audio product come from Canada, the U.K., America, Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, Australia.
What are some unusual places you've heard make really good stuff? Anything from Norway? Or New Zealand? How about Qatar or somewhere in the middle east?
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Poland: Fezz, Limpazator, Canor, Circle Labs. Feliks Audio Hungary: Heed, AH Qualiton Norway: Electrocompaniet. Hegal, Denmark: Dali, Dynaudio, Akiko Audio, Ansuz, Aavik, Børresen and Axxess Spain: Spain Audio Group, “The brands Ars-Sonum (amplifiers), BonySound (loudspeakers), JC Valvular (amplifiers), Perujo Audio (loudspeakers), Sottovoce Audio (loudspeakers) and Wires 4 Music (cables) have joined forces to create “Spain Audio Group” (SAG), which is the “Association of Spanish manufacturers of high fidelity audio equipment”. Israel : Pardo, Morel, Thivanlabs, Or Audio, and Audio Codes. Greece: Lab-12, Signal Projects, Ideon Audio, Aries Cerat, Metaxas & sins
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@gano I cannot understand your point. Restate it, please? Norway-- far north. Has audio. Greece, much further south, different climate. China in the east, UK in the west. Etc. So you are saying...? |
My point is look at other data. Climate, GPD, education, cultural data, etc. Just the climate alone is a great indicator for e.g. capita per speaker companies. Look at Canada, they have indoor weather throughout most of the year, and they have proportionately more hifi companies. Scandinavia - look at weather and the long winter, they have more companies than France while a fraction of the population. Austria with 9 million people and major brands? Look at their history of composers. How many hifi companies in Africa? Is it a mystery? Not at all. To me Estonia is not a surprise at all. What is more surprising is countries with no hifi brand, that would be a better question to me. But your question, your interest is your proragative, it's just my opinion.... |
I find the Asia (China in particular) statement hilarious they grind our mediocre products at best. If you want cheap you can always turn to the east. Cutting edge is coming from the EU, North America and Japan (design) Then much is manufactured in China, ie NAD, Musical Fidelity. I am speaking only to Audio Systems and Components not printed circuits, chips, pcb's or capacitors and transformers. Though many of the above mentioned manufacturers are building their own transformers and capacitors these days to control the quality of the windings etc. Some just like to go against convention like myself that is why there are no audio components in my system with a COO of China in my system. |
@tony1954 I love Canada. By indoor weather, I meant no pressure to be outside and nerds can sit in their labs and design cool audio gear. |
@richardbrand That is fine and that might be the case. They are the global leaders for electric cars for domestic consumption. As far as Kef is concerned I had one paid of their speakers and sold them in 10 months. Keep it context old boy hardly audiophile material other than the overrated Kef blades. Gd-day mates
https://www.automotive-technology.com/articles/top-10-largest-electric-vehicle-manufacturers#:~:text=Tesla:%20The%20Undisputed%20Leader%20of,company%20extends%20autonomous%20vehicle%20capabilities. |
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From India, I know of two. Rethm Speakers and EBI Audio (cartridges and turntables). From Serbia: Auris Audio, Vista Audio (partly American too), Karan Acoustics Slovenie: Apollon Audio, Audio Alto In addition to this there are many obscure ones in France- though I understand the question was on obscure countries and not obscure manufacturers. |
I appreciate the apology, but to say that Canadians have "no pressure to be outside" only underlines the stereotype you apply to Canada as a whole. I live in Vancouver. It is on the west coast, about 2 hours north of Seattle. 65% of Canada'a population lives south of Seattle. Although we hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics and, yes we love hockey, in 2021 the temperature just north of Whistler reached over 120 degrees. Despite the beliefs of many Americans, weather doesn't change the minute you cross the 49th parallel. Canada has the highest number of golfers per capita in the world for a reason.
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@tony1954 it wasn’t an apology. It was an explanation. I honestly didn’t say anything offensive. I meant it in a positive way. I am perfectly aware of the climate and weather and geography of Canada. I have been to all over Canada, US and Europe. It’s simply a feature of the latitude where Canadians live that they have more indoor time. It is changing with climate change so there is that. I praised Canada for producing awesome audio gear. Yes, it is stereotyping and generalizing when in one sentence I talk about a county's climate in generic terms, when it has a diverse geography and climate and extreme. Does it rain a lot in Vancouver? Is it colder in Montreal than in Southern California? I think I have a point.... @foggyus91 Switzerland is also well known for innovation and precision, old tech (watches) new tech (geodesic equipment - Leica), to me it’s only natural they have hifi companies |
@mapman Great question. I feel this is where a great relationship with your dealer comes into play and supporting the brick and mortar stores become very important. At risk of being gullible the distributor and retailer should understand what's at stake when you represent these companies from abroad. And to that end have services and problem solving answers in place. |
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you are the authority on most people @foggyus91? You are really just too wound up. In Europe, "most people" associate Switzerland with - well - everything I said. |
@gano lets agree to disagree and steer clear of each other. |
@foggyus91 Ok what 'paid' of KEFs did you own? What did you feed them with? Obviously not 'overrated' Blades and not any of the Reference series ... My Quad electrostatic ESL-2905 speakers were made in China. Are you going to claim these are not audiophile quality? There is nothing on your system here! |
@richardbrand Nothing here about your system either. Was 20 years ago and I did not like them just as I think B&W is overrated retail stuff. No offense I am done with the efforts to derail the OP'S post. Start your own thread about KEF . Gd-Day mate. |
Serbia: Kran Acoustics. Karan amplifiers are really outstanding high end components, fully balanced and DC coupled, there are no condensers in the signal path, meaning true linearity – without condensers which would act as filters, influencing both frequency and phase responses. Minimizing phase shift results in perfect positioning, especially in the increased depth and overall resolution of the soundstage, while keeping the natural timbres intact as well. |
I was pointing out that a lot of very good stuff does come from China, or is owned by Chinese interests. One advantage of being in Australia is that we are almost equally far from everybody else, except New Zealand. Everybody wants to sell us stuff and we have no barriers to trade! Tend to agree with you on B&W though. |
I would add Meze Audio and Rokna Audio for Romania. https://mezeaudio.com/pages/about-us https://www.rockna-audio.com/company I have lived in Qatar for 14 years, still here and hope to see a brand establish itself locally.
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