Electrocompaniet Feature.indd

FEATURE n today’s austere economic climate,there’s little good newsemanating from manufacturingindustry – and this pictureseems to be universally badacross the whole of westernEurope. Right now, no one making hifiis having fun...Well, maybe Mikal Dreggevik isthe exception that proves the rule.As the head of Electrocompaniet, forthe past five years, he has presidedover one of hi-fi’s few recent successstories – and all from the highwage, high tax, high cost economyof Norway. Running counter tothe current fashion, he has notoutsourced his production to Chinaor the Far East; instead he’s skillfullygrown the business up to onehundred plus employees, and won allnumber of prizes along the way...Like all successful captains ofindustry, he is an energetic soul– smiling and positive - yet heexudes a sense of inner calm too.Whilst the mid November weatherin Stavanger [pictured below left] onNorway’s beautiful South West coastwas icy, the tall blond Dreggevik isnot. Indeedhe displaysa childlikeenthusiasmfor what he’sdoing...“As a kidI had olderbrothersthat ownedtheir own hi-fi systems,” he tellsme, “and it soon became a dreamof mine to have my own. As mybrothers upgraded their systems Iwould inherit their old and outdatedcomponents. I also built my ownloudspeakers. But it wasn’t untilmy (Lutheran church) confirmationat the age of fifteen that I had themeans to buy my own real stereo.Indeed, my parents were a bitfrustrated that I spent all gift moneyon a hi-fi. It has been a passion eversince.”Well quite, because Mikal’spassion for audio was so enduringthat, nearly three decades later, itsaw him buying his country’s mostillustrious hi-fi brand. In 2004 hebecame owner of Electrocompaniet,and injected a new sense of focusand purpose into what was arespected if rather sedentary hi-fimarque. And amusingly, he bought thecompany itself as a direct result ofbuying the company’s top system!Thanks to his love of music froman early age, he had been – like manyreading this – on his own personalodyssey to get the sound he craved.“I started playing various instrumentsat an early age”, says Mikal. Thatbrought me through many differenttypes of music, from classical to rock.Today, I don’t play any more, but havelearned to enjoy a wide range ofmusic. My favourite changes throughthe year, and also after my personalmode. Typically, in the weeks beforeChristmas, Handel’s ‘Messiah’ is myfavourite. But if you want me to giveyou just one name, then withoutquestion it is Pink Floyd. And forme, Roger Waters or David Gilmourdoing their own version of Pink Floydhas the same standing or is evenbetter.”His purchase of Electrocompanietdidn’t come by accident, but byhaving made his fortune withWestcontrol [pictured above right]– an avionics defence contractor,supplying a number of militariesincluding Britain’s Royal Air Force. Hestarted this company by himself, backin 1994.“In the beginning it was justme, doing everything from design,electronics, programming, andpaperwork. Now, Westcontrolis ostensibly a research anddevelopment company with itsown factory for production andassembling. We like to use the phrase“system house”, which in Norwegianterms is a company doing everythingfrom idea to product. So we dodevelopment, prototype, beta seriesand volume production in the samecompany. We cover a wide rangeof analogue and digital electronics.Examples include radio communicationsystems used in helicopters– the RAF has several productsinstalled in their own choppers. Wedo different types of sensors, vision

FEATUREsystems, servo systems, etcetera.”In the UK, Electrocompanietis a relatively enigmatic name,associated by some audiophiles withclean sounding transistor poweramplifiers stretching as far back asthe nineteen seventies. In its nativeNorway however, the marqueneeds no introduction - it was theElectrocompaniet ‘2 Channel AudioPower Amplifier’ that started thecompany’s success. The result ofa paper presented to a 1973 AESconference, which presented theidea of transient Intermodulationdistortion (TIM), the story goesthat Norwegian record producerSvein Erik Børja took this conceptto Electrocompaniet, who refined itand produced a transistor amplifierdesigned to eliminate this type ofdistortion. The company duly madea name for itself, and built up itsbusiness to get the product into overforty countries worldwide.After this early success, thecompany failed to capitalise onthe momentum, and it wasn’t untilDreggevik got involved five years agothat things started pushing forwardagain, allied with its powerful sistercompany Westcontrol. Mikal takesup the story, “Electrocompanietstarted from the simple idea thatit was possible to make a bettersounding amplifier than was availableon the market, back in the midnineteen seventies. ‘Close the gap tothe master’ has been the company’sslogan for many years, and for me itencapsulates both the spirit and thestyle of the company.”Asked to describe the mostimportant early Electrocompanietproduct, he’s convinced it is theiconic 25W amplifier launched in1977. “A lot of people still speakabout this, as one of the mostsignificant in the history of high end.It was a technical breakthrough, andthe sound was marvellous. In manyways, this product is the foundationof the brand name Electrocompaniet.I bought the company in December2004, simply because I lovedthe product, and also becausethere was a perfect synergy withWestcontrol. I had been a customerof Electrocompaniet, and had theproducts in my living room, in useevery day!”The association with Westcontrolis what really gives Electrocompanietan edge, he tells me. “It works verywell, because the former has a strongR&D department covering analogueand digital techniques at an advancedlevel, along with a modern factory.This of course is allied to over thirtyyears experience on the audiophileengineering side from the latter.It’s very difficult for many high endcompanies to have all the necessaryresources available on a daily basis,so by combining the two companies’research and development centre,we can have a lot more engineersemployed than if Electrocompanietwas a separate unit. Westcontrolhas a reputation as one of the mostinnovative companies of its type inNorway, with all types of qualificationstandards, covering ISO900, Aviationand military specification.”Electrocompaniet is based in theStavanger area of Norway, knownlocally as its ‘petro-capital’ thanksto the country’s highly lucrative oilindustry. Although an industrial area,in typically Norwegian style it’s verytidy and the city itself, the country’sthird largest, is very pretty. Anyonewho’s been to the Highlands ofScotland will get a familiar feeling– expansive 360 panoramic views,crisp air and a sense of wonder atthe great outdoors. Set just a fewkilometres out from Stavanger townis the factory, a fairly conventionallooking affair but with one keydifference. When I visited, there wereheavy earth movers at work outside,cutting their way through the rockbehind the factory to make a massiveextension. Electrocompaniet isgrowing...Given the prevailing economiccircumstances, isn’t it surprisingthat a high end hi-fi company cansucceed – especially with the highwages and high taxes he has to pay?Mikal disagrees. “When you wantproduction in Northern Europe,you need a modern factory, withrobots doing most of the work. Atour factory we have for the last tenyears focused and worked hard withthis. This type of production is lessinfluenced by the labour cost. Wefind that with modern constructionin a modern factory we are able tocompete with the cost from the east,including China. But we have thebenefit of in-house quality control. Allour products are made in Norwayand this is in fact a more and morevaluable situation for us. There is lessand less product made in the Westtoday, and we use ‘Made in Norway’as part of the product’s very identity.”Electrocompanietnow has twomain focuses. It ispushing hard toupdate its high endrange. Whilst someamplifiers havebeen in production,largely unchangedfor a great manyyears – underliningthe basic rightnessof the design– there’s a need forother new products which Mikal isworking on now. But he’s also veryexcited by what he calls “an exclusivenew lifestyle series”. These moreaccessible, ‘plug and play’ productsare striking visually yet show greatengineering depth and imagination.“With these in place, we will becompeting in different areas of themarket against new rivals – but Idon’t want to wake them up bygiving out their name! By and large,they are makers of terrible soundingsystems, sold to people that havenever had the chance to listen tohigh end systems. Our goal is to getcustomers from this market, ratherthan just take ever more from thelimited number of customers ‘inside’the high end arena”, he tells me.Although something of anAnglophile (he spends much of histime in the UK and for some unfathomablereason is a lifetime supporterof Leeds United football club), I cansense that Mikal is very proud of hisNorwegian roots. The country hasstaged something of a renaissance inrecent years, and I think he’s happythat the return of Electrocompanietis one part of it. Not just to showhis Scandinavian neighbours thatDenmark isn’t the sole superpowerin consumer audio electronics (hehas a watchful eye on the output ofBang & Olufsen), but to show theworld that the country has a place ininternational high end hi-fi.With over one hundredemployees and a growing factory, plusa range of impressive new productscoming up, Electrocompanietdoesn’t look set to easily give upits status as Norway’s largest hi-fimaker. Dreggevik is ambitious forElectrocompaniet, and senses thechanging market. ”The synergy withWestcontrol means we have a farbigger development team than isnormal for a high end companythe same size as Electrocompaniet.We want to be one of the majoractors in the high end market – thisis the goal and we will continue tofocus on the best product, with thebest quality, with the best possibleservice.”