Dé Durob Audio blog – Le Blog de Durob Audio

So … What happened to Audiolab after it was bought? Initially it looked very promising. The new company was hiring the best people from the industry, expectations were high. However the first changes were  not really “smart”. The existing models which were designed quite straight forwarded got a touch of “rounding it a bit here and there”. This was good. However at the same time the retail price more or less doubled … I guess the sales went into the other direction. Soon everything was changing. Key people in the company left, distributor changes everywhere, pressure went up, brandname changed. New, kind of futuristic designs were introduced. However … it did not work out and the brand was (almost) history.

I don’t know exactly how things ended and what happened but at a certain moment the brandname Audiolab and the original products were re-introduced in the market by the Asian company which already has a handfull of UK audio brands in hands. I have no idea how things go now, but at least the brand Audiolab did not disappear and came back in a more or less original shape. I am afraid that is more exception than rule. Time will tell if the same will happen to other nice brands in wrong hands …

So … Audiolab, Concept or Camtech whatever name was given in different locations in the world due to registration problems, was bought by an investor. And not such a small one. I thought that this was going to be the moment in history that a professional company was going to make the better high-end equipment accepted by “normal” people. But what a disappointement!

What we did not know at that time was the following: This company, very active in the watch industry, (racing-) car industry, aviation etc. was in fact after another audio company. One of the key guys of this investor company was privately an enormous high end fanatic. Got his share of quality problems and got the idea that all this could be executed a lot better. And I can understand that someone who does not know, gets this idea. So … the investor tripped to USA, met a high-end manufacturer, made an offer and got a “NO”. Mmmm, what now … Pity, because I think (at least that was my thought at that time) that their professionalisme in design, production and marketing could make for the same price a much better product.

So, back to UK. One way or another they found Philip Swift and his Audiolab company and obviously there was a deal made. I think Philip is still smiling if he thinks about this deal, while the investor probably already has dried his tears, but still … So Audiolab was in hands of a famous company. Everything went from English quiet, to nervous dynamic. Best people in the industry were bought, lots of marketing noise was made and everybody was looking for what was happening. Of course faxes, letters came in. Contracts were cancelled and at the same time I was invited to come and talk about an eventual renewal. during the upcoming UK Hifi Show. Well, well, well … I had never seen so many Dutch distributors in line at Audiolab (now changed to McLaren) to try to get former Durob Audio’s Audiolab brand … As they say here … like flies crawling on horse shit … I could only think “Bah Bah” and decided that I was going to write McLaren a letter after the show and asking about the changes within the company and what was true about how they were treating people etc etc. Rumours were all over and I wanted to try to find out what was the truth, what was not and even more important, what was my position? Well, I got a long, long letter back from their lawyers which I started to read, but which I have never finished. My wife read the letter and stated “If you go on with this, I quit and you will end up with a heart-attack”. So we forgot about Audiolab and looked from the side-line what was happening and not happening … To be continued tomorrow …

To be honest, it took me some time to remember who was one of the first manufacturers I was dealing with who I could rate as always serious and pleasant. In fact in the beginning I was not directly dealing with the manufacturers I represented (from USA). I made a contact with a certain Mr. Thomas Della-Rocca. Now unfortunately the late Mr. Thomas Della-Rocca. He represented a number of high-end manufacturers as being their export agent. Think of companies as Audio Research, Martin Logan, Grado, Dahlquist, Sequerra and more. Thomas was in fact one of the partners in the original Marantz company. Saul Marantz of course, Sidney Smith, Dick Sequerra and Thomas. I must say that I always had a most pleasant relation with the man and through him I met a number of interesting people. Who can say nowadays to have been drinking tea with Saul Marantz? It brings not one penny, but it is one of the big values I care. Or having met John Dahlquist. Great speaker designer. Dick Sequerra, Sidney Smith, Joe Grado (the last one I in fact never met and circumstances made me think he did not even exist … so I wrote a letter to ask him that and the answer was that … he DID exist). Most of these high end companies were growing larger and started to handle their exports themselves. What a disaster … Is The Netherlands in Denmark? Of course you can sell as much as Germany? Do you hear the transformer hum when the music is on? Maybe here the problems started? Someone not (cap)able to do the export job doing the export job …

In UK we were dealing with a small company called AUDIOLAB. They made a nice and serious integrated amplifier (Model 8000A). The owner, Philip Swift, was a gentleman, and he and the company was a great pleasure to work with. Unfortunately we could not sell under the name AUDIOLAB as that brandname was registered in Europe by Mr. Ton Dunnebier from … AudioLab in Holland. He was not a problematic man, but had his cable brand AudioLab and of course did not want confusion. So we joined the German distributor and distributed the products under the brandname CONCEPT.

All was going well, the line was growing … 8000C, 8000P, 8000M, 8000CD, 8000DAC etc. And then suddenly … the news that the company was bought by an investor … And not a small one! A very pro in fact. To be continued tomorrow …