Breaking news; Musical Fidelity is acquired by Heinz Lichtenegger, CEO of Audio Tuning Vertriebs GmbH and founder of Pro-Ject Audio Systems.
Heinz Lichtenegger has been in the hifi industry for 39 years. He created the Austrian distributi- on company Audio Tuning and the international global brand Pro-Ject Audio System. Because of his boundless energy, imagination and enthusiasm both are in leading positions in their respecti- ve market segments.
Lichtenegger has created a huge sales and marketing success with his long term marketing strategy of making high fidelity audio brands popular. This gave a solid base of a wide variety of sales channels and vast numbers of loyal customers!
Pro-Ject stands for Lichenegger‘s personal philosophy of affordable hifi audio. It achieved fame by bringing back analog record players at a time when almost everybody considered CD and digital to be the only viable media. Lichtenegger bravely swam against the tide and fought for analog and his philosophy. As a result of his persistence and personal power Pro-Ject is a market leader in the global turntable market.
Since the early 2000s, he searched a way to fulfill his philosophy of making electronics affordable without compromising his standards of audio fidelity.
Lichtenegger directed the use of the latest technology and components to facilitate Pro-Ject to offer a full range of electronics including amplifiers, CD players, DACs, phono stages, head- phone amplifiers and streamers in super compact, but beautifully made cabinets. He saw that the cabinets are the most expensive parts of a hifi product. He directed his Pro-Ject engineers and designers to find ways of lowering the cost without compromising quality.
All products are a result of Lichtenegger‘s deeply held philosophy and are designed and built for long time satisfaction in a simple but elegant and functional form.
Musical Fidelity: Affordable High End
Musical Fidelity was established 36 years ago and has built up an enviable reputation for high quality, design innovation, top-noth technical performance and value for money. These key facts are remarkably similar to Lichtenegger’s personal audio philosophy.
Musical Fidelity makes fantastic musical sounding products and targets the mid to high end audio customer who expects no compromise performance, but still looks for a great value.
Over the decades, Musical Fidelity has made a wide variety of well received products using every type of technology, from tubes to surface mount Printed Circuit Board technology, to monster amps, small Class A integrated, CD players, DACs, streamers, and now the Encore.
Musical Fidelity has introduced many completely unique and original circuit design concepts which have been enthusiastically received, and sold very well.
The Musical Fidelity philosophy is to give outstanding value high end. This doesn‘t mean cheap. It means that they strive to give true high end performance (often far better than products costing many times the MF price) at an affordable price. It achieves this by a combination of cutting edge design and technology expertise and unswerving commitment not to waste money on over the top cosmetics and metalwork.
This is almost identical to Lichtenegger’s philosophy. He will continue with the perfection of the Musical Fidelity DNA. Musical Fidelity‘s founder has retired. The company was adamant that its beloved customers should continue to receive back-up and was loking for a suitable partner to carry on their DNA. Lichtenegger‘s brand takeover will ensure the continuation of customer back- up and Musical Fidelity‘s design and heritage DNA.
„ We are delighted that Heinz Lichtenegger has taken over the Musical Fidelity brand. We have full confidence in the technical and design capabilities of his team and we know that they will continue developing MF‘s design DNA and looking after our long term customers. We have known Heinz for 30 years and have built a deep friendship with him. We are pleased that he has taken over the brand and that we will still continue to have an influence on it‘s direction.“ – Musical Fidelity spokeperson
As president, owner and CEO of both, Audio Tuning and Pro-Ject Audio Systems, I have known Musical Fidelity for 30 years and have always admired it. I will relish the opportunity of expan- ding the Musical Fidelity brand and continue developing its design and heritage DNA. I am brimming with ideas for new products and ways of exploiting the brands enviable heritage. I see great potential for the brand giving me even more options continuing my aim to fascinate as many people as possible for our joy to listen to music at home with a great hifi system.“ – Heinz Lichtenegger