April 2020

We Ask 10 Questions For High-End Audio Manufacturers
Featuring Norbert Lindemann Of Lindemann Audio
Enjoy the Music.com's 25th Anniversary brings you a new special feature!

  During Enjoy the Music.com's very special 25th Anniversary we're asking various high-end audio manufacturers to answer the same ten questions. Their answers may surprise you! This month we're featuring Norbert Lindemann of Lindemann Audio. The development of their products fall back on a wealth of experience gathered in 25 years of building loudspeakers, amplifiers and digital sources. At Lindemann Audio, new products are created by means of the most advanced design tools and measuring methods. In doing so, the latest and best technologies on the market are employed. Naturally the sonic outcome is always of prime importance; as Lindemann Audio engineer's ears are the key measuring instrument! A careful optimization of all circuit details and a target-oriented selection of top-grade parts build the basis for every genuine high-end product.

Their products are developed by a passionate and experienced team of engineers in Germany, and made exclusively by ISO-certified firms all over Europe to meet the high quality demands of their customers. But above all else stands the passion for music and well-engineered technology. Lindemann Audio feels that only when merged in this way, the result are products that are entirely convincing.

Q. What is your first memory of falling in love with music?

A. One of my oldest memories goes back to the early 1970s. I still recall Stevie Wonder's song "Superstition" which I heard on AFN in those days. Later I added Pink Floyd and many others to the list. During my schooldays I played bass in a school band. For want of money we built our amps and speakers ourselves already back then. These were my first steps into audio electronics, at that time still with tube amps.

Q. How did you first get introduced to high-fidelity audio gear?

A. My first contact with hi-fi was the sound system of my uncle who owned an entire Braun chain and a lot of LPs. Here I also discovered the jazz of the 1960s like e.g. Miles Davis, John Coltrane and many more.

Q. What is your favorite piece of vintage hi-fi, and why?

A. I've never been a collector of hi-fi gear. The only device I didn't build myself is the turntable. Here a modified Thorens TD 126 was my long-time companion.

Q. When did you decide to start a high-end audio company?

A. My decision to establish a hi-fi company of my own was taken in 1992.

Q. What, and when, was your company's first product?

A. The first appliance under the brand name Lindemann was an integrated amplifier, the "AMP 1.0". Within three months this device became the test winner in a field with many prominent contenders. Soon after we presented a loudspeaker named "BOX 1.0".

Q. What challenges did you face during those early years?

A. Already back then the biggest problem was the market access. Many larger firms had divided the market among each other and were regarding our products as a nuisance factor, all the more as high-resolution products were rather uncommon in those days.

Q. How have your products evolved over the years?

A. From 1998 we've laid a strong focus on CD playback and digital technology. As an idea, some technologies like re-sampling have been core elements of our devices and today they're more important than ever. In 2012 we started dealing with the streaming topic which today is our main emphasis.

Q. What is your company's most popular product(s)?

A. Currently we're very successful with our Limetree network players and above all with the new Musicbook Source, a universal signal source. The Musicbook Series has been around for 7 years now and is our best-selling product until today.

Q. What is your next planned product offering and its features?

A. We're going to present novelties in both product lines. But this is confidential until the HighEnd exhibition in May :)

Q. What advancements do you speculate high-end audio will offer ten years from now? 

A. In the audiophile sector I see a tendentially sluggish development. The CD has been on the market for 40 years now and will probably continue to play a role in a niche market in 10 years – similar to the long-playing record today. Streaming from the internet is the future and can sound better already today than the good old CD. Here lies the biggest potential for enhanced sound, especially with the supply in the High Res sector growing. After all, sonic advancement with the sources is the most important prerequisite for new developments in the field of amplifiers or loud speakers.

Manufacturer
Lindemann Audiotechnik GmbH
Am Anger 4
D-82237 Wörthsee
Germany

Website: www.Lindemann-Audio.com