OPEN HOUSE AT ATR AUDIO TRADE, GERMANY

Eric van Spelde visist an open house event at ATR Audio Trade, Eltville am Rhein, Germany.

ATR Audio Trade is generally considered royalty among German audio distributors. Outside the large world brands with their own local operations and the traditional German makes that together were still dominating the audio market, back in 1978 they were pretty much the first to set up an audio distribution outfit specialising in quality, dedicated audio brands. Audio Trade were three guys with little more than a garage box and a home office between them. Today, Audio Trade represents leading global HiFi brands like Ortofon, ATC, Pro-Ject, Cabasse, JL Audio and Stax, well-known artisan brands such as Ensemble, Copland and Blue Amp but also innovative and ´disruptive´ newcomers like WaversaSystems, Tien Audio and Zavfino. ATR distributes its portfolio though a network of 400 HiFi dealers.

Just before Covid-19 burst lose in all its severity (as ´luck´ would have it…) ATR made a rather significant investment in creating what it calls a ´centre of good taste´ in Villa Belvedere, a rather stately place in Eltville am Rhein (Rheinland-Pfalz). “Truth be told, many in the business were expecting us to go to the end customer directly when they heard they were getting this place,“ says ATR product specialist Günter Antoniazzi. “Which is not what we ever intended at all. The fact, however, is that for larger projects like, for instance, high-end home cinemas, we are dealing with a kind of customer who will not go to a HiFi dealer somewhere in a town centre, who doesn´t have the facilities and stock to demonstrate all the possibilities anyway. We are talking about the sort of people who are used to simply substituting money for problems rather than wasting their valuable time – like that man who landed his helicopter at the launch party of a high-end car at his Maserati dealer, couldn´t agree with his wife what colour to take and simply ordered all five available cars before setting off again… That´s where we come in: we have everything on hand here – including things a luxury kitchen on every floor, a “wine-tastery” and so forth –  the helicopter can land  right here if needed, the dealer in the customer´s area gets the order and can draw from our extensive in-house knowhow.“

Of course, Villa Belvedere is also being used for product launches, educational purposes and for events like this Open House, where dealers and press alike are brought ´up to speed´ with the latest product developments of the brands within ATR´s rich portfolio. “For over two years, we have had to bear the rather significant cost of this place without being able to make it earn its keep, because of the Covid situation,“ says Antoniazzi. “You can tell that we are really happy to see Villa Belvedere come to life now. It really is a lovely place to work and enjoy what we´re doing.“

Barely past the entrance, we are greeted by a wall-to-wall presentation of Pro-Ject´s ´Box´ portfolio as well as the Juke Box all-in-one record playing systems in an array of colours. New, among others, is a ´Box´ that removes clicks and pops from your record playback. “Digitally, of course,“ adds Antoniazzi. “Even when a lot of people would think of it as the work of the devil…“

There´s always room for a record deck or two more in Pro-Ject´s lineup, it seems. The newest addition is the Debut Pro S, which adds a nicer-looking plinth and an S-shaped tonearm to the existing Debut Pro package. Moreover, the aluminium sub-platter which is a 150 euro upgrade on the other Debut models, is included in the package that adds a mere 100 euro to the Debut Pro´s retail price.

Under consideration is a dedicated turntable package that includes the classic Ortofon SPU cartridge-cum-headshell, using an S-shaped arm with enough effective mass to make this ´Godfather of all MC cartridges´ sing. “We plan on using the SPU version with the conical-shaped stylus – if you are going to be a purist anyway, why not go the whole hog…“ The big news would be the all-in price: Antoniazzi reckons on 1.200 to 1.400 euro including the cartridge itself, which costs 650 euro on its own. This would bring the entry cost of joining the SPU aficionados down significantly, as turntables with tonearms that work in synergy with these wonderful sounding but notoriously low on compliance pickups aren´t exactly plentiful in the lower price ranges, especially since the classic ´big´ Japanese direct-drive decks of the ´80s that used to have tonearms with unfashionably high effective mass, have become serious collectors’ items over the past decade or two.

“True Balanced“ refers to a series of Pro-Ject phono preamps and turntables that allow a symmetrical connection from the headshell onwards, up to the main amplifier. From 400 euros onwards, you can connect your turntable symmetrically to a Pro-Ject phono stage using a 5-pin connector for input and XLR outputs.

Cabasse is one of the longer-standing brands within the ATR portfolio. These ´alien´ sculptures in white could hardly be anything but French. Bring on the Daft Punk.

Yes, these tiny tots are really the main stereo speakers of the Pearl Keshi 2.1 system from Cabasse. The matching subwoofer which also contains all the electronics, is hardly the size of a handball… “The customers for these are a completely different lot from those who buy regular HiFi gear and speakers,“ says Antoniazzi. “Neither group would even as much as casually think of going to the other side…“

The Yellow Submarine is back in the Pro-Ject turntable portfolio, while the Metallica-themed one launched at the Munich High End earlier this year, has already sold out with a new batch coming soon.

The Cabasse room at Villa Belvedere: free from clutter and obvious HiFi equipment, just as the customers for these systems would prefer for their own homes.

Long-standing (his first forays into turntable design actually date from the same year as ATR´s ´birth´…) turntable developer Helmut Thiele presented the culmination of his work, the Thiele TT01 at the show featuring the TA01 tonearm, which uses advanced kinematics to achieve tracking error smaller or equal to 0.036 degrees(!) over the entire playing surface of a record.

For this occasion, the Stenheim loudspeakers from Switzerland which have been in the ATR portfolio for some time were driven by big, impressive and very expensive electronics from DartZeel, which brand is ´under consideration at ATR. Most impressive was the ensemble’s rendition of 10CC´s I´m Not In Love when played on Thiele´s turntable: a vast, atmospheric soundspace within every detail was crystal clear as well as in balance with the whole.

Perpetuum Ebner was one of the world´s largest turntable manufacturers in the 1950s and ´60s before it got absorbed into Dual. Apparently, a certain Elvis Aaron Presley had one of these when he got drafted into the US Army and sent to Germany.

The last turntable that had been developed by Perpetuum Ebner, the PE 2020, launched in 1967. This one set the template for the design of the ´modern´ Perpetuum Ebners as the brand relaunched in 2015.

Managing Partner Wolfgang Epting showing the main bearing and sub-platter assembly of the modern PE turntables.

2021 saw a new range-topper for the Perpetuum Ebner portfolio, the direct drive PE 7070 (9.000 euro including tonearm/cartridge). As all turntables are built on customer order, you can choose any colour you like for the plinth as an option. This one was built for a magazine test, the editorial team specified ´something non-boring’ for the photos…

Copland and Zavfino (with Thiele zero tracking error tonearm) on Thixar resonance control platforms.

Catering was extremely well, erm, catered for on the day.

Another brand that currently has the status ´under consideration´ at ATR is Neukomm from Switzerland. Hans-Rudi Neukomm was on site to introduce and explain the Master Series electronics, that were driving Stenheim speakers with the PE 7070 turntable performing front-end duties. Those modestly sized silver boxes do pack a punch and there were reports of the integrated Neukomm amp being able to easily drive Diptyque panel speakers where some highly regarded competition failed.

Northern Lights: Audio Pro from Scandinavia had a roomful of multiroom c.q. portable speakers on display. “Lots of music fun at modest prices – a bit dangerous however as higher priced HiFi has become a harder sell!,“ says Antoniazzi.

“And here is where dealers who don´t pay for their wares end up! Only joking…“

Words and Pictures Eric van Spelde For HiFi Pig.