When it comes to developing a new loudspeaker, our engineers are given completely freedom. Materials? As much as they want (professional studios could get by just picking our dustbins). Cost? No object. (Our vice president of finance will only talk to the boss if his lawyer is present.) Time? There's enough of it in Skanderborg.

At this level of thoroughness, it can take up to 5 years to finish a new speaker (in 1981, Mogens Hass almost managed to do it in six months, but then he thought of a new kind of coil). It starts with the desire to realize an idea that is technologically advanced and out of the ordinary. Sometimes even the whole project. If we find that our objectives were impossible to reach for the design team.

For our bean counters, this is an altogether too rare outcome. The only thing more expensive than an aborted project is a successful project. A successful new development is something an honest Danish company cannot afford too often (the faint sound you hear is Allen Jensen, our cost controller, vigorously nodding his head).

For the start of production, a multitude of special tools and rigs have to he designed and made. For example, for a new tweeter we had to invest more than half-a-million dollars. But that's okay. After all, we're on a mission to build perfection.

Nuts and Bolts
After all, when it comes to creating a new loudspeaker, we'll develop not only the concept and the drivers, but every single relevant bit. Right down to an important screw. Not necessarily because we're bent on reinventing the wheel. But because, in our experience, everything we do ourselves actually works.