Ed 's column
Old news from 2000
Ed´s Column (#3)
Monthly column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
wijnker@stageaccompany.com
After newyear, the Chinese newyear and even Valentine´s Day (!) we return to the normal daily affairs again.
Observing nature (and learning from it) gives you a different perspective on the daily routine of all things, sound included. The blooming snowdrop (´snowbell´ in Dutch) from the upcoming spring for instance remind me of the ship´s bell we use in the SA head office and factory. Every prestige installation or project is announced to the factory personnel by a swing at this bell! It´s the Stage Accompany way of getting all people to connect with other departments and interact, quite fun to do also!
With the growing American market and our renewed activities in the Spanish speaking countries we´re also in the process of getting local website´s running. I can even tell you that we´re working on an on-line shop concept for these markets right now.
Our sales department is very busy with the many upcoming exhibitions. Exhibitions always bring a special tension into the company. Las Vegas´ ´ShoWest´ and Frankfurts ´Musik Messe´ are excellent oppertunities for us to give you a taste of serious sound reproduction and for you a good way to familiarize yourself with the Stage Accompany products. New products like power amps and slimline cinema cabinets will be introduced at these major exhibitions. I hope to meet some of you there.
The tension associated with these happenings can be focussed to bring out the best in people. This is also described in the ´Web Of Life´, a book by Fritjof Capra. This book is about the interconnection in various aspects of life and nature. Like our products: A high sensitivity Ribbon Compact Driver takes more advantage of material characteristics and energy flow and therefore introduces less distortion. Less distortion means less hearing damage and less listening fatique. In other words a more ´natural´ sounding system. And thus we´re back to the nature.
Chris Hinze, who ownes his own studio on Ibiza visits the Dalai Lama regularly in Tibet. He completely incoporates the design philosophy of SA in his daily life. For more than 10 years the ribbon technology brings him the tranquility and original reproduction qualities SA is known for.
I hope to ´meet´ you again on-line in the near future or maybe even in person. Keep sending me those emails!
Ed Eddy
Old news form 2001.
Edīs Column (#14)
Column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
wijnker@stageaccompany.com
Hi!
It's been some time we had contact, I hope you are all doing fine out there.
Lately, the press is filled with "company mergers" in our industry. In most cases it's about complementary products; "Speaker manufacturer buys amplifier manufacturer". It confirms our 20+ years believe in the combined development of speakers and amps; We started speaker development in 1977 and amplifier R&D in 1980. A bright future ahead.
I'm very happy with our introduction of the Friend Series, the renaming of Fill-in Series. We've been asked many times for smaller speakers than the Entertainers, and the F 7 was always on its own in this category. So with "brothers F 5 and F 9" our Friends are complete; the F 9 already received excellent test reviews, a.o. German magazine Production Partner (see our download section). So, are you among Friends yet?
Sound quality is what SACD is all about; I recently got a demonstration of this Super Audio CD from Philips and really was amazed. This new medium offers great possibilities; 5 discrete audio channels (+ subwoofer) offer classical music extended space imaging, effects for pop music, etc. Also with 2 channels the definition is already stunning. Really a big step forward from the CD; better "food" for our Ribbon technology. We're very happy with this development, bringing better sound quality (and less sound pollution!) again under the attention.
Talking about environment; I just received the keys of my new car, a Toyota Prius. This is one of the first "hybrid" cars on the market, combining a clean "combustion" engine with an electro-engine. This results in 60% less "toxic emission" and uses only 30% of the energy of current cars. And best part is
the CVT (Continuous Variable Transmission), an invention of Dutch company van Doorne's Transmissies. Hurray for Holland!
The sound system inside, however, is not that great, but hey… SA is not (yet) in automotive sound.
This time I've chosen two CD's for you; One is Nitin Sawhney "prophesy" with a very catching preface ("we are free to be free", Nelson Mandela). This world music always gives me memories of my extensive travelling for SA in the past, when there wasn't Internet and fax (mostly telex!). Recording quality not always superb, but a "Goose-Bump-Factor" of 7.
The other one is "a twist of Marley" by a.o. Michael Brecker, Lee Ritenour, Patti Austin, Gerald Albright, Maxi Priest reminding me of my late friend Bob Ketzer; He was roady, musician and most of all entertainer in our "Dizzy Man's Band". He was a huge fan of Bob Marley.
I'm really anxious to hear these CD's on our new touring system we are developing. Everybody can make loud sound, but "sound" loud sound is a different song…
See you soon!
Ed´s Column (#2)
Monthly column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
Happy newyear! I hope this year brings you health, happiness and warmth. Personally I believe these things to be the most important in life. Apart from that, for myself I´ve set some goals, in both professional as personal areas. I hope you´ve done the same.
During the Christmas holidays I spoke to a man from Australia on the phone. Although I´ve visited more then 54 countries around the world, Australia is one of the few parts of the world were I have never been myself. During this conversation I pointed out that Stage Accompany has a website. For me, the web is an excellent way to travel without moving. It allows me to bring the SA message to all parts of the world!
The second time I spoke with him, he had seen it, and already we knew more about eachothers interests. We became closer without having said much. Who said the internet alienates people? He promised me to take a close look again and report to me if he found pieces missing in SA´s website. I would like you to do the same. Get in touch with me, and just ... communicate. Let me know what we can do more or better. Don´t hesitate to email me. We keep an open mind towards developments in all areas of interest.
This is why we choose a new slogan (´a new world of sound!´) and a new style, inspired by the rising sun during a plane trip at 30,000 feet above sealevel. It reflects the spirit and nature elements in life. Stage Accompany is a technical company, but what we offer in essence is emotion.
Talking about color, did you know that many people think Stage Accompany equipment is only available in blue? The last 20 years it has always been standard blue or black. And we are one of the few companies that offer their speakerproducts in any desired color as option as well! But allways remember: they still sound better in blue
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Ed´s Column (#3)
Monthly column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
After newyear, the Chinese newyear and even Valentine´s Day (!) we return to the normal daily affairs again.
Observing nature (and learning from it) gives you a different perspective on the daily routine of all things, sound included. The blooming snowdrop (´snowbell´ in Dutch) from the upcoming spring for instance remind me of the ship´s bell we use in the SA head office and factory. Every prestige installation or project is announced to the factory personnel by a swing at this bell! It´s the Stage Accompany way of getting all people to connect with other departments and interact, quite fun to do also!
With the growing American market and our renewed activities in the Spanish speaking countries we´re also in the process of getting local website´s running. I can even tell you that we´re working on an on-line shop concept for these markets right now.
Our sales department is very busy with the many upcoming exhibitions. Exhibitions always bring a special tension into the company. Las Vegas´ ´ShoWest´ and Frankfurts ´Musik Messe´ are excellent oppertunities for us to give you a taste of serious sound reproduction and for you a good way to familiarize yourself with the Stage Accompany products. New products like power amps and slimline cinema cabinets will be introduced at these major exhibitions. I hope to meet some of you there.
The tension associated with these happenings can be focussed to bring out the best in people. This is also described in the ´Web Of Life´, a book by Fritjof Capra. This book is about the interconnection in various aspects of life and nature. Like our products: A high sensitivity Ribbon Compact Driver takes more advantage of material characteristics and energy flow and therefore introduces less distortion. Less distortion means less hearing damage and less listening fatique. In other words a more ´natural´ sounding system. And thus we´re back to the nature.
Chris Hinze, who ownes his own studio on Ibiza visits the Dalai Lama regularly in Tibet. He completely incoporates the design philosophy of SA in his daily life. For more than 10 years the ribbon technology brings him the tranquility and original reproduction qualities SA is known for.
I hope to ´meet´ you again on-line in the near future or maybe even in person. Keep sending me those emails!
Ed Wijnker
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Ed´s Column (#4)
Monthly column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
Watching the Titanic movie, like most people, I was struck with the spectacular effects. What also got my attention was the high ´new world of sound´ aspect of the film. When the two young lovers (to be…) stand on the bow of the Titanic a beautifull orange-to-blue sky is visible. Of course I saw the movie in one of the theatres with a Stage Accompany cinema sound system, so Celine Dion´s great soundtrack for this movie was superb in clarity and power.
The scene I´m talking about also brought a great feeling of recognition to the rest of the audience. The world as one nation under the sky has come another step closer. You can talk with anyone around the globe about this feeling and if they have seen the movie, they all recognize it. Most people have seen it, and lived and loved it!
About eight years ago, walking down the streets in Malaysia and humming a song, a total stranger walked up to me and tapped me on the shoulder. ´thats Jimi Hendrix´, he said. Jimi was the driving force for me to start this company. And at that time he was also a global reference point for people.
I would like to call it a ´collective conscience´, where everyone feels more close to one another and because we share more and more the same experiences, we tend to work closer together.
Talking about working together. Did you know that the very succesfull E24 from the Entertainer series was made in close co-operation with our Japanese distributor Hibino (Casy, how are you doing?) The original idea was to make a great sounding, good looking and versatile loudspreaker cabinet that had the ability to seamlessly blend with any hotel interior design. A chain of hotels were the first customers of this cabinet.
More recently, I was on a business trip in Sao Paulo where in 40 degrees Celcius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) the suit and tie made place for a t-shirt and jeans (another global product!). A lot of work was to be done to get the theater system up and running within the limited time frame we had. The sweat and hard work payed off and now the systems is playing with the renowned SA quality sound. Many thanks to Ricardo da Costa from SA Latin America and Studioplay who were very actively involved with this installation.
More close to home: We installed brand new Performer systems in the ´Kruisweg´ in Marum, Holland. The new facility (for live and disco) almost looks like the ballroom from the Titanic! The owner of this facility is still a fan of SA´s soundsystems. Back in the 70´s the Dizzymans Band played here (I used to be a bandmember!). It´s great to have these old friends still active in the business and still ´SA blue´ from ear to ear!
Next time more about the blue factor in life.
Ed Wijnker
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Ed´s Column (#5)
Monthly column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
´Why is everything blue?´ is a frequently asked question from our customers. In the beginning of SA (20 years ago) my ´music friend´ Mart Krijger said to me: ´Ed, why make all cabinets black? It´s so dull and everyone does that; black is NO color! When you listen to a person you always look at his face, so you must not hide your boxes, but rather show them´. That´s what we did. We choose blue for company color (and still offer all boxes in black as well...).
The first blue product was an attaché case, that we still make! That was the start of our we-do-things-different approach back then. Mart and I used to listen to bands like ´Weather report´ and ´Return to forever´ with legends like Joe Zawinul (´Birdland´), Jaco Pastorius, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White and Al Dimeola.
More examples of a different approach followed: The legendary BlueBox, some twelve years ago. SA was the first company to make an active all-in-one PA cabinet. It is just now that other manufacturers do the same. The Blue Note in New York had them installed many years ago and is still very satisfied. Another great example of the we-do-things-different approach was our PPA amplifier. Long before anyone thought of digitally controlled amps and computernetwork control, we started making it. Again, some ten years ago! These products still exist in updated forms. The Ribbon Compact Driver™ is another…
O.k. I´ll stop here. We leave the Ribbon Compact Driver™ for another column.
What I do want to share with you is our upcoming ´Direct Shop´ on internet. This shop is primarily for the Dutch market. We have made a program to support our dealers (and logopartners), instead of undermining them through internet. For you Dutch guys, keep an eye on our site. Shorter lines, more communication!
In light of this we recently introduced our toll-free infonumber: +800 8888 7777 Unfortunately, due to technical obstacles, the number is not operative in all countries yet, but each time new countries are added to this global 800 service. You can also use our ´Call me back´ button in the menu and we will call you a.s.a.p.
We´re happy to introduce to the Belgium pro-audio users our new agent Roland de Groot, who after an intensive training in the Dutch head office, has now begun his challenge in Belgium. If you feel that Stage Accompany is not represented in your country, please contact us because we´re expanding our network at this time and you (or your company) could be the partner we´re looking for!. More on our staff next time in Ed´s Collumn.
Ed Wijnker
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Ed´s Column (#6)
Monthly column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
People that work for Stage Accompany all have one thing in common: they are all flexible and open people with a special connection to music or sound. We are currently working on making these people more ´visible´ for the internet community. By means of a digital camera we are now getting the faces behind the e-mails and phone conversations into the digital domain as well. As many of you already know, communication and human contacts are vital to a healthy (customer-) relation. We are proud to say that we have workers from many different backgrounds and countries. At the factory for instance we have people from Spain, Chili, Turkey, Germany… We have ´Multi Color Option´ in speakers as well as in our people!
The Directshop for the Dutch market is now hitting off. This 6 month try-out is only for these regions, but others will follow soon if the formula proofs to be succesfull. The first signs are very promissing. I´ll keep you informed when new developments (the new strong Euro currency for instance) arise.
On the product side we are now shipping the first of the brand new ES 20 amplifiers to large installation projects. Unfortunately the demand for the new amp exceeds our expectations so orders will be delivered on a first come-first served basis. Please make your reservations for this model in time! For this, please contact our sales department. One of these new installations is a large cinema installation for the Pathé cinemas (formerly owned by MGM) Currently Pathé has 92 screens equiped with the SA Screen Series loudspeakers. The ´Cannes film festival´ that was held this summer and that I attended with my girlfriend Agnes (from Brasil) has made it clear to me again: appearance is everything you need in the film industry. For most people that are not into professional sound, I am a complete stanger. Nevertheless when cruising on the boulevard with the convertible SLK, people started taking photographs like they´d just seen a new star. Maybe I should mention that both my girlfriend and I were dressed in black, but on the other hand the ´Men in Black´ movie was hot about a year ago. I´m now considering a completely new career!
As mentioned before in this column, I now spend more time in Holland than before internet and e-mail communication. Recently I saw Piet-Jan Blauw again. Twenty years ago he bought a pair of boxes (back then with JBL componentry) from me. He developed into a great artist/performer. He has shows with lots of multimedia and alternative, digitally controlled instruments. Check out his website!
Ed Wijnker
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Ed´s Column (#7)
Monthly column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
Autumn always gives me a kind of ´Blues feeling´, the sort of mixed emotions the likes of Johnny Lee Hooker, the Cream (Eric Clapton) etc. can translate so well into music. Beautiful colors (´New world of sound´ colors in my vocabulary), but rough winds and the flu as well. The wind can be so strong that ships strand on the beach, as happened this week. Contrary to most other people, for me the best way to conquer the elements is with physical effort such as riding a bike (great way of exercising in the Netherlands) this way I feel the wind and feel that I'm alive. It's the end of summer and the start for winter. Jimi´s ´Wind cries Mary´ and "Red House" still give me goose bumps by the way.
Recently Stage Accompany has worked a totally new arena system: the Newton system. The Amsterdam Arena (a 50.000 seat arena known for its extremely long reverb time) has been the host for many world tours. It was a sound engineers worst nightmare. It is here that we teamed up with the renowned sound engineer Johan v.d. Werff (old acquaintance of mine) and Cees Wagenaar to develop a digitally controlled directive loudspeaker system with some 48 DSP´s and vertical speaker array. Artists like Andrea Bocelli, Total Touch and Laura Pausini performed with this system. You can read (and see) more on this in this special section. The project was a huge success and I would like to thank all people concerned for the good job they did, especially AED rent's Glenn Roggeman for his kind cooperation.
We are happy to announce a new distributor in the field of cinema installations in France. Patrick Kermarrec of TACC signed his cinema distributor contract with SA´s Tom Back at the F.N.C.F. (French Cinema exh.) last month. The photo at the top of this column shows them both. Tom Back represented Stage Accompany, which he often does (-very well) when I'm not around. It's the people that make a company, and Tom a is great example of the spirit that lives within SA.
Together with major cinema installs in the US (United Artists theatres, Malco theatres, City Cinemas, Panavision Studios etc.) and in Europe (UFA, Pathé etc.) the above proves that SA gains more and more acceptance in the industry for providing first class cinema sound systems! And that gives me a warm feeling, especially in autumn.
Next time news on the a high-profile club in Moscow next to Gorky Park.
Ed Wijnker
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Ed´s Column (#8)
Monthly column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
Although we are extremely busy, a special happening last 19 of January gave a little break up. The release of the new CD from a dear friend, Josee Koning, at the Paradiso theatre in Amsterdam brought together a Dutch singer who sings in a very good Portuguese and two Brazilian musicians, Ivan Lins and Dori Caymmi. It was full and to see the mixture of colours and feelings of different people from different countries was quite a show itself. Josee Koning talked about this feeling of belonging to one place and living in another and missing one or another all the time.
But what was even more special was to see some old friends that were together on the great adventure of the beginning of Stage Accompany. The first Music Festival we sponsored was on that theatre many years ago. All the work to make the stage with the psychedelic colours we wanted and the entire join to do it still give big emotions to all of us.
The 'Park', a high-profile club in Gorky Park (Moscow), is a big success for the quality of the sound. Now we are working on a second club and we hope many more will come up for a good sound system is really like drugs addiction. Once you prove it, you always want more…
Also it is always good to remember that it was not so long ago that our small world was divided in two opposite sides. It was impossible to make a plan to sell the same sound system to United States of America and Russia. But what you see now is that people are the same all around.
Everybody wants the same simple things like love and be loved, a nice place to rest after work and quality for the things money can buy to make it more pleasure to live. The good results the sound system we installed in one cinema in USA gave us the opportunity to have many others like a cascade effect. Russian people like also quality and we are ready to give that! Anyway, in a very confusing and still not so fair and lovely world, we do our best to make less noise and more music and easy communication to give pleasure feelings to this very sensitive part of the human body, the inner ear. All we hope is that more and more people all around the world can appreciate what gives us pleasure but also takes time and energy to produce.
Ed Wijnker
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Ed´s Column (#9)
Monthly column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
The gorgeous springtime in The Netherlands with all the luxuriant colours of the flowerfields, the bright sunshine and the longer days always bring an inside feeling of childish joy. Like the old song, when it is raining, "the sun has taken a holiday" but what we always know for sure is that "it will always be sunshine after rain".
It is almost impossible not to make some correlation between this explosion of life we see outside and the feelings we share at Stage Accompany at the moment. After some difficult times trying to break through the enlarged and strong brick walls of the big market, we are now growing so fast that we are all still astonished with it. There are so many things going on that we can almost feel the vibration around the factory (perhaps it’s the testing of the new XL-bin bass cabinet!). The old bell to announce and at the same time commemorate big orders, a way to share our growing up with all the workers - has been used so many times these past months and much more is coming up!
One thing can be said about Stage Accompany: nobody works only for money. There is a part of each one of the entire staff in each of our products. That is the reason the company can support the bad times and work hard to keep up with all the new orders! To help the difficulties of the fast growing business, the teamwork just received a new reinforcement with Maurice who will take care of the financial part from now on. We welcome him to the exciting of the sound business!
On April 30th we celebrated the Queen’s Birthday in The Netherlands. Walking through the crowded streets of Amsterdam and talking to friends who visit the country it was quite difficult to explain exactly what was going on. Like old times, children play and sell their old toys freely on the streets. Music, fantasies and games all around. An external observer would say there is a theoretical contradiction between Republic and a Kingdom, social advances and a royal family, new and old manners to organise a State or a Nation, but there it was: people singing, dressing orange, enjoying the fantastic sunshine day on the streets like in middle age centuries said a friend, or as Dutch people say - live and let live! May be that is the key, create no contradictions when they are not there in real life, when you can work together and give priorities to real problems!
Did you know that Queens day in Amsterdam is the largest SA showroom in the world? Here you'll find every cabinet ever made in the last twenty years, still in use!
After travelling all around the world it is easy to say that the language of music is universal and also, that different languages are different kinds of music and that each one has its unique particularity of timing and waves to express feelings. Enjoy yourself getting the best from each kind of music with the appropriate sound systems on the big and small events. Let us help communication and joy, we are sure you will find what you need in our annexed catalogues.
To the northern countries (above the equator line) have a nice springtime! To the southern countries (below the equator line), enjoy the refreshing of the autumn time!
See you,
Ed Wijnker
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Ed´s Column (#10)
Column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
Summer is gone for us and the colours are already changing. A lot of work to clean up gardens and streets and delightful night bike ridings against the wind. Our feeling for music change a little bit also. It is always a pleasant surprise to find a new CD that fixes these feelings, like Trilok Gurtu - with appearances of Neneh Cherry and Steve Lukater - who mixes the world's many kinds of music.
Someone asked me once why Stage Accompany can go through so many hectic times and still be so enthusiastic about the future, so ahead in development and so strongly growing in the big market. It is still a surprise for me when I look to the factory in Hoorn and realise what we've built up in all these years. Old and new friends that have been working with me always shared the excitement and the adventure of this solid blue construction of the New World of Sound.
These past two years I've found a new challenge for me. Just about a year ago I've been involved with problems and feelings I've never had before. That is the "family-man" feeling! Coming from a rock and roll world, I never thought I could be in charge of normal problems like administration of a personal house or sharing parenthood. I am living with somebody who makes me go through this and the funniest thing is that I just love it! It sure made my life even more colourful and interesting than before!
Spending more time in Holland and working more in a day-by-day basis, I also had the chance to go back to my long time forgotten family. I am glad I had the chance to do that because I lost my mother in the beginning of the last spring, and that's the kind of experience we all know that can happens but we never expect. We grow up but mother-like feelings seem to stay the same forever...
Unfortunately one of the co-founders of Stage Accompany, Sonja Barthélemy, who is no longer working, has caught a serious illness. She was also my first wife and is since last January 30th married again. Her heart and soul style of work gave me and the company a life lasting energy. That is the reason that even in the middle of these so busy days we always find our minds and thoughts on her, hoping she is fine, sharing her difficulties. As we are nothing without the special human beings that work together to build up the company, we wanted to let her know we care a lot for her well being.
See you,
Ed Wijnker
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Ed´s Column (#11)
Column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
We are experiencing an early summer feeling in Holland. Sun is here with temperatures above 25 degrees (Celsius!), everybody comes out to have a drink and a chat on the street. It makes a perfect break from the dark period we have left behind.
In the company we had the tragic death of Sonja Barthélémy, one of the company founders.
On a personal ground, Sonja was my former wife, it was a tough and frightful experience for me. Fighting the unfair battle against cancer she showed an incredible strength during her illness.
Strangely enough it was also a joyful period for us, with long talks about the time we were together, the lessons we learned, the fun we had, the hippie time with all the music, the Dutch pop scene and of course the founding of Stage Accompany. The feeling of freedom, world peace, going off the paved way, the evolution of music, the urge for "making a difference"; All ingredients for SA's basis.
Behind the scenes she was always the driving force, giving directions. Even when she left the
company in 1994, she was still "present" on the background. With "tricky" questions she would check things, while chatting on the phone.
We shared the love for music and Sonja had a good feeling for success. Even in the last weeks when she heard Santana's latest CD, she said it would be the revival of the "old" Santana.
It was heart warming to see all the old and new friends, music friends, employees and former employees at her funeral. The more painful it is to know that she cannot enjoy the current growth and success of "her" company, ... the "promise" it has always been. She is the concrete between the bricks SA will be built on.
In today's world, all things and values from the hippie time seem to come back. The revival of Santana's music isn't a "one-off". World music is here. Joe Zawinul has been here all the time. Always on the look-out for new music, I've found a group called Nitin Sawhney ("Beyond Skin") which I think embodies this new global spirit.
With these "old" values rebirthing, our "Blue religion" is spreading fast across the world. A new generation of pro-audio people is picking-up our philosophy and understands our product. It is a fantastic experience to work with these people around the globe, sharing this mutual "taking a different path" believe.
I play a different role in the company now. With Tom travelling the world, attending shows and supporting our Logo-Partners, I am putting all my experience and expertise in the factory and administration, to have the company handle the rapid increasing demand as smooth as possible!
Ed
P.s. A longer column this time. As you may have noticed it took half a year to be refreshed. So many things have happened, that my regular chat, became a little "irregular".
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Ed´s Column (#12)
Column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
"Time flies when you're having fun" is a well-known expression. It sure reflects the spirit in the factory! The first half year is already behind us and has shown an exciting growth in production and sales. On the distribution side we welcomed many new distributors and "Blue Ambassadors" around the globe. Remarkable, that, despite of different culture, they are all sharing the same "Blue" feeling of SA. The trust in product and organization makes us all very proud here at SA. It also is our drive in striving for even better quality in all aspects of our organization!
In this respect, I would like to apologize for the news status of our site. As you might have noticed, some news sections haven't been refreshed for some time. Our design department is working hard with the marketing department to expand our dealer and end-user support, in both on-line as well as printed form. We hope to show you the first results very soon!
With the second half of the year already underway, we face an even busier schedule of events. September is "fully booked" with shows around the globe. Tom and Esther will be at the PLASA show in London, directly after that Tom flies to Rotterdam for the Music Expo with the Dutch team Dolf, Ad and Roland and right after that we both fly to Los Angeles to join our US office for the AES convention.
For the first time Stage Accompany will have a demo room at the American AES. This will enable us to "put our money where our mouth is"! Without doubt, for many this will be the first acquaintance with SA's pro-Ribbon technology. I expect they won't be disappointed!
In preparation, I went through many of my older CD-collections, to collect a nice set of demo tracks. Not purely sonically optimized tracks, but also some very "inspired" tracks. Going through "oldies" like Steve Salas, Manfred Mann, Cuby and the Blizzards ("groeten uit Grollo"!) and, of course, Jimi Hendrix. "Tribute to Jimi Hendrix" I find a bit too smooth, so no "goose bumps" but it shows that even "covered" the songs are catchy.
I heard this CD for the first time a few years ago, being driven to a discotheque project we did opposite of Gorki Park Moscow, in a stretched old Mercedes with black windows. Despite this scene, Jimi's sound made me comfortable! (by the way, September 18th it's exact 30 years ago that Jimi passed away).
If you happen to have a personal CD with you, we'd be happy to play it and show you what you've been missing for all these years without SA equipment…
I'm very much looking forward to meeting you all in our demo room 303A at AES in LA!!
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Ed´s Column (#13)
Column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
With 2001 already started, there's hardly time for us to look back, but then, the past also learns us a lot for the future. The year 2000 has been a very hectic year for Stage Accompany. Of course, most impact on me personally was the passing away of Sonja Barthélemy, my former wife and co-founder of Stage Accompany. Especially with the dark days of Christmas, it was very difficult realizing she's no longer with us.
If only she could be here to experience the success SA is experiencing. The past year, a lot of improvements "behind the scene" have set the company's organization in the right direction, both on production and on sales side.
The new products we introduced last year were received with a lot of enthusiasm and our turnover increased by a "whopping" 60%, a direct result of excellent teamwork!
Teamwork not only within the company, but also with our suppliers and dealers. Due to the enormous increased demand, now and then our clients had to wait a bit longer than expected. As a result of excellent cooperation from our raw materials suppliers and clients, this didn't lead to any problems. We would like to thank them very much for their confidence and trust. It makes us proud of working together!
Two CD's I would like to highlight here. One is an old time favorite, Cream with "White Room". Eric Clapton on his old Fender Stratocaster with black maple neck. The other is lady singer Anastacia with her surprising "dark brown sound", on "Not that kind". Although not every track a hit potential, it's a refreshing new sound.
This year tends to be even more exciting than 2000. We will introduce some very spectacular products in existing and ….new markets, bringing our pro-ribbon technology to new highs. Our worldwide distribution network will be further expanded, the R&D; department enlarged, our marketing increased, sales-support improved, in other words: All systems "go!".
See you soon!
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Ed´s Column (#14)
Column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
Hi!
It's been some time we had contact, I hope you are all doing fine out there.
Lately, the press is filled with "company mergers" in our industry. In most cases it's about complementary products; "Speaker manufacturer buys amplifier manufacturer". It confirms our 20+ years believe in the combined development of speakers and amps; We started speaker development in 1977 and amplifier R&D in 1980. A bright future ahead.
I'm very happy with our introduction of the Friend Series, the renaming of Fill-in Series. We've been asked many times for smaller speakers than the Entertainers, and the F 7 was always on its own in this category. So with "brothers F 5 and F 9" our Friends are complete; the F 9 already received excellent test reviews, a.o. German magazine Production Partner (see our download section). So, are you among Friends yet?
Sound quality is what SACD is all about; I recently got a demonstration of this Super Audio CD from Philips and really was amazed. This new medium offers great possibilities; 5 discrete audio channels (+ subwoofer) offer classical music extended space imaging, effects for pop music, etc. Also with 2 channels the definition is already stunning. Really a big step forward from the CD; better "food" for our Ribbon technology. We're very happy with this development, bringing better sound quality (and less sound pollution!) again under the attention.
Talking about environment; I just received the keys of my new car, a Toyota Prius. This is one of the first "hybrid" cars on the market, combining a clean "combustion" engine with an electro-engine. This results in 60% less "toxic emission" and uses only 30% of the energy of current cars. And best part is
the CVT (Continuous Variable Transmission), an invention of Dutch company van Doorne's Transmissies. Hurray for Holland!
The sound system inside, however, is not that great, but hey… SA is not (yet) in automotive sound.
This time I've chosen two CD's for you; One is Nitin Sawhney "prophesy" with a very catching preface ("we are free to be free", Nelson Mandela). This world music always gives me memories of my extensive travelling for SA in the past, when there wasn't Internet and fax (mostly telex!). Recording quality not always superb, but a "Goose-Bump-Factor" of 7.
The other one is "a twist of Marley" by a.o. Michael Brecker, Lee Ritenour, Patti Austin, Gerald Albright, Maxi Priest reminding me of my late friend Bob Ketzer; He was roady, musician and most of all entertainer in our "Dizzy Man's Band". He was a huge fan of Bob Marley.
I'm really anxious to hear these CD's on our new touring system we are developing. Everybody can make loud sound, but "sound" loud sound is a different song…
See you soon!
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Ed´s Column (#15)
Column by founder
E.L.L. Wijnker
Goodwill Certificates:
Invest in Pro Audio at 8% rate!-
It's been a very long time since my last column.
I am very sorry for that, but now I have even more things to tell you!
First of all the Director Series is renamed to XL - Series. The first test "on the road" where very promising. It was the loudest system most engineers had ever heard, without getting harsh; just those typical Ribbon transparent high frequencies.
When this product is launched SA features the loudest system in world, with the lowest distortion at high frequencies. Time for new challenges: A Hi-Fi system, featuring a small ribbon! This new Ribbon will also be used in a new line of Surround (cinema) loudspeakers, and near field studio monitors. To develop this Stage Accompany will sell Goodwill Certificates.
Stage Accompany still celebrates its 25th Anniversary.
In celebration of this festive occasion we will be featuring several columns in the upcoming period about the people who have made significant contributions to the company. Over the years several people contrubuted to the company, but the stories behind the screens are even better! In this column i'd like to mention Andries Roossien who is still a good personal friend and fellow.
Andries Roossien
It may be best to start at the beginning: My First Employee: Andries Roossien
Or should I say my first customer? Andries actually was both at start.
Andries was the fist one constructing loudspeakers for me and controlled it's productions. Even at night he always stopped by at the factory to check everything. After his session as the drummer of his band 'Red Point' he made a this routine check at the factory.
It was Andries too who build 48 prototypes non stop in one week, for the 1982 trade show in Frankfuhrt. He might have made a guinnes book of records qualification for that, if only he had subscribed for it.
In 1983 the company founding in its present shape was a fact. A research and development department was started. Andries became responsible for both production and productdevelopment.
Famous dutch bands as Spargo, Dolly Dots, Massada already played on these early SA system at that time. International recognition was soon to follow….
In 1999 Andries leaves SA to start his own company. SA still consults his expertise once in a while. His bond wih SA seems to be unbreakable.
Andries about music: "…The Little River Band and Eric Gales, That gives me inspiration to start making music again, myself. If only I could find some time for it…"
See you soon!
