Every engineer wants to make S-90

Yury Fomin (left) and Artem Faermark (right) / Photo Stereo.ru

Today we decided to publish a transcript of the anniversary 20th edition of the show “Sound”, in which you will be interviewed by Timofey (@timshick) with the founder and general director of Audiomania, Artem Faermark, who will open the door to the world for readers (transcript) and listeners (podcast) production acoustics.


Timofey Shikolenkov: Last year, Audiomania announced that it turns out that it has its own production, its own brand. For many, this was a surprise. Especially for competitors, I think. Today we decided to talk a little more about how everything turned out, where it all came from, how it all is produced. A bit of history, because the story, as it turned out, is already quite large, despite the fact that it was covered with secrets. It began, I understand, in 2008.
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That is why today we are talking with Artem Fairmark, who is also the ideological inspirer of the Arslab project. Concurrently, because he is the CEO of Audiomania. Artem, tell me how it all began, why and why.

Artem Fairmark: To begin with, everything started a little earlier. Rather, in 2000. Since we were engaged in the sale of audio equipment, of course, the idea was immediately born: “Why not do something of our own ...” Slowly we began to develop this idea. But it took quite a long time, we have come a long way. It all began with our trips to China and the understanding that it is possible to do some interesting and at the same time sufficiently high-quality things in China quite effectively, despite the fact that many people have always had a certain negative attitude to Chinese goods. The reality at that time was such that 90% of the goods were made there.

Of course, we did not succeed immediately. We have developed some kind of relationship with the manufacturers of speakers, manufacturers of buildings. And in 2008, more likely even earlier, in 2007, we began introduction into production at two Chinese factories. One did us the dynamics, the second made the body and the final assembly. However, in 2008 we entered into a crisis with this project, and it stalled a little.

But, nevertheless, everything worked out for us, and the first Arslab acoustics, already serial, entered the market. Then the project was developing quite smoothly, but we came to another problem related to the fact that demand began to fall, and in China we could only produce in very large quantities. One hundred, two hundred, three hundred, five hundred units of the same color of the same model. The market did not need so much.

In 2011, we decided that we need to find production in Europe. At this moment we met our good, in the future, partners, the company Baltic Audio Box in Latvia, which was just producing the corps. We began mass production preparation there, but, unfortunately, this company took on too many commitments, and in 2012 they went bankrupt. It was a shock for us, because we prepared the production for assembly; since they only manufactured shells, we hired people, opened a company, created jobs that were ready to assemble equipment, but were not ready to produce cases.

After some deliberation, we decided that we were a bit tired of these throwings, and decided to invest, including in the production of our own buildings. We hired all the most sensible personnel from this company, and quite successfully [set to work], because we had very good specialists. For four to six months, we have made production, a complete closed loop for the production of shells. And, accordingly, they could already begin their own European acoustic assembly by 2013. The question is always asked: “Why is this being done?” Many companies or many company founders often say that they did this because they went and looked for some kind of “their own” sound and could not find it anywhere.

Timofey Shikolenkov: This is a classic story of the founders of brands that "I was at school or at the institute playing drums or some musical instrument." Classics of the genre. Each founder always says that he bought some speakers, and the sound did not suit him. And he began to look for his own, made his own, called friends, friends said: “Wow, this is great! This needs to be shown to the world and start selling. ” So, in my opinion, the story of 90% of the brands representing the acoustics in the world has been reading.

Artem Fairmark: Our promise in this matter was slightly different. In our opinion, at the moment the biggest problem of the acoustic market is a very strong separation. There is a very inexpensive and, let's say honestly, not enough quality product, and the next step is already a very expensive product. There are practically no acoustics in the middle, which would have the attributes of a rather serious High-End, and at the same time it would be worth, let's say, moderate money.
Timofey Shikolenkov: Is it possible to combine high-end and moderate money? Somehow it is very difficult to fit in my head. In any case, people who, especially at exhibitions, see a poster with the inscription "High-End should not be expensive," say: "How is that? High-end should be expensive. Otherwise it is not a high-end. ”

Artem Fairmark: Yes, of course, there is such a legend. In principle, it is justified. Quite a serious approach is needed to design, selection of components and the manufacture of shells. This is all not easy and quite expensive. But if a company, like ours, has its own retail channel, has fairly large sales opportunities, then it has the opportunity, let's say, to reduce costs in the line of suppliers. That is, we do not have an intermediate, such as distributors or dealers. We produce the acoustics ourselves. And we sell it ourselves. In principle, we allow ourselves to “invest” in the same product much more for the same money, let's say.

Timofey Shikolenkov: It turns out that the retail price of all the others consists of a large number of components that are not necessary for the consumer, but necessary, because it does not work out otherwise.

Artem Fairmark: This is a difficult question, they are needed or not needed. We never said that we are doing some kind of acoustics, superior to other brands. Acoustics very much. They all have a different character. Each finds its consumer. Just our acoustics in terms of "price-quality" is much better. But this does not mean that everyone will like it. Someone might like some other brands, and more expensive and cheaper.

Any acoustics is a certain choice of the consumer, to his ear, to his musical preferences. The only thing is that we can really afford to use more expensive components, complex and high-quality hulls, high-quality paint, use natural veneer instead of films, because we have our own production. The product class is generally higher.

Timofey Shikolenkov: What is the complexity of the production of buildings? It seems that this is just some kind of box, which was made of plywood, painted, varnished, cut a hole for the speakers.

Artem Fairmark: This is not quite true. This is a very complex multistage production, consisting of dozens of different processes. You just can never make a box. To make a high-quality serial product, you need quite serious equipment, like ours, this is the German CNC-MACHINE equipment, painting equipment, painting booths.


Photo Stereo.ru

For example, in order for a good varnished product to be of that quality, as we are used to, it takes at least twenty days in a special drying chamber. This requires several layers of paint, four to eight, several stages of polishing, grinding. This is a very laborious process. Plus it requires a certain humidity in the room, respectively, you must have equipment that supports this humidity. All this is not so easy to do “on the knee”, and, most likely, simply impossible.

Timofey Shikolenkov: So it is impossible at all?

Artem Fairmark: Probably possible. But I have not yet come across handicrafts made on the knee, which would have a long service life, would not fall apart after six to eight months, from which layers of paint, varnish would not leave, and the veneer would not dry out. This is a fairly technological production, which requires certain conditions and knowledge and skills of staff.

Timofey Shikolenkov: It turns out that the announcements on the forums “I will design acoustics for you now” is a handicraft that will never reach the level of production.

Artem Fairmark: Design, yes, but to make - I doubt it. Probably, the listeners did not see, but we very often came across model products that [us] bring. They may sound interesting, they may have an interesting crossover schematics, a good cable inside. But the appearance still remains artisanal. Approximately like spoons and boards from the market.

Timofey Shikolenkov: I see. Then, if you do not mind, we will try to return again at a time when production was in China. At the time of the move, if I may say so, the production line in Europe was completely replaced by the model range. What is the reason?

Artem Faermark: We had a model rad, which has existed since 2008 and, in principle, it required an update. Plus, during this period we met with one very good manufacturer, a company from Denmark, located in China. She united in herself two very important signs for us. This is a fully European approach, European engineering, and even engineers sit in Danish China, but production is in China. They could give us the production price, that is, the price that allows you to make a quality product with an acceptable price. It is a Wavecor company, headed by Allan [Isaksen] from Denmark. He worked in many well-known companies: Scan-Speak, Vifa. It may not say anything to anyone, but they are one of the most famous brands of dynamic heads.

During this period, we developed with him the dynamics that we needed. And we decided to introduce them already in the new production, fully and completely switch to its loudspeakers, which allowed us to make a fundamental leap in the quality of the products that we produced. Despite the fact that we left the previous name, as was the Classic 3, Classic 3 remained, for example, or Classic 2, or Classic 1, but the quality has fundamentally changed. It was a different approach to the production of speakers, a different approach to the production of crossovers.

Crossovers were made by hand, not on thin PCBs, as was the case in China. It was not bad. But the main problem with China is that the one who assembles final products does not always understand the complex approach. For example, why do we need to put one or another wire, why do we need to use one or another of solders, why do we need to use one or another printed circuit board, what should we pay attention to, etc.

At the moment, we have completely acoustic production, and acoustics work on it, that is, people who understand all the tasks in a complex: what are the requirements for the crossover, what are the requirements for the element base, what are the requirements for internal wiring, what are the requirements for internal filling with damping materials etc. In China, despite the fact that our products were very good, there was no thorough control to which we came now.

Timofey Shikolenkov: Tell me a little about the Emotion line. I know that there is some kind of story that was not told to anyone. How did this acoustics get its name? And, as far as I know, this name should have been different.

Artem Fairmark: Yes. In 2014, we decided to make the line a little higher than the Classic , to use other speakers, other details of the crossover. What was the reason? I say that I love compact systems with very good bass.

Timofey Shikolenkov: Is it possible?

Artem Fairmark: Yes, of course. Wavecor made us very good loudspeakers, just four inches. This is a very small speaker. This speaker is less than the width of the milk package, with very good low-frequency performance. We decided to use them in the acoustics line, which we wanted to call Compact. When we made pre-production samples, put them in laboratories in Latvia, turned them on, we sat and just listened to music.

Usually we listen to several test tracks, then turn off and tick off that the product is accepted. Here we spent, practically, the whole evening listening to music on this system, changing disks, discussing something all the time. So lured us sound. As a result, at the end of the day we decided that it was cool and so emotional that we would call this line Emotion.

Timofey Shikolenkov: Recently at the “What Hi-Fi Show” exhibition a new model was presented, which stood out very strongly from the general background. She was not like anything that the regulars of these exhibitions used to see. I'm talking about the Old school model. Tell me a little bit, where did the idea of ​​this column come from, how was it born, what happened, did it work?

Artem Fairmark: As one of my friends says: “Every engineer wants to make an S-90”. Engineer, let's say, the Soviet school. Do something legendary. The idea is that so many people like a big open sound. To achieve it, you need to use, as we call, the practices of the “old school”. This is a wide speaker panel, this is the use of a large loudspeaker for low frequencies and this is the use of a closed case, not a phase inverter.

We had an idea for such a system, and we designed it for a long time. I had to use other speakers. Part of Wavecor did not suit us, and we had to use tweeters from Morel. We really wanted this column to stand out. The first column we made is orange. We showed it at an exhibition in Munich. And only the lazy did not embrace her and did not take a picture.


Artem Fairmark (right) / Photo Stereo.ru

What did I like? The guys passed by - huge bikers, in leather jackets with shoulder-length hair - they joyously poked a finger at her, ran up, stood on both sides, leaned on her and took a long photo next. The audience was delighted. Returning to the system, it has a cool sound, an open, real old school sound that should appeal to both the younger generation, and people who like unusual cool things, and people who remember the “old” sound.

Of course, this system is built on modern speakers, it has nothing in common with the technology of the speakers and speakers, which were forty-fifty years ago. This is a modern product, but with some reference to retro. She has regulators, she has a very interesting logo. Of course, someone might say that this is such an easy kitsch, but, nevertheless, she really likes the audience for which it is intended.

How was the name born? At first we wanted to give a neutral name. Then we drove somehow, and one of our cars was Skoda Superb, we transported something big in the Baltic, and I thought that our column, like the Skoda Superb, is big, reliable, cool and cool. Therefore, I proposed to call our column Superb too. And it just will be a little "call" with the name "S-90". Such a small play on words, so that those who knew the story, it was a little amusing.

Timofey Shikolenkov: I know that besides this model is planned even more in size?

Artem Fairmark: Yes, there is more. Superb-900. This is for those who love even more sound! We have not yet launched it into the series, because it is so heavy that it is difficult to produce it. Therefore, everyone is still waiting for this moment and are afraid to approach it.

Timofey Shikolenkov: And what about prices? Now the price - almost the most frequently discussed story. Now all prices have soared in rubles, and all the income remained. What happens to Arslab prices now?

Artem Fairmark: Initially, we had the task to keep an attractive price, since we have not changed or raised prices on models since 2008. But in 2015, we had to change prices, because the goods are produced in Europe, and the components are all imported. We reasonably approached the change in prices; we counted everything ten times, looked at where we could reduce our costs.

With a sufficiently high production volume, the cost of components is reduced, because we buy not one hundred or two hundred pieces, but one thousand each. And we reached the price somewhere in the middle, that is, could not rise to the price that was in the currency, but raise the price tag to reasonable limits.

Timofey Shikolenkov: It turns out that the acoustics were affordable, but now it is even more accessible?

Artem Fairmark: In rubles, of course, it has become less affordable, but if you recalculate in euros, it has fallen in price by thirty percent.

Timofey Shikolenkov: You talked about the exhibition in Munich. Is it realistic to sell this acoustics to other countries as soon as production reaches a level that is sufficient to meet the demand in Russia?

Artem Fairmark: Yes, we are thinking about it, but this is not an easy question. It is associated with marketing and a huge offer of various brands in Europe. There are hundreds of local manufacturers. And it's not so easy to enter the market, even with an attractive price. This requires the long existence of the brand in the market.

If for Russia it is already a rather big story, which cannot be wiped off with an eraser for more than five years, then in Europe we will be newcomers. We have small sales, but these are mostly friends, who know that we are doing something, and tell their friends who are interested in it. Sometimes they ask us: “Could we buy some of your columns?” Yes, please. Some of these columns are in Europe, but only familiarly.

Timofey Shikolenkov: The Hi-Fi & High End Show exhibition, which has traditionally been held in Moscow from April 9 to April 12, is coming soon. What will be presented on it? And will Arslab be presented at this exhibition?

Artem Fairmark: Yes, of course. This is a key brand for us and loved by all of us, and suffered, let's say. Therefore, we will exhibit, I think, the full lineup. Maybe something new, if we manage to prepare a surprise some interesting, and the current model range in all its glory. We have two rooms, and we will try to rebuild everything interestingly and efficiently, unlike other people in the exhibition, who often do not care what they exhibit.

We are very sensitive to this, because it is our child. We will try to make it very cool. Therefore, I think everyone should come. This event is held once a year, it is very interesting and rich. I think anyone is interested. And, of course, we must come to visit us.

Timofey Shikolenkov: I will add that you can always get a free invitation ticket in the stores of Audiomania [or here ]. And once again I remind you that the exhibition will be held from April 9 to April 12 in Moscow at the Aquarium Hotel next to Crocus, this is part of Crocus [Crocus Expo]. Come, it will be interesting!