Vifa

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Vifa is a Danish consumer electronics company that designs and manufactures high-end audio products. It was founded in 1933 by N.C.Madsen, manufacturing driver units for many high-end brands until 2014, when it made a transition into making its own wireless speakers. It launched a line-up of Bluetooth systems in 2014 and 2016 which are named after the capital cities of Scandinavian nations.^[1]

History[]

The predecessor to Vifa was founded in 1933 by Niels Christian Madsen, in the small town of Videbæk in western Denmark. Originally from the agricultural town of Hjerm near Holstebro, Madsen had developed a talent for mechanical and electrical engineering. At a time when electricity still wasn't available in many rural areas, he among other things converted car engines for use as stationary generators in the farming industry, and as he settled in Videbæk, he started a small automotive repair shop.

At the time, the Bang & Olufsen radio factory was importing electrodynamic loudspeaker drive units for their radio receivers out of France, and was looking to have them manufactured locally instead. They approached Niels Christian Madsen's brother-in-law, who was a blacksmith, and although he was unable to meet their request, he instead put B&O in touch with Madsen. Together with two of his brothers, who were already employed at the Bang & Olufsen plant, Niels Christian Madsen started experiments to develop the required components. The experiments were promising, and Madsen's final designs were approved by B&O.

The early Videbæk speaker drive units were handmade, with metal parts manufactured in Madsen's auto workshop. The soft parts, such as cardboard diaphragms and leather suspensions, were sourced from local suppliers. Final assembly was taken care of by mrs. Madsen at the kitchen table. The business was eventually named "Videbæk Højttaler-fabrik" ("The Videbæk Loudspeaker Factory"), and the loudspeakers were labelled "Hroswitha" (said to be an older spelling form of the geographical name of Videbæk, although likely also pointing to the medieval Saxon poet of the same name). In 1947, production moved into a dedicated factory building at Stationsvej 3, Videbæk. In 1953, the "Aktieselskabet Videbæk Højttalerfabrik" corporation was formed, with N.C. Madsen as the only share owner.

In 1960/61, preparing for his retirement, Niels Christian Madsen sold the factory shares to his son, Carl Christian Nørgaard Madsen, and Radionette founder Jan Wessel, who by then had established their own loudspeaker manufacturing business in Norway under the name of SEAS ("Skandinavisk Elektro-Akustisk Selskap"). After the acquisition, the SEAS name and model designations were used on both factories' products, although the Videbæk-made models would have "SEAS Hroswitha" stamped into their magnet steel caps.

The Danish and Norwegian factories had already collaborated to some extent during SEAS' startup around 1950, with the Videbæk factory supplying SEAS with inner suspension parts, which were difficult to manufacture to precision. The two now experienced great growth together, and were formally made sister companies in 1971. Following the economical turmoil in the latter half of the decade, however, changes had to be made in order to remain competitive. A new General Manager was appointed in 1977, but decisions made in the following years caused great conflict between the two manufacturing sites. This culminated in the Danish site breaking away in 1980/81, creating its own identity under the brand name "Vifa" (Videbæk Fabrikker).

While the first Vifa products were SEAS clones, made using SEAS-owned tools, Vifa within a short period would bring their own complete range of loudspeaker drivers to market, rising to become a major player in the European loudspeaker business. After the acquisition of Scan-Speak in 1987, Vifa started gearing their production towards higher quality speaker drivers, and their newly-developed "Premium Line" high-end models entered the market in the mid-90's.

• 1994: Vifa engineers design a pentagon-shaped diaphragm which reduces the severity of edge resonances.
• 1999: Vifa launches the XT-series Ring Radiator tweeter. Scan-Speak later refined the technology to make their own top-end models.

In 2000, Vifa and Peerless merged to form Danish Sound Technology with the manufacturing being moved to China under Tymphany HK.^[2] Tymphany abandoned 60% of Vifa loudspeakers and sold it under the name of Peerless V-Line, subsequently reassigning Vifa to work on its own speaker system and home theatre systems, essentially placing all transducers designed and manufactured by Tymphany in their China factory under the over-arching Peerless brand, regardless of quality.

Rebirth[]

The Vifa brand would later be revived, this time focused on household and lifestyle audio products. Trading on classic Nordic design, and naming their designs after Nordic cities, the new company announced its first wireless speaker, Copenhagen in 2014, which uses textiles by the Danish textile manufacturer, Kvadrat, and supports Apple Airplay.^[3]

Vifa also makes their own exclusive Bluetooth-based wireless speakers, with the first model being Oslo, followed by the portable bluetooth speaker, Helsinki in 2016 and Hi-Fi bookshelf speaker, Copenhagen and Hi-Fi soundbar, Stockholm.

Design[]

Vifa products are regarded for their Nordic inspired design.

Current products[]

• Helsinki
• Oslo
• Copenhagen
• Stockholm
• Reykjavik
• City

Collaboration with other brands[]

Vifa has collaborated with Danish textile brand, Kvadrat, to produce its wireless Bluetooth speakers.

Throughout the century, Vifa produced several high-end speaker drivers which are used by brands like Aerial Acoustics and Apogee Electronics.

See also[]

• Bang & Olufsen
• Dali
• Cambridge Audio

References[]