 |
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
|
IMAGES
|
LydRommet
LydRommet's connection with Meyer Sound stretches back to 1985, when company president Christian Wille first approached then European distributor Autograph Sales about becoming the Norwegian dealer for the brand. Wille was aware of Meyer Sound's strong acceptance in the U.K. – particularly in the theater market – and he had set his sights on similar success in Norway. He quickly convinced Autograph to bring some Meyer Sound loudspeakers across the North Sea for an on site demonstration at the prestigious Oslo Concert Hall. "We played a number of selections for the director of the hall, including an effects CD which featured the sound of a helicopter landing," recalls Wille. "While we were playing it, a security guard came running into the room yelling that there was a chopper trying to land on the roof. That sold the system!" Soon the hall became Norway's first Meyer Sound-equipped venue, with its initial system comprising UPA full-range cabinets and USW subwoofers. LydRommet's long relationship with Meyer Sound developed out of Christian Wille's pursuit of excellence in audio. He started building amplifiers and radios at the age of 12, later turning his talents to recording and producing bands in his own studio. That endeavor led to sales of Soundcraft mixing consoles to other studios, with Wille gradually expanding both his client base and the product lines available through his fledgling audio company, LydRommet (Sound Room). "We've always been very cautious about which product lines we carry," says Wille. "For us it's always been about looking for quality and not jumping on easy trends. We prefer to take on serious manufacturers who we can rely on for the future." Over the years, that philosophy has helped him steadily build a loyal client base throughout this Scandinavian country. For example, his original sale to the Oslo Concert Hall laid the groundwork for later Meyer Sound system upgrades. "Every year they've put aside some money and bought more and more Meyer speakers," he says. Other early Meyer Sound installations by LydRommet include the Grieg Hall in Bergen, the Trondelag Teater, and the Oslo Spektrum. At the Bergen venue, Wille worked closely with John Meyer to align a system of UPAs, MSL-3s and 650 subwoofers using an early version of the revolutionary SIM FFT Analyzer. According to Wille, the 1989 installation of 46 Meyer Sound loudspeakers at the 8,000-seat Spektrum presented "a new way of thinking" regarding distributed systems. "By moving the center cluster to different positions they can realign the room in eight separate configurations," he notes. When Meyer Sound's HD-1 High Definition Audio Monitors were launched in 1989, LydRommet established them as a standard reference loudspeaker for broadcasters by equipping almost every radio OB truck owned by Norwegian state broadcaster NRK. The touring rental market in Norway is somewhat restricted by the size of the country and the fact that many companies are also sales representatives for major loudspeaker brands. However the largest company, Trondheim Lyd, owns around 100 Meyer Sound loudspeakers, while the most recent breakthrough has been the sale of an M Series system consisting of M3D Line Array and M2D Compact Curvilinear Array loudspeakers to the rental company AVAB CAC. The M3D/M2D system is the first line array system to be sold to a Norwegian rental company, and is significant in that AVAB CAC had been an agent and user of another brand. Today, LydRommet occupies a 1,500 square meter facility in Oslo and has an annual turnover of US$7 million. The company employs a technical support and sales staff of seven. Each product line has dedicated sales representatives, although Wille still takes responsibility for all Meyer Sound sales. "I like to continue doing this because Meyer Sound is so close to what I believe in," he says, "and it's good to get out of the office and keep the contact with our clients," he says. One of the next steps for LydRommet is to run its first SIM School (scheduled for April 21, 2003). Currently Wille is the only licensed SIM operator in Norway, and one of his goals is to qualify a number of his clients and staff members. Wille is justifiably proud of the wide range of audio products represented by LydRommet. "We can offer our customer a total solution," he says. "An install consists of many different parts, and we need to be able to offer a total package which meets the clients' requirements, and is tailored to their budgets." Products are important, but Wille also credits much of his success to the basics of customer service. "I learned in my studio what was beneficial to me as a user, so that gave me a good idea of what my customers would require from a sales company in terms of support, reliability and the truth about the products being sold." LydRommet A.S. February, 2003 |
FEATURED PRODUCTS RELATED STORY |
|
|
Contact
Us | Terms of Use | Trademarks |
