About Audiophile Gateway Germany

Audiophile Gateway Germany was founded in 2004 by the audiophile enthusiast Dr. Burkhardt Schwäbe. He gives attention to the fascination of the challenging rendition of music and its instruments, the hifi-components, since he was a young man. Classical elements of sound recording and reproducing techniques are especially emphasised and consequently analogue components and the stereophony are dominating his company.

Burkhardt Schwäbe deals occupationally a fairly long time with hifi. He was the first product manager of Grundig, arranged in the end of the seventies the transition of combined stereo centers to single components for hifi, created there the first component series (e.g. A 5000, SXV 7500) along with the mini-sets (e.g. MXV 100, MT 100) and relied consistently on active speakers, for which he coined the name Monolith. Later, he became creator of the Fine Arts series, so as to demonstrate Grundig’s authority in the high end hifi-segments of the market. Countless tests proved that this intention succeeded. Grundig was anyway world class in the development of radio tuners, but the Fine Arts 9000 series and the brilliant tube preamplifier also demonstrated the ability of Grundig to create amplifiers and cd-players. When Burkhardt Schwäbe worked at Sennheiser, he launched Orpheus, the world’s best headphones - a tube driven electrostatic headphones-set.

When in the beginning of the nineties he changed to Sennheiser, Grundig regrettably did not carry on the consistent focussing on the Fine Arts strategy. The extension of the line Fine Arts without the additional words “by Grundig” did not take place. Instead of that, the Double-Brand-Strategy was abandoned and the Fine Arts-series was integrated in the general Grundig hifi programme. Not until 2004, Burkhardt Schwäbe continued as entrepreneur under the label EternalArts the philosophy of Fine Arts and fulfilled the dream of an OTL-tube amplifier after Futterman whom he adored after having met him shortly before his passing.

Early liaison to music

With ten years, Burkhardt Schwäbe was urged to play the piano and until the high school diploma, he took lessons by the Russian pianist Gleb Labschinsky. As twenty years old student he was inspired by the German flute and took lessons by Mrs. Kirchner in Berlin. Because coral singing was part of his life since school days, he joined as a university student for years the renowned Hanns-Eisler-Choir in the tenor. After that, he was member of the Bach-Choir St. Lorenz in Nuremberg and in his second Berlin period member of the Chamber Choir of Friedrichshagen (www.kammerchor-friedrichshagen.de). With this choir he is closely connected as honorary member.

Technical faible

Through his interests in radio and the broadcasting service, he did handicrafts with radios and developed his practical skills. The books "Radiobasteln für Jungen" and "Neues Bastelbuch für Radio und Elektrotechnik" written by Heinz Richter, helped him to grasp the fundamental interrelations in this field.

With fourteen, he experienced the fascination of high-class music reproduction techniques. He was sold on the activities of Karl Breh who attended to the development of the High Fidelity in Germany and the foundation of the German High Fidelity institution DHFI. Later on, Burkhardt Schwäbe became delegate of Grundig to this institution. His enthusiasm for this field turned him into an audiophile specialist, qualified him occupationally and offered him through the living contact with music and its aesthetic technical designs for reproduction and rendition one of the most sophisticated leisure activities.

Since in 2002 he was asked by an insurance company to give his expertise for certain electrical and electronical components he wrote hundreds of expert´s reports and was finally officially appointed and put on oath as expert for consumer electronics by the chamber of industry and commerce at Hannover (www.sv-schwaebe.de).

Journalistic practise

When in 1999 he went into business for himself he was asked by some editors of the hifi-magazines he used to contact as product manager of Grundig and Sennheiser, to write about his knowledge in high fidelity, its development and products. As it always was his pleasure and a wish to communicate and to inspire others, he took the stimulation and started to write down his experiences and adventures with hifi components. Already 1999 his first article was issued in a hifi magazine. For the public relation department of a broadband carrier supporting the German radiostation “Deutschlandfunk” he publizised as well as for the product brochure of an importer of american high end components. Meanwhile writing is an inherent part of his entrepreneurial activities which he does not want to miss anymore.

Laboratory and manufacturing facility

Since the spring of 2009 Audiophile Gateway Germany resides in a factory building in North Hanover, in the borough Isernhagen-South. For the laboratory, manufacturing and warehouse facilities generous premises are at its disposal since then with the possibility for further expansion.