tiistai 26. marraskuuta 2013

Radiotehnika - European loudspeakers with long traditions



Latvian loudspeaker manufacturer Radiotehnika has been know for decades for it's good price-quality ratio loudspeakers. A company that's been working for over 80 years has recently radically modernised it's factory.

Long and significant history

In Riga, Latvia, on the west side of the River Daugava, you'll recognise Radiotehnika's factory area from the high Radiotehnika office tower. In the landmark tower are situated the offices of the company.Originally a radio manufacturer, Radiotehnika was founded already in the year 1927. During Soviet times Radiotehnika was the empire's biggest radio and loudspeaker manufacturer, and the vastly grown company had at it's peak 16 thousand employees. The size of the Radiotehnika factory are is about a dozen hectares. At it's hugest in the end of the 80s Radiotehnika made staggering 1.3 million loudspeakers every year, with a million radios and amplifiers.


Modern modern times

On the new millennia Radiotehnika concentrated on manufacturing loudspeakers, and currently the company manufactures passive loudspeakers and active subwoofers for listening to music and for home theatres. Nowadays, thanks to high automation level, radiotehnika has a couple of hundred employees, though as the production increases, so does the workforce. In the vast factory area also other companies are situated. The majority of Radiotehnika employees have an experience of decades and irreplaceable special skills, but the company also has young employees. The cooperation with the Riga Technical University aims transferring the skills of the old employees' skills to young employees.



Radiotehnika uses other manufacturer's components in some of it's loudspeaker models, besides those the company manufactures everything else. The loudspeaker cabinets. most of the loudspeaker elements and even printed circuit boards are wholly made by Radiotehnika themselves. Even though the factory area is from Soviet times and has seen better days, the huge and high factory halls seem modern and German, as the company has during the last few years modernised it's equipment with ultramodern German machines, from making printed circuit boards to cutting wood.





Even printed circuit boards Radiotehnika makes themselves, using brand new German machines. Making printed circuit boards for only loudspeakers might sound excessive, but Radiotehnika's printed circuit boards are used by several other companies too.




Radiotehnika makes form scratch most of it's production, only loudspeaker baskets come from Taiwan, where a supplier can guarantee high and constant quality with a competitive price. The loudspeaker cones themselves are made using traditional machines from a top secret cone mass mix, which is made from a hundred year old spruces and which the company developed already in the 1940s.


A significant issue on the customers'  viewpoint is quality control. Every component and work phase is checked, and every complete loudspeaker goes through a functional testing before it's packed.



Loudspeaker cabinets are good enough for others too

The surface finishing of the loudspeakers has significantly improved during the years, and the quality keeps improving continuously thanks to new German equipment and new surface finishing techniques. Radiotehnika has delivered loudspeaker cabinets for the Italian RCF loudspeaker manufacturer, an Radiotehnika delivers cabinets also to smaller companies in among others Germany and the UK. The material of the finest loudspeaker cabinets is Latvian birch. The aluminium decorations used in some of the loudspeakers are also made by Radiotehnika by themselves. Radiotehnika is phasing out it's subcontracting as it's own production multiplies.




The present and the past on display


In the Radiotehnika office tower there are also the company's exhibition spaces. One museum room is dedicated to loudspeaker models from the last couple of decades, the legendary S-90 instantly recognisable. One room is dedicate to the current lineup, which includes Rigonda S and X-Line lines. Both include a two element loudspeaker, a four element speaker, a three element middle speaker and an active subwoofer. Inexpensive Rigonda S has warm sound and is meant to smaller spaces. X-Line is a line for demanding customers, and there Radiotehnika's technic is complemented with LPG's and Vifa's elements. In the loudspeaker lineup there's also three more speakers. SM-300 and S-400M, are new versions of the favourites from the past. SM-300 is a three-way 300 watt, and S-400M is four-way 400 watt speaker. Their looks remind of the classic loudspeakers of the past, while other Radiotehnika loudspeakers are modern and stylish design. S-400M delivers dynamic and clear sound even with low volume level, so fitting well in small spaces. Radiotehnika's flagship loudspeaker is five-way, 300 watt and over 40 kg weighing Giant, which has two 200 mm woofers in their own enclosure in addition to 100 mm midrange drives and a 25 mm tweeter. Giant received full five stars in a listening test from the Finnish magazine Hifimaailma.


The biggest museum room is filled with a selection of radios and radio-gramophones from the 20s to the 80s. The most interesting tube radio the gold medal winner from Brussels Expo-58, the magnificent Radiotehnika Festivals, which has a full remote control, including the frequency display.


Impressive research and development areas

In a separate building built in the 80s there is the research and development department of Radiotehnika. In addition to workplaces for the designers and measurement equipments, there are also two large laboratory chambers for accurate measurements. One is a huge, the biggest echoless space in Europe. All the walls in the cube are covered with foam rubber, and there really isn't the slightest of echo to be heard.




Another one, silent measurement space was built with no expenses spared. The door opens with an electric motor and is a couple of metres thick. The walls of the chamber itself are marble. There are no straight angles in the whole room. Thanks to a separate building and thick wall there's not even the smallest sound from the outside world to interfere with the measurements. The laboratories are also open for use by other companies.




Sales to the west and the east

Radiotehnika's loudspeaker's are sold to both Western and Eastern Europe, especially to Russia, where the sales growth is multiplying the production of Radiotehnika. In Riga there's a Radiotehnika's own store, and in the factory are there's another.

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