News

Lehmann audio has carved out a small niche for itself in the analog market with the Black Cube phono preamp (first noted by Michael Fremer in the October 1998 issue of Stereophile). The company now hopes to reach a wider audience in the US and Canada for the Black Cube and the rest of its products with a new distribution arrangement between itself and Hudson Audio Imports.

Lehmann's Norbert Lehmann says that its previous distributor, Audio Advancements, wanted to put more emphasis on its own specialty retail operations rather than distribution and marketing of products for others, and will remain a Lehmann audio dealer. Distribution of Lehmann products changed over to Hudson Audio on February 1.

Hudson Audio's Tom Hill says he hopes to expand the dealer network, noting, "In the past only a few dealers were able to purchase and then resell the Lehmann products. I am planning to make the line more available to a wider variety of companies, not just those that specialize in analog."

According to Lehmann, new products will be added to the line shortly: "I aim to expand both the Black Cube line and the Silver Cube line of products with more interesting devices to come this month. The Black Cube Linear will be a headphone amplifier and single source preamp, and the Black Cube Buffer a cable driver and output enhancer. Both new products have unique features like switchable gain and a zero global feedback Class A output stage."

More product lines from other manufacturers will likely be added to Hudson's portfolio, and Lehmann reports that he and Hill have also been working on a new pricing structure for the Black Cube phono stages "which will now become even more affordable than before."

Lehmann audio was founded in 1989 in Germany while Lehmann was studying audio engineering in Duesseldorf. "During my studies I was lucky to have had seminars with Johann Nikolaus Matthes, who is now director of the Audio Recording Engineer Institute in Berlin (University of Arts) and already had been the producer of the Alban Berg String Quartet for years. In these seminars I got involved with the sonic difference between a well-mastered vinyl LP and a CD from the same recording. The differences were much bigger than today and the seminars pushed me into developing my own electronics."