Swan in China, Swan in the World
In China's audio industry, "Swan" is one of the most legendary names. Of course, part of its legend comes from its rocket-like success at the beginning of its business, but more importantly, since its establishment 11 years ago, Swans has maintained a steady upward development trajectory, and has become the only enterprise in the Chinese audio industry that has entered the international high-end audio manufacturing industry with its own brand products and has become increasingly internationalized. Looking back on the history of Xiaoping's southern tour and the reform and opening up process, there are not a few companies like Swan that have achieved rapid success in China, but how many are still alive today in the brutal market competition environment? Speaking of this topic, it is inevitable to mention that the CEO of Swans, Yao Hongbo, left Zhuhai from the Tongjian Building on Shennan Middle Road, Shenzhen at the same time. Comparing the respective development trajectories of these two similar enterprises, it is not difficult to understand the significance of Swan' 11-year history.
Perhaps the success of Swan has set an insurmountable benchmark for the latecomers in the Chinese audio industry. In the domestic industry, the evaluation of Swans has always been "mixed", sometimes even "destroyed" more than "reputation". Although most of the negative comments made by these "professionals" in the industry on Swans products remain subjective and personal, and most of the real experts take a laughing attitude, it is undeniable that such private and oral comments are not professional Ordinary consumers with basic theoretical literacy and subjective listening experience are even more influential than a well-documented professional paper. This article does not expect to be able to make a comprehensive, fair and final evaluation of Swan, or to change some people's prejudice against Swans in one fell swoop. Brands can learn more.
Most of a legendary enterprise will also have a legendary leader, and the experience of Swans CEO Yao Hongbo is also very legendary in the audio industry. However, every time he meets or interviews with President Yao, he always emphasizes: "Don't talk about me personally, talk more about Swans' products and Swans' technology." And the official resume of Yao Hongbo released by Swans is also simple enough:
Born in 1964 in Harbin, China
In 1988, he graduated from the Computer Automatic Control Department of Shaanxi Hanzhong 012 Institute of Technology with honors.
Founded HiVi Group in 1991
In 1993, moved to Canada to establish Swans North America headquarters
Joined Canadian Citizenship in 1999
Now he is an AES member of the American Audio Engineering Society and one of the main designers of Swan.
However, on this point, Yao Hongbo's idea is right. His efforts and achievements have been completely integrated with the brand and enterprise of Hiwin, and they are inseparable.
In 1991, the young Yao Hongbo founded Hi-Vi Research in Zhuhai with several thousand yuan raised from relatives and friends. At the beginning of the establishment of HiVi, the field of audio and video was set as the long-term goal of enterprise development. Hi-Vi was taken from the first two letters of the English Hi-Fidelity (music high fidelity)/Visual (visual art), while Research (exploration research) It shows that Swans wants to become a high-tech-oriented enterprise. The pronunciation of Hi-Vi in Chinese is Swan, another meaning of Hi-Vi is to dedicate the best products to the vast number of music and audio lovers (Hui), occupying its own place in the history of the development of the world audio industry, and proud of the Chinese people (Hui), which is also Yao Hongbo has been burying a wish in his heart for many years.
Just this year, with the joint efforts of Yao and a group of like-minded young engineers, Swans launched a mid-bass unit called S8 carbonized polypropylene diaphragm. For this product, today's Yao Hongbo has a very objective evaluation: "From the current point of view, the design of the S8 has many naive aspects, but the fact that this unit is welcomed by so many enthusiasts also proves that its sound was indeed at that time. It has its own unique personality." The S8 unit is a milestone product in the history of high-end loudspeakers in China. Because its performance greatly exceeds the previous similar products in China, it has achieved unexpected and great success in the market. It can be said that it is this product. , which has laid a solid foundation for the future development of Swans. Without the success of S8, it is impossible to imagine what Swans will be like today.
The success of the S8 has greatly established Yao Hongbo's self-confidence: "The Chinese can also make top-notch speakers!" Under the guidance of this belief, Yao decided to go abroad and conquer the world in North America, where the elites of the international electro-acoustic industry gather.
In 1993, Yao Hongbo came to North America alone, but the outside world brought him a strong stimulus: China, which accounts for 80% of the world's speaker output, has less than 20% of its output value, especially in the United States. Sometimes Chinese products can only be found in stalls. When visiting the market in the United States, Yao brought a lot of products. But the Americans said to Yao unabashedly after seeing these traditionally designed products: "Your products may be good, but they are similar to the products here, and there is nothing special about them. Even if the sound is better, it does not make much sense. . This place is basically full of people, and the remaining space is reserved for those who have special features and specialties."
Yao Hongbo felt ashamed, but more dissatisfied: "At that time, I decided to develop something that was different in principle, so that it would be easily accepted by Americans who like to invent." In the spirit of advocating individuality and independence In the United States, the most despised thing is imitating others. If HiVi wants to enter the market with dignity and dignity, it cannot rely on imitations and cheap goods. Yao Hongbo's belief of "selling wisdom, not sweat" was established at this time.
In the following three years, Swans entered a relatively dormant period in the domestic market. During this period, Swans gradually shifted the center of the enterprise to North America. The following are the major events that have occurred in Swans in the past few years:
In 1993, Swans set up a manufacturing center in Toronto, Canada, North America, and entered the international electro-acoustic field;
In 1994, Swans invested in the famous B&G Group ribbon speaker group in the United States, which fully integrated with the international electro-acoustic technology;
In 1994, Swans integrated institutions around the world, introduced the international management system, and established Swans Transnational Electroacoustic Group;
In 1994, Swans invested heavily in the establishment of the Canadian Electro-Acoustic Center, ranking among the world's first-class electro-acoustic development and design manufacturers;
In 1995, Swans entered the CES International Audio Exhibition in Las Vegas, USA, and Swans speakers attracted the attention of the industry;
In 1995, Swans passed a strict audit and became a member of the American Loudspeaker Manufacturers Association (ALMA).
It can be seen that HiVi was more invested in this period, but people with discerning eyes can see that Ruli compared the enterprise to a big tree. At this time, Yao Hongbo was trying to cultivate a strong, A well-developed, stable root system. It was also during this period that HiVi began to introduce foreign professional and technical talents. In Yao's words, it was unreasonable to hire a senior engineer directly in the United States with an annual salary of 100,000 US dollars. Create millions of dollars in profits for the enterprise, which is more cost-effective than using tens of millions of dollars to invoke the so-called technical equipment, and then spend time digesting it and can only follow others. ? This effective "grab policy" enabled Swans to quickly gather a group of the world's top electro-acoustic designers. It is Yao's visionary and self-indulgent hard work in recent years that has led to the second success of Swans in the next few years.
In 1997, HiVi launched a blockbuster product that shook the international electro-acoustic industry - the equal magnetic belt treble. According to HiVi's official statement, this product was "unprecedented", and this statement also caused a stir in the domestic electro-acoustic industry. some controversy. It is true that the original idea of the ribbon loudspeaker existed as early as the 1920s, but it used a pure aluminum foil diaphragm. Later, there have indeed appeared in the world some similar to the Swans, with a conductive layer coated on the insulating film. The voice coil is designed as a diaphragm, but due to various reasons, it cannot be a practical and reliable product that has survived until now. Judging by the maturity and practicality of the product, HiVi's isodynamic ribbon tweeter is world-leading and is indeed qualified to receive an "unprecedented" evaluation.
In this year, the Swans American Duchy research team designed a flagship No. 1 super speaker system with a price of up to 100,000 US dollars with ribbon speakers as the core. "class Hi-End speaker system, its significance is extraordinary. In the same year, Swans acquired Swans, a well-known high-end audio manufacturer in the United States, and President Frank Hale became one of the chief designers of Swans Group.
In 1998, Swans and other magnetic field ribbon speakers became the stars at the CES98 International Audio Exhibition in Las Vegas, USA. The Swans M1 professional monitor-level speaker developed with the magnetic field ribbon tweeter as the core swept the entire fever field, and received good reviews at home and abroad. Trend, Swans series speakers have attracted the attention of the world's major audio manufacturers.
In 1999, the best-selling top speaker Forest in Europe developed by Totem Corporation of the United States used Swans D6 speakers, and the price in Germany was as high as 8,000 Deutsche Marks! For Swans, this is another great event, which means that Yao Hongbo and his Swans have won the sincere respect of high-nosed foreigners with their excellent products. Interestingly, at this time, HiVi is no longer regarded as a Chinese company in North America, where European goods are rampant. In the eyes of Laomei and Laojia, HiVi is an authentic Canadian speaker unit supplier, and it is indeed a Canadian speaker. Industry is out of breath.
In 2000, Swans, already a frequent visitor to CES, won the Exceptional Value Award at The Show in Las Vegas, USA with its newly developed Diva speakers. At the same time, Diva speakers proudly entered the world's most exclusive audio store, Lyrice Hi-Fi in New York. Fans who read the American audio book can see Lyric Hi-Fi advertisements from these books.
More exciting news continued to come. At the Hi-End 2000 Best Audio Exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany in the same year, HiVi's R2 and other magnetic field belt tweeters became the best choice for the B99 super loudspeaker system of the German Hi-End industrial giant Burmester. Core unit! Swans speakers finally entered the world's most arrogant German Hi-End audio professional with dignity, and were used in the most famous and brand-name, most expensive flagship equipment in the German Hi-End industry. Swans was recognized by the world.
After Totem and Burmester, more foreign speaker manufacturers have become customers of Swans high-end speaker units. In their eyes, Swans speakers are a strong guarantee for their products to sell well all over the world. At the same time, the speaker system designed and manufactured by Swans with its own unit is also well received in the market. This year, at the CES2002 audio exhibition, the HiVi Haoting No. 1 Super Cinema System won the "Perfect Engineering Design Award" issued by HETV. In HETV's words, this award is used to recognize HiVi audio products: "Perfect Engineering Design Award" Engineering Design and Quality", while another M4000HT Info Theater won the "Best Value Award" from The Home Entertainment Expo 2002.
Looking back on the road that Swans has traveled in the past 11 years, we can find that Swans started with technology, relying on self-developed and supported core technologies to enhance the added value of products, and finally achieve success. This is completely different from the traditional domestic practice of using labor-intensive products and low product prices to obtain the competitiveness of products in the international market. Chinese enterprises all over the world have certain reference significance.
Yao Hongbo, who has obtained Canadian nationality, has always emphasized his Chinese identity in front of his friends, and has always been proud of Hivi's contribution to China Audio. But in today's increasingly integrated global economy, Swans, an enterprise out of China, will undoubtedly become more and more internationalized. The current and future Swans should not only belong to the Chinese people, but also belong to the whole world.
Author: "Modern Audio Technology" No. 11, 2002 Time: 2001-7-1
