Edgar van Velzen is not lacking in self-confidence. When asked how to wake a traditional company from its slumber, the Dutchman replies without hesitation: “I’m the prince who kisses you awake.” Van Velzen, 52, a wiry guy, has been the boss of Beyerdynamic since mid-2017. There is no need to explain anything to musicians at this point. The medium-sized company from Heilbronn’s microphones and studio headphones are legendary. “The appreciation is high,” analyzes van Velzen, “the brand is brilliant, but too few know us.”
The new prince wants to change that. “We have to become a bit more modern,” he sets the direction, “not for kiddies, but for those who have their first job behind them and maybe already have cheap headphones – that’s our target group.” But there is one thing the newcomer definitely doesn’t want: Not much should change in the professional field, above all the high quality should definitely be maintained, “but the values have to be brought into the new era.”
This is particularly evident in products for end consumers. The form must follow the function, says van Velzen, “but it can also look beautiful.” He knows: the design counts, the competition is ahead. At the Ifa, the important trade fair for consumer electronics, van Velzen announced the new start, showed the new logo and the first products that actually look considerably more modern. The company wants to make better use of social media, and now 15 instead of the previous two employees take care of the website.
New logo: Unfortunately, the “B” was already occupied by Beats
Actually, a “B” would have offered itself as a logo, but that’s occupied by the competition – by Beats, the audio technology manufacturer that was bought by Apple. So they decided on the “Y” from the name. This is now emblazoned on all products, because: “They are our largest advertising space,” says van Velzen. There is also something new from a technical point of view. The Heilbronn company used to have hardly any headphones with Bluetooth radio in their range, now there are six. And the company is also opening up to another trend: active noise canceling (ANC).
For a long time, the people from Heilbronn were strangers to this, since the sound is influenced when algorithms produce counter-noise to ambient noise and thus ensure silence. In the meantime, one is “in the third loop with the chip manufacturers to improve the acoustics,” says van Velzen. New Beyerdynamic headphones with ANC will be released this fall.
