Founding The predecessor to Vifa was founded in 1933 by Niels Christian "N.C." Madsen, in the small town of
Videbæk in western
Denmark. Originally from the agricultural town of Hjerm near
Holstebro, Madsen had developed a talent for mechanical and electrical engineering. At a time when electricity still wasn't available in many rural areas, he among other things built windmills and converted car engines for use as stationary generators by farmers. As he settled in Videbæk, he started a small automotive repair shop. At the time, the
Bang & Olufsen radio factory in
Struer was importing electrodynamic loudspeaker drive units for their radio receivers out of France, and was looking to have them manufactured locally instead. They had approached Niels Christian Madsen's brother-in-law, who was a blacksmith, and although he was unable to meet their request, he instead put B&O in touch with Madsen. Together with two of his brothers, who were already employed at the Bang & Olufsen plant, Niels Christian Madsen started developing the required components. but with the Danish stock as collateral. A clandestine arrangement with creditor
Ringkøbing Landbobank in short order forced a one-day-notice 1,1 million DKK default upon SEAS, and also involved switching off the bank's
Telex equipment until the next day. The Videbæk factory was thus dropped into the hands of the bank and the management at the Danish site.
Reestablisment Nearly succeeding in bankrupting SEAS, the Danish site broke away in the late summer of 1981, eventually creating its own identity under the brand "Vifa" (an abbreviation of "Videbæk Fabrikker", a registered representation of the actual manufacturing facilities). While the first Vifa-branded products were simply a continuation of older SEAS designs, and predominantly made using SEAS-owned tools, Vifa would over the next few years develop and bring to market their own complete range of loudspeaker drivers, in time rising to become a major player in the European loudspeaker business. A US subsidiary was established in 1982. With the acquisition of high-end manufacturer Scan-Speak in 1987-89, the Vifa-Speak A/S corporation was formed. Scan-Speak kept its autonomy in research and development, but production was eventually moved to Videbæk in order to benefit from Vifa's infrastructure and finances. The two brands were kept separate, but Vifa also began gearing their own production towards higher quality speaker drivers. Their resulting "Premium Line" model program entered the market in the mid-90s, with a couple of notable innovations.
Consolidation attempts In 2000, Vifa-Speak took over the shares of troubled fellow Danish loudspeaker manufacturer Peerless Fabrikkerne AS. Together, they formed DST (Danish Sound Technology), representing some of the finest know-how in the loudspeaker business. Combining their manufacturing structures would prove difficult, though: While Vifa-Speak's production made extensive use of standardized sub-assembly, allowing for great flexibility towards their customers, Peerless' manufacturing closely resembled a sequential
production line. While the latter was suitable for uniform high-volume production, any level of design customization would carry an intrinsicly higher cost. It also placed different requirements on e.g. the curing time of glue, necessitating a continued double stockpile of chemicals and other materials. DST's product tree would largely remain the same, and marketing continued under the well-established Vifa, Scan-Speak and Peerless brand names. Although introducing an all-new Logic brand to target lower-cost segments, limited synergy thus resulted from the merger in practice. The economical boost would also prove temporary: While widely renowned for fine quality and with a history even predating the Videbæk factory, Peerless had at the time of the merger been unable to turn a profit for two decades. Funds spent developing their NXT flat-panel loudspeaker technology, although promising, failed to deliver returns for DST. On the manufacturing side, Vifa's commissioning of a production facility in Panyu, China one year prior to the merger further drained DST. In order to generate much-needed funds, the Vifa brand was finally sold to Guoguang Electric Corp. in 2004.
Legacy In 2005, DST was acquired by
startup company Tymphany. Based in
Cupertino, California, they were at the time known for their prototype LAT ("Linear Array Transducer", first shown at
CES 2005)
subwoofer concept. The LAT technology ultimately found little success in the market, and growing financial concerns led the company to move most of their remaining manufacturing operations to the
Far East, followed by the final sale of these activities to Chinese investors in 2008. Around the time of Tymphany's acquisition of DST, the Vifa brand was put into use in the marketing of home theatre systems, including the "Touch", "Sense" and "Reference" series of A/V receivers and 5.1 channel loudspeaker sets, all manufactured in China. Although it is unclear when these product ranges were introduced and discontinued, and which regions they were sold in, it seems to have been a relatively short-lived and poorly documented affair. In 2009, the Scan-Speak branch ended up in ownership of a group of Danish investors, consisting among others of former Scan-Speak management. Some of Vifa's original production tools were included, and a small portion of Vifa's classic loudspeaker drive unit programme remains in production as part of Scan-Speak's Discovery product line. Scan-Speak is now an independent company in the Eastech Group and reside in Vifa's old facilities in Videbæk, Denmark. Tymphany, now headquartered in Hong Kong, has kept the Peerless brand for their
ODM manufacture of loudspeaker drivers, but it also covers amplifier modules for the professional audio segment. Some of Peerless' original designs are still manufactured, and retain Peerless' traditional 6-digit product codes. Parts of the old Vifa product range was initially continued by Tymphany as "Peerless V-Line", avoiding trademark disputes, although only a few of these products are currently (2023) found in their catalogue.
Timeline • 1933: Videbæk Højttalerfabrik is founded by N. C. Madsen, and starts supplying loudspeaker drive units to radio manufacturers. • 1947: Vifa moves into a dedicated factory building at Stationsvej 3, Videbæk. • 1953: The business is incorporated as "Aktieselskabet Videbæk Højttalerfabrik", with N.C. Madsen as the sole share owner. • 1961: N.C. Madsen sells all shares of Videbæk Højttalerfabrik to his son C.C. Nørgaard-Madsen and Jan Wessel, owners of SEAS Fabrikker A/S, Norway. • 1965: Videbæk Højttalerfabrik A/S invests in the construction of a large anechoic chamber for measurements. • 1971: The factory in Videbæk becomes a sister company to SEAS Fabrikker A/S. • 1972: Manufacturing expands into complete loudspeaker systems. • 1977: Export of transducers directly from Videbæk is initiated. • 1981: The factory in Videbæk establishes itself as an independent company under the Vifa logo. • 1987: Vifa starts acquiring the Scan-Speak operation and Vifa-Speak A/S is formed, continuing the manufacture of both brands. • 1991: Scan-Speak moves to facilities in Videbæk, and their trademark is transferred from Dantax Radioindustri A/S to Videbæk Højttalerfabrik A/S. • 1997: Vifa-Speak A/S acquires a 40% share in Peerless Fabrikkerne AS. • 2000: Vifa-Speak A/S takes over the remaining Peerless stock to form Danish Sound Technology (DST). A manufacturing facility is established in Pan Yu, China. • 2003: Vifa International A/S is established in
Rødovre, and later
Karlslunde, Denmark, to market Vifa-branded A/V systems manufactured in Zhongshan, China. • 2004: The Vifa brand is sold to the Chinese company GGEC (Guoguang Electric Corp.). • 2005: DST is acquired by Silicon Valley startup Tymphany, and production of transducers is gradually moved to Xin Xu, China. • 2008: Tymphany's operations in China are sold to local operators. • 2009: Tymphany Denmark A/S sells Scan-Speak to the local Danish management. • 2009: Vifa Denmark A/S is founded in Viborg. • 2014: Vifa Denmark A/S acquires the Vifa brand from GGEC. == Technology ==