Elettro-Who?
In case you are not familiar with the name, Elettromedia is the parent company to some premiere brands-Audison, Hertz and Connections-that have a reputation not only for great design but superb performance. After visiting the factory, it was easy to see where the inspiration comes from to build such finely crafted products. One only needs to step outside the headquarters to be moved by the surroundings-a simple place where rustic brick buildings sit across from modern architecture and the natural landscape that traverses the valley floor below.
Audison was founded in 1979 by Pietro Pantaleone and Emidio Vagnoni, both of whom retain hands-on roles with the company as president and director of engineering, respectively. There's no doubt both these gentlemen are just as passionate about audio today as they were at the start. Vagnoni, like a true engineer, poured his passion for audio as he walked our group through the design and R&D sections of the building. His incessant technical rambling garnered more than a handful of joking pats on the back and comments from fellow employees that usually consisted of "Emilio, we are on a tight schedule!" But no one could fault him for his enthusiastic behavior when we were given a sneak peak of some future Audison and Hertz technology while passing through the R&D rooms.
Our tour covered operations at the headquarters, two electronics facilities and Elettromedia's installation training center. It was, to say the least, quite impressive. There are few companies that perform this level of R&D and quality control while demonstrating their passion for sound.
Fact
Pantaleone and Vagnoni started the Audison brand out of an office ironically located on the same street as the inventor of the radio, Guglielmo Marconi.
Elettromedia Headquarters
It's immensely apparent that there are no secrets here. Every office is separated by glass, and there are often several people sharing the space without barriers between them. Only some of the rooms labeled R&D are shielded, for obvious reasons, with frosted glass doors. The layout of the headquarters has a sense of flow from design to R&D and sales to accounting, all in the name of efficiency. Of the brands, only Audison is developed at this facility while the Hertz brand is designed in a separate office, hours away in Rome.