Bench tests for quality control and spec conformity of Soulution's products are handled back in engineering.
In Cyrill Hammer's office again, we flipped through a few luxury product publications in which Soulution had purchased advertising. It's upscale hifi's perennial problem - how to stimulate brand awareness with the sort of well-heeled clientele that's accustomed to vacationing in the Seychelles while their butlers keep the Aston Martins and Bentleys sparkling yet the fi in the mansion is of dubious quality by comparison. If you must know, the big Soulution monos currently demand CHF 105.000/pr in Switzerland. In Asia, their most direct import competition is probably Boulder.
The Aston Martin mention wasn't gratuitous.
Cyrill punned that such adverts are quite costly but the crazy thing about this type of publication is, you have to first be recommended by the owners or certain affiliates—just like a country club membership—before you're allowed to spend money with these magazines.
In closing, our visit to Soulution in Switzerland discovered a uniquely positioned company. It quite fearlessly aimed at playing in the very highest leagues of fine audio from the word go and managed to stake its claim accordingly. The future is never certain of course. But given parent company Spemot AG's stewardship, Soulution is far better prepared than most to navigate whatever stormy weather economic trends over the next few years might throw their way.
Another core ingredient to the Soulution recipe is chief engineer Christoph Schürmann. He not only plays musical instruments and operates his own recording studio, he has worked in audio circuit design on the pro and consumer sides most of his adult life. He knows what the real thing sounds like and enjoys a clearly firm grip on how to translate that knowledge into corresponding electronic circuits. The forthcoming Series 5 components should make ownership of Soulution gear accessible to more enthusiasts than the admittedly utterly exclusive top range at present. On that note, a Swiss servus to our gracious hosts...
