Sunday, August 7, 2016

The Future of ELROG Tubes

Hi!

It has been a bit quiet about Elrog during the recent months and I would like to give an update about the state of the company and the future. I have some bad and some good news. The bad news is that due to various reasons Elrog struggled financially and was forced to enter the insolvency process. The good news is that Elrog tubes will continue to be produced. I founded a new company which acquired all assets and machines of Elrog. This company will continue the manufacturing and distribution of Elrog branded tubes.




The name of the company is Deutsche Elektronenröhren Manufaktur GmbH. This translates to German Electron Tube Manufactory Ltd. The name of the company was chosen to represent the heritage and tradition of Elrog GmbH & Co Elektronenröhren KG. The bright yellow glow of thoriated tungsten filaments was selected as the company colour.

I am very happy to announce that two key people committed to come on board of the new company. Without those it would be impossible to continue the production. Matthias Klepper who was managing production and development at Elrog, will be the Chief Technology Officer of the new company. He will continue to overlook production and new tube development. I got to know Matthias very well during the recent months. He brings a vast knowledge and experience in different fields. He especially impressed me with his deep understanding of vacuum tube technology and production as well as his electronics expertise especially in audio amplification. Vacuum tubes require know how in electronics, physics and chemistry all of which Matthias masters in an impressive way. In addition to that I also found a close friend in him who shares my passion for music and audio technology. 

And I am very happy that Dr. Schaffernicht, the founder of Elrog, also committed to be part of the new operation in an advisory role. He brings in his vast experience in tube manufacturing which spans all the way back to the Telefunken era. The Elrog tubes are his life achievement which we will continue to carry into the future. This is both a great honour and a great responsibility.

300B, 211 and 845 tubes will be continued to be produced at the same premises in the city of Hagenow on the same equipment. During last week the production line has been refurbished. Production will be resumed in the coming week. The tubes will continue to carry the ELROG name.




Originally I planned to announce this news at the end of this month. But since I keep getting inquiries I decided to share this earlier. Especially since the elrog.com website is currently down and the Elrog email address is not reachable in the moment. It will take some days or even more than a week until the website is released and transferred to the new company. Until then please contact me under the VinylSavor address which can be found in the link Impressum / Contact on the upper left of this site. There is also a phone number. Please use this contact information for any inquiries or questions until the elrog.com site is accessible again.

Any emails sent to info (at) elrog (dot) com during the last week have not been read. Also access to the emails had been intermittent before that time. In case you sent a message to that address and did not get a reply, please contact me and I will follow up.

Please note that Deutsche Elektronenröhren Manufaktur GmbH is not the legal successor of Elrog GmbH & Co Elektronenröhren KG. We cannot assume any liabilities of the old company. Nevertheless we will do our best to resolve any open issues or warranty claims in an amicable way.

In case you are sending inquiries please allow for some time to respond since there is a lot of work in the beginning. All emails will be answered. We are also starting to take preorders. New tubes will be available in September. Some limited stock of tubes is already available now for serving urgent needs. It is expected that demand might be higher than production capacity throughout the rest of the year. One of the top priorities will be to resume production at the highest possible quality level rather than maximum output.

Inquiries from distributors and resellers are welcome. Please contact me if you are interested to represent The Elrog brand in your area and we will discuss details.

These are exciting times and I am hoping for your support to re-launch the brand and continue vacuum tube manufacturing in Germany. I would like to thank all the loyal customers of Elrog and would be happy to continue to serve you with german made vacuum tubes.

Best regards

Thomas

27 comments:

  1. Hello Thomas,

    a very courageous decision. We're glad to see that the production of high-quality tubes has a future in Germany. We wish you and your colleagues all the best with this new endeavour!

    Hartmann + Nadine

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  2. Surprised that Elrog was struggling to such an extent. Since they have an undeniably innovative and quality product for which there is a demand (even if limited), the issue must have been their business model &/ or cost structure. How do you plan to change these?

    Needless to say, your many fans wish you success and the best of luck.

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    1. Thanks a lot for your wishes! There have been various reasons for the insolvency. Mainly simply management issues. The former owner is 79 years old and as is normal health issues are setting in at that age. I will bring in a new management style and I can use my past experience from various management positions in the semiconductor industry.

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  3. Thomas.. will you still have time to build amps? :-)

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    1. Yes, I will continue to make amps. During the first months I will split my time between tube and amp making. As things stabilise I will hire more people to help in the tube manufacturing.

      Thomas

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  4. Celsius:
    I wish you a best, I am happy to know that Elrog to be continued.
    Good Luck

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  5. Congrats Thomas..I wish you will come out with new tubes and technology. Looking forward to try the 300B on my Lampizator Golden Gate Balanced. In the past, there was incompatibility issue. I hope you could sort this out. Thanks!

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    1. Thanks! The issues which caused problems with the Lampizator have already been resolved since the beginning of the year. If you want tubes for your Lampi, send me an email. There is a full 1 year warranty now

      Thomas

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  6. Thank you for giving the world an alternative to poor quality tubes. Is there any chance we will see a driver tube like a 26 or 01A?

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    1. Thanks!
      Once the business is in a stable situation we will work on new tube developments. But please give us some time for this. The more you support us by buying our 300B, 211 or 845 tubes the more likely and earlier we will be able to introduce new types ;-)

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  7. This is really good news and I wish you well for your development and business success. This new support makes me interested in Elrog tubes again, if the emphasis remains on building reliability for such an innovative design. Good luck!

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  8. hi ... may be for the future also DHT preamp tubes
    ( Elrog 10Y, 26,....)?

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    1. Hi!
      First priority will be to resume production of the current types : 211, 845 and 300B and to increase quality. New tube types are possible however in order to reach that, we need to stabilise the business with the existing types. So please support us by using Elrog tubes and the earlier we can work on new tubes...

      Best regards

      Thomas

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  9. That was tough decision, like these are always hard. But congrats.
    (nobody yet makes 10Y meshes with thorium..i dunno if thats possible)

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  10. As an insolvency lawyer in the US (who has great friends in the German insolvency world), I know how hard it can be to step in to the void. I am glad you are doing that for them. I will be interested in getting a pair of 300Bs when you are ready to sell again. I am building an amp inspired by your single ended design concept of years ago (10Y driving a 300B) and have a Lampizator Golden Gate. Ok, so maybe two pairs. Heh.

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    1. Hi!
      I have 300B tubes in stock. These are tubes of the latest production with improvements which solved the reliability issue of the filaments in some amps. The tubes now carry a full 1 year warranty also on emission. Drop me an email if you are interested.

      Thomas

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  11. Great News Thomas.
    I am dealer for Elrog tubes in Greece Market.
    I contact with you in next week.
    Regards
    Chameleon Audio

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    1. Thanks Nick,
      you can contact me under the VinySavor address or the Elrog address. The info (at) elrog (dot) com address is now operational again

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  12. Thomas thank you for great tubes! Greetings from Lithuania!

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    1. Thanks! I am happy you got your new tubes and you like them!

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  13. Dear Thomas,

    Great to read the Elrog large bottles like 211, 845 will stay available and perhaps even be improved upon over time.

    All the best for this endeavour !
    Ralph

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