At first glance, not only are the Acoustic Signature production halls big, the considerable inventory level of aluminum and other materials leads one to the conclusion that completely different things are manufactured here in addition to turntables and tonearms. Company founder and boss Gunther Frohnhöfer recognizes our astonishment, of course, but the down-to-earth Swabian is far from taking this opportunity and patting himself on the back. It’s the scarcity in the commodity market that has prompted him to ramp up stock of material to keep his production running since the pandemic began. And that’s not the only investment that Frohnhöfer has made in recent months.

In 1996, the trained communications electronics technician brought the first Acoustic Signature turntable onto the market. Today Gunther Frohnhöfer runs the company together with his wife Jacqueline. Two dozen employees work in the modern factory in Suessen; the drives, tonearms, cartridges and electronic components are exported to around 40 countries. The iron laws that the company follows are also part of this success story. Frohnhöfer therefore prefers to source the material for its products and additional services from the region, which is home to many globally recognized automotive suppliers. The cheapest supplier is rarely awarded the contract. A clear indication of the quality standards that also apply in-house.

Before the pandemic started in spring 2020, everything at Acoustic Signature revolved around the question of how to really surprise customers and analogue friends for the upcoming 25th company anniversary. Ideas were collected, the team re-thought the turntable issue from start to finish - and the end of the story was the decision to turn almost the entire portfolio left to right. All products that were reborn during this time therefore bear the suffix “Neo”. What all of these components have in common is their high level of manufacturing precision, which Gunther Frohnhöfer sums up with the sentence “We manufacture here down to the micrometer”. The basis of this statement can be clearly seen on a tour of the company.