“It will record” 

Switzerland-based Nagra manufactures high-end digital and analog audio components. Located in an industrial area of Vaud, in Switzerland’s Romanel-sur-Lausanne municipality, the company’s headquarters are less than a fifteen-minute drive from Lake Geneva. Given that the headquarters offers views of the lake and the Alps mountains, I was not going to pass up the opportunity for a visit. 

I arrived on scene from my home in Germany on a gorgeous sunny day, at which time I was greeted by Nagra’s Export and Community Manager, Tanguy Lemaire.

After introductions and the exchange of pleasantries, Lemaire and I entered a first-floor conference room where we discussed the company’s history over coffee. I learned the following:   

• Nagra is a Polish word meaning “it will record.” It was founded in 1951 by 22-year-old physics student and Polish émigré Stefan Kudelski, whose family fled the Nazis. Kudelski had developed a small, hand-cranked audio recorder called the Nagra I. 

• The Nagra II and III recorders followed in the mid-to-late 1950s, finding widespread acceptance in the radio broadcasting, television, cinema, and music industries. Over the years, the company’s recorders, high-performing and small (in some cases even pocket-sized), were used by the CIA, in numerous spy movies, and in the Apollo Moon landing missions. In fact, Nagra has won several Oscar and Emmy awards for its technical achievements. 

• In 1991, Kudelski’s son André succeeded his father as the head of Nagra’s parent company, the Kudelski Group (“TKG”). Over the years, TKG entered diverse markets and grew to employ thousands of people worldwide.  

• In 2012, Stefan Kudelski’s children acquired certain assets from TKG. Included in the acquisition was the Nagra Audio division, which was renamed as Audio Technology Switzerland SA (“ATS”). ATS is active in three areas: home audio gear, professional recording equipment, and security and law enforcement devices.  

• Nagra currently has four product lines: Reference, HD, Classic, and the relatively new and more affordable Compact Line.  

During our chat, Lemaire and I also discussed other topics such as Nagra’s deep commitment to building the best products possible and rising prices, both in the audio industry and the economy in general. 

The factory 

After our initial chat, Lemaire and I went back to the building’s ground floor where additional office space and the factory area are located. We started in the production planning room. There, Nagra’s staff coordinates the production schedule with its distributors and factory staff. 

Virtually all circuitry and other parts that are directly responsible for producing sound (including printed circuit boards) are designed by Nagra. What is not manufactured in-house is sourced from third-party partners, many of whom are located within a few miles of Nagra’s premises. This, according to Nagra, facilitates excellent communication regarding production matters. According to Lemaire, Nagra takes the term “Swiss Made” very seriously. 

Lemaire and I then entered the transformer manufacturing room, which is where Nagra’s audio transformers are wound and foil sealed. Power transformers, which require specialized equipment to manufacture, are obtained from several trusted manufacturing partners. 

The tour continued as we entered the “functional control” area. This is where parts such as printed circuit boards are checked to ensure that they operate flawlessly. It was then on to the component assembly area which was quiet as the factory had just opened after being closed for holiday. I did, however, see an amplifier that had been upgraded for a customer from an HD to a Reference model. This, according to Lemaire, required among other things, changing much of the amp’s internal circuitry as well as its connectors and feet.  

Impressively, Nagra’s chassis and many of its component chassis are also manufactured in-house. (Folded chassis and housings are manufactured by one of the above-mentioned manufacturing partners subject to Nagra’s strict quality controls.) We visited a very large room where laser engravers and flatbed CNC milling machines create aluminum panels of varying thicknesses. The application of the chassis’ brushed treatment, a hallmark of Nagra’s components, is also performed in this room.  

It was then on to an area where assembled components are run in. According to Lemaire, Nagra has found that the run-in process helps not only identify any possible manufacturing defects but also brings the components close to peak operating condition. At the time of my visit, a group of the company’s soon-to-be-launched Compact Line phono preamps were being run in. 

We continued to a room where the finished products are given a final check by ear. This is done to expose any defects that did not show up during the measurement process. Each finished component must pass this final and critical test with several different loudspeakers and components before it is cleared for packaging and shipping to Nagra’s distributors. 

The last stop in the factory was the warehouse where, among other things, power supplies, manuals, remote controls, and cables are collected and boxed up with their appropriate components. At the time of my visit, the packaging for several new components from the Compact Line was being tested.   

Finally, Lemaire showed me the area within the warehouse where Nagra stores its music festival equipment. This includes the high-performance recording and playback gear needed by musicians to perform at such an event. Lemaire proudly noted Nagra’s longstanding partnership with Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival. 

The showroom 

It was now time for Lemaire and me to spend time in Nagra’s showroom, also on the building’s first floor. From the outside, the showroom’s wood cladding makes it look like a quaint Swiss chalet. As we entered, I noticed the room’s lack of windows, non-parallel walls, and acoustical treatments. Approximately 30 m² (325 sq ft) in size, it contained many Nagra components (including some from new Compact Line) and Wilson Audio Alexa V speakers. In the room’s rear were shelves containing hundreds of LPs from all musical genres. Six chairs were in the room, each comfortable and inviting. 

Lemaire began by explaining some aspects of the technologies used in the room’s audio gear. For example, he showed me the Reference Line turntable’s robust, jewel-like dual-motor drive system. He stated that the system’s belts are made from the same proprietary rubber-based material as those of Nagra’s early recorders from the 1950s. This ‘table is one very impressive piece of kit! 

I was then able to get an idea of the sound quality of one of Nagra’s vintage recorders. Lemaire played the Nagra 70^th Anniversary Collection 45 rpm 200g LP that was recorded using the 1971 NAGRA IV-S recorder and mastered from the analog master tapes by legendary producers Rene Laflamme and André Perry in Quebec. In the sonic chain were Nagra’s new Compact Phono, a Reference Line preamp, two HD amps, and the Wilson Audio speakers. 

One track on this album is Igor Stravinsky’s “The Soldier’s March,” performed live by the orchestra of St. Luke’s ensemble (identified on the album’s liner notes only as “OSL”). Despite being recorded with only one Neumann SM-69 tube microphone, the sound was shockingly convincing. Spatial depth and width were exceptional as were the realistic shades of the instrumental timbres. At the track’s conclusion, I felt that the presentation was so lifelike that I was almost transported into the concert hall. 

Another track from this anniversary album, “Oblivion,” is performed by the jazz and Latin music trio Trio de Curda. Originally appearing on that group’s Libertango album, it was also recorded with the Neumann mic. Again, I could almost visualize the musicians performing in front of me. I could not help but tap my foot along with the music, and I had goosebumps while listening. 

Even when Lemaire fed the Reference Line DAC into a Compact Line streamer, the sound maintained its musicality and precision and was enjoyable at all volumes from whisper-quiet to extremely loud. Also, the presentation was spacious with excellent depth, width, and three-dimensionality. On Yello's “The Race,” from the band’s 1988 Flag album, the fast-paced vocals beautifully drove home the song’s sense of urgency. The many sounds of speeding automobiles in the song were not only detailed and clear, but also dramatically panned across the soundstage.  

When we left the showroom, I realized that it would be at least a little while before I wanted to hear these tracks—or any others—on my home system even though it is quite accomplished. 

The future 

Back in the conference room, Lemaire explained to me more about the plans for Nagra’s future. The prices of the company’s products, he admitted, are not cheap. This, he stated is due to their high quality and the cost of manufacturing in Switzerland with its high wages and living costs. Geneva, he noted, which is located only about 60 miles from the factory, is one of the most expensive cities in the world.  

Lemaire told me that the company introduced the Compact Line to convince the public of the value and high quality of Nagra’s products and to attract even a wider base of customers. Lemaire stated in the future that line will be expanded with new models, including the phono preamp.  

What struck me throughout my visit was the desire of everyone at Nagra to meet the highest product quality standards and to do everything necessary to deliver the best possible customer experience. I left that day with many new insights about the company and bid Lemaire best wishes for its continued success. Thanks to everyone there for an incredible visit. 

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