HEGEL - Is it really made in Norway ?

Well well guess what? At the end of this article in the Absolute Sound, there is this question asked by a certain Derek, and this question is 2 years old already: "Hegel is made in China or Norway???"

I guess he is still waiting for an answer, like many of us.

Vez,

You stated regarding the interview, "Although he wrote all the details about the facilities and the people working there, with an analytical presentation of Bent Holter the head of the company, he never mentions anything about the factory. There is no word about the most important part of a manufacturing company: the factory. It is clear that Hegel requested from Bent not to mention the "forbidden" word, China."

This reinforces the impression that Hegel is deliberately trying to hide an important truth about their products. This begs the question, "Why?".

Soix,

You stated, "What is unforgivable, however, is to not stand behind your product when something does go wrong, and what I heard here would definitely give me pause in buying any Hegel product."

This actually happened to me. Without exaggerating, it was shocking -- to the tune of thousands of hard-earned dollars lost to me.

You also stated, "Either way they need to stand behind their products and support their customers or it's a non-starter at least for me."

Needless to say, I would never even think of going near another Hegel product, no matter how good their reputation. They don't have any reputation with me after what I went through with them. This has only happened with a single high end audio company in all the years I have spent building my system. It is unthinkable that any high end audio company will not stand behind their product. But, with Hegel, it is indeed thinkable.

I would consider Design the most important part of a hi end audio company. Mfg is execution of the design and could well be better done by a firm with the scale boutique audio doesn't offer. Perhaps a Norway employee is the QC manager in the plant.

"09-03-15:..Sabai".This reinforces the impression that Hegel is deliberately trying to hide an important truth about their products. This begs the question, "Why?"."

Short answer? Hegel associates being 'made in China' as a euphemism for a poorly made product. Why let the cat out of the bag when the cat in question is content with non-disclosure .

Sabai,

Hegel is a mid-high end company. They believe that the image of their products is favorable if people think that they are made in Norway that has a good name in HiFi, created by products like Tandberg and Electocompaniet. Obviously, Hegel believes that they can attract more customers at this segment of the market, by giving them the impression that their equipment are made in the homeland by dedicated and highly motivated staff, instead of in a country like China that is known for mass production, low paid workforce and less expensive products.
Personally I think there is no difference in the quality of the final product irrespective of the country of production.
With hifi equipment, where you cannot really measure the level of quality and amplifiers are evaluated quite subjectively, customers need to be impressed very positively. Especially people who do not buy at the budget category.