Vitus Audio truly is a great name in the industry. Best of high end got the chance to interview the leading man and visionair Hans-Ole Vitus. In this first part we asked him: ‘What was your motivation to become a manufacturer of audio equipment?’.
This is the first video in a six-part series with Vitus Audio’s founder, who goes on to describe how he’d shape the Vitus Audio sound itself, and later, why he moved away from battery-powered designs.
A childhood spent taking hi-fi apart
Hans-Ole Vitus: “Well, that’s so a long time ago, I can hardly remember. What I can remember is that since I was a very young kid I was playing drums. So I had a natural interest in music, because I was playing music. That kind of developed, I got a little bit older. I guess I was 12 or 13 years old when I got my first stereo. The first thing I did was, before even plugging it in, was actually ripping of the top to look inside. I had no clue what was going on in there. That’s when I decided I had to figure out what was going on in there.”
From DIY hobbyist to audio designer
“That was the reason I became an electronic designer. Audio equipment was the reason that I got an education in electronics. I had no clue I would become a manufacturer. That came way later. It’s I guess from that moment until it actually started to materialize, that I was a DIY guy. I couldn’t afford other manufacturers equipment. Well, I could, but didn’t think I wanted to have it, so I had to build it myself. So I became a DIY guy.”
Testing his own designs against Mark Levinson and Krell
“At some point I started taking all my DIY projects out to friends and friends of friends, basically testing what I made towards Mark Levinson, Krell and whatever they had. I realized that it was not too bad. And that’s really where the idea was born. This is, we’re talking nineteen ninety…something. So, that’s a long time ago.”
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Frequently asked questions
What inspired Hans-Ole Vitus to start designing audio equipment?
Playing drums as a kid gave him a natural interest in music, and taking apart his first stereo at 12 or 13 to see how it worked set him on the path to electronics.
How did Hans-Ole Vitus become a DIY audio designer?
He trained as an electronic designer because of that early curiosity, and started building his own equipment because he couldn’t, or didn’t want to, buy what other manufacturers offered.
When was the idea for Vitus Audio born?
While testing his DIY projects against brands like Mark Levinson and Krell with friends, sometime in the 1990s.
