Milan Weber

In 1990, at the Tuzex in Prague — a shop selling imported "Western" goods — I asked the clerk to play me a SONY system with a CD. He said "just for a moment." After three minutes, "that's enough." And on 4 November 1991, with my friend Robert, I opened the first dedicated SONY store in Moravia — twenty-eight square metres.

At first it didn't work — a beautiful shop, excellent service, but no customers. We printed 15,000 flyers and handed them out across Těšín and the surrounding area. A few days later I arrive one morning and there's a queue outside: "We're waiting for you to open, Mr Weber."

In June 1996 came a larger shop in the city centre — and with it Philips, along with the era's almost only audiophile brands: NAD, Rotel, Denon, Tannoy, Mission and LOEWE. It included a listening room. We knew how to sell — that is, to demonstrate, to show, to install — and people enjoyed coming to us. I was very lucky with my colleagues; their decency and willingness were probably the foundation of the whole success.

Sometime in 1994, a friend from the USA brought over something incredible to show me — a voice organizer, the very first databank controlled entirely by voice. Unimaginable for the time. I secured the exclusive distribution for our part of Europe and, to handle Poland, founded a company called VOICE. Along the way I learned Polish, got to know that fascinating country and worked with the biggest names — Optimus among them. We negotiated with IBM on localizing the Speech to Text program, exhibited at INVEX, made the shortlist of the "Crystal Disc" competition, and I stood in Las Vegas at the presentation of an award for significant technological progress. Then the technical troubles came — and it was clear the next field had to be hi-fi.

So from 1998 I began building the distribution of Czech hi-fi in Poland together with Czech makers. I approached legends: Pavel Dudek and his outstanding amplifiers, the team at SHAN and their loudspeakers, Petr Král from Hranice, whose preamplifiers are still among the very best — and above all Pro-Ject. Then came the exhibitions, the tests, the reviews, the presentations and the building of a dealer network, and with good work, more brands: Triangle, Sonus Faber, Cabasse, REL, Cardas, Primare, Isotek, BAT, Audiovector and Chord. Three times we won best sound at the Audio-Video Show in Warsaw.

The greatest school was meeting the makers. John Franks and his designer Rob Watts of Chord, Christopher Cabasse, who knows more about sound than anyone, John Hunter of REL, Steve Bednarski and Victor Khomenko of BAT, Lars Pedersen of Primare, George Cardas and the engineers at Sonus Faber — inspiration and education at once. I travelled across the USA and Europe and built a fine market position for my company.

I've saved for last the person who shaped my professional life the most — Heinz Lichtenegger, the father of Pro-Ject. In the early 1990s he stood at the birth of a new era of analogue, and his vision transformed not only me but the entire global hi-fi market. I had the honour of being his partner for more than twenty-five years. The turntable, the record, the whole philosophy can be captured in a single phrase: GO ANALOG.

All of it eventually led me to one realisation.