In hi-fi, there’s a handful of bedrock manufacturers so firmly established that it feels like they’ve just always been there. In the case of Beyerdynamic, this feeling actually comes close to being true: This year, the legendary headphone manufacturer turns 100 years old.
In a way, we have the October Revolution to thank for the birth of Beyerdynamic: for the family of Eugen Beyer, who was born in Stockholm in 1903 and grew up in St. Petersburg, it was the reason to return to Sweden. From there, Beyer would move to Berlin in the early 1920s – a fertile breeding ground for pioneers of radio technology at the time. Beyer sensed his opportunity in the development of cinema loudspeakers and founded the “Elektrotechnische Fabrik Eugen Beyer” for this purpose in 1924. Just over a decade later, perhaps the brand’s most famous product was created: the DT48, the first dynamic headphones, were introduced in 1937 and were produced continuously until 2012. The next milestone followed two years later with the introduction of the M19 microphone.
The Second World War brought about the first serious setback with the destruction of the Berlin factory. By 1948, however, the company was back on its feet, albeit now at a new location in Heilbronn. This is where the DT49 “Stielhörer” was created in 1953, which is inextricably linked to the phenomenon of “record bars”.
Another blow followed in 1959: Eugen Beyer passed away unexpectedly at the age of just 56, whereupon his then 26-year-old son Fred R. Beyer took over the company and remained at its helm for over 40 years. After the company moved its headquarters to its current location in Heilbronn in 1960, the name was changed a few years later to “Beyer Dynamic”, which would soon be altered to the spelling we know today.
The aegis of Fred R. Beyer saw the development of a whole slew of innovations: A notable example from the early years is the M88 directional microphone. Introduced in 1963, it was the only microphone used during the visit of Queen Elizabeth II of England. The E-1000, which the Beatles used on their tour of Germany in 1966, is another icon from that era. In the 1980s, the legendary DT 770, DT 880 and DT 990 headphone models were created, which, thanks to their sound characteristics as well as their recognizable design, shape Beyerdynamic’s brand perception to this day.
Even though Fred R. Beyer was the last direct descendant of the company founder to manage the company, the manufacturer is still family-owned. With the current CEO Andreas Rapp at the helm, the company is seamlessly continuing its success story: now counting over 500 employees, Beyerdynamic broke the psychologically important turnover mark of 100 million euros in 2021 – congratulations on two full hundreds!