ABOUT
Heinz Electrodynamic Design (HEDD) is a Berlin-based creator of cutting edge loudspeaker and headphone solutions. Founded in 2015 by physicist Heinz Klaus and his son, Musicologist Dr. Frederik Knop, HEDD products include studio monitors, subwoofers, and main speakers – as well as the signature HEDDphone®. Producers, sound engineers, recording artists, and high-end enthusiasts worldwide seek out HEDD for use in music production, mastering, and home HiFi. HEDD’s mission has been to build products aiming for complete accuracy and outstanding signal fidelity in Germany, that can accommodate a diverse range of sounds and eclectic spectrum of musical tastes.
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Air Motion Transformer Diaphragm
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HEDD products demonstrate what can be achieved today both in audio quality and control versatility. We believe that we have set a new benchmark in the industry and beyond.
Klaus Heinz
Prior to founding HEDD, Klaus Heinz devoted the past five decades to studying sound and acoustics. In that time, the son of Physics Nobel Prize laureate Ernst Ruska founded several successful speaker companies, among them HEDD Audio and ADAM, where he has revolutionized both the HiFi and studio monitor landscape by integrating Air Motion Transformer technology into its design.
Fifty years ago in Berlin, when Klaus Heinz was a university student majoring in physics, a classmate brought him a speaker and asked him what he thought of the sound. The Sixties were a special time for music, and HiFi speakers were becoming all the rage. Heinz got to work dissecting the machine, discovering its strengths and flaws, and so began his lifelong love affair with sound.
After graduating from university, Heinz opened a shop selling the best loudspeakers and amplifiers of the day. He obsessed over comparing sounds from one speaker to the next. One of his goals became to find a speaker that tamed brilliant sound. He wanted each instrument to sound as clear as day.
One day in the early seventies, a customer walked into his shop with an ElectroStatic Sound (ESS) Model 7, which played music better than anything he’d heard to date. He deduced the trick was in the frequency dividing network. Inspired by ESS, Heinz traveled to San Mateo, California to meet and study under the German physicist named Oskar Heil, who invented the Air Motion Transformer (AMT). After improving Heil’s original AMT design—making it more compact and reliable — Heinz integrated the technology into his own speaker designs, thus enabling AMT to be used in professional audio products.
Heinz went on to found ADAM Audio, which he ran for two decades. When he left the company, at 68 years old, Heinz didn’t feel like his work was done. He still had ideas he wanted to explore in loudspeaker design. He wanted to design a speaker that could play both heavy bass and brilliant sound, he wanted to apply his AMT designs in a wearable headphone, and so much more. From his tireless passion, years of expertise, and never-ending mission for excellence, HEDD Audio was born.
Dr. Frederik Knop
While Klaus Heinz dedicates all his energy to creating new products, Dr. Frederik Knop has been taking over the role of CEO. He is responsible for all things HEDD Brand, Global Community, and Product Strategy. Holding a PhD in musicology and being an experienced Mastering Engineer, he brings a wide range of music and audio knowledge to the table.
Before becoming fully dedicated to his work at HEDD, Frederik was professionally immersed in the academic field of 20th century music, teaching a researching with a focus on classical and popular music composition and theory. He holds a Musicology Master’s degree from Technical University Berlin and a PhD from the University of Hamburg.
Deeply immersed in global music culture, Frederik has formed HEDD into a truly modern company that is always one step ahead with regards to the musical and technological Zeitgeist. His care and attention to detail enhance the engineering ambitions of his father.
With the decision to found HEDD in 2015, father and son have united their individual strengths. Together they have created a fascinating example for a modern family business in a competitive market.