Tracking Angle Visits CH Precision in Préverenges, Switzerland

tour includes visit to "board stuffing" factory, and metal fabrication and anodizing facility

Following High End Munich, I took a train ride to Zurich, Switzerland with members of the CH team: CEO and founder Florian Cossy, publicist Louise Ford, Head of International Sales, Kevin Wolff, and software developer Eduard Kohler.

Then, in a whirlwind visit to the heart of Swiss watch making territory, I toured CH Precision in Préverenges as well as Telsa, the company that does CH's "board stuffing". Also in this video you'll see the machine shop that produces CH's chassis and the CH-owned anodizing facility.

Florian Cossy started CH a decade ago and in that time the company's growth and its product range has increased almost exponentially. The reason for this trip was the introduction of the new CH Precision P10 phono preamplifier, which the company rolled out at Munich High End last month. A review sample will soon arrive. Please watch the video and see how CH rolls. You're sure to be impressed. I was. Also, there are plenty of laughs along the way, I promise.

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Comments

2023-06-06 09:46:03 PM

Zaphod wrote:

Love seeing the “how its made” videos. Thanks!
2023-06-07 05:48:08 PM

GP wrote:

Interesting video. But such (certainly first-class) products raise the question of how the future of the hi-fi industry looks: If the devices become more and more expensive, there are fewer and fewer buyers - so the smaller quantities become even more expensive. Today one produces perhaps a few thousand, then a few hundred and finally only one unit, which generates the entire annual turnover through its sale to a billionaire in the Far East? Oh dear, if this old man then passes away... A vicious circle - which unquestionably does not increase the popularity of HiFi systems. I know some former HiFi fans who have left the hobby because of the ruinous price development. The fact that HiFi is disappearing into a niche isn't just due to streaming and smartphones!
- 2023-06-08 04:43:22 PM
  
  Michael Fremer wrote:
  
  You are making an unrecognizable point. There are more cost effective, high performance audio products than ever before. And there are expensive ones. What "old man"? Florian Cossy is not an "old man" and he heads a company with dozens of employees including the circuit designers in this video. Your friends who left audio, give a lame excuse. There is more affordable audio now than ever before. And a great deal at the top of the market. So what?
  - 2023-06-10 09:52:09 PM
    
    JACK L wrote:
    
    Hi
    
    " Your friends who left audio, give a lame excuse. There is more affordable audio now than ever before." qtd M.F.
    
    Agreed ! If one is a music lover, hi/low end audio is not a the-end-of-the world issue !
    
    When Beethoven composed his Choral Symphony, he was complete deaf ! He did not even know its premiere performance finished while he was still waving his baton as its conductor on the podium. So.....
    
    Like my elder son, a graduate of classic piano in theory & practice from our city's Royal Conservatory of Music (found 1886) with honour, enjoys his music from his laptop minispeakers & iPhone earbuds on-the-go. He is still a perfect pitch. Yet he never owns any HIFi at all.
    
    Me too, I am so content with my vinyl (& digital) music playing from my humble no-name home audio since I switched to vinyl as my main music media from digital 6 year back from scrape. I don't worry if the music sky falls down on me one day, literally !
    
    JACK L
  - 2023-06-13 05:19:47 PM
    
    GP wrote:
    
    Since I've been involved with HiFi for several decades as well, I (like many others) can't help but notice that there have never been so many almost - excuse me - obscenely expensive products in this industry as there are today. Yes, in the entry-level segment we now have more products with a good price-performance ratio. But the mid-range is drifting further and further up the price scale. This is a trend not only in the HiFi sector, but one must still not like it. With "old man" I didn't mean the manufacturers, but the customers. Surely you have noticed the average age of the visitors at high-end shows...
    - 2023-07-02 03:12:19 PM
      
      Michael Fremer wrote:
      
      In some ways the hi-fi sector resembles the societal shift away from the once vital middle class to there being a lot of extremely rich people and a preponderance of poor and marginally middle class people struggling to stay there. The audio industry is a reflection of that. Why this has happened began in my opinion with "trickle down" economics, which was designed to produce what we now have, though it was sold as something else.
2023-06-08 09:26:27 AM

Georges wrote:

As long as these manufacturers bring something more to some distinguished ears, and repair of their products is possible even after their demise, they can perhaps survive. Or the buyer throws it away and buys something else, because the stereo is not an investment, unlike watches. Unfortunately, no law anywhere obliges them to provide the schematics of their stuff in the name of industrial property, and some component references can be scraped and therefore anonymized without objection from any consumer association or government. We can still repair old Swiss Physics, even if completely outdated. For record players, there will be the problem of motors, which happened to Goldmund (Studio 1 & 2, Reference -old model) and Selac (PL 300, 600 & 700) with the Pabst brand for direct drives. The German manufacturer stopped manufacturing and supplying spare parts without notice overnight (like Jelco for that matter). Oracle also used Pabst but for belt. For CD players, it's even simpler: the mechanics of many are already no longer available, sometimes only in Chinese copies (Philips) therefore without guarantee. Some amplifiers can no longer be repaired, power transistors no longer exist (case of Fisher or Sonographe who have followed the same path). Switzerland has almost specialized in this kind of delirious offers from a few craftsmen. The names DarTZeel and FM ACOUSTICS (whose RESOLUTION SERIES 223 PHONOMASTER (ouch) has a crackle suppressor (actually 2 switches for click, pop, scratch & crackle, don't ask me why, but proprietary circuit) come to mind. With Nagra, these firms take advantage of a so-called professional label to equip the studios, which no longer means much today.
- 2023-06-08 04:40:32 PM
  
  Michael Fremer wrote:
  
  My car is no longer manufactured. So what? I can still get parts. Inexpensive products face the same problems. I'm not sure what your point is here, other than that hifi manufacturing is no different from other products.
  - 2023-06-08 08:16:14 PM
    
    Georges wrote:
    
    The analogy with the car is good, but beware, the duration of availability of parts decreases from year to year, especially for combustion engines that the West wants to ban. Now the stereo is perceived as useless for most, especially young people, the car not. But will become a luxury that will start with a Tesla? In my city and suburbs, at the beginning of the golden age of music, 7 hifi dealers. Now only 2 and one of them mostly sells TVs. And many European manufacturers have gone out of business in recent years. Not to mention the magazines.
    - 2023-06-10 10:29:49 PM
      
      JACK L wrote:
      
      Hi
      
      "The analogy with the car is good, but beware, the duration of availability of parts decreases from year to year, especially for combustion engines.." qtd Georges.
      
      Really ? So I had to be a lucky duck.
      
      My last Subaru Forester AWD SUV was replaced with the same newer model 7 years ago, after serving me day in day out for 17 years unchange. Totally 24 years now & still counting - same model still fixable. Nooo sweat !
      
      JACK L
      - 2023-06-13 11:15:29 PM
        
        Michael Fremer wrote:
        
        Many Saab owners migrated to Subaru after Saab went out of business. But I'm suspicious of any car that backwards spells U R A BUS. I am not!
        
        2023-06-14 04:26:45 PM
        
        Georges wrote:
        
        I have a Renault Laguna with all options from 26 years ago but some parts now come from Turkey. Where are some still used perhaps? Subaru is very good despite the name but more expensive. We still wonder how Saab could have gone bankrupt.
        
        2023-06-14 06:51:17 PM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hi
        
        " Subaru is very good despite the name but more expensive." qtd Georges
        
        I only paid my Subaru SUV $22,400 7 years ago brandnew, made & imported direct from Japan, before deducting trading in my 17 year-young same model. I think it was a fair deal considering it got jolly good sound system with 2XUSB & tonal graphic equalizer, hands-free phone call, double airbags at both side doors, carkey built in with car locator, ....
        
        JACK L
        
        2023-06-15 09:58:50 AM
        
        Georges wrote:
        
        Paid mine (second hand) 400$. My girlfriend uses an old Citroen that belonged to my son.
        
        2023-06-15 07:07:10 PM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hi "Paid mine (second hand) 400$." qtd Georges
        
        But how much you paid for servicing it ? My SUV never needs any service after I own it for 7 years now, except for routine maintenance, e.g. oil change once a year & rear brake pads replacement (only 2 months ago.)
        
        No free lunch out there. Used cars repair can be pretty expensive unless you can service it yourself.
        
        JACK L
        
        2023-06-14 06:53:26 PM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hahaaa. You like yr humour !!
        
        JACK L
- 2023-06-11 12:12:40 AM
  
  JACK L wrote:
  
  Hi
  
  "Some amplifiers can no longer be repaired, power transistors no longer exist .." qtd Georges.
  
  Yes, but only for transistor amps. Not for tube amps yet.
  
  You may be surprised some vintage tubes can sorta kinda last 'for ever'. Take the example of my design/built tube class A SET power amp where I chose using some old power tubes first invented 1948.
  
  I collected quite a few of those old-bone-suckers which I fully pair-matched as standby replacement. That said, the old tubes inside the power amp still work flying colours since day one of its inception 6-7 years back. Not even one yet needs to be replaced. Crytaline transparence & super fast transient consistently till today.
  
  Likewise for my vintage Thorens TD-125II (1970s) which slept in my basement for some 25 years until I put it back to work day in day out after I switched back to vinyl from digital some 6-7 years back. Believe it or not, the original old motor driving belt still works fine as of today !
  
  Take it easy. The audio sky wouldn't be falling down yet !
  
  JACK L
  - 2023-06-14 04:35:09 PM
    
    Georges wrote:
    
    Alas, after a quick flirtation with Cochet and Jadis, I regret to inform you that I am completely transistorized. Micromega and Cairn for power amplifiers. For vinyl, I'm all vintage probably like you but I have an old Goldmund studio with Magnepan tonearm (which I'm sure I'm going to sell) plus other old stuff: Thorens 184 & 145 and an amazing low end Denon that I'm in the process of restoring. Which takes us away from CH precision but not that much.
    - 2023-06-14 07:06:01 PM
      
      JACK L wrote:
      
      Hi Georges
      
      No "regret" at all.
      
      "One man's meat is another man's poison" (a 1576 English proverb).
      
      Likewise, I don't go for coffee though nearly every human being on this planet drinks coffee. Simply I dislike its somewhat bitter taste of burnt coffee bean.
      
      Sonic is soo personally subjective like food & drinks.
      
      JACK L
      - 2023-06-15 09:55:13 AM
        
        Georges wrote:
        
        I totally agree with you, as always. The tubes have certain qualities not found in solid state (the 300B & 845 come immediately to mind). But from the recording to our ears, it is only a series of distortions made more or less pleasant. With the comfort zone at the volume level, different for each passage of the same disc (this is where we appreciate the remote control so much). Many amateurs have been tempted by DIY boxes, for example, using speakers not found in commercial productions (with the help of the computer for this famous filtering).
        
        2023-06-15 08:24:20 PM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hi
        
        "Many amateurs have been tempted by DIY boxes,.." qtd Georges.
        
        Being an audio handyman, I've design/built/upgraded audios for decades now, e.g. tube only phono-preamps & power amps etc etc,, thanks for my electrical engineering career engagement in the relevant industries.
        
        That said, the last thing I want to build is loudspeaker systems which involved substantial acoustical knowledge & instrumentation/tools to build them right sonically.
        
        I only upgraded them instead. Take the example of my vintage KEF 2-way bookshelvers, (circa 1970s), I replaced the factory T27 dome tweeter which rang like hell to my ears, with smoothing sounding Danish soft-fabric dome tweeters, upgraded its cheapie tiny factory x-over network to bi-wiring & replaced it with large fiberglass circuit board with thick copper tracings specially etched for passing loudspeaker large signal currents. & replaced all cheapie tiny electrolytic capacitors there with new bulky high-power polypropylene capacitors, & last but not the least, replaced the skinny internal wires with AWG#10 oxygen-free pure copper thick cables, etc etc.
        
        FYI, X-over-network is a key factor of good sounding loudspeakers. The question is: how do we consumers know how good is the x-over network design/built inside your loudspeaker system, price irrespective ????
        
        As expected, the passive-biwired KEF sounds soooo much better like reborn !! I am so gratified.
        
        JACK L
2023-06-08 08:27:43 PM

Darryl Lindberg wrote:

It seems to me that some of these comments relate more to whether this hobby is about equipment (the means of reproduction) or its function (the reproduction of--hopefully--music). If folks are really leaving the hobby because some equipment is very expensive, as it undoubtedly is, then I must ask if these folks are more interested in the gear, rather than its intended use: reproducing music. As highlighted in these pages and others, there's plenty of very reasonably priced, highly competent equipment available if the goal is satisfying, if not necessarily state-of-the-art, music reproduction. And, as far as I can tell, music of all kinds is more widely available and likely more reasonably priced than ever, whatever the format (I confess that I'm a vinyl snarfler).
- 2023-06-08 11:31:36 PM
  
  bwb wrote:
  
  "And, as far as I can tell, music of all kinds is more widely available and likely more reasonably priced than ever, whatever the format" Are you kidding? How can you say "likely more reasonably priced" when you can have unlimited access to around 100,000,000 songs for about $10 a month from a variety of services. It is not likely, it is a given. We are in the golden age of access to music.
  - 2023-06-08 11:50:30 PM
    
    Darryl Lindberg wrote:
    
    If you're talking about streaming, which I assume you are, you're spot on. But the point I was making is that music in other, non-streaming formats (e.g., vinyl) are also part of this "golden age of access to music," as you so aptly put it.
    - 2023-06-09 02:09:54 PM
      
      bwb wrote:
      
      agreed, certainly the golden age of vinyl reissues. My retirement fund is suffering because of it :)
      - 2023-06-09 07:55:57 PM
        
        Michael Fremer wrote:
        
        At "Making Vinyl" in Minneapolis the other day attended by 500 people from around the world involved in manufacturing records, an exec of a major label said 52 million records would be sold in America in 2023. That's amazing.
        
        2023-06-09 09:01:33 PM
        
        Darryl Lindberg wrote:
        
        Egad! Thankfully, all those rumors of vinyl's demise were exaggerations--or hallucinations.
        
        2023-06-09 11:29:40 PM
        
        Zaphod wrote:
        
        The rumours of the demise of Hi-Fi are also exaggerated.
        
        2023-06-10 06:38:33 PM
        
        Anton wrote:
        
        We will know that vinyl has returned to the scene when we stop hearing about how vinyl is returning to the scene.
      - 2023-06-11 12:50:55 AM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hi
        
        "certainly the golden age of vinyl reissues.." qtd bruce boslter.
        
        I won't hold my breath for "vinyl reissues" yet let alone their high pricing.
        
        My question: are such 'reissues' sound as musically good or even better than their vintage pure analogue originals given digital process is always involved in the 'reissues', IMO ?????
        
        I don't know until I got the chance to audition them . I am not so positive at all.
        
        My concern evolved from my collection of over 30 LPs digitally mastered of quite many well-known labels. Honestly, I am yet to be impressed MUSICALLY when compared them with my old old LPs.
        
        Yes, digitally mastered LPs sound brilliant, colourful & quiet. But mine all sound like playing through a window frame - lack of openness, emotion & engagement like my old old pure analogue LPs. I know some much musicality is missing from all those my digitally mastered LPs.
        
        JACK L
        
        2023-06-11 02:30:11 AM
        
        bwb wrote:
        
        High prices? Yes, there are any number of $100+ reissues, but thousands more in the < $25-40 range. In the 1960's a record cost $3-4. That is about $30-40 in today's dollars so the prices today for most reissues is not all that much. . Your old, old lps in good condition demand at least that much if not significantly more... so I'm sticking with my initial assessment
        
        2023-06-11 08:59:06 PM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hi
        
        "High prices? Yes, there are any number of $100+ reissues, but thousands more in the < $25-40 range. .." qtd b. bosler
        
        Yes, those (digital) reissues are expensive even if they would sound as good as, if not better than, their old analogue originals.
        
        FYI, my small LP collection (only 1,000+, 95% classical music), 99.5% were pre-owned, I picked from neighborhood thrift stores starting only 6-7 years back when I switched back to vinyl as my prime music source from digital. back then.
        
        Thank goodness, they all sound like brand name without crackles after my proper pre-play treatment. They all cost me only a buck a piece !!!
        
        Even the 30+ digitally mastered LPs, all of famous labels as mentioned in my above post, only cost a buck a piece as well.
        
        So do I want to pay min 25 buck a piece for those digital reissues ? Nope. You can say I am a cheapskate again.
        
        Be vinyl smart.
        
        JACK L
        
        2023-06-11 10:11:43 PM
        
        bwb wrote:
        
        "Yes, those (digital) reissues are expensive even if " ..... many are not digital, most I buy are not. .,,,, I envy you if you found 1,000 pristine records in a thrift store for $1 each., but you must admit that is highly unusual and not a reliable source for anyone. Maybe just bad luck on my part but I have never found a single pristine record in a thrift store at any price, and I have looked a lot. Glad you have been so fortunate.
        
        2023-06-12 03:21:18 AM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hi
        
        "Glad you have been so fortunate." qtd b bosler
        
        Thanks for your kind compliment. You can be as "fortunate" like me. Just spare some time in those thrift stores to pick up some decent LPs for a buck for so.
        
        My most favourite thrift store is the Value Village store, only 20 minutes driving from my home. I picked up all my 30+ digital mastered LPs in pretty mint condition from that store for only a buck a piece.
        
        In fact, one of my best reference LP was also picked from there: "The Love Album" (1986 RCA Records) arieas sung by Mario Lanza, my most loved operatic tenor, the best tenor over & above all world famous tenors up todate, IMO.
        
        "O Sole Mio", a sound track inside that LP was the very best love song that impressed me utmost musically & sonically. His voice was so emotional, magical & forceful. This priceless timeless music masterpiece sung by the Italian American opera mastro worths a million. I own it only for a buck.
        
        Go there & you could be as 'fortunate" as me. Who knows ?
        
        JACK L
        
        One of
2023-06-21 03:29:22 PM

airdronian wrote:

Finally sat down to watch the entire tour, and what an operation CH Precision is. The understated looks of the gear belies the technology, design, and build quality of this equipment.

No doubt it is expensive gear, but after viewing this it's plain to see where the money goes. For the "rest of us" who won't be buying this gear new, there's always the used market in five years time.
2023-07-02 03:34:57 PM

Michael Fremer wrote:

Re: the conversation around repairability of older gear. I bought a Bosch washing machine more than a decade ago ago. I paid a premium because of its performance and because of its durability and reliability. And, in fact it's been trouble free all this time...though it recently seems to have lost some of its "spin power" and was leaving heavier loads soaked. Two weeks ago it was having trouble spinning at all. I figured it would be best to replace the belt. I was sure I could do it myself but figured my time was worth more so I called the local authorized Bosch repair center and never heard back. I did read on the site that the visit would cost $150 and parts and labor would be extra so this was looking like a $300+ repair bill for a very old machine. So I decided to buy the belt and replace it myself. On the Bosch website I found out they no longer manufacture the belt because the machine is so old! So they charge you more to buy a durable machine and then stop making the most critical part! Fortunately I found a new one on Ebay for $26 and in 1/2 hour returned the machine to like new performance. The audio world is not unique in any of this though, companies like Toshiba often stop making great transistors. I was talking to Peter Madnick about this just the other day and he told me that when Toshiba announced they were going to stop manufacturing a superb sounding and measuring J-FET transistor, Ayre and Constellation bought just about the entire remaining stock (a very large number) so they could both service what's already in the field and manufacture new designs using what they'd bought.....