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Frauen & Vinyl MINT Magazin für Vinyl-Kultur Nr. 11 DANIELA MANGER

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38-41 Manger.indd 38 20.03.17 19:08 MINT APRIL 2017 “Many people cannot stand silence anymore.” DANIELA MANGER has been the director of Manger Audio for more than two decades. Half a century ago her father Josef Manger developed the Manger Sound Transducer – a new way of sound reproduction different from the techniques used by conventional loudspeakers: The company’s products simulate the functional principles of the human ear. A conversation with the chief executive of the Franconian manufactory about the intricacies of our hearing, the courage to think independently, and music that moves you to tears. Interview: Florian Schneider | Photos: Rainer Christian Kurzeder

Ms. Manger, what do you think when and fresh beans. The MP3 developers So what are the characteristics of your you see people in the bus listening to knew from the start that it would be sound transducer and how does it dif- music through headphones? impossible to restore all the time informa- fer from conventional loudspeakers? Daniela Manger: For me it is alarming to tion, which is an essential part of music, The simplest explanation would be that see that many people simply blank out with the required accuracy. Most teen- our sound transducer works like the the sounds of our environment which agers don’t know the limitations of the basilar membrane of the human ear. High provide important orientation. There MP3 format and they don’t care when frequencies are reproduced in the middle are few who care about the volume and listening to music. But when I listen to of its flexible membrane while low quality of what they hear. In the long run a well-recorded or classical concert frequencies are reproduced at the edge. listening to music through headphones at through an excellent reproduction chain, Moreover, at the beginning of his research high volumes leads to permanent hearing the differences are extreme. Pop, rock or my father discovered that loudspeakers damage. In addition we’re increasingly mainstream music has frequently been store a certain amount of energy and that relying on our sense of sight and visual produced so poorly that it makes no dif- during the reproduction process some of information. People forget that mankind ference if it is MP3-compressed after all. this energy is added to the music signals would not have survived if we had count- Which observations do you make, which actually have a very fine structure. ed solely on our sense of sight. We would however, when people listen to music The tone changes. In medicine it has have stayed a marginal note of evolution through your loudspeakers for the first been known for quite some time that the if nature had not provided us with such time? human ear is capable of a time-resolution an excellent sense of hearing. Nowadays Recently I had a great experience during of five microseconds. Thus it can discern we’re constantly surrounded by noise and a trade fair in Hamburg when I played a extremely fast events that correspond become accustomed to a steady stream of piece of music to a group of people who to a frequency of 100 kilohertz – which entertainment which results in the fact go to classical concerts frequently and is far beyond the human hearing range. that many people cannot stand silence therefore are used to the natural sounds This kind of changes is not perceived as anymore. This trend is alarming. of instruments. When I told them that sounds but rather as nuances within the You are talking about hearing damage our sound transducer reproduces natural time structure. due to increasing music consumption. sounds better than other loudspeakers, What does that mean regarding the On the other hand, is it possible to they were immediately thrilled. A woman reception of music? train your ear so that you will be able from the group was moved to tears by the Music is nothing more than the transmis- to hear better or more sharply? sound and I almost started to cry as well. sion of time structures. The noise that As far as hearing damage is concerned, it If someone has been interested in hi-fi for is generated when you blow a trumpet, is always irreparable. But you definitely a while, then he is familiar with a certain strike a key or plug a guitar string can improve your ability to discern the sound and tries to compare what he hears – every so-called transient in music is differences between an MP3 file, good to what he is used to. And as our sound being perceived. A loudspeaker which analog reproduction, CD quality, or transducer clearly differs from a con- is nothing more than a mass-spring- high-resolution sound files. The differences ventional loudspeaker, the first hearing system generates transients of its own. are as obvious as those between canned impression can sometimes be irritating. That’s why different loudspeakers sound

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so different. Our sound transducer, however, doesn’t have a characteristical loudspeaker sound. Would it be possible to apply this tech- nology to headphones? Basically, it’s possible and we already took it into consideration. But investment costs are so high that it doesn’t make sense to attempt it. The experiences we made during the development of our sound transducer influenced our decision as well. The development was expensive and laborious. My father has invested almost 20 years of research and develop- ment before the transducer could be built and was ready to go into serial production later on. Up to the 1990s we constantly improved it until we reached a status that allowed us to establish it without teething troubles in the market. In the longer term I plan to develop smaller sound transduc- er versions. Not for headphones but to be able to build smaller loudspeaker models. There are still ways for optimizing the sound transducer. “Pop, rock or mainstream music has frequently been Let’s talk about your company struc- ture. Are you employing more women produced so poorly that it makes no difference if it is or more men? MP3-compressed after all.” Our staff consists of only six people and the majority are women. That’s pretty unusual for a hi-fi com- throughout his life. As he never went to I’m standing right next to them. That’s a pany. college, he used a different approach and classic (laughs). Microphone manufacturers, which ask for dealt with problems very fundamentally. Although you could answer their ques- filigree mechanical skills, are employing Sometimes people are so narrow-minded tions at least as competent as he can. mostly women. Not so in the develop- or prejudiced, that they don’t scrutinize In many cases I can even do better. Not ment division, where I’m an exception. things anymore. Nowadays you rarely only because I studied electrical engineer- Have you always been interested in get taught how to use your brain and not ing, but because I was directly involved in technical topics? to take things for granted. Whereas my the development of the sound transducer In school I liked mathematics and physics father believed that you have to learn as well. As I’m following in my father’s a lot and I simply inherited certain talents with your heart. But you don’t figure it footsteps I can provide first-hand infor- as well. And as I watched my father devel- out until you have grown older and fallen mation. op his sound transducer, my affinity for flat on your face a few times. mechanics blossomed. Being the eldest Did it take long before you could of his three daughters I was supposed to emancipate yourself from your father’s Three Forevermore continue his company. Up to this point, legacy? however, I was completely free to pursue My father died last year at the age of 87, MICHAEL JACKSON Thriller my own interests. First I went to junior but he had already withdrawn from the “A record I loved to listen to high school and then to a technical company at 65. As a developer he had as a teenager.” secondary school where I obtained my di- always been very present in terms of ploma and subsequently studied electrical public image and the sound transducer is engineering. Acoustics has always been his life work, but the products of the last Liquid Spirit one of my favorite studies. After college I 20 years have been designed by me. Being “When I listen to this I always cheer up.” had the chance to work for a hearing aid a curious daughter I used to travel a lot manufacturer in Switzerland. But then I with my father. That’s why many people realized that I preferred to join our own regarded me mainly as “the daughter BRUNO-LEONARDO GELBER Beethoven Sonate Nr. 8 company. of Mr. Manger.” Over the years I could “The Pathétique sonata is Which must have pleased your parents. free myself from this notion and now one of the most beautiful Oh yes, they were very happy. Although people treat me the same way as they classical pieces. My favorite version by Bruno-Leonardo being born in 1929 my father was a treat a man. Now and then it happens Gelber has been recorded progressive person and didn’t cling to that customers, who don’t know me, ask in Notre Dame/Paris and conventions. And that’s how he raised a male member of the company when produced by Denon.” his children. He was a lateral thinker they have a technical question, although

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