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COMPAl\IY411
Classique Vintage CQJZ cable in the HiCon line
A Rare Look Inside This Leading lndustry Supplier
F
B!d Th o mas 5 .Friedman
ounded in 1999, Sommer Cable is an in-
cables, connectivity products and electronics;'
novative designer and manufacturer of
high-end audio, video and data cables,
says Blanck. He adds t hat the company began
A few examples of Sommer Cable innova-
reaching out to other markets as weil. "We also
tions in this area include the Hi-Fiber connector
t ransmit RS-232 control and infrared cont rol data
connectors, assemblies and electronics. Based
exhibited at Musikmesse and t he NAMM show
w ith four optical lines that can be serviced in the
over long distances, an affordable and potent ial-
in Germany's Black Forest region, the company
field, the Tricone XXL quarter-inch gold-tip solder
ly " life-saving" HDMI 2.0 4K measurement toolkit
recently opened its U.S. branch in Sa nta Rosa,
for the first time that year and sent out flyers to
more t han 20,000 recipients. At our beginning,
and gas-free crimp connector w ith an impressive
w ith a separate analyzer and generator in a rack
CA, headed by German/American citizen and
many people laughed at us, because the hype
230 Newtons of strain relief. That is also available
or battery powered mobile version and several
35-year industry veteran Martin Ucik.
in a DIYversion that does not require any tools to
powered mixers and control units with Ethernet
CEO/
at t he t ime was to move away from traditional
copper cables towards fiber and wireless. But we
assem ble or to repair on t he road. Also popular
remote access for fixed instailations.
co-founder Rainer Blanck to learn m ore about
stood our course, and nobody is laughing about
is Sommer Cable's cool-looking, super-flat 90-de-
"We are pro ud and honored that many na-
the history and future of Sommer Cable. Like
many in t he pro audio industry, Blanck began
us today;' he laughs. "Of course, we went on to
gree quarter-inch pancake connector wit h im-
t ional and international m usicians and bands
We
spoke
wit h
Sommer Cable
variations, we offer some unique p rod ucts:'
The Cardinal line also includes unique HDMI
extenders and dist ribution solutions that also
innovate and build fiber and data cables [Cat-
proved strain relief. The company now sells more
like Roger Hodgson (Supertramp), Mezzoforte
as a musician. "My passion since m y youth was
to front bands as a vocalist and guitarist;' he re-
5/6/7], as weil as matching connectors:'
Most employees who work at Sommer are
t han 150,000 units per year.
"On the cable side, we continued to innovate
and Magma record and tour with Sommer Ca-
cails. "After earn ing my business degree in 1986,
performing musicians, so it was only nat ural that
w ith such unique solutions as Cat-6 and 7 cables
Massenburg, Al Schmitt, Chuck Ainlay, Fran k
Filipetti, El liot Scheiner and Ed Cherney) are cur-
ble. Also, the engineers of Metalliance (George
1 joined the com pany of Fried helm Sommer, a
they designed innovative stage products like
w ith PUR j ackets, which are flexible and robust
German inventor and cello player who manu-
the award-winning Plug Mama stage box, ca-
enough t hat you can roll a heavy case (or even
rently evaluating both our Carbokab 225 high-
factured and sold his patented pneumat ic arm
structure (U.S. patent #4960040A) and other
ble reels with integrated stage b oxes and cable
a t ruck) over them w ithout causing damage;'
end st udio cables, which feature 65 st rands of
loom s. Working with German broadcast console
Blanck says. "For guitars with magnetic and piezo
highly compressed, ca rbon-treated copper per
prod ucts for industrial robots to car manufac-
conductor, with 100 percent copper-braided/
turers and t he space industry:'
aluminum fleece shielding, as weil as our Epi-
-
» The Beginnings
1n
1995, Blanck went to a Manfred M ann's
Earth Band concert with the company's IT mana keyb oa rd player and audio fanatic who de-
• '
signed cables for a German boutique manufacturer of hi-fi products. "He bragged that he
could design the best guitar cable on earth;'
-
Blanck reca il s,"and after several trials and errors,
we came up with t he now-legendary The Spirit,
which blew every cable 1 had ever used out of
the water. Today, it is t he celebrated guitar cable
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test torq ue, plug and bend ing cycles, w hich
often exceed industry standards by a factor of
ten. This is partly the result of the hig h quality
99.9999% N6 Oxygen-Free (OFC) Chilean cop-
•
~.„„.„„,
and speaker manufacturers, high-quality Som-
For product quality assurance, Sommer
Cable developed proprietary equipment to
er:
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logue Quad cables with a stunningly low 11.3
pf per foot capacitance:'
More than just cables: the new Cardinal DVMseries
includes a variety of rack mountable signal processors.
per which is employed in al 1 of Sommer's media
cable product s, as weil as t he high-quality machined metals used in all of its connectors.
Each of these innovations resulted from cus-
pickups, we created the Tricone Symasym cable
tomer feed back and frequent employee meet-
of choice for top players such as Steve Morse
mer Cables were soon exclusively used at me-
with a balanced and unbalanced line under one
ings where new ideas are d iscussed. "Sommer
(Deep Purple), Richard Z. Kruspe (Rammstei n),
ga-events such as soccer world championships,
jacket. The unique Tricone 241 P runs power, two
Cable is still smail enough to respond to cus-
Clem Clempson (Colosseum) and many others.
the Olympics and the Eurovision Song Contests.
MIDI, four send/return audio lines and CAT.Se to
tomer ideas q uickly, yet we are large enough
We knew we were on to somet hing and contin-
In fact, with one exception, all soccer stadiums
sophisticated guitar effects boards. The HiCon
to rea lize complex and costly developments;'
ued to design and improve microphone, speak-
for t he 2006 Soccer World Championship in Germany were wired w ith Sommer Cable.
WoodPlug Limited Edition features Black Forest
nut or pear-wood connectors t hat look, and if
Blanck explains.
er, multicore, video, data and hi-fi cables:'
you believe it, sound great on acoust ic guitars:'
At the t ime, Fried helm Sommer wanted to
diversify further. After he sold Sommer-automatic in 1999, he, Miguet and Blanck started
» Expanding Markets
Yet wit h t his acceptance, t he com pa ny did
» Future Directions
The latest addition to t he Sommer lineup is
And as for t he future of Sommer Cable,
the Cardinal family of stage and installation prod-
Blanck is definitely opt im ist ic. " We are always
good for some surprises. This includes unique
Sommer Cable in his 35,000 sq uare foot pro-
not rest on its lau reis. "Alt hough we were hap -
ucts. Of special interest to FRONT ofHOUSE read-
duction/warehouse/office building, which the
py w ith the Neutrik connectors we used at
t he ti me - and st ill use today - customers
ers may be the German-manufactured DVM 120
hybrid cables that combine aud io, power, video
active and passive rock solid "Heavy Metal" DI
and data in various combinations. Recently, we
asked us for m ore affordable and improved
boxes with Lundahl transformers, which provide
opened an office in the U.S to serve the Amer-
alternatives," says Bl anck. " So we began to de-
linear response from 5 Hz to 50 kHz. Also new
ican markets, headed by ou r longtime friend
sig n and manufacture ou r HiCon connector
is the DIT t ube direct box, which is designed to
and fellow spätzle eater Martin Ucik. As with all
our cables, free samples are available from o ur
company still occupies today.
» The Growth Phase
"In tried-and-tested Sommer fashion, we
created our first cable catalog in 2000, which
line, which now consist s of over 500 prod ucts.
combine the warm th and character of a vintage
has now grown into a 525-page, 4-pound mega
Besid es the standard XLR, q uarter-inch, RCA,
t ube device w ith t he low noise and performance
American office so you can see, feel, tort ure/
encyclopedic 'd oor-stopper' of over 12,000
BNC, multi-pin and HDM I connectors in many
of advanced modern audio technology.
abuse and listen for yourself:' FQ;H
48
AUGUST 20'15 • foh online .corn
A Conversation with Martin Ucik,
CED, !iommer Cable America
FOH: Can you tell us a little about your background?
Martin Ucik: 1grew up in Germany and am proud tobe a
U.S. citizen since 2011. In my early childhood, 1was fascinated with musical instruments and making sounds. 1 played
my first paid musical gig when 1was 14 and made $50. After
studying electrical engineering and playing keyboards in a
soul band in New Orleans for six months, 1made my passion
into my profession and opened a music store in my hometown near Stuttgart in 1980. The store quickly moved up
into the top 10 in Germany. We modified most of the gear
we sold and imported unique products from the U.S. like
the Forte MIDI Mod or Cakewalk Software.
In 1995, another dream came true when 1 moved to Northern California to serve as
President of Hohner Midia, a joint venture 1had formed with the legendary German accordion and harmonica maker. lt turned out not to be a good fit, so in good American entrepreneurial fashion, we moved our business into my garage and began selling Samplitude
and Sequoia software, as weil as SEK'D hardware. In 2000, we added distribution lines,
among them Sommer Cable, and 1became good friends with Rainer and Pascal.
After 9/11, 1franchised my business to the American Sanken and Brainstorm Electronics distributor, and we formed plus24, w here 1worked as general manager for 13 years.
In December 2014, 1took a break to w rite a book and wo rk as a consultant. Pascal from
Sommer Cable called me and asked if 1knew someone who could help them out with a
new strategy they had for the American markets. A few weeks later we met in Germany.
1could not resist their offer to do it again - to build a business from scratch, using the
industry experience 1had gathered in the past 35 years. We established Sommer Cab le
America, lnc. as a wholly owned subsidiary of the German mothership. What is especially
exciting to me is that 1can put my multicultural background into the service of our American customers.
With the new Sommer Cable America, what kind of changes can new and existing
customers expect?
We want them to know that we are here to stay. Our customers now have a reliable,
consistent and affordable source for all Sommer products, including all cables, HiCon
connectors, cable assemblies, Sysßoxx AN installation products and the Cardinal electronics line. They can buy factory-direct or through the di stribution and reseller network
that we are establishing. Sommer Cable America handles all technical questions (with a
little help from our German friends), customer quotes, sales, billing, marketing and customer service. Since we are a 100 percent subsidiary of Sommer Cable Germany, we keep
the middle-man out and have a very close ear t o the market.
Sommer Cable manufacturers thousands of products - will the entire line be available in the U.S.?
Yes. We accomplish this through a network of specialized stocking distributors and
dealers, our sample and parts warehouse in Santa Rosa, and three to five business days
factory-direct delivery to any American customer - at UPS ground rates.
Product specialist Peter Rieck (right) demonstrates the cable testing equipment to Martin Ucik and Rainer Blanck.
Sommer Cable also offers a variety of customization services. Will these be available via the U.S. office? How does the custom process work?
Customized products are available to American customers. We have a well-equipped
custom shop in Germany that 1recently visited, with a highly skilled, effective team. They
can produce custom solutions within a few days and thanks to our deal with UPS, they
ship to our American customers within three to five business days at ground rates. In
addition, we teamed up with U.S. companies like Pacific Radio Electronics in Burbank, CA
and compan ies in the Midwest and the East Coast who customize products with Sommer
Cable and HiCon products.
What's the industry response to Sommer Cable America so far?
Many U.S. companies, bands and engineers w ho have a presence in Europe (such as
Meyer Sound, PRG, SSL, Pacific Radio Electronics, George Massenburg, to name a few)
have heard about Sommer Cable and the uniqueness, high-quality and reliability of
our products. They can now source Sommer's audio, video and data connectivity solutions in the U.S. Sommer is "the new kid on the block" to American customers with a
more domestic focus, and they are
sometimes a bit overwhelmed by
our vast product line and solutions.
So we see some early adopters in
a bottom-up way and some large
customers w ho have a top-dow n
effect. We have the time, resources and experience to build our U.S.
presence by sending out full catalogs t o interested customers and to
follow up to learn about their needs
and provide them with the right
solutions.
fohonline.corn • 20'15 AUGUST
49