Ivor Tiefenbrun

Ivor Sigmund Tiefenbrun MBE (born March 1946) is the Glasgow, Scotland-born founder and Chairman of Linn Products Ltd, UK-based manufacturers of audio equipment and home theatre equipment. Having almost single-handedly caused the renaissance of the British audio industry, he is a very influential figure in Scottish and hi-fi manufacturing, and was appointed MBE by HM Queen Elizabeth II in 1992.

Tiefenbrun was chosen to contest a seat in the Scottish parliamentary elections in 2001, but stepped down as candidate following comments he made.

Quotes

1994

• I foolishly assumed that if the thing measured better, it should sound better. I also assumed that if it didn't sound any better, there was no point in buying it.
  • "A Wee Dram of Scotch: Linn Products' Ivor Tiefenbrun", published in Stereophile, 25 October 1994.

1997

• On a favourite way to spend a day in Scotland: One of Scotland's great experiences is sailing into Tobermoray after a week long cruise down the western isles. It is a bit like sailing into Manhatten on the QEII and seeing all the skyscrapers but after Stornoway, Skalpy Harris and Barra, Tobermoray is more impressive.
  • cited by Luxury Scotland.

2002

• Drug abuse is a lottery. I have never taken drugs and it is only by the grace of God that I did not turn to them. Their prohibition gives them a taboo quality and makes them attractive. I am just so disappointed and deeply unimpressed by this government. They are driven by pragmatism rather than taking a stand on the issue, having the confidence to do what needs to be done. They must be legalised. I believe that passionately.
  • Cited from The Scotsman, 31 March 2002.

2003

• Business 101: Other people heard it and said if you make them, we'll sell them... I made them, they sold them, but they never paid me - which was my first lesson in business.

• On the Scottish Parliament: A total catastrophe. Scotland has now become a kind of communistic backwater. They have unwound hundreds of years of progress in a few years, and we are heading for oblivion as a country.

• On the EU: An act of collective insanity. We don't belong in Europe and the French and the Germans occasionally reveal their hatred of Anglo-Saxon Protestantism. They hate Britain and America.

• On the euro: They are rebuilding the Soviet Union. Even though we in the UK are now developing the bureaucracy, the black economy and the corruption essential for participation in the new European superstate, I don't think it is something the British people will want or welcome.

• On the taxman and other regulators: We are now suffering from four simultaneous investigations by separate tax and regulation authorities. We are constantly harassed and abused by these people. Usually they end up owing us money. I can't find anybody who runs a foreign-owned subsidiary who has anything like the aggro we have.

• On New Labour: The worst government we've had to date, with a total lack of understanding of every area of expertise we have in this country, of the unique skills that should be nurtured and protected. They don't give a stuff about manufacturing because they believe it is redundant in the new world of services. I'd like them to commit mass suicide.

• On competitivity and delocalisation of manufacturing: No, we are Scots people up here. We are not going to be driven out of our own country. The notion that if you become more prosperous and your people command a higher salary it makes you less competitive is one I find deeply offensive,'.

• On opportunities: People equate survival in Britain with success. If you are still around you must be doing OK. Nobody sees the lost opportunities. We are the world leaders in creating lost opportunities.

• On people: Not every young man was designed by Mother Nature to sit behind a desk working for the tax people or one of these other bull***t organisations... Some of us were designed to go out and fight people, capture animals, to have an outlet for these energies.
  • All the above quotes are cited to The Engineer, 7 February 2003.

• Because I was involved in controversy, people saw me as controversial. Because the industry is about personalities, people thought Linn was about personalities.
  • Interview with David Lander. Stereophile, 30 November 2003.
• I set out by challenging conventional wisdom. They said the turntable didn't matter; I said it was critical. They said the speaker was the most important thing; I said it was the last thing to worry about. So I started off in conflict in an industry where few people understood the mechanical things and the recording aspects of the business.
  • Interview with David Lander. Stereophile, 30 November 2003.

2006

• People don’t automatically appreciate the difference between listening and hearing any more than they do the difference between looking and seeing.
  • Interview in Audio Perfectionist Journal.

2010

• The way Labour work is that they have demonised Thatcher as if she was an evil force... It's only because Scots are so thick that this was swallowed.
  • quoted in The Scotsman.

2012

• I don’t need to know most of what’s fed to us by newspapers and the TV. It’s largely useless information and daily moaning. There are only a few things in business that I really want to know about. Tell me about manufacturing productivity, employment, the balance of payments and borrowing levels. With these things you can decide on how to run a business, a constituency or even a country.
  • INTERVIEW: Ivor Tiefenbrun – Of High Fidelity & Integrity, HNW Magazine, 2 December 2012.