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Octave

A short history of the company:

Andreas Hofmann was born into a family of electronics technicians & grew up with “electric current in his blood”

1968	Mr Hofmann senior founds the transformer winding factory Hofmann.

1975	Andreas Hofmann develops the first amplifiers on semiconductor and tube basis.

1977	Andreas Hofmann discerns the tube as the more musical component and turns away from transistor amplifiers. He decides to develop further tube amplifier technology. His recipe: Tubes for sound relevant circuit parts, modern semiconductors for tube circuit periphery.

1986	First test of preamplifier HP 500 in Audio. The HP 500 becomes a success model.

1990	Stereo output stage RE 280. In combination with the HP 500, the Dream Team.

1992	Test HP 200 in Audio. The small preamp HP 200 beats all records and wins many awards. With the HP 200, the OCTAVE-specific tube technology becomes affordable.

1994	The further developed HP 500 MK2 gets a new partner: the mono output stages MRE 120. They both play on top level and get many awards (e.g. stereoplay Highlight).

1997	The integrated amplifier V 50, the "ugly duckling" with the wonderful sound causes a sensation. It is the parting of the ways: Sound and/or design? Nevertheless (or just because of that) the V 50 becomes a legend.

1998	Mr Hofmann fulfils his dream developing the first Jubilee preamp. The electronically and mechanically uncompromisingly perfect preamp is praised by the press as the “world’s best sounding preamp”.

2000	Andreas Hofmann takes over the Hofmann company under the name of OCTAVE Audio. Removal to the industrial area.

2001	The preamp HP 300 succeeds the HP 200. His characteristics: small, fast and powerful.

2002	The integrated amp V 40 succeeds the V 50. Its design and tonal characteristics get OCTAVE a new integrated amp boom.

2003

The Jubilee preamp is accompanied by the Jubilee mono ouput stages. A system of superlatives is born. The integrated amp V 70 fills the gap between V 40 and separated combinations. It is more powerful and has more options than the V 40. The special edition of the HP 500, the HP 500 SE limited edition, appears on the occasion of stereoplay’s 25th anniversary. It is so succussful that for every country a new limited series is reserved.

2004	Further development of the mono output stages MRE 120 results in the extremely stable mono output stages MRE 130. In combination with the HP 500 SE, the new and even better Dream Team.

2007	The integrated amp V 80 expands the integrated amp program towards the top. Equipped with all modern features, it is an allrounder, the state of the art solution in the integrated amp domain.

2009	The V 40 gets a worthy successor, the V 40 SE. By the sum of characteristics, it also sets the benchmark in its class.

2010	Continuous development is the self-set standard of Octave. In 2010 the amplifier V 70 SE and especially the Phono Module offer a completely new level of flexibility for the demanding music lover.

2011	There is only one stereo power amplifier in the Octave product range. And it is and will be something really special. We carry on this tradition with the refined RE 290.

2012	Again and again there have been calls for a little more power with the integrated amplifiers. The impressive response gave the strong V 110.

2013	With "small" preamplifiers Octave has repeatedly caused a stir (for example with the legendary HP 200). The HP 300 SE is an audiophile start into the world of the separate components.

2014	After the resounding success with the Phono Module the first modular preamplifier in Octave's history follows: the HP 700. With a total of ten options perfectly tailored to your system.

2015

It should be the classic fine-tuning of an SE development. But the result was an all-new amplifier. The flagship V 80 SE - first time with KT150 tubes, a new headphone amplifier and a sophisticated new generation of the driver stage.

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