Company history

The beginning

On 4.07.1981 Leonhard Schwarte founds a hi-fi shop on Feidikstraße in Hamm, on the outskirts of the Ruhr area. Unconventional for those times and equally classical from the Latin: the name "Auditorium". The lecture hall. The audience.

So, from the very beginning, the Auditorium was not only about passionate music listening, but also about listening, with the aim of offering the customer the best possible solution. And there were already many solutions in the selected range from the very beginning. Then as now in the range: hi-fi highlights, for example the "most expensive radio in the world" McIntosh MR-80.

In transition

While Germany is beginning to grow together again and the first large electronics superstores are springing up, the Auditorium is bursting at the seams thanks to its now supra-regional clientele and moves into a larger building, also on Feidikstrasse. The goal is not space for masses, but the high-quality presentation of goods in listening studios on a total of 1,000 square metres of exhibition space. In addition, an area for car hi-fi installations is being built. At that time, the building also housed City-Music (Manteufel) as a music retailer and "Die Schallplatte" (The Record) with Steve, so to speak, everything the music heart desires united in one building.

Living hi-fi

Sound in every room? In the new Auditorium show flat, passion for image and sound becomes an exemplary way of life. A Russound multi-room system with Sonance speakers makes it possible, high-end sound is provided by a Burmester Rondo stereo system with Bowers & Wilkins speakers and even invisible soundboards are built into the walls of the library. Not enough yet? Of course, there is also a screen and several TV sets. The auditorium is clearly a pioneer in multi-room and custom installation.

The first Private Max cinema

Original text Auditorium 2006: "Audiophile HighEnd has always had its home at the Auditorium. All the high-flying electronics and super speakers of the international reference class have now been joined by another superlative in the form of the first PrivateMax cinema installed at a dealer."

"PrivateMax is, as the name suggests: your private maximum home cinema. It doesn't get more perfect than this. No more getting up, no more looking for a parking space, no more queuing at the box office and you decide who sits next to you - because you are in your own cinema!"

Hello Münster!

Just two years after taking over, Sebastian Schwarte opens another location in the heart of the Westphalian metropolis of Münster, where he presents the entire range of picture and sound topics, from mobile headphones and the latest TV sets to full-fledged high-end systems.

Meanwhile, a legendary David Knopfler concert will take place at the Auditorium Hamm. Original press release: "The David Knopfler concert at the Auditorium left over 200 happy listeners. Wonderful guitar playing, an impressive voice and a convincing performance thrilled the audience. An absolute highlight was that David performed a few DIRE STRAITS songs for the first time in years. So another concert gem in the rich Auditorium collection."

Auditorium online shop

The first version of the Auditorium online shop goes online and is ready to inspire customers across Germany for hifi and home cinema.

Hamburg becomes HighEnd

In December 2018, AUDITORIUM will open its new showroom in Hamburg's Speicherstadt warehouse district. In the freshly renovated and acoustically optimised Old Main Customs Office of the harbour, the specialists for image and sound will showcase high-quality hi-fi, high-end and TV solutions ranging from chic headphones to opulent horn loudspeakers on more than 250 sqm, and all for practically any budget. But the focus is not on technology, but on competent advice and individual solutions for the best possible experience of music and film.