What Hi-Fi?’s Outstanding Contribution Award is given to an individual who has made an indelible mark on the hi-fi industry. Heinz Lichtenegger has certainly done that. If the name isn’t familiar, the products and companies he represents certainly are.
At just 19 years old, while still studying Economics in Vienna, he started Audio Tuning Heinz Lichtenegger out of a converted student flat. Within a few years, he was considered one of Austria’s top ten hi-fi retailers and soon after set about building a distribution empire. It started with companies such as Triangle and Musical Fidelity, and grew to 50 or more brands, including the likes of Cambridge Audio and Boston Acoustics.
Lichtenegger didn’t stop there. He founded Pro-Ject Audio Systems in 1991, around the time when most of the hi-fi industry had decided that record players were doomed and Compact Disc was the way forward.
It was never part of the plan to be a turntable manufacturer, though. That move was borne out of necessity. The industry had moved towards CD, but there was still demand for well-engineered, sensibly priced turntables among his customers. Few remained available on the market, so Lichtenegger decided to make his own. The rest is history.
Over time, Pro-Ject’s product range has expanded in all directions, and now it makes every part of the audio chain, from record and CD players to amplifiers and speakers. And let’s not forget the multitude of accessories.
In 1993, Heinz Lichtenegger started Audio Tuning Vertriebs GmbH, Pro-Ject’s parent company. It distributes products to more than 80 countries, working with international brands as varied as Audio Research, Sonus faber, Rotel, Ortofon and Astell & Kern. In large parts of Europe and the world, Heinz Lichtenegger is the person ultimately responsible for getting the products from those companies onto the shelves of hi-fi dealers.
Audio Tuning Vertriebs GmbH also owns a number of stalwart hi-fi brands, the most famous of which are Pro-Ject and Musical Fidelity. Newer, less storied companies such as Rekkord Audio, Tone Factory and Mo Sound are also part of the roster.
Talk to Heinz, even briefly, and his love for hi-fi (and music) shines through. The decisions to remake a classic amplifier like the Musical Fidelity A1, or even the BBC-inspired LS3/5A are left-field at best. Such niche products are unlikely to nudge the bottom line to any notable degree, yet they are made because of his emotional ties to those designs. It can not be denied that Heinz Lichtenegger is a canny businessman, but equally, in our experience, he is very much a Hi-Fi Guy.
Given his impact on the specialist audio industry across the world, there are few more deserving winners of this Outstanding Contribution Award. Heinz Lichtenegger has been a major driving force in the vinyl revival we are currently enjoying, and the industry as a whole has benefited enormously from his bravery in business and nose for a great opportunity.
MORE:
See all the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2026 winners
Behind the scenes at the Pro-Ject Audio turntable factory
Read our Pro-Ject Primary E review
