In a lengthy Zoom interview in Portuguese, to honour his adopted homeland (with English captions), Ricardo Franassovici discusses with JVH the significance of music for health in general. However, there’s a caveat: only expensive high-end audio can truly heal your mind and body.
He also debated how streaming has changed audio forever, even though it can be somewhat irritating at times.
En passant, he states that the war between analogue and digital is over. Is it?
Some people sell high-end audio equipment. And then there is Ricardo Franassovici, who sells convictions.
Talking with Ricardo is more than just discussing with the CEO of Absolute Sounds of London. He is like a Michelin chef. Who tastes first, then judges, and decides whether something deserves a place at the table in the company he founded 50 years ago, later becoming the best-known high-end distributor worldwide.
Ricardo does not follow trends. He follows the truth of (live) music.
His background in the music industry—before hi-fi became a battleground—gives him the spark that many lack in this minefield: the living memory of musicians performing live in real venues. This reference has never left him. And perhaps that is why, when he enters a room, he does not care for the power of the amplifiers or the chips in the DACs on demo. The question he asks himself is much more ‘teasing’:
“Does it sound like live music, or not?”
Over the years, Ricardo has shaped not only a portfolio of exceptional brands but also a philosophy. The TEN collection, for example, is not just a catalogue—it is a statement of principles. The principles that excellence is rare; that all compromises are audible; and that time always reveals the true nature of what was merely fashionable.
Friends and competitors know him as disarmingly open-minded. Sometimes even too daring, yet always passionate and loyal to his principles (and friends).
Behind the intensity of his feelings lies something very straightforward: the rejection of mediocrity.
In an industry overly obsessed with technology, Ricardo relies on live music as his anchor. Everything else is secondary.
An interview with Ricardo Franassovici
(In Portuguese with English captions)