Company Timeline
Early 90s
Three guys start experimenting with using Teflon tubes from brake systems as dieletric for silver conductors – at the time all cables came with the polymer dielectric directly extruded onto the conductor. The air dielectric method reduced the interaction between the conductor and the dielectric significantly. The experiments lead to the first Argento cable that was simply called “Silver.”
Mid 90s
To make the cables accessible to a larger audience copper version of the silver cable was introduced. This cable was based on lacquered copper conductors but everything else remained the same.
Late 90s
Experiments with mechanical damping of the audio cables was conducted and the conclusion was that damping had a very significant effect on the sound quality and the result was the first Argento cable that was not an air dielectric cable. Instead the dielectric was a mixture of materials that was named VDM – short for Vibration Damping material. The conductors remained the same as in the “Silver” cable but sound quality went up significantly.
Early 2000s
The VDM Reference is introduced to and the Hong Kong audiophile circle takes a significant liking to the product.
2003
First version of the Serenity cables is introduced. In addition to the Serenity there is also a “Serenity reference” and a “Serenity Master Reference” (SMR). The SMR quickly becomes a popular product in Hong Kong and Singapore and the first US distributor is appointed.
2005
Ulrik Madsen becomes the sole owner of Argento Audio ApS and immediately commences the development of the first generation of Argento XLR and RCA connectors as well as the first cable to rank above the Master Reference – The Extreme Edition (EE).
2006
The first generation of EE cables are introduced. Argento cables are introduced in South Korea.
2007
The Flow and Flow Master Reference power cords are introduced and are an immediate success, which allows us to finish the development of the XLR and RCA connectors as well as the interconnectors and the speaker cables for the Flow and Flow master Reference lines. Argento cables are introduced in the Russian market through New Coliseum.
2008
The Flow interconnectors are introduced at a price less than half of the Serenity Master reference and provides comparable performance in some systems and even better performance in most. In a year that is synonymous with the great financial crisis, a cable with significantly improved price/performance ratio was exactly what the market needed, and Argento had a good year in 2009 despite the macro-economic backdrop.
2009
The first prototype of the Argento speaker binding post was completed, and the first CAD drawings of the Flow power distributor were also completed. Further we started the development of the copper cables that would later become the first cables from our sister company Organic Audio.
2010
Organic Audio is launched, and we sell approximately 1000 pieces within the first 18 months. Development of the first Argento DIN connector commences.
2011
Several iterations of DIN connector prototypes were made and evaluated but unfortunately, we must reject all of them for different reasons.
2012
The Flow power distributor is launched. Introducing a conceptual simplicity that means that the entire power distributor is made from only 5 components! Two insulators and 3 conductive components – one for ground, one for live and one for neutral. ZERO breaks in the conductive path and completely uniform distance from input to all outputs.
The FMR Phono cable is launched with the first and to this day only DIN connector with contacts made from pure silver.
2013
We start development of the next generation of the Extreme Edition cables.
2014
In the beginning of the year with start shipping the Organic Reference cables sold under the Organic Audio brand.
We move the company to our current location.
2015
The 2nd generation of the EE XLR and EE speaker cable is launched, and we start designing the connectors for the power EE power cables.
2016
All the development hours go to the EE power connectors.
2017
The Argento company building burns to the ground in January due to a malfunctioning air compressor and we basically lose everything.
During all of Q1 we are unable to manufacture anything. During April temporary buildings are established, and we slowly get manufacturing with a backlog that takes several months to complete.
During the downtime in Q1 we reach the final iteration of the EE power connectors and prototypes are manufactured later in the year.
Fortunately, the insurance company agrees to pay for the building and our stock in Q2 and we can start the design process with the extremely skilled help of DANØ Arkitektur (the Argento building is the third picture from the top)
2018
We launch the EE power cord and it is very well received. We get approval from the local authorities for the new company building and construction commences in late 2018.
2019
The new company building is finished, and we move in during August. A very frustrating period in the temporary building is finally over.
2020
The development of the EE power distributor commences building on the ideas of the original Flow power distributor from 2012. Further we start the development of the 2nd generation of the RCA connector.
2021
The first internal version of the 2nd generation RCA connector is finished and development of the 2nd generation XLR connector and the first Argento banana connector commences along with a new cable line that will later become the Flow Ultima. The first EE power distributor is delivered in Q4.
2022
The development of the EE wall socket is started based on the EE power distributor.
2023
The first EE wall socket is delivered and the first functional prototype of the 2nd generation XLR connectors and the new banana connector are made and tested with what will become the Flow Ultima cable.
2024
We are moving toward launching the new Flow Ultima line which constitutes the biggest change to the Argento products since the introduction of the first Flow cable 18 years ago. As usual when making many changes at the same time many small things go wrong, and we end up delaying the launch of the cable until 2025 to make sure everything works as planned.
2025
We deliver the first Flow Ultima cables to customers in Q2 and The Absolute Sound writes a stunning review of the cables. On top of the review the Flow Ultima is also given a “product of the year reward 2026” by TAS.