Ulmt van der Linden, owner of Helios and supplier of professional audio products, has passed away. Sadly, some very unfortunate news.
Last week, we received the sad news that Ulmt van der Linden had passed away. For us at Alpha-Audio, Ulmt – and with him his Dutch company Helios – was much more than a business partner. Besides having a keen eye for wonderful brands, many of which he imported and represented for decades, ‘just popping by to pick up a cable’ would often turn into a wonderfully animated afternoon filled with stories, listening to music and then even more stories.
Together with Ulmt, we also produced a number of the now legendary Alpha livestreams. Thanks in part to his technical advice on the setup and equipment, these livestreams sound as good as they do.
No-nonsense attitude
Ulmt joined Helios in 1978, a company that had already been founded in 1969. Incidentally, the company name Helios is not a reference to Greek mythology, but an acronym of the Dutch phrase ‘Herrie En Lawaai Is Ons Streven’ – roughly translated as ‘Noise And Racket Are What We Strive For’. That combination of humor, an ability not to take things too seriously and a no-nonsense attitude, coupled with tremendous expertise and knowledge of the market, makes Helios a unique company in the audio world. With its roots in professional audio, Helios also catered to hi-fi enthusiasts at home. To us, his store was like a candy shop, and one whose temptations we were rarely able to resist. Those who knew Ulmt will know exactly how such a conversation could unfold.
For us at Alpha-Audio, Ulmt was someone we always enjoyed meeting, chatting with and, above all, laughing and enjoying ourselves with. We will miss him enormously, and that loss will be felt even more deeply by his immediate family and his colleagues at Helios. We therefore wish them a great deal of strength in coping with this tremendous loss. Ulmt will live on in our memories and – this genuinely is how it feels to us – in the equipment we have in our studio and listening room thanks to him.