When the sartorial Arturo Vicari was first invited to take over the helm of RCF from Dr. Morlini at the end of 1995, his mandate had been to groom the company for sale or flotation.

Achieving the former objective in near record time, RCF's MD can little have expected to re-enter Reggio Emilia in the role of redemeer eight years later - launching a rescue package bent on reviving the famous brand name and opening a new chapter in its history.

The circumstances are very different this time around. Mackie Designs Inc., who had purchased RCF SpA back in June 1998, and rebranded it Mackie Designs Italy, were eventually forced, under their new holding name of Loud Technologies Inc, to put the Italian operation up for sale last year, with the view of writing off $23m of bank-related debt.

Believing that he could save the beleaguered company, Arturo Vicari reacted immediately, forming an investment consortium, which included consultant (and new company president) Alfredo Macchiaverna, backed by Italian merchant bank, Banca Aletti - who also have a representative on the board.

As 50% shareholder, Mr. Vicari himself returns to the managing director's seat that he had reliquished at the time of the Mackie takeover.

During his time away from RCF the redoubtable marketeer has continued to nourish his long-standing innovation company AEB - founded 25 years ago to develop electronic products for the Pro and MI markets - and applied this creative resource to his other, MI-focused company, dB Technologies. Having completed a record year, he sees AEB providing the engine É the cocoon from which the RCF butterfly will once again emerge.

It is little surprise that many of his former key personnel (and all of the old distribution network) were quick to make contact once the rumours of his return hit the street. Among those waiting in the wings was Phil Price, his commandant in the UK, who had been at the hub of RCF's successful transformation from OEM supplier to full systems company in the mid-90's, and instrumental in the development of all the key ranges.

Thus at the start of 2004 the race was on to de-mothball some of those familiar 'white boxes', making them new millennium-ready. At the same time, RCF SpA announced their immediate service support for brands embedded in the fabric of pro audio contracting, such as Vision, Event, ART and Monitor.

Rendezvousing at one of the Anaheim Marriot's penthouse suites during NAMM, Arturo Vicari shared with mondo*dr some of his regrets, frustrations and the challenges faced today by RCF SpA during a candid interview that began with his arrival at the 50 year old company eight years ago.

At the end of 1995 Arturo took up an invitation by three directors to join the board - but the number of shareholders soon became seven. "When a ship is directed by seven people it doesn't move. This was the problem when I first went to RCF," he remembers. "One of the shareholders was an old friend and he told me, 'If we stay one more year like this we will die.'" But an agreement was struck whereby full power was ceded to the new MD, and the company quickly went into overdrive. "I discovered that RCF was turning over 20 million euro with a workforce of 280 people and had a difficult balance sheet. The company was just too insular, and needed to be marketed more aggressively."

Astonished by the number of professional audio companies to whom RCF were OEMing with their premium drivers, he wasted no time in blueprinting a programme based around powered enclosures and then decided to see how the market would react to a plastic enclosure.

Arturo Vicari had close-monitored the fortunes of JBL's Eon, which (literally) had broken the mould. "The point about Eon was that it had an aluminium frame; everyone was convinced that ours would need a rigid frame inside in order to have it sound right." But over a period of time the box was successfully voiced, the electronics crossed over, the issues of amplifer weight mitigated - without the need for aluminium.

A revolution had begun and by the time Mackie moved in for the company, sales had doubled to around 45 million euro. Arturo pondered on whether it would be in the company's best interests to seek a stock market listing or merge with an American company. But he sensed that his fellow directors were ready to bail out.

RCF was an attractive fit for the Whitinsville company - but whether in hindsight the sale was in the best interests of RCF Arturo Vicari pondered later in the interview.

What is certain is that he could scarcely wait to consummate his sentimental attachment with the company again in January this year. "The situation at Mackie Design Italy had taken it very close to insolvency," he declared, reflecting on the recent past. "We arrived just in time to stop the company going into bankruptcy. Had that happened it would have ceased trading for a couple of years and lost continuity.

"The most important thing for us was to save the jobs. At the time a lot of the workforce couldn't see a future and were striking, because they were walking into the factory and there was nothing for them to do. The situation degenerated dramatically in the last six months."

Unsure whether he would face a victorious prodigal ride back into town or be villified by a disillusioned workforce, Arturo Vicari had clearly under-estimated the esteem in which he was held. "No-one in Reggio wanted to accept that RCF had ever gone away - and when everyone knew I was back you cannot imagine the response," he declared.

"At the meeting with the unions it was like returning to my old home - people had not forgotten me and they had forgiven me." Having formed a company to buy the assets, Arturo weighed up the options that had been facing Mackie Design (Italy) SpA, who had incurred a level of debt which they couldn't mitigate. "Mackie could have declared Chapter 11 (bankruptcy), pay off 40% of the debt and 100% of the preferred creditors, or sell it.

"It's a very good acquisition for us," Arturo continued. "We wanted to start trading immediately and in order to do this we had to 'rent' the company, with an irreversible commitment, since the money was guaranteed."

On completion, the decision was made immediately to change the company name back to RCF, and a line drawn under the company's recent past of which Mr. Vicari is highly critical.

He explained, "Loud may have paid for (the RCF resource) but they didn't utilise it. It's a difficult concept for anyone to understand. "It takes 50 years to build a great brand but Mackie have not been able to capitalise on it."

The new consortium have pledged to invest heavily in the new operation. "By the end of this year there will be three companies, forming an important electro-acoustic group, which will eventually go public," he forecasts. "This will enable us to consolidate our business from commercial, to distribution to labour." Such lofty ambition will be music to the ears of the local workforce. His own imperative on taking over was clear. "The first move was to get some of our key people back; the second was to prepare the new line for Frankfurt."

They knew the market sectors they wanted to be in by the time they signed the new agreement on December 22. "We identified three lines of product in pro audio for installation and components. There will be a rebuilding of the ART Series and we will maintain that name because it's been the biggest success for RCF; we will also revive the old Event series with an amplifier - it's now an active pro box. There will be five pieces, containing a lot of innovation, and a passive line for installation.

"We also need to do a wireless conference system and AEB is a specialist in wireless technology. We should have a catalogue so rich that we will be a kind of magnet to established distributors."

However, he acknowledges the quantum changes in both technological and production advancement that have swept through the industry during his absence from RCF. "Five years ago we didn't have the competition of the Chinese but now we have to work in a different way. We have to market top products and world-beating components." The electronics are developed by AEB, in which Mr. Vicari's daughter, Chiara, plays a strategic role.

"Having AEB in the group is a bonus, providing all the creativity, while RCF will specialise in installation - but no product will cannibalise the other." All the production will take place in India.

A generation on, he knows that the technology has improved dramatically. "Everyone is using DSP now and we have used it in all our enclosures. We were purely into electro-acoustics before."

He also rationalises that in a world that is increasingly Chinese-dominated, there is a popular myth that price is king. "With everyone manufacturing in China it's against the essence of the business. But it's not true that the only products that sell well are cheap. We will continue to keep value in our products."

Helping him do this will be another of the former RCF technological brains, Alessandro Manini, who will be responsible for R&D. Aside from Chinese production, does he not perceive a growing threat from Japan's digital mission and a growing recognition of entertainment technology?

"Today, if we only talk only about electronics, the competition with the Far East is impossible to win - but if you talk about the sonorisation they are unable to copy (Western) sound. Because of this I believe we have one and a half years start; this is the advantage we have in the west."

Another recent change, he believes, has been the virtual death of the entrepreneur. "Six or seven years ago companies believed the best means of growth was to make money via the financial institutions, rather than entrepreneurially, so people started (moving into the business) from Arthur Andersen, Coopers & Lybrand and so on."

At 57 years old, Arturo Vicari could simply have taken the money and retired back in 1998. "In fact my wife said it's time to retire. All the other directors were happy to collect the money but for me the motive was different."

He is still affected by the belief that he sold RCF short, rather than leading them triumphantly to a stock market listing. "In fact I was ready to launch an IPO (Initial Public Offer) in the States, and the only reason we didn't do it was because the other shareholders were too nervous. It would have been the best option because you can't grow without finance.

"Yes, I was frustrated by the attitude of the former shareholders, but at the time I sold RCF I was convinced it was for the best." Arturo Vicari has mapped out a clear blueprint for the future. The present workforce of 110 will grow, he predicts, to 150 by the end of the year. "But we will also have a lot of external consultants - we need specialists in software and DSP, but we don't need that resource inside the company."

He believes it will take three years - during which time he forecasts a turnover hike from 50 million euro to 150 million euro - to bring the resuscitated RCF to the market. By this time he will have formed a third company, providing them with a three-way, electro-acoustic axis. "The goal of going public is to put RCF in a safe position. Will I retire then? Possibly, it might be time to do something else. But reaching our initial turnover target will be our first goal."

Not bad for a man who sold Fender guitars from 1966-1988, and whose family set up dB Technologies in 1974 "because I couldn't do any other job."