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Almost six months after purchasing French audio manufacturer Jadis from Jean-Christophe Calmettes, Jérémie Malfroot, 48, announced a lifetime warranty for the company's output transformers and 10-year warranties on all other parts.

"I did it to differentiate ourselves, and to explain to the customer that at Jadis, we care for the next generation," Malfroot told Stereophile. "You don't need to buy a new amplifier; you can just send it back and we'll fix it. And then you can keep it almost forever."

Malfroot drew an analogy to English soccer. "We used to play in the Private League. But I want Jadis to play in the Champions League. We have to move forward, and we have to be even better than in the past."

This is a bold entry from someone with virtually no background in audio. Before he bought Jadis, Malfroot was "number three" in an Austrian company whose 1400 employees manufacture ropes for sailing and climbing.

"I was thinking about what I should do in the next chapter of my life," he explained. "Should I stay in the company until I retired, or should I take my destiny in my own hands?" After he decided to purchase a completely different company that manufactures a product that was either already exported or could be exported around the world, Malfroot received several proposals.

"Jadis was the best option," he said. "I didn't know the company, to be honest, and I didn't know the hi-fi business. I'm just a guy who loves music. That's good, because otherwise, I would not have invested one cent in this business. The first joke I heard when I took over the company was, 'You know how to be a millionaire in this business? You have to start as a billionaire.' I'm glad I came from a different perspective and that my mind wasn't polluted by prior experience."

To ensure that he had the capital to succeed, Malfroot implemented a lean management approach. "Lean management prevents all problems that may occur in the future, because we check every stage of production from beginning to end. When you pack the product, you have to pay attention and check if everything is correct. The reason I can now offer 10-year warranties is because checking everything limits risk."

Determined not to manufacture mass-market products, Malfroot removed one of Jadis' entry-level products that had DNA that did not fit that rest of the line. "My plan is to keep what makes Jadis very famous rather than institute massive changes," he affirmed. "I also want to keep the same price range rather than increase prices. But I want to make sure you get the best out of it.

"It's very important to make sure that Jadis can enter the new century with the right technology while retaining our core tube technology. I've invested a quarter million dollars in research and development. We plan some surprises over the next 18 months, including a streamer with vacuum tubes, an upgraded phono amplifier, and a headphone amplifier. It's an exciting time because it's a new chapter for Jadis."

When we spoke, Malfroot was in the process of developing a new website for the company. For now, "Don’t be surprised if sometimes, when you click on a link, you cannot download a manual," he said. "I'm working on it."