Le Son
An Analog Path to Musical Connection
Le Son began with a simple conviction: analog playback can bring music closer to presence, memory and emotion.
Founded in Shanghai by Gregory de Richemont, Le Son brings together French sensibility, careful analog craft and a lifelong search for musical truth.
“Le Son” means “The Sound”. For us, it also means the moment when playback becomes presence, and a record opens into something deeply human.
The Vinyl Awakening
Gregory’s journey began with a turntable and a record: a Thorens TD150 MKII, gifted by his parents, and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon.
That first encounter with analog sound began a lifelong fascination with hi-fi and its ability to recreate presence. The experience felt intimate, alive and deeply moving.
It became the beginning of a personal path: to help others find that same sense of connection through records, systems and careful listening.
From Business to Analog Craft
Years spent working internationally gave Gregory a broad view of business and culture, but his deeper attachment to music remained constant.
Over time, analog sound became more than a private passion. He chose to leave the corporate world and build a listening space in Shanghai dedicated to vintage audio, turntable setup, restoration work and sonic exploration.
The purpose was never only equipment. It was the experience that equipment can serve: a more direct, personal and emotionally convincing connection with music.
A Meeting with Dr. Ted Tsai
At an international audio show, Gregory met Dr. Ted Tsai, an audio engineer whose decades of high-end design experience were matched by a deep sensitivity to music.
Their exchange quickly became a partnership. They shared the same belief that analog playback is not only a matter of circuitry, materials or measurements, but also of presence, touch and emotional truth.
Together, they shaped the early Le Son philosophy: careful engineering in service of a sound that feels human, immediate and alive.
Meet the Founders
Gregory de Richemont
Gregory de Richemont founded Le Son after years of balancing international business with a deep attachment to music and analog playback.
His path combines business experience, hands-on analog work and a lifelong attachment to vinyl playback. He works across cartridge development, restoration guidance, system matching and the listening culture that surrounds high fidelity.
His favorite records move freely between 1970s progressive rock, Afrobeat, classical music and immersive electronic textures.
Dr. Ted Tsai
Born in Taiwan, Dr. Ted Tsai brought deep technical knowledge and musical sensitivity to the world of audio design.
With a background in electromechanics and violin physics, and more than 35 years of high-end audio experience, he contributed essential engineering insight to Le Son’s early development.
Dr. Tsai passed away in 2023. His influence remains part of Le Son’s work: careful engineering, musical sensitivity and sound in service of emotion.
What Le Son Does Today
Today, Le Son is devoted to moving-coil cartridges, cartridge restoration and retipping, and selected analog accessories.
Each product and service begins with the same intention: to preserve what makes analog playback feel alive while bringing greater care, coherence and confidence to the listener’s system.
Whether choosing a cartridge, restoring a treasured unit or refining setup details, we prefer to guide carefully before any decision is made. The work remains personal, precise and rooted in listening.
What We Stand For
At Le Son, high fidelity begins with listening.
Technical choices matter deeply: cartridge design, restoration quality, tonearm matching, phono-stage gain, loading, cable routing and setup all shape the result. Yet the final purpose is musical, not merely technical. Our work is guided by four values:
Customer delight
Guidance should feel personal, precise and genuinely attentive.
Passion
Music is the centre: the reason behind every product, service and recommendation.
Excellence
Details matter because they shape what the listener finally hears.
Authenticity
We speak carefully, work precisely and keep our promises.
We Promise
To honor the music.
To guide each listener with care.
To build and restore analog components in service of a deeper connection with music.
L’Or du Son
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