A&R Cambridge Ltd (Arcam) is a British manufacturer of hi-fi equipment based in the Cambridge Innovation Park, Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, England. It was established in 1976 by science and engineering students from the University of Cambridge. Since July 2017, it has been a part of South Korean company Samsung Electronics through its American subsidiary Harman International Industries. [1]
A&R Cambridge's first product was the A60 integrated amplifier, released in 1976, which soon became a classic, admired for its restrained, sleek appearance and its high-end sound performance. [3] The name 'A&R Cambridge' was a shortened form of 'Amplification & Recording, Cambridge' which represented the initial operations of its founders, John Dawson and Chris Evans, who had been students at Cambridge University. [4] [5] In the 1980s, the name was shortened in literature to Arcam (displayed as ARCAM on products), although the company's trading name remained A&R Cambridge Ltd.
Arcam's products range from integrated stereo amplifiers to high-performance AV processors and music players. Well-known ranges include the Alpha (entry) and Delta (higher) separates of the 1980s and 90s, [2] the FMJ (Full Metal Jacket – referring to the casing) series, and the DiVA range of stereo and AV separates (1999 to 2005). By 2012 the range consisted of FMJ (now standing for Faithful Musical Joy) for the full size hi-fi and home cinema components, Solo for stereo music systems and rSeries for the lifestyle computer and streaming components such as the rBlink and the irDAC.
Arcam 'firsts' include the first domestic add-on audio DAC (Black Box), the first (and only) British-built Dolby S cassette deck (Delta 100 in 1992) [6] and the first domestic DAB tuner (Alpha 10). The company was also a very early adopter of the HDMI connection standard for the outputs on its DVD players.
The company were also early adopters of the home cinema trend, launching a number of product ranges including the analogue surround sound Zeta products in the mid 1990s, followed by digital products in the Alpha, DiVA and FMJ ranges.
The ARCAM Solo, introduced in 2005, was the first system to place hi-fi quality separates into a one-box enclosure no larger than a separate CD player. [7] This product also offered iPod integration via the rDock. This range was extended in 2007 to include a 5.1 AV variant, [8] and later a 2.1 version [9] and a smaller 'Mini' version. To complete the line-up, speakers were launched to match the Solo electronics. First were the 'Alto' two-way speakers for the stereo units, then a sub/satellite speaker system called Muso/Logo was released for the AV versions.[ citation needed ]
The company introduced its first portable hi-fi product, the rCube, in 2010, offering high quality sound, an iPod docking system, wireless music streaming and an 8-hour battery life. [10] In 2012, Arcam expanded the rSeries to include the rPAC (a Personal Audio Converter) [11] and the drDock (a digital dock for iPad and iPhone). Arcam also introduced a new integrated amplifier, the A19. [3] In 2013, Arcam launched a new generation of 4k-capable AV receivers, the AVR750, [12] AVR450 and AVR380, with a matching Blu-ray player (the BDP300) optimised for music playback. 2013 also saw the launch of Arcam's first Bluetooth product, the rBlink which utilised the latest Bluecore technology from Cambridge-based CSR plc.
Engineering and design of their products is managed in-house in Cambridge, England. Arcam's competitors include, amongst others, Linn, NAD, Naim, Meridian, Audiolab, Rega Research, Marantz and Cambridge Audio.
In November 2012, Arcam became a wholly owned subsidiary of JAM industries, based in Montreal, Canada. [13]
In July 2017, Arcam became a subsidiary of the American company Harman, itself a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. [1]
High fidelity is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat frequency response within the human hearing range.
Marantz is a company that develops and sells high-end audio products. The company was founded in New York, but is now based in Japan.
Harman Kardon is a division of US-based Harman International Industries, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, and manufactures home and car audio equipment.
Naim Audio is a British hi-fi manufacturer based in Wiltshire, United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1973. Following a 2011 merger with French loudspeaker manufacturer Focal, Naim is owned by VerVent Audio Group, a French company.
Denon is a Japanese electronics company started in 1910 by Frederick Whitney Horn, an American entrepreneur. Denon produced the first cylinder audio media in Japan and players to play them. Decades later, Denon was involved in the early stages of development of digital audio technology, while specializing in the manufacture of high-fidelity professional and consumer audio equipment. Denon made Japan's first professional disc recorder and used it to record the Hirohito surrender broadcast. For many decades, Denon was a brand name of Nippon-Columbia, including the Nippon Columbia record label. The Denon brand came from a merger of Denki Onkyo and others in 1939. In 2001, Denon was spun off as a separate company with 98% held by Ripplewood Holdings and 2% by Hitachi. In 2002, Denon merged with Marantz to form D&M Holdings. On March 1, 2017, Sound United LLC completed the acquisition of D+M Holdings.
Roksan is a British manufacturer of high fidelity audio products for domestic use, based in Rayleigh, Essex. It is best known for its influential and innovative design for hi-fi equipment, and in particular its Xerxes platform for playing LP records.
Madrigal Audio Laboratories was founded in 1984 by Sanford Berlin, when he took over the Highend audio-company Mark Levinson. Further brands of Madrigal were Audioaccess, Proceed, Madrigal, Imaging. 1997 the subsidiary Revel Audio for high quality loudspeakers was founded.
Harman International Industries, commonly known as Harman, is an American audio electronics company. Since 2017, the company has been an independent subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.
Audio Partnership Plc is a British manufacturer of hi-fi, home cinema and home automation products, which was founded in 1994.
Audiolab is a British manufacturer of audio equipment. It specializes in affordable systems and has a range of stereo and surround sound systems. During its ownership under McLaren Group it was named TAGMcLaren Audio.
AKG Acoustics is an acoustics engineering and manufacturing company. It was founded in 1947 by Rudolf Görike and Ernest Plass in Vienna, Austria. It is a part of Harman International Industries, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.
Fisher Electronics was an American company specialising in the field of hi-fi electronics. The company and the name was bought by Japanese electronics conglomerate Sanyo in 1975.
What Hi-Fi? is a magazine published thirteen times a year by Future. It is a buying guide for consumer electronics, featuring news, reviews and features on hi-fi, home cinema, television and home audio. The brand also has a website, whathifi.com.
KEF is a British company specialising in the design and production of a range of high-end audio products, including HiFi speakers, subwoofers, architecture speakers, wireless speakers, and headphones. It was founded in Maidstone, Kent in 1961 by a BBC engineer Raymond Cooke OBE (1925–1995).
John Alexander Westlake is a British–Czech Hi Fi designer.
The Naim NAIT is an integrated amplifier from the British hi-fi manufacturer, Naim Audio. The original NAIT is one of the most recognisable pieces of hi-fi equipment ever made. Hi-fi critic Lucio Cadeddu recognised its legendary status, referring to it as "one of the most controversial and famous integrated amps in the history of HiFi".
OPPO Digital is an overseas division of Chinese multinational conglomerate BBK Electronics, sharing the brand name OPPO with the better known consumer electronics company Oppo, also owned by BBK. Established in 2004 in Menlo Park, California, US, it conducted all of its sales online. OPPO Digital designed and marketed audio and video equipment, including Blu-ray Disc players and personal audio products such as headphones and headphone amplifiers, mainly targeting markets in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and India.
The NAD 3020 is a stereo integrated amplifier by NAD Electronics, considered to be one of the most important components in the history of high fidelity audio. Launched in 1978, this highly affordable product delivered a good quality sound, which acquired a reputation as an audiophile amplifier of exceptional value. By 1998, the NAD 3020 had become the most well known and best-selling audio amplifier in history.
Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) is a three part process applied to digital audio music recordings consisting of: 1) modifying and controlling the end to end digital filter response; 2) preparing the high-quality audio for transfer to a smartphone or audio device using a lossy audio compression format; and 3) decompressing the recording for playback. The tech was launched in 2014 by Meridian Audio, and is now owned and licensed by MQA Ltd. MQA is a proprietary system and requires licensing fees to use.
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