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Audio Partnership Plc is a British manufacturer of hi-fi, DJ, home cinema and home automation products, which was founded in 1994.
Founded by two entrepreneurial businessmen, James Johnson-Flint and Julian Richer, the company is now solely owned by Johnson-Flint. It has its home in the heart of London and remains fiercely independent.
Audio Partnership's products since 1994 include stereo amplifiers, CD players, digital-to-analogue (DAC) converters (namely the DACMagic and ISOMagic series), tuners (both analogue and digital), loudspeakers, subwoofers and cables. The company branched out into home cinema, with AV receivers, DVD players, Blu-ray players, soundbars and soundbases.
Most recently, Audio Partnership has concentrated its efforts on the Cambridge Audio brand, with an emphasis on products for music playback, from wireless headphones to high-end hi-fi. In 2011, it developed the proprietary StreamMagic hardware and software platform that is used across the company's range of music streamers, streaming amplifiers and wireless streaming speakers.
Although the company is based in the UK, its products are manufactured in China to take advantage of lower labour costs. [3]
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.
An audio power amplifier amplifies low-power electronic audio signals, such as the signal from a radio receiver or an electric guitar pickup, to a level that is high enough for driving loudspeakers or headphones. Audio power amplifiers are found in all manner of sound systems including sound reinforcement, public address, home audio systems and musical instrument amplifiers like guitar amplifiers. It is the final electronic stage in a typical audio playback chain before the signal is sent to the loudspeakers.
Linn Products is an engineering company that manufactures hi-fi and audio equipment. Founded by Ivor Tiefenbrun in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1972, the company is best known as the manufacturer of the Linn Sondek LP12 turntable.
McIntosh Laboratory is an American manufacturer of handcrafted high-end audio equipment headquartered in Binghamton, New York. It is a subsidiary of McIntosh Group, which was under the ownership umbrella of Highlander Partners, a Dallas-based private equity firm.. On November 19, 2024, Highlander Partners announced the sale of McIntosh Group to Bose Corporation.
Naim Audio is a British hi-fi manufacturer based in Wiltshire, United Kingdom.
Denon is a Japanese electronics company dealing with audio equipment. The Denon brand came from a merger of Denki Onkyo and others in 1939, but it originally started as Nippon Chikuonki Shoukai in 1910 by Frederick Whitney Horn, an American entrepreneur.
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.
A home theater in a box (HTIB) is an integrated home theater package which "bundles" together a combination DVD or Blu-ray player, a multi-channel amplifier, speaker wires, connection cables, a remote control, a set of five or more surround sound speakers and a low-frequency subwoofer cabinet. Manufacturers also have come out with the "soundbar", an all in one device to put underneath the television and that contains all the speakers in one unit.
Powered speakers, also known as self-powered speakers and active speakers, are loudspeakers that have built-in amplifiers. Powered speakers are used in a range of settings, including in sound reinforcement systems, both for the main speakers facing the audience and the monitor speakers facing the performers; by DJs performing at dance events and raves; in private homes as part of hi-fi or home cinema audio systems and as computer speakers. They can be connected directly to a mixing console or other low-level audio signal source without the need for an external amplifier. Some active speakers designed for sound reinforcement system use have an onboard mixing console and microphone preamplifier, which enables microphones to be connected directly to the speaker.
Musical Fidelity is a British producer of high-end audio equipment focusing on streaming music players, and its core product range of amplifiers of various types. Other products have included headphones, Digital-Analog Converters (DACs), CD players, Bluetooth Receivers, ‘all-in-one systems’. Founded in the United Kingdom in 1982, they are known for their unusual industrial design, Nuvistor tube use and Class-AB amplifiers.
Cabasse is a French audio manufacturer founded by Georges Cabasse (1928-2019) in 1950. It is mainly known for its home loudspeakers but has also produced professional audio speakers for studio recording or sound reinforcement in theatres and power amplifiers. The company is now part of a larger group called Veom Group.
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.
Cambridge Audio is a British manufacturer of high-end audio equipment. Its award-winning product portfolio spans headphones, through to lifestyle and premium audio systems and components.
Technics is a Japanese audio brand established by Matsushita Electric in 1965. Since 1965, Matsushita has produced a variety of HiFi and other audio products under the brand name, such as turntables, amplifiers, radio receivers, tape recorders, CD players, loudspeakers, and digital pianos. Technics products were available for sale in various countries. The brand was originally conceived as a line of high-end audio equipment to compete against brands such as Nakamichi.
Home audio refer to audio consumer electronics designed for home entertainment, such as integrated systems like shelf stereos, as well as individual components like loudspeakers and surround sound receivers.
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 named Raymond Cooke (1925–1995). In 1992, the Hong Kong–based Gold Peak Group acquired KEF; and GP Acoustics, a member of Gold Peak, now owns the company. KEF continues to develop and manufacture its products in Maidstone.
Focal-JMlab is a French company that has been designing and selling high fidelity audio systems since 1979. Based in Saint-Étienne, the company manufactures loudspeakers for the home, speaker drivers for automobiles, headphones, professional studio monitors, as well as outdoor speakers and those dedicated to yachts.
A professional audio store is a retail business that sells, and in many cases rents, sound reinforcement system equipment and PA system components used in music concerts, live shows, dance parties and speaking events. This equipment typically includes microphones, power amplifiers, electronic effects units, speaker enclosures, monitor speakers, subwoofers and audio consoles (mixers). Some professional audio stores also sell sound recording equipment, DJ equipment, lighting equipment used in nightclubs and concerts and video equipment used in events, such as video projectors and screens. Some professional audio stores rent "backline" equipment used in rock and pop shows, such as stage pianos and bass amplifiers. While professional audio stores typically focus on selling new merchandise, some stores also sell used equipment, which is often the equipment that the company has previously rented out for shows and events.
The Play:5 is a smart speaker developed by Sonos, introduced on October 13 and released on November 5, 2009. The Play:5 is the debut product in the Play line of products. It is one of the compatible speakers designed to initiate SonosNet, stereo pairs with itself and pairs additionally with the playbar and sub to initiate a basic home theater system.
BASSBOSS is an American manufacturer of loudspeakers and subwoofers. While they specialize in powered speakers for live sound, their products are also used in some recording studios.