British Hi-Fi has always been a world standard, synonymous with high quality engineering and sound – I personally started my journey into Hi-Fi under the wing of British manufactures, my first “proper” Hi-Fi consisted of a QUAD 303, 34 Pre and Bowers and Wilkins loudspeakers, later to be replaced by the irreplaceable ESL 57! The British sound as it is sometimes described is sought universally, the export market for British brands arguably matches UK sales for some manufacturers if not exceeding in some cases.
Supporting British manufacturers gives a great sense of pride for us at Audio Affair – we are pleased to be able to extend this pride to you. There is one point I would like to raise here, due to costs quite often components or even construction may be outsourced to the far east – this is in no way means degradation of quality, if the capacitors in your Icon audio amplifier were to be hand-made in the UK the RRP’s would shoot so far up pricing would be out a reach for all but the most affluent of audiophiles – keeping quality high and pricing sensible is the name of game and retaining a British identity due to the units being completed and check by the UK designer David Shaw means British Hi-Fi will continues to strive and evolve.
We recently had the Icon audio MB90 mono’s instore on demo:
Undeniably British: formidable looks, sublime sound quality and valves on-top, what more could you ask for?
Icon is not the only British brand we have available, lets take a look at some of the others we offer:
Buying British
Buying British is a great feeling, a lot of the manufactures we will talk about are small specialist companies – they have a small workforce (compared to some of the major Japanese/Chinese manufactures) this workforce comprising of some of the best individuals in the industry loving craft products that are brilliantly innovative and guaranteed to last a decades – Hi-Fi and Britain had a glowing past – the future seems even brighter! If you want more information on the products below please click on them!
The instant you seen the box it cannot be anything else – famous for their shoe-box size Cyrus packs a real punch. Having just celebrated their 30th anniversary longevity clearly comes through quality, not just sound quality though – their customer service, willingness to service and upgrade older units puts them at the forefront of the industry throughout the Hi-Fi world. Coincidentally for their 30th they released a limited number of anniversary system, when I say limited I mean very limited – here at AA we understood the importance and standing of such a system and are pleased to be able to offer you one of the very last stocks we (or anybody else) has available!
Available now with a wide range of payment options including 0% finance. The rest of the Cyrus range is also available!
Having recently published a blog on Naim, I will shy away from masses of history, this said – I will be brief, promises: Naim have for the past forty years offered some of the most revolutionary and inspiring products available at any price. Naim continue to innovate and move into new areas – such as the Uniti range: offering networked streaming and an app senior designers at Apple could be proud of the future seems bright – bright green!
Standout product, the Naim Uniti 2 – everything you will need to get up and running. Priced at £2795.00 the Uniti 2 works out at quite a bargain: Streaming, Internet Radio and CD player, being Naim is sounds great also!
No other brand (well, for me personally) says Hi-Fi like Sugden – you have probably read this story before about the IA-4 we had in stock for a demo, how the units comes with new tags on the banana posts with the model and who signed it off for example, I like this touch – giving pride of ownership, they sound great to: somewhere between Naim and Icon in my opinion smooth yet tight and most importantly highly musical with a great emotional response – if it gets my foot tapping I am happy, Sugden does this with no doubt!
The IA-4, sublime aesthetics a true Hi-Fi product!
Purchased by our sister company Audio Manogamy 2011 Partington continues to be manufactured in the UK to the exacting standards of Peter Partington. In the range there is a stand for everyone from the smaller Super Dreadnought up to the Heavi (we have some new stocks due very soon) Placing your spekaers on stands will make a great improvement in dynamics and clarity allowing the speaker to perform without negatively affecting anything else around it! Stands do not get much better than this in my opinion!
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The Super Dreadnought – available now in either silver or black as above, your going to struggle to find a more British speaker stand!
I mentioned previously small scale manufacturers who produce very fine products with a small workforce – custom crafted products which exude quality and status, you only have take a look inside of one of the boxes, beautifully simple – quality components and clean signal path get phenomenal results! Just have a look inside:
The Series 7 Power amplifier – simple, elegant and most of all true British Hi-Fi.
When thinking of turntables – a few names spring to mind: Thorens, Pro-Ject but one sticks at the forefront – for me any way: SME. Hailing from the heart of Sussex for the last 54 years have been commercial producing Pickup arms after the founder required an arm for personal use. Up to present date SME continue to offer the among the best pickup arms and turntables available at any price – they are a no compromise product both in terms of cost and quality but if you are looking for a serious investment in your musical enjoyment then look no further – a British brand that rules the turntable world: SME
The model 10 – we have our demo one coming into store soon, goes without saying I am excited at the prospect at dropping the needle on some of my favourite records!
Things can only get better!
An in depth discussion on all British brands out there would take an age and I don’t not need to do this – which is a good thing for three reasons, 1) It saves your eyes from going square 2) Less time reading this means more time listening to your music 3) I can give you some quick links as per below!
Graham Slee – fine quality, award winning headphone amplifiers from this innovative company!
ProAc Loudspeakers – even the cabinets are made here, most of my blogs feature ProAc – enough said!
Cartridge Man – or Len informally, true British Hi-Fi from this formidable cartridge maker, don’t forget the test record, turntable aficionado essential!
Atacama – going from strength to strength, everything support related.
Chord Company – If you need fine cables and why wouldn’t you? Then head on over to The Chord Company
If you are interested in further British brands we offer then please give me a call 0121 224 7300 asking for Richard.
Breaking News!
We at AA are pleased to announce the arrival of Arcam into our ranks – for over thirty years Arcam have been producing fine products which are designed in the UK! Watch this space, some great things are about to happen!
To conclude, buying British has never been easier – supporting they economy, keeping British manufactures alive and owning their products gives a great sense of pride. Hi-Fi and Britain have a long and entangled past with over seas customer as well as Brits actively seeking what the above companies (plus many more) have to offer – one thing is clear when we can produce kit at this level Britain stands to continue as a front runner in Hi-Fi scene
As always happy listening and question please do not hesitate to call a member of our team!