partnership industry audio equipment manufacturing founded 1968 headquarters london united kingdom website cambridgeaudio.com as the name correctly suggests cambridge audio owes its existence to cambridge england and in particular to the world famous university where in the early 1960s a group of young technology graduates who would go on to be some of the most revered academics in the uk established a high technology r & d and prototyping business cambridge consultants . contents 1 company history 1.1 origins 1.2 1970s 1.3 1980s 2 audio partnership 2.1 1990s 2.2 2000s 2.3 2010s 3 manufacturing and the company today 4 references 5 external links company history edit origins edit cambridge audio began life as a division of cambridge consultants in 1968 . the company s first product was the 2x 20w p40 integrated amplifier which was created by a team that included gordon edge and peter lee . in addition to an advanced technical specification the p40 created quite a stir in part thanks to its iconic and innovative super slim line case design by roy gray from woodhuysen design . cambridge audio p40 the p40 would also make history as the first amplifier to use a toroidal transformer 1 that would go on to be a standard component inside virtually every hi end amplifier produced since . cambridge audio became a standalone business from the group when a new company cambridge audio laboratories ltd was formed operating from extensive premises alongside the old enderby s mill in st. ives cambridge . the p40 was an immediate success but would prove difficult to manufacture in any volume a problem that would be resolved in 1970 with the introduction of the new 2x 25w p50 model which was a very similar product with regards to both circuit design and appearance but had been engineered for mass production . despite strong sales and rapid growth the company required increased investment and so was sold in 1971 to colin hammond of ce hammond & co ltd then a very successful distributor of revox tape recorders and other audio products in the uk canada and the usa . 2 a new company cambridge audio ltd was formed with leading uk electrical engineer stan curtis joining as the organisation s technical director . the st. ives factory was extensive and at its peak employed more than 300 people . most of the required components were made under one roof including the circuit boards and the aluminium cases . all transistors were made to ca s specification and even carried the company s own part numbers . every product was extensively tested after manufacture and a printed certificate was produced for every individual unit detailing the actual measured performance results . 1970s edit 1971 also saw the introduction of cambridge audio s first loudspeaker with the launch of the r50 transmission line speaker designed by bert webb and also produced at the st. ives plant . cambridge audio s first loudspeaker the r50 in 1972 new models included the p100 and p50mkii integrated amplifiers the r40 transmission line loudspeaker and the t50 fm stereo tuner . export sales had also begun and were proving very buoyant in part due to the introduction of export only products including the tl100 and 200 transmission line speakers the p75x integrated amplifier and the t75x stereo tuner . stan curtis put together a new team and re designed the existing products as well as introducing a raft of new models . 1973 saw the introduction of the p110 integrated amplifier and the company s first turntable while the p140x integrated amplifier was introduced for export markets . cambridge audio p110 other innovations included the design of what was believed to be the world s first digital tuner the t120 which worked well but proved impractical for volume production . cambridge audio p60 stereo integrated amp a major change occurred in 1974 with the introduction of the p60 integrated amplifier which was designed to be both better performing than the then existing models but also significantly easier to manufacture and therefore at a lower cost . the p60 sold in large numbers and became the best selling cambridge model todate with a weekly production run of over 400 pieces . also new was the pa100 dedicated power amplifier the r40mkii and r50mkii loudspeakers the p80x integrated amplifier and the tl200mkii loudspeakers for export markets . cambridge audio classic one probably the most significant new product arrived in 1975 with the launch of the classic one 2 x25w integrated amplifier one of the first to feature a new circuit design from cambridge audio and with much of the circuitry contained in custom made integrated circuits another world s first and using multi layer boards for the first time . the first production batch was to be followed by the classic two amplifier of similar performance but offering 100 watts per channel output . such plans were however soon abandoned with the closure of the st. ives factory as ce hammond & co decided to merge their production assets for all their many businesses into one extensive factory in byfleet surrey . many of the experienced cambridge audio production team also left the business at this time and after some production issues at the new facility the decision was made to abandon the relatively complex classic series in favour of an updated version of the p60 called the p80 . cambridge audio ceased to be a priority in the ce hammond empire and sales declined until in 1980 the business was sold to vince adams a successful uk hi fi entrepreneur at the time . 1980s edit the business was relaunched as cambridge audio research ltd. with former technical director stan curtis charged with designing a new line of products . the new range had styling echoes of the original cambridge products but broke with tradition by being physically larger starting with the p35 integrated amplifier launched in 1983 closely followed by the c75 pre and a75 power amplifiers . financial difficulties for the parent company in 1984 led to cambridge audio research being taken over by stan and angie curtis and being renamed cambridge audio international . the company moved back to st. ives in cambridge . the next four years saw a rapid expansion of the business with over 16 new products being launched and with export markets re established in over 28 countries across the world . the amplifier range c75mkii preamplifier p40 p55 integrated and a250 power amplifier received excellent reviews . cd1 advert featuring stan curtis in 1985 a major innovative step was made with the launch of the cd1 ; the world s first two box cd player at the time this cd player was widely recognised as the best player available and its design featured many new ideas and a ground breaking specification . apart from putting the dac stages into a separate case the transport was mounted on a lead beam suspension to reduce disc reading errors ; a unique audio stage offered the choice of six alternative playback filters ; and the digital to analogue conversion was performed by six matched dacs to give linearity down to 120 db at a time when most players were only linear down to about 94 db . cambridge audio cd1 the cd1 soon became a three box player with the arrival of a quality assurance module which monitored all the errors on the disc and quantified those that could not be corrected . this proved popular with many audiophile enthusiasts and also with specialist record companies around the world . the player used philips digitally filtered 14 bit 4x dacs but with a difference three dacs were used per channel two in parallel and one for ranging rounding the result up to 16 bit overall . while the cd1 remained an audiophile player there was also demand from both customers and distributors for a more affordable model which arrived in 1986 with the launch of the cd2 . at the time many of the best cd players still used a 14bit 4 times over sampling conversion technique so the cambridge audio team set out to achieve a step change in performance by offering for the first time a model with 16 bit 16 times oversampling ; a massive improvement in the resolution of the fine detail on the disc . magazine reviews were outstanding and the company found itself in the enviable position of being back ordered by six months even before the first unit was delivered . a new c50 pre amplifier and a50 power amplifier were introduced and by 1987 on the back of the success of the new products turnover had grown to 1m per annum . the next cd model to be introduced was a mark ii version of the cd1 . this was launched at the consumer electronics show in january 1988 . like its predecessor it was a two box player but it incorporated a radical 16 bit 32 times oversampling conversion technology derived from that used in the cd2 . production was very limited in volume as the company decided to focus on the mainstream cambridge audio product line . the continued expansion of the company put a strain on both its physical and financial resources and at the end of 1988 cambridge audio became part of the hi fi markets group . the product range underwent another significant change in appearance with the low profile black cases giving way to full height cases finished in a neutral grey colour internally though the existing stan curtis circuit designs were retained with key new product launches for the dac2 and dac3 digital to analogue convertors and the t40 fm tuner . within two years cambridge audio was purchased by wharfedale loudspeakers which set up a production line at its large facility in leeds yorkshire . wharfedale was undergoing major re organisation by a team that included stan curtis . despite his sentimental attachment to ca he realised the company needed a new home that could focus on the electronics and so the decision was made to divest cambridge audio and in 1994 the company would be sold for the last time before beginning more than 20 years of growth innovation and profitability . audio partnership edit audio partnership founder james johnson flint the purchaser of the business in 1994 was a newly established company audio partnership which was formed by two entrepreneurial business men julian richer and james johnson flint who were already enjoying significant success with audio retailer richer sounds . audio partnership was specifically formed to look for opportunities in acquiring under developed brands with the intention of providing the investment to allow stability and growth both in the uk and overseas . target companies would be ideally british brands that had already developed exceptional technical and design credibility and popularity but had been lacking in resources or funding to be consistent market leaders in the uk or other markets . cambridge audio was considered a perfect fit and became the company s first acquisition and remains audio partnership s prime focus some 22 years later . a key element in the purchase of cambridge audio by audio partnership was the determination that the brand would continue as a true creator developer and manufacturer of its own dedicated products . from the start of this new era the company was committed to the idea that cambridge audio should continue to create ground breaking original & proprietary technologies . from the first day of ownership work commenced to build an in house engineering team starting with mechanical engineering and industrial design while exclusive contracts were signed with the most prominent and successful freelance audio electronics engineers of the day . citation needed 1990s edit the result was the launch of the a1 amplifier in 1995 which was initially only available the uk . consequently the a1 integrated amplifier was a huge