Soundcraftsmen was a manufacturer of

high-end audio High-end audio is a class of consumer home audio equipment marketed to audiophiles on the basis of high price or quality, and esoteric or novel sound reproduction technologies. The term can refer simply to the price, to the build quality of the ...

stereo components located in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the List of ...

, United States. The company was founded in 1961 by Ralph Yeomans, a concessionaire in

Fedco Federal Employees' Distributing Company, known as Fedco, was a membership department store chain that operated in Southern California from 1948 to 1999. History Beginning The chain was unusual in that it was a nonprofit consumers' cooperative. ...

(a discount membership store chain in southern California, until the chain closed in 1999). Early Soundcraftsmen components included

tube Tube or tubes may refer to: * ''Tube'' (2003 film), a 2003 Korean film * ''The Tube'' (TV series), a music related TV series by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom * "Tubes" (Peter Dale), performer on the Soccer AM television show * Tube (band), a ...

-type receivers and

amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the v ...

s. Ralph Yeomans and Charles Gassett, a southern California audio equipment representative and international marketing entrepreneur selling Coastron Sherwood Electronic Laboratories receivers at the time, had an interest in expanding the brand nationwide. Yeomans and Gassett decided the first product was to be an equalizer, something not already on the market. They employed an electronics engineer, Paul Rolfes, in 1968 to design the equalizer. It was introduced by Gassett at the 1969 CES in New York. National distribution started in late 1970. In the mid-1970s they introduced their line of

preamplifier A preamplifier, also known as a preamp, is an electronic amplifier that converts a weak electrical signal into an output signal strong enough to be noise-tolerant and strong enough for further processing, or for sending to a power amplifier an ...

s and

power amplifier An audio power amplifier (or power amp) is an electronic amplifier that 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 loudspea ...

s, including the first preamplifier/equalizer combo. Soundcraftsmen equalizers and their compact "brick" style power amplifiers gained a sizable following among

audiophile An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a piece of recorded music or a live musical performance, typically inside closed headphones, In-ear monitors, open ...

s during the 1970s and 1980s. All Soundcraftsmen equalizers and amplifiers were made at the company's

facility. In the early 1970s they also sold a

solid-state Solid state, or solid matter, is one of the four fundamental states of matter. Solid state may also refer to: Electronics * Solid-state electronics, circuits built of solid materials * Solid state ionics, study of ionic conductors and their use ...

stereo receiver, but only through the Fedco stores. It was built by

Electro-Voice Electro-Voice (EV) is an American manufacturer of audio equipment, including microphones, amplifiers, and loudspeakers, focused on pro audio applications such as sound reinforcement. As a subdivision of Bosch Communications Systems Inc. since 200 ...

but shipped with a Soundcraftsmen brand faceplate; no national distribution was sought for this product. As mentioned, Yeomans operated the HiFi Stereo Components Concession in Fedco under the vendor name of Coastron. The department was an independent concession within Fedco, hiring its own staff and renting floor space. Coastron supported its Fedco operations from a warehouse in Montebello, near

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The second in command at Coastron was Robert Rann. Soundcraftsmen and Coastron-sold electronic and speaker products were repaired by a technician at the Montebello warehouse. Some repairs to the Soundcraftsmen brand Lancer speakers were often done in the back room of the sales departments by the salesmen. Yeomans also owned and operated a local audio-video store in Costa Mesa, California, called Atlantic Stereo. Atlantic still operates, but has no affiliation with Yeomans. Gassett, the marketing entrepreneur, took the Soundcraftsmen equalizer, preamplifier and power amplifier nationally and internationally. It was Gassett, becoming President and CEO of Soundcraftsmen, who took the Coastron/Fedco "House Brand" from a few hundred thousand per year to a multimillion-dollar company. Gassett left in 1980 to expand his international business. In 1991, the company was acquired by MTX and was renamed MTX Soundcraftsmen. In the mid-1990s MTX discontinued production of Soundcraftsmen components.

External links

Ex Soundcraftsmen reference site, presently(2017) void, domain name is for sale
Audio equipment manufacturers of Japan Entertainment companies based in California Manufacturing companies based in California Electronics companies established in 1961 Companies based in Santa Ana, California Electronics companies disestablished in 1999 1961 establishments in California 1999 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles