Sugden Audio is a British engineering company that manufactures hi-fi and

audio equipment Audio equipment refers to devices that reproduce, record, or process sound. This includes microphones, radio receivers, AV receivers, CD players, tape recorders, amplifiers, mixing consoles, effects units, headphones, and Speaker (audio equipmen ...

. Founded by James Edward Sugden in

Cleckheaton Cleckheaton is a town in the Metropolitan borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Bradford, east of Brighouse, west of Batley and south-west of Leeds. It is a ...

, West Yorkshire in 1967, the company is best known as the manufacturer of the Sugden A21 amplifier. Sugden had been involved in the manufacture of scientific equipment since 1960 with his company Research Electronics. Sugden was keenly interested in hi-fi, in particular in overcoming the problem of

crossover distortion Crossover distortion is a type of distortion which is caused by switching between devices driving a load. It is most commonly seen in complementary, or "push-pull", Class-B amplifier stages, although it is occasionally seen in other types of circui ...

common in Class B solid state amplifier designs at the time. He developed a

Class-A amplifier In electronics, power amplifier classes are letter symbols applied to different power amplifier types. The class gives a broad indication of an amplifier's characteristics and performance. The classes are related to the time period that the active ...

, the Si 402, which avoided this, however it was extremely expensive, costing 100

Guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from t ...

(£105, ) and few if any were sold. At the time, Sugden was the only company in the industry using Class A design in their Hi-Fi amplifiers. The following year Sugden agreed to work with local

loudspeaker A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often simply referred to as a "speaker" or " ...

manufacture Richard Allan, which would market Sudgen's amplifiers under their brand name. In April 1968 the A21 amplifier was premiered at an audio fair in London. It would sell for a much more attractive £52 and received good reviews in the audio press. Shortly after they set up a factory at Carr Street in

in West Yorkshire and started producing the A21 amplifier under their own name. They subsequently expanded their range of products to include other amplifiers and tuners. In 1981 they relocated to Valley Road in

Heckmondwike Heckmondwike is a town in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England, south west of Leeds. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is close to Cleckheaton and Liversedge. It is mostly in the Batley and Spen pa ...

where they remain.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Audio amplifier manufacturers Compact Disc player manufacturers Audio equipment manufacturers of the United Kingdom Electronics companies established in 1967 Companies based in Kirklees British companies established in 1967 1967 establishments in England