Brian Powell Audio

Brian Powell Audio Electronics Data

This site holds a collection of information for the majority of the Audio products I have been involved with since 1976.

My first electronics job was with Amstrad, my boss being Alan Sugar, in 1973. I co-formed Crimson Elektrik in 1976 with Tim Nind (Quantum) and it subsequently it became just Crimson. Quantum was formed when Tim decided to go his own way. It was not the same company with another trading name or a marketing ploy, it was just another separate company with some shared history. Tim and I both worked at Decca in Leicester in the early seventies. Tim remains a good friend. We have a shared love of music and guitar playing.

I am sometimes asked where the Crimson name came from. I was, and still am, a big fan of King Crimson. Their music was exceptionally dynamic. I wanted to make amplifiers that did full justice to that music.

We are sometimes asked if we have a tie-up with DNM, the amplifier & cable manufacturer. The answer is no. However, there were Crimson personnel who also had a relationship with DNM for a couple of years around 2000 hence the six or more references to DNM in the 620C user manual. Some DNM cable was used inside the Crimson amplifiers for both speaker and input signal lines. The cables now fitted are not DNM, which are now better suited to the Crimson. The speaker wires now have a much greater cross sectional area. The input signal cables are now magnetically closed hence less hum.

Data will cover Crimson products until the new owner Virtual Reality Ltd took over in latter part of the 1990s. For the schematics after that date contact Peter More http://www.crimsonelectronics.com/

There will be information also on my own products (BPA).