GADGETS
MAKE A SOUND INVESTMENT THIS CHRISTMAS WITH KENT-BASED
Chord Electronics
LUXURY GOODS CAN TAKE MANY FORMS: WATCHES, HANDBAGS AND HAUTE COUTURE ARE ALL WELLKNOWN EXAMPLES, BUT HOW ABOUT LUXURY SOUND? KENT-BASED CHORD ELECTRONICS
HANDCRAFTS MUSIC SYSTEMS FOR THE BIGGEST NAMES IN THE WORLD AND YET ITS PRODUCTS CAN
BE BOUGHT ON THE HIGH STREET TOO.
Chord Electronics, based in East Farleigh, near
Maidstone, has been handcrafting fine home
audio systems for some of the biggest names
on the planet for almost 25 years. Discerning
music lovers everywhere seek out the
extraordinary expertise of this Kent-based
specialist who has an international reputation for
making world-class music playback systems.
The company’s extensive customer base
includes: Sir Paul McCartney, Ray Charles and
John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), plus worldfamous organisations such as The Royal Opera
House, Abbey Road Studios and the BBC.
Chord’s extensive product range stretches from
studio-worthy systems in excess of £100,000,
to home audio products starting from as little as
£480. And regardless of price, everything is
handmade to order by some of the UK’s finest
electronics engineers, right here in Kent.
Since 1989, Chord Electronics has been
manufacturing internationally recognised hi-fi
components designed to replay music without
compromise. Its CD players, amplifiers and more
recently, music streaming systems, are renowned
throughout the world and the company has
collected multiple awards in the world’s press
over the past few decades; three major awards
in 2012 alone.
The company’s founder, owner and chief
designer, Maidstone-based John Franks, created
the company following a remarkable career in
the avionics industry, where he applied his
electronics expertise to create advanced power
supplies for black-box flight recorders in aircraft.
He discovered that the no-compromise design
approach inherent in avionic electronics could
be transferred into high-performance audio
products, such as domestic and studio-grade
amplifiers.
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After developing his own proprietary techniques
for making advanced audio products in the 1980s,
affordable components emerged that enabled
Frank's designs to be developed into commercial
products. The technologies had been developed
and finessed throughout the 1980s and a year
after Chord Electronics was founded in 1989, it
had supplied the BBC with amplifier samples
that in a very short time, gave birth to a broadcastqualified unit. Word soon spread and other notable
organisations such as EMI’s Abbey Road Studios,
Sony (New York) and Toshiba (Japan) soon
followed the BBC’s lead in the professional arena.
Today, the company operates from a beautifully
restored, fully modernised converted pump house
on the River Medway. As with other prestigious
high-end manufacturers, the products are built
to order, ensuring a bespoke service whereby
customers individualise their request and choose
special finishes, such as hand-polished nickel
and high-gloss gold.
The product range includes standalone products
that can be added to an existing set-up, as well
as complete music playback systems that are
ready to go straight from the box. Chord has a
number of specially selected, highly trained
retailers who have the expertise to help customers
create the Chord system of their dreams and
install it in the home if required. These specialist
dealers can be found across the world and a
handy Dealer Locator tab on the Chord
Electronics website can help locate your nearest
specialist.
Chord Electronics has three distinct ranges that
all provide the same level of innovation, bespoke
engineering and handcrafted luxury, whatever
the budget. For the aficionado, there is the
Reference Series, which provides discerning
music lovers with the best possible audio
experience and is a performance-tuned version
of Chord’s Standard Series.
The two other ranges, Choral and Chordette,
move away from conventionally styled and sized
hi-fi components to offer beautiful aesthetics and
build quality, designed to complement any interior.
Both ranges offer complete systems for highquality music playback solutions, including
streaming products that can find and replay digital
music files stored on a network, computer or
drive.
The handcrafted nature of the products, which
all have advanced casework beautifully machined
from solid aircraft-grade aluminium by a Kentbased specialist, means that they are built to
last. Unlike today’s smartphones, tablets and
computers, which have a built-in obsolescence,
Chord’s audio products are designed and built
to last in excess of 20 years, and the company’s
legendary service and back-up department
ensures that owners continue to enjoy their
systems as new technologies emerge.
Chord’s products are not only revered by
enthusiasts internationally, they are also used as
‘reference’ by consumer technology magazines
here in the UK. The world’s biggest audio
magazine, What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision, uses
Chord Electronics’ components to benchmark
other review products against and media giants
including Channel 4’s The Gadget Show to The
Mail on Sunday have extolled the benefits of a
Chord system. If you love music, Chord
Electronics really is a sound investment.
Chord Electronics
01622 721444
www.chordelectronics.co.uk
www.facebook.com/chordelectronics