Sounds
excellence
Some 35 years ago, in the early 1980s, it would have been understandable if Mike Creek had described himself as a worried man. Although he had > 12 years’ experience in the electronics industry, Mike had a decision to make. As he sat in the back bedroom office of his home in north London, pondering the loss of his long term job, with his wife and child downstairs and with a mortgage to pay, he knew he had to start bringing in some money pretty quickly.
“ It was quite a stressful few months but I knew that I wanted to continue being my own boss. I knew a lot about the audio electronics market so I thought I should combine the two,” recalls Mike.“ I talked to my wife about it – I was determined to do something I’ d been meaning to do for a long time – and she supported me. I went up to the back bedroom, sat down and designed my first product, which was a small integrated amplifier which became known as the Creek CAS 4040. It took me a couple of months to develop and launch at a Hi-Fi show in Hampstead, north London, in January 1982.”
Mike ploughed every penny the bank was prepared to lend to him into stock and he then built 100 amplifiers. The first sale was to a specialist Hi-Fi shop called Audio Projects in Leeds, on March 29, 1982 and it would not be a surprise if that original 4040 integrated amp, with serial number 5501, is still out there working in someone’ s system today. 4040s are changing hands on eBay for more or less the original price of £ 99.00.
Mike adds:“ Within about 18 months of producing my first amp I was manufacturing around 1,200 a month. I also developed an FM radio during that time and at its peak, between the two products, we were selling around 2,000 items a month, both in the UK, our biggest market and 15 countries around the world. In 1988 I sold the company to TGI plc but bought it back in 1993, together with American, Swiss and German partners. I subsequently bought them out in 2004 to take complete control again and I’ m still running it today.”
To add to his portfolio, Mike also bought a Hi-Fi loudspeaker company called Epos from TGI in 1999, which has good synergy with Creek’ s electronic products.
Throughout his time in the business, Mike has stuck to his basic design philosophy, saying“ the products must:
• Have a simple uncluttered design brief;
• Exhibit technical sophistication;
• Feature state of the art electronics;
• Be designed for people who love music;
• Be minimalist in operation”.
Mike is clear about what sets his business apart from his rivals.“ Quality and performance, endorsed by the awards we have won around the world,” he says.“ On the Epos loudspeaker side, I’ m particularly proud that we won the Product of the Year award in Absolute Sound in America. In the UK, we prefer product reviews which take two or three pages and we are often the editor’ s choice in specialist magazines like Hi-Fi Choice and Hi-fi World. We have shelves full of awards.”
Looking to the future, Mike thinks much of Creek’ s manufacturing, currently done in China, will inevitably return to the UK and Europe.“ It’ s becoming quite expensive to manufacture in China now,” he explains.“ We certainly think that our higher-end products will again be made in the UK. The UK has great prestige for building high-quality products. In fact, the wealthy Chinese consumers are very fond of buying imported products from places like the UK. I’ m optimistic about moving some production back to the UK. It’ s a positive step but it requires a large investment in the manufacturing processes here to match the quality that can be made in China now.”
Finally, Mike, how do you see the future for Creek Audio?“ My son Luke is involved in the audio industry. He’ s a Product Manager at the moment but there might be a time when he takes over the reins here,” says Mike with a touch of pride, before adding quickly“ but not at this present moment. I’ m still happy to stay in charge for now.”
Creek Audio Ltd. Tel # + 44( 0) 1442 260 146 info @ creekaudio. com www. creekaudio. com