Loudspeakers

While Cambridge Audio began life in 1968 as a manufacturer of stereo amps, something that remains core to the brand today, its loudspeaker history dates back almost as far. In fact, 2021 is the 50th anniversary of its first model, the heavyweight (44kg) R50 transmission line. Additional transmission line speakers followed in the 1970s, and more recently it debuted BMR (Balanced Mode Radiator) drivers in its Minx, Aero and Aeromax lines. The more traditional SX series is arguably something of an outlier, and it's tempting to wonder how much its design (and that of the previous 2008-era Sirocco series) was informed by the once-iconic Mordaunt-Short speaker brand. Another UK outfit, Mordaunt-Short was acquired by Cambridge Audio's owner Audio Partnership in 1999, and continued to release a varied slate of hi-fi and multichannel products across the next decade. These days the Mordaunt-Short name lives on, but only with sub-£100 bookshelf speakers sold exclusively in Richer Sounds.