Pre/Power Amplifiers

Simaudio is coming up on its 40th anniversary in 2020, having been founded as Sima Electronique in 1980 in St Hubert, Quebec, where the company is still based. Named after founder Victor Sima, it had a simple goal: 'high-performance music reproduction without the frills, bells & whistles'. Its initial products were mainly aimed at pro users, and stood out for their value for money, leading to their rapid acceptance for home audio. Within a decade the company was already moving towards the striking styling we see today, and had renamed itself Simaudio Ltd., as well as developing the circuit designs at the heart of its current products. The Moon i-5 amp heralded a new reference series line when it arrived in 1997, and the company diversified into AV products in the 2000s, notably with the massive Titan multichannel power amp.

Not long after the company's 2010 30th anniversary, then owner Jean Poulin – who took over in 1995, and built it up to a production facility some 15 times larger than where things had started – sold it on to a new team including time-served management and Thierry Dufour, at that time chief engineer of almost 20 years' standing. Poulin stayed on as both consultant and ambassador for what was by then a company with products sold in some 50 countries – and still made in Canada. For more, turn to our interview boxout on p45.