Audiolab is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 manufacturer of audio equipment

Audio equipment

A piece of audio equipment is any device designed principally to reproduce, record or process sound. This includes microphones, radio receivers, AV receivers, CD players, tape recorders, amplifiers, mixing consoles, effects units and loudspeakers....

. It specializes in affordable systems and has a range of stereo

STEREO

STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...

 and surround sound

Surround sound

Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...

 systems.

History

Audiolab was founded by Philip Swift and Derek Scotland in 1983. They met as students of Imperial College, and shared a common frustration of the high cost of hi-fi equipment and the difficulty of use. The first product was the 8000A integrated amplifier

Integrated amplifier

An integrated amplifier is an electronic device containing an audio preamplifier and power amplifier in one unit, as opposed to separating the two. Most modern audio amplifiers are integrated and have several inputs for devices such as CD players, DVD players, and auxiliary sources...

, followed by the 8000C preamplifier

Preamplifier

A preamplifier is an electronic amplifier that prepares a small electrical signal for further amplification or processing. A preamplifier is often placed close to the sensor to reduce the effects of noise and interference. It is used to boost the signal strength to drive the cable to the main...

 and the 8000P power amplifier. As the company grew, they developed new products including CD players, transports, radio tuners and digital-to-analog converter

Digital-to-analog converter

In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter is a device that converts a digital code to an analog signal . An analog-to-digital converter performs the reverse operation...

s.

Audiolab was taken over by TAG McLaren in 1998. The TAG McLaren Audio enterprise suffered adversely from the economic slump in the early 2000s, and announced that it ceased development in mid-2003 followed by a strategic review. The audio operations where eventually sold to the International Audio Group (headquartered in Shenzhen

Shenzhen

Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

), which owns other Hi-Fi manufacturers such as Quad, Mission, Wharfedale

Wharfedale

Wharfedale is one of the Yorkshire Dales in England. It is the valley of the River Wharfe. Towns and villages in Wharfedale include Buckden, Kettlewell, Conistone, Grassington, Hebden, Ilkley, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Otley, Pool-in-Wharfedale, Arthington, Collingham, and Wetherby...

 and Castle Acoustics. It wasn't until 2005 that Audiolab re-emerged under the leadership of designer Nick Clarke, with a whole new range of equipment.

Audiolab has recently unveiled a new range of audio components that have been badged the 8200 series, as opposed to the traditional 8000 series. In addition to adding a larger monoblock amplifier, the 8200MB, the new digital components also accept digital input from computers and other digital sources.

The 8200CD is the first to be unveiled, followed by the 8200CDQ, which was also announced at the 2010 Hi-End Show in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. The new 8200 series digital products have been designed by John Westlake

John A. Westlake

John Alexander Westlake – a Hi Fi designer of British & Czech origin. Westlake started his Hi Fi career in his early twenties while working for a Hi Fi company Pink Triangle. He designed the Pink Triangle DaCapo digital to analog converter in 1995...

, aside from the 8200 AV. The 8200CD was voted a Product of the Year 2010 by What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision

What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision

What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision is a monthly magazine and published by Haymarket Consumer Media. It features articles on hi-fi, home cinema, television, video games, sound, computers and gadgets...

 magazine.

Audiolab was sold as "Camtech" in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

.

Awards

Audiolab 8200CD player designed by John Westlake

John A. Westlake

John Alexander Westlake – a Hi Fi designer of British & Czech origin. Westlake started his Hi Fi career in his early twenties while working for a Hi Fi company Pink Triangle. He designed the Pink Triangle DaCapo digital to analog converter in 1995...

 - Product of the Year 2010 by What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision magazine

What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision

What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision is a monthly magazine and published by Haymarket Consumer Media. It features articles on hi-fi, home cinema, television, video games, sound, computers and gadgets...