Neil McCauley
10-08-2016, 09:22
Howard Popeck: This is, as far as I know, the final interview with the late Colin Howard, former production director of BS Meridian, founder of London HiFi Services, innovator, designer and the co-founder of Burton Somervell speakers. I conducted this interview some years ago and only discovered it yesterday. It has never previously been published.
I was for a short while a consultant to the company but the personality clashes were fierce and I resigned. This is for me, both ironic and poignant because there was, in the main, unanimity regarding the intended and deliberately elevated sonic performance which, astonishingly given the circumstances, were achieved in the prototypes and the handful of production units which, as far as I know are collectors items and never appear on the used market.
The company had enormous potential, very clever designs mainly driven by Paul Burton (Sumo Aria, Podium planar speakers, Rountree OmniMon speakers and quite probably a whole lot more) and latterly Chris Bryant and funded by Colin Howard and others. Please see the epilogue.
For various reason the company never got off the ground. They built two variants of a classic floorstander design using a forward-facing ribbon and sideways-facing bass/mid drivers; the finest money could buy. I still have a pair of the smaller of the two and they are magnificent. There is a very special pair in daily use in London with eighteen small sideways-facing drivers per cabinet. Transient response to die for and much, much more.
Additionally they designed a fine bookshelf / stand mount speaker inspired by the JR-149, the BS RoundOne plus a prototype active inspired by the Meridian M20 but far, far more capable using electronics developed by the iconoclastic Chris Bryant who applied superb electronic design innovation. This was the XTC-4C. My understanding is that for reasons unknown to me, all prototypes of these were deliberately destroyed. Hubris perhaps? Research? Anyway ... a great pity.
Continues at http://www.hifianswers.com/2016/08/burton-somervell-marginalised-magnificence/
I was for a short while a consultant to the company but the personality clashes were fierce and I resigned. This is for me, both ironic and poignant because there was, in the main, unanimity regarding the intended and deliberately elevated sonic performance which, astonishingly given the circumstances, were achieved in the prototypes and the handful of production units which, as far as I know are collectors items and never appear on the used market.
The company had enormous potential, very clever designs mainly driven by Paul Burton (Sumo Aria, Podium planar speakers, Rountree OmniMon speakers and quite probably a whole lot more) and latterly Chris Bryant and funded by Colin Howard and others. Please see the epilogue.
For various reason the company never got off the ground. They built two variants of a classic floorstander design using a forward-facing ribbon and sideways-facing bass/mid drivers; the finest money could buy. I still have a pair of the smaller of the two and they are magnificent. There is a very special pair in daily use in London with eighteen small sideways-facing drivers per cabinet. Transient response to die for and much, much more.
Additionally they designed a fine bookshelf / stand mount speaker inspired by the JR-149, the BS RoundOne plus a prototype active inspired by the Meridian M20 but far, far more capable using electronics developed by the iconoclastic Chris Bryant who applied superb electronic design innovation. This was the XTC-4C. My understanding is that for reasons unknown to me, all prototypes of these were deliberately destroyed. Hubris perhaps? Research? Anyway ... a great pity.
Continues at http://www.hifianswers.com/2016/08/burton-somervell-marginalised-magnificence/