About Crimson Electronics
The Crimson Mission Statement
"The reality of the building does not consist of the roof and walls, but of the space within." - Frank Lloyd Wright.
Truth, not Character.
That's our motto. We design products for people who love listening to music, not collecting equipment. Everything we make is designed to have no sonic character of its own but simply to vanish from the replay chain. Our goal is for the music you hear in your home to be as faithful as possible to the music as it was recorded.
If you expect your hi-fi system to "sound like something", then Crimson may not be your cup of tea. We don't soften anything to create a more palatable sound. We're not concerned with adding a "rosy glow" or a "bloom" or whatever you want to call it to the sound, because we don't think that's reality. Yes, there are many companies purveying that kind of sound, but it's not what we believe in. This obsession with sound effects and the flowery prose that has evolved to describe them is not what Crimson is about.
First and last, we love music. We think that the great recordings are most exciting when they're delivered as recorded, without being tempered to make them more pleasant to listen to. We don't design Crimson products to behave like other audio equipment; we design them to convey the sound of real musical instruments.
Many Crimson owners first come to us on "a quest" of sorts, simultaneously fascinated and frustrated with the audio equipment industry. Wondering if they'd "lost the plot." Fascinated because great-sounding music in one's home is a fantastic thing. Frustrated because of the emphasis on equipment over music. "This box has this sound" and "that box has that sound" and our favourite: "this box works best with that box".
So we like to remind people that we don't think home audio should be about sitting around on a Saturday night comparing boxes or cables or what-have-you. It should be about getting the music right enabling you to hear more and more of the musical detail in your recordings, every time you listen. Enjoy!
A Very Brief History of Crimson Products Ltd.
- 1976 - Brian Powell is working at Decca Records in their Audio Products Division doing development work on pre and power amplifiers as well as an FM tuner and some loudspeaker drive units. When it becomes clear that Decca will soon fold, Brian founds Crimson Elektrik in Leicester. The company's first products are fully tested circuit boards for power amplifiers. The buyer/builder would provide their own power supply and casework.
- 1979 - Complete amplifier kits begin to be offered (everything included!)
- An early Crimson Pre and Power Amplifier
- 1980 - Crimson 510 Pre-amplifier and 520/530 Power amplifiers are introduced.
- The Battery-Powered Crimson 510 Pre-amplifier (photo courtesy of Peter Back)
- 1982 - Crimson 610 Pre-amplifier and 620 & 630 Power amplifiers are introduced.
- Crimson 610 Pre-amplifier and 620 Power Amplifier.
- 1995 - All Crimson Pre and Power amps are now sold fully assembled. The 600 "C" series is introduced.
- 1996 - Ownership of Crimson is acquired by its worldwide distributor, Virtual Reality Audio Systems Ltd. and Crimson Products Ltd. is established.
- 1998 - Crimson published this brochure about the 600-series Pre and Power amps. An extra line input is added to the CS610C Pre-amplifier. The CS610C Pre-amplifier gets an updated circuit.
- For a few years, Crimsons were available in colours! A Crimson CS610C Pre-amp with CS630C Power Amplifiers.
- 2000 - The 600-series power amplifiers get completely new circuit boards, new back panels and an improved linished finish for the sleeves and become the "D" series. The CS620D stereo power amplifier is fitted with a phase inverter circuit.
- 2001 - The CS640D Monoblock power amplifier is introduced. It features dual mains transformers and dual complimentary pairs of output devices per channel.
- The Crimson CS710C with CS640E-III Power Amplifiers
- 2005 - The CS710 Pre-amplifier is introduced. The 600 "E" series of power amplifiers is introduced.
- 2008 - The CS640E and CS620E Power amplifiers get completely new circuit boards and become the "E-II" version. Crimson RM Music Link Interconnect and Loudspeaker cable is introduced.
- 2011 - The CS640E-II and CS620E-II Power amplifiers get updated circuits and improved internal wiring and become the "E-III" version.
© 2013 Crimson Products Ltd.