[James Tanner]

Ian Colquhoun

Ian Colquhoun started Axiom Audio in Canada in 1980. The company has since expanded into electronics and accessories, but it was founded purely to make loudspeakers. Colquhoun was and still is its chief speaker designer. In 1981, he became involved in the groundbreaking loudspeaker research that Dr. Floyd Toole was conducting at Canada’s National Research Council (NRC), which has its main campus in Ottawa, Ontario. As Colquhoun explained when I interviewed him earlier this year, Toole’s work completely changed his approach to speaker design—for the better.

Besides being good at designing speakers, Colquhoun has excellent business acumen. In the 1990s, he made Axiom Audio into an original equipment manufacturer for several mass-market brands. In 2000, Axiom Audio became one of the first hi-fi companies to recognize the power of the internet, and began selling direct from the factory. About 20 years later, he acquired Bryston, which is best known for its amplifiers and other electronics, but also markets speakers, which Colquhoun and the team at Axiom Audio had already been designing and building for the brand. More recently, he acquired Magnum Dynalab, which is renowned for its FM tuners, but started out in 1965 making integrated amplifiers. Both Bryston and Magnum Dynalab are Canadian brands.

Colquhoun moved the manufacturing of both brands to the Axiom Audio location in Dwight, Ontario, to create what he calls a “superfactory,” which, as I’m writing this article, is undergoing a significant expansion to accommodate all that’s now being built there. Colquhoun deserves this award for the past successes he’s had with Axiom Audio—and the success he’s now having with his three premium brands, all under one roof.

[RDavidson]

BRAVO! Well deserved!