Graham Audio – original “BBC” sound

Graham Audio is a British family-owned company based in Newton Abbot, a small market town in Devon, South West England. We are passionate about high-quality audio and believe that the classic BBC loudspeaker designs offer levels of neutrality, transparency and realism that are hard to find elsewhere today. By using modern components and manufacturing techniques we have managed to maximise performance whilst remaining true to the original design.

We may be small, but we're proud to work with some of the best talent in the industry, including Derek Hughes (open youtube video about Derek Hughes – chief engineer at Graham Audio) and Volt Loudspeakers. Our loudspeaker systems are available worldwide from carefully selected retailers who have full demonstrations and will support you through the selection and installation process.

All speakers are hand-assembled on site. One person is responsible for each step of production, including testing and auditioning. A second person double-checks the finished product, repeating the testing as a matter of course and saving the results for future reference. As part of the testing process, all finished speakers are compared to our master reference samples to ensure complete consistency.

Company history
The company was founded by Paul Graham, who had spent over 20 years working in all areas of professional audio, including the recording and broadcasting industries, and live and performance sound. Of all the different approaches, Paul always favoured the “BBC sound” for both professional and personal applications, but he feared that many of the designs would be lost forever as one by one the surviving examples gradually deteriorated after many classic decades of service. A few chance meetings and some long conversations later, it was decided that the only way to preserve this legacy was to seek permission from the BBC to build them myself.

Fortunately, our debut loudspeaker – the BBC LS5/9 – was warmly received by reviewers and owners, with the BBC LS5/8 and BBC LS3/5 being equally successful. In addition, our range of custom loudspeakers includes a high-power, high-quality passive monitor designed primarily for live sound (SYSTEM3D) – and from that research programme the freestanding VOTU was born. The Chartwell LS6 sits between the LS3/5 and LS5/9 and is no different in terms of dynamics and musical insight. And the LS5/5 marks the introduction – we believe it is the first ever – of slot loading to the domestic hifi market. This feature has been widely used by the BBC to improve the off-axis response of large drive units, resulting in a smoother power response that makes it easier to accommodate large loudspeakers in a typical domestic environment.