Thread: John Curl joins iFi and AMR as technical consultant

John Curl joins iFi and AMR as technical consultant
Highly respected high-end audio engineer is engaged to work across all new design projects



Southport, England – Sister-companies iFi Audio and Abbingdon Music Research (AMR) are pleased to announce that John Curl, one of the world’s most respected high-end audio engineers, has been engaged as a technical consultant.

Curl is working across all new product designs from iFi and AMR, collaborating closely with iFi’s Technical Director Thorsten Loesch to ensure that all circuit designs are fully optimised. The first products to feature his input include iFi’s forthcoming ZEN range of desktop audio products – the first of which will launch this autumn – and all-new high-end components from AMR due in 2020.

John’s status at the forefront of high-end audio’s hall of fame has been secure for many years. In 1968, whilst building a mixing console for the Grateful Dead, he developed a solid-state circuit that became a benchmark in high-performance audio – the “complimentary differential-input” circuit, which still appears in application handbooks published by transistor manufacturers to this day.

This led to Curl working with a young Mark Levinson in the early 1970s, creating the legendary Mark Levinson Audio Systems JC2 preamplifier *– the first standalone product to incorporate Curl’s complementary differential-input circuit – followed by the ML-2 Class A power amplifier. He went on to work with many other luminaries of the high-end audio scene, including Dave Wilson and Jeff Roland.

Curl is unquestionably one of a select group of engineers whose influence is so great it has altered the direction of audio design. Many of us have listened to equipment he has designed, or that was inspired by his work, often without even realising it. His solid-state circuit designs are lauded as classic exemplars of the type; when asked what makes him different to other audio electronics designers, he once replied, “I have circuit sense”.

Today, Curl works with a small collection of carefully chosen manufacturers including US-based Parasound and one of high-end audio’s most lauded manufacturers in recent years – Constellation Audio. iFi Audio and AMR are delighted to reap the benefits of the exceptional experience he has gained whilst devising some of the finest audio circuits ever made.

Vincent Luke, Sales Director at iFi Audio and AMR, said: “We are excited to have the opportunity to add John’s exceptional expertise to our talented team of technical designers, led by Thorsten Loesch. His insight will help us to further raise the sonic bar with products in the pipeline from both iFi and AMR – from portable and desktop audio to the very finest high-end hi-fi components, we will continue to push the boundaries of design, functionality and performance.”