The new Flat Earth?

The scale of the UK’s National Audio Show does allow the emergence of small trends that might otherwise pass unnoticed. This year, we might just be seeing the start of a rebirth of the Flat Earth properties that were once so extremely popular with UK audio buyers in the 1980s.

To recap for those who weren’t there at the time, the Flat Earth school was (the first time) dominated by brands such as Linn and Naim, which had a common goal of small, relatively inexpensive, minimalist products, coupled with boundary loudspeakers… and a lot of attitude. Over the years, the attitude mellowed a lot, the brands that came to represent this Flat Earth moved away from its core values in search of new markets… but the traditional ‘Flat Earth’ buyer stayed true to the cause. They just had to focus their attention on older products, eschewing newer products from the anointed brands because they were not quite minimalist enough.

That might be changing. A new breed of company (and, sometimes, old companies reborn) is emerging to rekindle interest in these Flat Earth concepts, and the old crowd are loving it!

Perhaps the biggest and at once the smallest launch at the show was the rebirth of Royd Audio. Royd was the brainchild of Joe Akroyd, a gentle soul who made some great-sounding, often small, boundry loudspeakers more by listening and principle than mathematics and measurement. The company effectively stopped 10 years ago when Joe retired (he subsequently passed on), but the brand has been reborn, and the first model in the range is the Troubadour, a re-imagining of the original company’s Minstrel loudspeaker. This tiny £999 standmount is designed to work close to a wall, has a side-firing port, two drivers (hardcore Royd purists are not convinced by the use of an isodynamic tweeter where a soft dome should do, but many of those hardcore purists actually want a time machine, rather than a new loudspeaker). If this is a success, others will follow.

Next up is Heed and its new thesis range, comprising preamp, phono stage, mono power amplifier and power supply, at prices from £1,600 to £2,850. The performance itself was difficult to gauge, given the system was in one of the largest echo-chambers in the whole hotel, but had promise. The Flat Earth movement, however, loved it, because it reminded them of their ‘chrome bumper’ Naim amplifiers from 30 years ago. We are slated to review this system soon, and judging by Heed products we’ve encountered, it offers a lot more than just memories of shoulder pads, Filofaxes, and the Ford Escort XR3i.

Finally, and most intriguingly, comes Teddy Pardo from Israel. This company began by supplying parts to DIYers, then produced a range of alternate power supplies for Naim amplifiers, and has in the past few years branched out into making amplifiers in its own right. The company is little more than a one-man band, but has its own ferociously loyal following among Naim and ex-Naim users from the days of the Flat Earth and, while tiny to the point of near-invisibility outside this small circle, the room was almost constantly packed with husky fiftysomethings enjoying themselves in a way they might not have done in years. Pardo chose the NAS to launch his new i80 integrated amplifier (£1,735-£1,860, depending on configuration) and his new £750 PHN1 phono stage, alongside a gaggle of power supplies.

Whether this is the restart of a movement, or just a few superannuated audiophiles reliving past glories is academic. What’s important here is these companies are proving the audio world is allowing greater diversity and embracing all manner of audio concepts, past, present, and future.