I would like to give a mention to Castle Acoustics of Skipton, Yorkshire. I had their Conway II speakers in 1981, followed by the Harlechs in the 1990s. I still have a pair of Richmonds and a Castle Keep in the cupboard under the stairs. I bought the Conways from Laskys in Preston with my first pay cheque.
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Castle have been around for 40 or 50 years - still going today - and I donāt think very obscure, though perhaps not that common on the forumā¦. They are one of the few manufacturers making transmission line speakers, and also making drive units themselves.
Yes, I mentioned it a few posts back, my first TT was also a BD1 in kit form. Great little TT.
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Agree. Loved the ARC101 and regretted never owning a pair.
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The original Castle went bust some time ago, the name has been acquired by IAG and used on Chinese made units.
Years ago a friend had a pair of small Keletron loudspeakers, donāt think I ever actually heard them. The early 70s brought a flowering of obscure small companies, a lot were wiped out by the VAT changes, which I think was in 1973.
There was a gap between purchase tax being abandoned and VAT being introduced which caused a boom followed by a lull in consumer spending. During this time another friend bought a piano from Harrods. He didnāt particularly like the colour, but was told that if he waited for his preferred choice it would be at the new price - he bought the cheaper option!
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My first pair of hifi speakers were a pair of Mordaunt Short MS11ās. Had them for many years. Not sure what has happened to Mordaunt Short but they were good speakers.
The ARC 101 was an excellent speaker developed by the Manchester based Alastair Clarke (apologies if I have spelled his name incorrectly). The active version driven by Ion Systems amplifiers was a real bargain. I read recently that a German company is producing ARC speakers once more. There was also a model called the Atom - a good budget alternative to the Linn Kan.
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I think some Wharfdale speakers are made or about to be made in UK and think Luxman is still made in Japan
At last, one Iāve not heard of!
Many of the brandās named on this thread are classics as opposed to obscure IMO.
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I may be totally wrong, but didnāt Castle used to make the wood shelves for the Naim Fraims ???
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They did, until they went bust. They also made the cabinets for the Naim Arivas.
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Another brand in the Chinese IAG Group these days and does not seem to operate in the UK at least.
The factory in Skipton is all gone.
I still have a pair of Castle Severn 2s although almost only the actual cabinet is original these days as I replaced the drive units and updated the crossover with higher-quality capacitors and resisters.
The cabinet quality and design was a major factor in their sound.
I had no luck with the SBL speakers either. I donāt know, but with hindsight I think that they may have required much more powerful amps than those I was using. Some compact loudspeakers really soak it up. The Celestion SL600 is a good example. Small cabinet made of a composite called āAerolamā and sounded very good, but had to be driven by something significant.
Luxman moved production back to Japan about or 6 years ago. They are owned by a holding company in China and did a couple decades of production in China but sales and quality suffered so they pulled it back and the holding company went more hands off.
I think Luxman are part of the same group as Audiolab and Quad.
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That may be the case, but the brand has continued, presenting itself as having been in existence since the 1970s, with an English address and heritage, though referring to āglobalisationāā¦ They are perhaps no less British then many manufacturers that originally started in Britain, even if their claimed single factory, making both drive units and finish speaker is now elsewhere, possibly China as you suggest. (With reference to the thread about Naim production elsewhere, that could happen any time to any brand.)
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They are part of IAG , but come up on Wikipedia as manufacturing in Yokohama rather than China.
Theyāre still not obscure, anywhere on the planet 
They have a website, are in the IAG group, but I donāt find any UK dealers, strange situation.
And letās not forget the esoteric Thackeray Audio and their wonderful TAA1 pre / TAA2 power combo.
I believe only 357 were ever made and they donāt appear on the second hand market very often but are well worth searching out.
.sjb
Orelle.
Which was a small company based in West London that made CD players, amplification the Swing and Orator Loudspeakers.
Excellent sounding kit
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