Forty something

Creek Audio is celebrating its big four-o with the release of the new 4040 A integrated. Nick Tate lights the candles and listens in

- Nick Tate

Our story starts back in the mists of the Seventies when a young Michael Creek was working for his father’s audio business – Wyndsor Recording Co. Ltd. – learning the ropes in anticipation of one day going it alone. Finally, after a stretch as a design consultant, he decided to branch out on his own, and Creek Audio Systems was formed in 1981.

The first Creek CAS4040 was sold on 31 March 1982, to Audio Projects in Leeds, and retailed for just £99. It was a comparatively small 30W RMS per channel solid-state integrated: “based upon an upgraded version of a 10W power amp circuit employed at Wyndsor in 1976”, remembers Mike.

It was an audacious move, because back at that time the hi-fi world was dominated by the NAD 3020 – an extremely capable 20W amplifier that sounded better than most rivals costing twice its price.

All the same, the Creek began to sell very well – with many cash-strapped rookie audiophiles preferring the CAS4040. The rest, as they say is history. Mike first made 100 pieces with a £4,000 bank loan; by 1985 he was selling 1,200 amps and 350 tuners per month. His total sales were approximately 25,000 CAS4040s by 1991, when he sold the company to TGI group. To cut a long story short, he bought Creek back a couple of years later and has been running it ever since.