The A48 is Sugdens number one selling amplifier to date, and Since its introduction in 1974 it has sold over 10,000 units. The distinctive styling was accepted as a classic and the UK Design Council give it an award in 1979! The use of fury Nextel paint and a choice of chocolate brown and beige, or Black and grey were available finishes. The orange stripe was introduced in 1976 until 1979 and has become the Sugden millstone, sorry trade mark. At a recent London Hi Fi Show Sugden painted a current product range the legendary orange and it created quite a stir amongst the public and trade alike.

The introduction of the A48 - 1974

Jim Sugden founded research electronics in the early 60's and had been designing scientific instruments for various applications. Recognised as a brilliant designer it was the loudspeaker manufacturer - Richard Allan that catapulted Jims career into commercial Audio with the commissioned design of the A21.   The A21 was a low power pure class A amplifier and is featured elsewhere.  As trends changed in the early 70's, loudspeaker manufactures began introducing inefficient systems that demanded high powered amplification.  The A21 was only rated at 12 Watts so Jim had too re-invent the wheel. The A48 Series I offered the smoothness of Class A with the grunt of a Class B. Never one to compromise quality Jim stuck to his principles and developed an amplifier Rated at 40 Watts r.m.s with the driver stage  working in class A.

The Sugden Factory at Cleckheaton 1972 - 1981

Jim took advantage of the need for change and the A48 was developed with a wealth of new facilities the A21 did not possess. Both power output and current delivery were increased, Filter facilities were added, Disc sensitivity was made adjustable and a quiet facility was included to compensate and balance low listening levels.

The filter facilities became a real selling point for the A48 and stayed with the amplifier for the duration. A low frequency filter  with a terminal slope of 18dB/octave was capable of removing turntable rumbles giving the amplifier exceptional bass performance. An adjustable high frequency slope filter working at 4KHz, 7KHz and 10KHz with a -6dB or 18dB/octave tailored the top end on suspect recordings. These worked especially well on the still popular 78rpm mono recordings. The A48 Series I remained in production until 1976 at which point the A48II was introduced.

A48 SERIES II 1976

With the incredible success of the Series I under the companies belt it was time to take Sugden up a level. The main problem with success was the need to increase production. As each piece of Sugden was , and still is handcrafted  by a single employee, mass production was out of the question. Additional staff were appointed but more significantly the A48II was designed in such a way it was quicker to build and all the case components were constructed in-house. Power output was increased to 50 Watts and the output transistors were doubled up to produce even more current capability. This was and still is a very fine amplifier of superb quality.  The love it or hate it styling with a bright orange stripe was surprisingly well accepted woldwide, and not only were home sales increased dramatically, export markets were opening up to take nearly 50% of production. The introduction of the matching T48 Tuner also added strength to the Sugden product range. To many the 1976 orange A48 is the classic Sugden and considering the radical styling, tank like construction and unbelievable reliability they are probably right. After all, the reason that Audio Synergy exists to day is our involvement with this amplifier over twenty years ago! Our enthusiasm has never dwindled, it is quite simply a true classic.