About Raleigh Acoustics

A close up of a measurement microphone and loudspeaker

Reveal the Sound: Explore the Music

Raleigh Acoustics designs and builds loudspeakers for listeners who value music over marketing. We combine careful measurement and craftsmanship to create speakers that sound right in your room and allow you to focus solely on the music.

Who we are

An independent loudspeaker design company based in East Devon. Named after Sir Walter Raleigh, whose birthplace lies nearby, the company was founded on a simple belief: great loudspeakers should help listeners connect more deeply with music. Our purpose is not to impress with technology, marketing claims or design fashions, rather to create loudspeakers that reveal the musical performance with clarity, accuracy and enduring listening pleasure. Our motto, Reveal the Sound: Explore the Music®, reflects both our design philosophy and the listening experience we aim to create. We believe that great loudspeakers allow listeners to explore recordings more deeply, uncovering nuances, performances and emotional content that might otherwise remain hidden.

Designed for Real Rooms

HiFi loudspeakers are ultimately heard in living rooms, studies and family spaces rather than laboratories. For that reason, we place particular emphasis on how a loudspeaker sounds in a real domestic environment. A listener does not just hear sound directly from the speaker, but also from the complex reflections caused by the walls, ceiling, floor and furnishings. Understanding and controlling this interaction is central to our design process. By combining careful measurement, acoustic modelling and listening evaluation, we aim to create loudspeakers that perform predictably in real rooms and provide enjoyable, fatigue-free listening over the long term.

Our Philosophy

We believe that loudspeaker design is both a science and a craft. Every design is developed through an iterative process of measurement, modelling, prototyping and listening. Neither measurements nor listening tests alone can produce the best results; both are essential and each informs the other. We are pragmatic rather than ideological. We do not follow trends, nor are we committed to particular design doctrines. Whether selecting drivers, enclosure alignments or crossover topologies, our focus is always on choosing the most appropriate solution for the application. Loudspeaker design inevitably involves trade-offs. Our role is to make those trade-offs thoughtfully and transparently, guided by established engineering principles and the best available research.

Honest Engineering

We believe that trust is important in audio. We therefore aim to communicate clearly about our designs and to support technical claims with meaningful data wherever possible. We also recognise that audio is a field where understanding continues to evolve. Even when we think the science is settled, new evidence can challenge our assumptions. We remain curious, open to new ideas and willing to learn. We value evidence, but we also recognise that music listening is a human experience. Personal preferences vary, and there is rarely a single incorrect answer to how a loudspeaker should sound. Our goal is not to dictate what listeners should enjoy, but to create products that preserve the integrity and emotional impact of the recorded performance.

Craftsmanship & Independence

Raleigh Acoustics combines modern engineering with traditional craftsmanship. We work with UK cabinet manufacturers and, wherever practical, use components sourced in the UK to produce loudspeakers of lasting quality. As an independent company, we are free to select the most appropriate drivers and technologies for each design. We are not tied to a particular manufacturer or constrained by fashion. Our focus remains on delivering thoughtful, well‑balanced loudspeakers that customers can enjoy for many years.

Consultancy & Custom Design

Alongside our own loudspeaker developments, Raleigh Acoustics offers consultancy and custom design services. These may include concept development, enclosure modelling, driver selection, measurement, crossover design and loudspeaker optimisation. Every project begins with a conversation. By understanding the customer's requirements, application and priorities, we can develop solutions that are both technically sound and tailored to their needs.

Looking Ahead

Raleigh Acoustics exists for listeners who value music over marketing, substance over hype, and long-term satisfaction over constant upgrading. We are committed to honest engineering, careful craftsmanship and the pursuit of loudspeakers that help people spend less time thinking about equipment and more time enjoying music.

50°37'42" N ---- 3°19'14" W

About David

David is the founder and design lead of Raleigh Acoustics. With decades of experience in product development and electronic engineering, he brings a unique perspective to every design.

I have always been immersed in music. As a child I was a chorister with the local church choir of St Francis in Welwyn Garden City, enjoying summer weeks away as the visiting choir to many English cathedrals up and down the land. I also learnt to play piano and clarinet, and was a member of a local Youth Wind Band as well as school choirs and orchestra. So at a young age, I developed my love for music, appreciating a wide repertoire from church music through to big band, classical, 80s electronic and rock.

My interest in audio reproduction can be traced back to my father who had built the Practical Wireless “The Texan” integrated stereo amplifier, a “connoisseur” turntable kit and the very popular Wharfedale Kit 5 loudspeakers. I also built my own amplifier, the Maplin Electronics 25W MOSFET HiFi amplifier designed by Dave Goodman. I inherited my father’s beloved Wharfedale Kit 5 speakers and went on to build my own speakers using Audax drivers, some off the shelf crossovers and MDF cabinets that I built myself in the outhouse with my father’s handsaws, screws and glue! Like everyone’s first ever DIY loudspeaker, I thought I’d built a masterpiece! Little did I know……

At Salford University, I studied for a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and developed a better appreciation for the in-depth engineering required to design a loudspeaker. My first pair of commercial loudspeakers were the venerable Heybrook HB2, which was Peter Comeau’s first design. Since then, I have had a 30 year career in electronics product development giving me a great deal of useful experience and expertise in terms of what goes in to developing a successful product. I have since decided to follow my passions and return to loudspeaker design. And whilst the fundamentals haven’t changed, the availability of measurement and modelling tools has expanded considerably in the last few decades, taking away a lot of the guess work that was previously required.

My approach to loudspeaker design is very much built on the scientific method and the sound engineering principles I developed in the workplace. One of my many sources of inspiration comes from Peter Walker of Quad, who was attributed with the quote “the perfect amplifier is a straight wire with gain”, I believe that modern digital sources and amplifiers have effectively achieved that goal, so why shouldn’t loudspeakers also be treated the same? I should also say that I am heavily influenced by the engineering and design philosophies of Peter Comeau, Andrew Jones and Lars Risbo.

I believe that whatever musicality and emotion exists in the recording can only be preserved through accurate reproduction. Wherever possible, the reproduction system should not be designed to possess any of its own character, but should seek to minimise distortion as much as possible. In loudspeaker design, I believe this can only be achieved through careful driver selection along with a combination of extensive acoustic measurements, modelling and extended listening tests.

It is an iterative process that can take many weeks or even months, with several prototypes required to zero in on an optimum design. In doing so, the aim is to create a transparent loudspeaker with relatively low distortion that is able to reveal the sound, leaving the listener free to explore the music.