Rod Harris

“My passion for audio started as a young boy. My father worked for Pioneer Electronics and he surrounded me with a range of different stereo products. It was through this exposure I grew a real appreciation of ‘sound’ and what this meant for audio enthusiasts and musicians alike.

With a natural interest in how things worked and a passion for electronics I decided to make audio my career. From humble beginnings repairing equipment I turned to designing amplifiers and speaker systems in my spare time. Initially I made them for myself, but soon, through word of mouth, I was being asked to develop custom solutions for people who wanted more than what was available on the market. It was all early days but my love for good design started here.

An opportunity arouse though a recommendation of a professional recording engineer and I soon found myself propelled into the recording studio industry. It was here I helped notable establishments such as Studio 301 maintain and upgrade their systems and format mixing consoles, SSLs, Neve, Neotek plus Studer, Ampex tape machines, and outboard gear.

I was surrounded by industrial grade recording and mixing solutions and a number of leading artists, but I noticed there was a fundamental problem – much effort and expense were being placed into recording the musician’s sound for it only to be lost when played on inferior solutions for the consumer at home. Even so called ‘hi-end’ audio systems left a lot to be desired. Everyone seemed to accept this. I did not know why. Maybe they did not realise!

I became determined to fix this and recreate the true sound of the artist and you were hearing what they were hearing. I wanted to teleport the listener to the musician – as though you were their private audience as they played on stage or in the recording studio. My goal is for you to forget about the equipment and enjoy the musical experience!

To achieve the effect, I took a back to basics design approach. I leveraged the principles found in top of the range studio systems but mixed it with the practicalities of size and cost – the focus was on achieving simplicity but at commercial quality.

The secret is in the synergy of components, their positioning relative to each other and routing of the circuit board. The circuit topology is our patented design which has a simple signal path between industrial quality components for reliability and sound quality. Wrapping the design together is a fine turning process which harmonises each element. To make sure it is done right I personally test and balance every amplifier before it leaves us – I put my signature on the back of each one so you know you are receiving the very best with the highest possible quality control.

Another key element of the HAL350 is an incorporated DAC. This ensures true integration at the manufacturing level. It also eliminates a miss-match of DAC / amplifier compatibility which often lets many people down! This part of the design was the most challenging to get past, but the result is amazing. It will blow you away!

I am proud of what our team has produced – It has taken years to perfect. We hope you enjoy your new sound experience.”