Audiolab

Audiolab is a British audio equipment manufacturer. The company was founded by Philip Swift and Derek Scotland in 1983. They met as students at Imperial College and shared a common frustration with the high cost and complexity of hi-fi equipment. The company's first product was the 8000A integrated amplifier, followed by the 8000C preamplifier, 8000P power amplifier and 8000M monoblocks. As the company grew, it began developing new products including CD players, transports, radio tuners and digital-to-analogue converters.

Audiolab was acquired by TAG McLaren in 1998. TAG McLaren Audio was hit hard by the economic downturn of the early 2000s and announced it was ceasing development in mid-2003. The audio operations were eventually sold to the International Audio Group (headquartered in Shenzhen, China), which owned other hi-fi manufacturers such as Quad, Mission, Wharfedale and Castle Acoustics.

It was not until 2005 that the Audiolab brand was revived under the direction of designer Nick Clarke with a completely new range of equipment.

Audiolab introduced a range of audio components under the 8200 series brand, as opposed to the traditional 8000 series. In addition to adding a more powerful monoblock amplifier, the 8200 MB, the new digital components also accept digital signals from computers and other digital sources.