The Chord Company house sound is defined by transparency, timing and musical coherence

“An era where noise management is as critical as signal transmission”

Alan Gibb, Managing Director, Chord Company

HFC: How vital is your original philosophy to how Chord Company operates today?
AG: Our founding principle – that everything we make, whatever its level, should preserve and deliver as much as possible of the musical purity of the signals that they are transmitting – remains the heartbeat of Chord Company. It’s not just a legacy; it’s a living ethos. From our earliest designs to today’s most advanced products, we’ve stayed committed to engineering products that endeavour to reveal music’s full emotional and technical depth. That philosophy led directly to innovations like ARAY technology, which began with a simple question in 2012: “Where do we go from here?”

HFC: Have these principles adjusted with technological developments over the years?
AG: They’ve evolved in tandem with the industry. Cable design is dominated by mechanical engineering as well as material technology: impedance-matching, shielding geometry, bandwidth and phase accuracy. But, as digital systems and RF noise became more prevalent, we have had to tackle these additional challenges. We have since incorporated techniques to mitigate the negative impact of high-frequency noise, especially on the signal ground integrity. The birth of TunedARAY, sparked by a breakthrough modification to our Sarum cable, marked a turning point. It introduced a new way of controlling unwanted high-frequency issues without entering the signal path itself.

HFC: How would you categorise the Chord Company house sound?
AG: We don’t impose a sound, we reveal one! The Chord Company house sound is defined by transparency, timing and musical coherence. Our cables aim to remove barriers between the listener and the performance. With ARAY technology, for instance, you don’t just hear the piano, you hear the phrasing, the intention, the rehearsal behind it. That’s the difference between listening and connecting.

HFC: How do you go about designing and testing new products?
AG: It’s a dialogue between measurement and music. We begin with a technical challenge, say, reducing high-frequency noise on signal grounds and explore materials, geometries and shielding strategies. But, the final arbiter is always listening. Every prototype is auditioned across diverse systems and genres. If it doesn’t make the music feel more alive, it doesn’t move forward. That’s how ARAY, GroundARAY and PowerARAY, in fact all of our products came to life: through curiosity, experimentation and a lot of listening.

HFC: How significant is trickle-down tech to your ranges?
AG: With any new technology, we always try to make the very best prototypes first. It is essential to know what the maximum impact on the music or video quality might be. Almost everything for the prototypes is hand-built: casework, connectors, each individually designed and built locally by specialist companies. The assembly of each of these test pieces can take our best technicians up to a day, depending on their complexity. If the idea has been proved then an enormous effort goes into ensuring that we can produce the product as consistently and as efficiently as possible. Our TunedARAY technology, for example, began in Sarum and now features across our portfolio. Our GroundARAY materials, originally sourced from militarygrade anti-RFI applications, have found their way into our PowerHAUS mains blocks, (English Electric) EE1 Plus filters and even turntable earth wires. We believe high-end innovation should improve every level of the listening experience.

HFC: What developments do you see happening to the hi-fi industry in the future?
AG: We’re entering an era where noise management is as critical as signal transmission. With the explosion of Wi-Fi, LED lighting, mobile devices and digital processing, high-frequency interference is everywhere and it’s affecting performance in subtle but significant ways. The future will demand smarter, more passive solutions like our GroundARAY system and EE1 Plus, which clean up the environment without compromising dynamics. We also see a growing appetite for compact, high-performance systems that integrate seamlessly into modern living spaces.

HFC: Can you tell us anything about new Chord Company products on the horizon?
AG: We’re constantly exploring new ways to tame noise and enhance musicality. Expect refinements to our digital and power ranges, including expanded applications of our GroundARAY tech. We’re also developing new materials and geometries that could push performance even further, all while keeping our products accessible.

Whether it’s a flagship PowerARAY Professional noise-reduction system or a clever tweak to a network filter, our goal is the same: to make music sound more like music.