Sam ClarkThe Quest for Acoustic Perfection
Q & A: Craig and Christina Milnes, the acoustic masters behind top-end audio equipment manufacturers Wilson Benesch
Interview by Sam Clark
When the world was chasing after small, shiny discs like a crazed tiding of magpies who thought they had seen a vision of the future, Craig and Christina Milnes, along with the Wilson Benesch technical engineers, were quietly toiling. They’d anticipated that CDs, having taken over our record shelves, would soon be unceremoniously stacked away in the attic as our collections were reduced to the size of 20 Bensons and slipped into our pockets.
Throughout, Craig and Christina stuck firm to their belief in the superior quality of the analogue sound pressed deep into the peaks and troughs of a vinyl recording, and they have sought tirelessly to engineer the very best turntables and speakers to bring it alive. This is the sound of the soul of music.
In pursuit of perfect sound reproduction, Craig and Christina have dedicated over 20 years to exploiting the performance of aerospace materials, aspiring to a sound quality that comes the closest you can get to having Bob Dylan or the Royal Philharmonic playing in your front room.
From their Q-esque laboratories have come many firsts in the acoustic field. These include the world’s first carbon fibre sub-chassis turntable, the world’s first curved carbon fibre loudspeaker and the world’s first three-point locating, Kinematic bearing. And when they don’t achieve first, they always go for best. The A.C.T. One tone-arm was not the earliest carbon fibre tone-arm in the world, but it took Aerospace quality materials to a new level of sophistication. Wilson Benesch carefully placed the fine fibres in a helix pattern, to deliver torsional stiffness and vibration damping that makes Lewis Hamilton’s carbon Mercedes look as soft as the shell of an old Citroen 2CV.
We decided to find out more about their quest for aural manna…
What prompted you to found a high-end audio company?
Craig: In the late 1980s, digital technology was, for the first time, being introduced in the form of the CD. We understood well the limitations of this format, and recognised that analogue, principally vinyl, was a superior format. Indeed, it was our conviction that analogue systems would eventually re-emerge in the discerning music listener’s life as the format of choice for true high fidelity replay. So there was an opportunity to create a high-quality product at a time when many other manufacturers were turning their attention elsewhere.
How important was the choice of materials?
Christina: The use of carbon composites was very important. It not only defined a new level of performance within the Hi-Fi market, but it also defined our brand. Nobody was using this material other than aerospace and, of course, McLaren and other F1 manufacturers at the time.
What’s so good about carbon fibre?
Craig: It’s a wonder material – it offers both designers and engineers solutions which could not be realised using conventional materials such as MDF or alloys alone. Critically, carbon composites are phenomenally well-damped, which means they absorb and then dissipate more energy than any other material used in loudspeaker or tone-arm construction. To get the purest audio signal, the designer must eliminate as much unwanted sound energy or distortion as possible. The objective is to create a life-like presentation of the musicians that you’re listening to - as though they’re performing in your room before you.
Christina: There are countless examples of the application of carbon composites within high performance components. The F1 car is the most obvious. Aside from safety through energy damping, the main advantage that the material provides is low weight and directional energy control. The stiffness of the material and the optimisation of the many millions of carbon fibres allows the designer to optimise the transfer of energy, not only from the engine to the road, but also from the steering wheel into the directional change of the car for cornering. Another similar example is Bradley Wiggins’ bicycle.
How important is it to select the right carbon fibre?
Craig: To extract the performance advantages of carbon fibre, it must be formed into a composite. Its form needs to be geometrically optimised, and by this I mean organic. There are no straight lines in nature - curves impart strength and a plethora of other advantages to structures. Wilson Benesch engineer with proprietary carbon composites and mould geometrically optimised components for a performance advantage.
Did you always intend to make as many of the components as possible yourselves?
Christina: We designed and made many of the components for the original Wilson Benesch Turntable prototype, but we were a start-up company, so initially we relied on suppliers. Today, though, Wilson Benesch is a vertically aligned manufacturing company. We design every single element in-house, under the same roof as our extensive manufacturing operation which produces 90 per cent of our inventory, including all steel, alloy and carbon components.
What’s the advantage of being vertically aligned?
Craig: It’s only when the design and engineering exist as one that you can truly be the master of all outcomes and possibilities, and it’s therefore only then that can you realise a product that is truly remarkable.
Does the “Made-In-England” tag hold a certain credibility in your realm?
Craig: The British HIFI market is really the home of high-end audio, following on from companies which started in the 1960s and 1970s. There’s no doubt that the Made-In-England moniker is still associated with quality. Indeed, our flagship designs such as the Cardinal and the Endeavour are regarded globally as some of the finest British high-end audio products available.
Christina: Having our entire manufacturing operation based in Sheffield makes Wilson Benesch one of a very small, select group. Many British brands have now disappeared, or been bought by American or overseas investors which have taken all manufacturing processes out to places such as China.
What makes an excellent speaker?
The sound of a recording is delivered by the drive unit, which is capable of producing a lot of energy, particularly at high-volume levels. Most of this energy forms the first sound signature, which is the music itself - the part we desire. But there’s also unwanted energy that escapes into the cabinet behind the drive unit. This energy creates vibration or resonances within the cabinet and a second sound signature. This is not desirable; the loudspeaker is not a musical instrument, and should not resonate and add sound to the listening experience. Therefore, you must control and eliminate, as much as possible, the cabinet’s sound signature.
There are many other advantages that carbon composites provide, such as stiffness and directional control of energy flow.
What can we look forward to in the future from Wilson Benesch?
Christina: Innovative, high-risk R&D is at the heart of the Wilson Benesch brand. It’s the very reason why we have patented, proprietary technology throughout our product lines. We’ve successfully filed a number of patents based on the current research project that we call ‘Graviton’. This project has been born from £125,000 of British Government grant funding which we pitched for and won in 2013. We’re confident that the products that are born from the ‘Graviton’ project will represent another world first for the company. 
Enquiries: www.wilson-benesch.com