Sutherland Engineering

SUTHERLAND

Superior Quality Through Simplicity

One afternoon Ron bicycled out to Kief’s stereo store. There his appetite for high-end audio was kindled. A deal was struck with store manager Gayle Sanders. In exchange for gear, Ron would help Gayle build an electrostatic speaker. Soon, almost all evenings were split between Gayle’s basement shop and Ron’s access to a machine shop. Using their middle names ( Gayle Martin Sanders and Ronald Logan Sutherland) they began Martin-Logan Ltd. After years of struggle, Martin-Logan was built into a very successful company.

Sutherland began to miss the independence that was so much his nature. He then started Sutherland Engineering, Inc with his brother John. They began doing contract manufacturing; one of its clients was Martin-Logan. With the profits from manufacturing, Ron would retreat to his office to explore amplifier design concepts. After a few years, he emerged from the office with the first Sutherland Engineering audio product. At a price of $20,000, the C-1000 was a coveted possession in the Asian market.