This boutique British loudspeaker brand offers a very personal approach to hi-fi design

Based in Surrey, UK, Ceri Thomas named his speaker company after a nearby village, hoping to draw parallels between the craft of hand-building electronics and the traditional bucolic splendour of rural England. Combining high quality components with mid-century inspired forms and bold colour combos, depending on customer requirements, Enton Green is tapping into demand for a more vivid, individual audio tech.

From Art Deco inspired colourways like gold, light pink and light green, to the high-grade Baltic birch plywood boxes, to custom finishes using prints and photographs, Enton Green can accommodate almost anything. That said, the firm started out following the grey and black colours used by the 80s-era Altec Lansing 'Voice of the Theatre' range of cinema speakers.

Enton Green’s A6.5 was inspired by the Altec Lansing A6, originally released in 1984. This in turn was an evolution of a speaker design dating back to 1947, once ubiquitous in cinemas around the world. We spoke to Thomas about the origins of the brand and its approach to design.

Wallpaper*: How did Enton Green come about?

Ceri Thomas: I’ve always loved music and have been building audio products for over 15 years. About a year ago I made a set of speakers for my workshop, which were a half-scale replica of the Altec Lansing A6 ‘Voice of the Theatre’ speaker, released in 1983.

I painted them in the classic black and grey colour scheme and added some nice hair-pin legs to bring the horn up to the correct listening height. When my wife saw them, she loved them and requested a pair for the living room. But this time, rather than grey and black, she wanted an art deco inspired colour scheme of light pink, light green and gold.

This gave me the idea that I could do bespoke Colour, Material and Finish (CMF) versions of the speaker (now officially called the ‘A3’) for different people based around their home decor, one of their hobbies or anything else really.

W*: Why ‘Enton Green’?

CT: Enton Green is a beautiful little village about half a mile from my house in the picturesque rolling Surrey Hills. I draw a lot of inspiration from being in the countryside, the fresh air, the sound of the birds singing and the colours of the changing seasons. You can see a bit of this inspiration in our latest speaker, featuring the House of Hackney Hollyhocks Spring wallpaper, which is our take on a beautiful English meadow full of wildflowers.

W*: Tell us about your relationship with vintage audio?

CT: I’ve always been fascinated by vintage audio, it’s just so much more interesting than a lot of the Hi-Fi designs you see today. For so long Hi-Fi speakers have just been these rectangular MDF boxes with circles on the front for drive units, covered in wooden veneers.

If you go back and look at some of the vintage designs; like the otherworldly Western Electric 16A (1929), the Eames E4 (1956) or the Clairtone Project G (1964), there’s some really cool stuff to draw inspiration from. There’s also a super interesting intersection point of speakers and furniture around the mid-century that I’m very keen to explore further in my designs.

W*: How do you finish the materials?

CT: We love the plywood so much that where possible we leave the 'picture frame' on the front of our speakers unpainted so you really get to appreciate it. Instead of paint we use a couple of coats of varnish to really make it pop. As well as looking fantastic, plywood is a far kinder option for the environment than the more commonly used MDF.

W*: What sort of prices do you charge?

CT: We’ve currently got two products; the ‘A3’ speakers discussed above, and a brand new vinyl storage / Hi-Fi stand called the ‘S1’ (available in custom sizes). The A3 starts at £2,000 + delivery for a pair, while the S1 starts at £500 + delivery. We offer a no commitment consultation session where we can discuss your ideas and follow up with a tailored quote for your consideration.

Enton Green will provide a limited number of Wallpaper* readers with an exclusive offer. Contact the firm for more details, Enton-Green.com, @Enton.Green