Gilbert Briggs

Who is Gilbert Briggs?

Gilbert Briggs founded Wharfedale Wireless Works in Yorkshire, England in 1932, and was a leading figure in the early development of High fidelity loudspeakers introducing such basics as the two-way loudspeaker and the ceramic magnet, as well as writing some famous books on audio and loudspeakers. Britain was at the forefront of developments in Radio, Audio, and Television, and Wharfedale is a name known to this day as a leading manufacturer of high quality loudspeakers, and although the company was sold in 1958, to The Rank Group, and then again in the early 1980s to Verity Group PLC, loudspeakers continue to be sold under the Wharfedale name to this day.

Briggs was a proud Yorkshireman whose passion for audio came out of a love of music, and who built a business out of a hobby, working long hours and always promoting what he truly believed in

In the 1950s - Gilbert embarked on an ambitious collaboration with a close friend and colleague, Peter Walker, founder of Quad Electroacoustics. With Quad supplying the amplifiers and Wharfedale building the loudspeaker systems, they embarked on what was to become an industry-defining series of concerts wherein audiences were invited to experience live versus recorded music first hand. Touring UK and the US and playing at venues as auspicious as the Royal Festival Hall in London and Carnegie Hall in New York.