UK based and proudly so, Atlas has been crafting hifi cables for over a quarter of a century at its Kilmarnock home. We sit down with company MD Alan Whyte to talk about the company’s approach, philosophy and what sets them apart in the audio cable business.
Atlas’s Alan Whyte, putting high-end hifi cables on the map
When it comes to cable design and production – what makes Atlas different?
Alan replies: “We firmly believe that the hallmark of a performance audio cable is its ability to lose as little information between point A and point B as possible. We don’t attempt to ‘colour’ the sound at all. Our intention is to ensure that what goes in comes out the other side untarnished.
“Atlas is essentially an engineering and material science company. We have distilled our process down to a very simple ‘recipe’ we call the Five Essential Elements: The conductor, the dielectric, the connector/plug, the screening, and finally the manufacturing process. By controlling each of those variables, we create consistency, and we know what the performance of the cable will be before we even start.
“There’s a saying we like to use here that “Our values are the things we won’t do”. For us that means for example we don’t solder delicate connections. Not to say that soldering is ‘bad’, but when we are trying to control all variables, the act of soldering creates inconsistency. Aside from each engineer applying different techniques, there is also the issue of introducing a foreign substance. We believe in matching the conductor material with the plug pin, so soldering doesn’t work for us. Instead we prefer an airtight metal to metal crimp connection.”
What does it mean to you to be proudly based in Kilmarnock, Scotland?
“Identity is important and manufacturing in Kilmarnock is part of who we are. Kilmarnock has association with great people and great businesses, Robert Burns’ 1st Edition was printed in Kilmarnock, Johnnie Walker whisky was established in Kilmarnock in 1820 by John Walker (buried in Kilmarnock cemetery), Kilmarnock Academy has produced two Nobel prize winners.
Many household brand names manufactured in Kilmarnock for many years Massey Ferguson (Tractors), BMK carpets to name a few. Identity and aspiration go hand in hand.”
As a company you hit your 25th year anniversary in 2025 – how are you marking this milestone?
“A short hop, skip and jump from the factory lies the island of Arran. It holds a very special place in my heart as I’ve gone with my family every summer since our kids were born. The pinnacle of the Atlas range is the aptly named Arran series so to mark our 25th anniversary, we produced a very special version of the speaker cable, released in a limited run of just 25 pairs.
We wanted to showcase what we call our new definition of ‘Luxe’. Previously for Atlas this meant only hand-stitched leather finished products. Now it also includes further bespoke touches like different stitching styles, laser-engraved personalised plugs and boxes.”
Can you reveal what’s next for Atlas – what can we look forward to?
“2026 and beyond will see Atlas continue to innovate with entirely new product ranges, and upgrades to our existing models. Our proprietary grounding system; Grun is already an incredibly good value, easy system upgrade and we’re just about to make it even better…”
Finally – I’ve often wondered this but never thought to ask, what’s the meaning behind ‘Atlas’?
“Nothing too deep, just to be near the front of any search😊
“When we established in 2000 our first range of products had a nautical theme, Navigator, Equator etc”
