Simon Sound Equipment

A short history

Simon Sound Equipment was founded by "larger than life character", Reginald Simon in 1941. Reg had lost an arm and an eye (although it is not known if these injuries were sustained during WW2 hostilities). To prove this made little difference he apparently always drove big fast cars suitably modified. Passengers would often describe their experience as a "white knuckle ride".

The company probably started out with sub contracted work for the war effort but fortuously, Reg Simon was also a good friend of Cecil Watts, who was the pioneer of Direct to Disk Recording, along with his company MSS (Marguerite Sound Systems) provided equipment for, and quite extensively used by the BBC. Simon, had the facilities and spare capacity necessary to produce a portable disk recording machine, and along with Watt's a joint design was developed with Simon subsequently approaching the BBC in relation to the possibility of supplying the equipment. By all accounts it was well received and orders were duly placed. These early developments paved the way and Simon went onto manufacture, factory amplifiers and wire and disk recorders. These were probably produced in relatively small quantities and to special order. As a result, the survival rate of these today is low and in the 25 or so years I have been collecting I have never seen any of the very early equipment that the company produced.

46-50 George Street taken in the 1970s. Simon occupied these premises throughout the 40s and 50s until they moved in the 1960's. The radio shop has no connection with the former Simon company.	1-3 Kendall Place (behind George Street) Simon carried out the R and D work here and probably had the main production lines installed here also. The picture was taken in 2004. The building has been extensively refurbished so it is not known how much has changed. It does appear that the original building may have extended a fair way behind the original shops.