Moon by Simaudio at 35

Established in 1980 by Victor Sima as Sima Electronics, Canadian audio company Moon by Simaudio Ltd. celebrates its 35th year in the audio business in 2015—or, as its ads say, "35 years of passion." To mark the event, Simaudio had a party at Executive Stereo, their Toronto dealer (see photo above). It was a fairly low-key event, with a handful of Toronto-area audio journalists—including yours truly—and representatives of Simaudio attending. (Jon Iverson wrote about Simaudio's 35th anniversary in his 2015 CES coverage.)

Over the years, there have been changes in the ownership of Simaudio, with Jean Poulin taking over ownership from Victor Sima in 1995, to be bought out in 2013 by two company insiders, Costa Koulisakis (Sales) and Thierry Dufour (engineering), partnered by Louis Lemire (another electrical engineer). Public relations and marketing are handled by Lionel Goodfield. All Simaudio products are made in their factory in Boucherville, Quebec. Simaudio has a staff of 40; their products (the Moon line being the best known) are distributed in 45 countries.

At the Simaudio 35th anniversary event they had some notable examples of past and current Simaudio products. The one in the photo above is the Sima Electronics PW-2000 integrated amplifier, from 1984. The price back then was around $800—quite a difference from the current Simaudio Moon 600i integrated ($9000) and the Moon 750D DAC/transport ($14,000), on the top of the stand in the photo below. Actually, these prices are for the standard models; the products in the photo have custom finishes, which increases the prices by 40%.

In addition to producing highly regarded audio equipment, Simaudio has been making a contribution to the world of music: presenting performances by Canadian singers. At the 2015 Montreal SSI, it was soprano Hélène Brunet; at the Toronto Simaudio 35th anniversary party, it was singer/songwriter Melanie Durrant. An intense, passionate performer with a big voice, Durrant is shown in the photo below pouring her heart out, and in the photo below that in a more relaxed mood with Simaudio's Lionel Goodfield (left) and Kosta Koulisakis (right).

COMMENTS
musicmaniac22's picture

How unique that at this point in time you can probably count on one hand the number of high-performance audio manufacturer's that operate fully in North America, and for well over three decades. I guess this is why they can still offer a 10 year warranty on their products; I've been a proud owner of MOON gear since 2002. Keep up the great work.

Allen Fant's picture

Celebrate!
beautiful pics- RD. It says quite alot when companies do not sell-out to china!

iosiP's picture

I had a Celeste 4070 (that was in 1994) which was a hell of an amp for the price. Then, under the new ownership they went high-end pricing without high-eng sound, now becoming just another cow in the herd... but then, the same can be told about Classe, Theta Digital and others (sadly, including the well-respected Totem brand). Canadians used to have a passion for music, now they're only having a passion for money!

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