Boulder-based PS Audio sells high-end audio - and its location

Paul McGowan launched PS Audio from a California garage in 1973—wait, strike that. “I don't even think we had a garage,” he laughs. Starting with a phonograph preamplifier, PS Audio quickly emerged as a top brand in high-end audio. After McGowan moved the company to Colorado in the 1990s, PS Audio started building the Power Plant, which converts AC current to DC and back again to remove any irregularities that might impact your stereo's sound. In 2000, McGowan and company moved into high-end digital-to-analog converters, which now comprise the backbone of the company's PerfectWave system. “It's one of the few in the world with a wireless component,” says McGowan. PS Audio moved production to China in the early 2000s, which McGowan terms “a real disaster,” prompting a return to Boulder in 2007. “The quality is much better now,” he says. It's also boosted the company's marketing cachet overseas, where it sells the lion's share of its products. “They love that it's built in Boulder,” says McGowan. “We really market that.” PS Audio also really markets “two really cool listening rooms” at its HQ. Says McGowan: “We encourage people to come by and hear what real high-end audio sounds like.”

Made by PS Audio, Boulder, www.psaudio.com.