About Us

Legend Acoustics was founded in 1995 by Dr Rod Crawford to design and manufacture world-class speakers in Australia. The decision was based on a wide range of experiences from around the world. (see CV)

After growing up in Tasmania, Rod won a scholarship from the Electrolytic Zinc Company to study physics and metallurgy at the University of Melbourne. He obtained first class honours and the Melbourne University Travelling Scholarship to continue his studies in the Department of Materials Science at the University of Oxford. There he was awarded a D Phil for his research into the fundamental properties of ordered alloys using X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy.

Rod returned to Tasmania to continue his career in education, becoming head of the Physics and Technology department at Elizabeth College. In 1986 he again returned to the UK, initially to Yorkshire home of his partner Liz. While teaching at an ITeC in Batley, he read an advert in a hifi magazine for a loud-speaker designer at Linn Products in Scotland, world famous for their Sondek LP12 turntable and Isobarik loudspeakers. Having a long interest in hifi, both for technological and aesthetic reasons, Rod applied but was somewhat surprised to get the job.

There followed an interesting four years at Linn where he designed a range of speakers to replace the aging and agricultural-looking Isobarik and Kan. His role-model was BMW cars – high performance and good looks were not mutually exclusive. In collaboration with a highly talented team, Rod’s designs included the Kaber, Nexus, Helix, Index 2, Tukan and Keltik loudspeakers. They were well-received, often beating highly regarded competition such as B&W, Mission, Tannoy and Celestion in comparative reviews. Linn’s loudspeaker sales almost trebled in this time. (For more details please click here).

After returning to Australia, Rod studied for a 2-year full-time MBA at the Australian Graduate School of Management in Sydney to improve his business skills before setting up Legend Acoustics. Legend has since grown to become one of Australia’s most innovative and successful loudspeaker companies, winning a number of awards. Its Kantu 4 is regarded by many as one of the best loudspeakers available irrespective of price eg 'Daily Telegraph Magazine "Connect" Nov-04. In 2006 Legend launced a new top-of-the-range Kumbar Wirri (Big Red) reference monitor loudspeaker, one of the most accurate loudspeakers in the world. At the Rocky Mountain Audiofest 2008 the new DEQX-active Tikandi ("live") loudspeaker system was greeted with much acclaim.