Exclusive: ‘Young people are obsessed by music, but no one's talking to them’ — the new boss of Q Acoustics, QED, and Goldring has plans to give hi-fi its ‘mojo’ back, and it involves opening more ‘kissa’-style listening cafes and ditching Led Zeppelin

Charlie Henderson's background includes Naim and Cambridge Audio, and he's got big plans for refreshing his latest hi-fi charge

Features By Matt Bolton Published 27 July 2026

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You may not have heard of the Armour Home Group, but you have almost certainly heard of its three hi-fi brands: Q Acoustics, QED, and Goldring. Q Acoustics is one of the masters of great-value value speakers, QED is one of the best-known cable makers, and Goldring is a 120-year-old turntable specialist.

And you may not have heard of its new Managing Director, Charlie Henderson, but you will absolutely have heard of the audio brands he's helped to lead, including Cambridge Audio, Naim, and Jabra.

I've met Henderson before in his roles at Cambridge and Naim, and I was fascinated by how the email I received announcing his appointment promised to focus on expanding the brands "beyond the hi-fi" sector.

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I wondered if that meant moving into more 'mainstream' parts of the audio world, and I wasn't sure how that would really work with a brand like QED, so I wanted to find out more — but it turned out that Henderson had something completely different in mind.

He wanted to talk about how the brands can support the return of public listening rooms, how they can engage with the new wave of people getting into hi-fi — and how the hi-fi world can get its "mojo" back.

TechRadar: You said in your introduction at the company that "My goal is to elevate these brands beyond the hi-fi sector and into the broader music community", referring to Q Acoustics, QED, and Goldring. So what do you have in mind?

Charlie Henderson: I have felt for a long time that the hi-fi industry has lost some of its mojo. If we go back to the '50s, '60s, '70s — kind of the essence of British hi-fi in particular — lots of those company founders were either part of rock bands, or they were gigging, or they were visiting live venues, and that's why they got into this industry. So a real love of music was always there.

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