Benchmark Company History

Benchmark began in 1983 as the "Benchmark Sound Company", a small operation working out of a garage in Garland, Texas.

Allen H. Burdick, Founder

Our founder, Allen H. Burdick, began by building very high-performance audio equipment to meet the specialized needs of television broadcast facilities. The company quickly grew, and was incorporated as Benchmark Media Systems, March 5, 1985. Benchmark expanded into additional audio markets, and relocated to Allen's home town, Syracuse, NY. To this day, all Benchmark products are designed, assembled and tested in our Syracuse facility.

John Siau, VP, Director of Engineering

Allen's vision and passion for audio has been carried forward by John Siau. Under John's direction Benchmark has continued to lead the industry with outstanding award-winning audio products.

AHB2 Power Amplifier

Our new AHB2 power amplifier is a product that would have made Allen proud. It has the lowest distortion and lowest noise of any audio power amplifier at any price. Like many of our current products, the AHB2 was designed after Allen's retirement. Due to health problems, Allen was unable to participate in the design of any products released in the past 10 years. Nevertheless, each new product closely follows Allen's vision for building transparent audio products.

Just hours before we announced our new power amplifier, we received the sad news that Allen had passed away. In honor of Allen H. Burdick, the AHB2 power amplifier bears his initials.

See "History of the AHB2 Power Amplifier" for the rest of this story!