| Boulder, Colorado, Jeff Nelson decided, would be his escape from the frenzy of southern California. In addition to his desire for a better quality of life, Jeff came to Boulder with a goal: to start a company for creating the finest audio components he knew how ... his way and on his own terms.
He did not have to look far for a name: BOULDER connotes strength - and bolder is the characteristic sound a Boulder creates. The year was 1984. Then in his early 30s, Jeff Nelson was a largely self-taught electronics savant with broad experience in film production, studio recording, and engineering design. He was already a name to know in the audio world as the designer of the Tomcat cart machine, which for years was the established high performance cart machine in broadcast studios throughout the world.
In 1998, our production facilities and executive offices were moved to their present location on Prairie Avenue, in the heart of the Boulder's commercial/industrial sector. This larger space included room for a dedicated machine shop, and our first Haas CNC vertical machining center was acquired. The development of metal fabrication and finishing capabilities in-house was an important milestone. Fortuitously, Jeff Nelson's background includes a successful family machining business. So Boulder's move in this direction, while quite unusual for an audio manufacturer, was a familiar one.
The year 2000 was the beginning of a period of steady growth, and 2004 was a year of record high sales. Also during that year, Boulder undertook a major expansion of its physical plant, nearly doubling in size, with major upgrades to the machine shop, assembly area, engineering department, testing lab, executive offices, and listening room. The workforce has similarly grown.
Substantial capital investments in computers and software were also made in 2004 and 2005. Most recently we have implemented a sophisticated 3D CAD program which gives us the capability to produce detailed and more complex designs while minimizing production lead time. Boulder's machine shop now has three Haas CNC vertical machining centers and a variety of ancillary equipment for tumbling, polishing, sanding, cutting, and metal finishing. These metal fabrication and finishing capabilities enable us consistently to meet the rigorous quality control criteria required in the production of every Boulder component. |
