About Peter McAlister

My passion for electronics and audio started when I was 10 years of age and received Alfred Morgan’s First Electrical Book for Boys. I completed the first project in the book, a single stage audio amplifier with a CK722 transistor.

As time progressed, I worked as a technical engineer for an Audio/Video company that imported products from the Orient where I had the opportunity to utilize commercial circuit design. My main function was to create onsite circuit modifications to ensure new production subcontracted by the manufacturers where high failure rates had occurred, become a more reliable and profitable product line for the company.

This experience has made my commitment to design and my desire to build high quality audio at a reasonable price. It has also furthered my philosophy that the two most important factors in high-end audio are circuit design and integrity. Circuit design is the most relevant factor in superb sounding high end product.

Following a decade of working for this company I purchased a TV/Audio sales and repair business in Toronto and had many successful years in TV/Audio sales and repair. My passion for high-end audio design always remained and my years in television repair introduced me to horizontal sweep tubes, which became my output tube of choice in single ended, push pull and OTL amplifiers. This type of tube in many respects is superior to the standard array of audio output tubes currently used (some of the best vacuum tubes ever designed and made were for the television industry).

My design philosophy is to produce vacuum tube based product with uncompromising performance. My experience has taught me that many people are not happy with their audio equipment at any price point due to listener fatigue. Transistors are current amplifiers with odd order distortion products as opposed to vacuum tubes which are voltage amplifiers with even order distortion products. Well-designed vacuum tube products are very musical without listener fatigue, are reliable and will quickly become "your partner for life".

Over the past 15 years McAlister Audio has grown substantially due to the eager acceptance of our unique products by audiophiles the world over. During this time we have enhanced the quality of our products in many obvious and some not so obvious ways. McAlister Audio has been focused on producing top performing Canadian made equipment that represents the best possible performance and value for our customer’s hard earned money.