Magnepan

Tympani

MG-1 (the back was not normally exposed like this)

The brainchild of Jim Winey, panel speakers that are not electrostatic, but have many similarities.The company still flourishes today.

Famous for their three panel Tympani series in the '80s, the only ones I owned were the MG-1 Improved. Liked these a lot, but of course they needed a sub.

   Their SMG was a fantastic value for $500., and quite a few pairs of these still exist today.

Dahlquist

These had me more excited than just about any other speaker when I was in my mid 20's. Think I owned the DQ-10's off and again about four times. Even had two pair stacked once (not an easy feat).

A top seller at JB, I loved these. Jon Dahlquist was an aerospace engineer for NASA, and his hobby was loudspeakers.The DQ-10 earned several patents, minimal diffraction, time alignment, phased array, what have you. Several modifications came along for these, mine were always stock.

  These speakers actually inspired Saul Marantz to come out of retirement and represent the company.


 Horrendous Motorola Piezo on the top registers that people blamed for being too bright. It was actually the regular tweeter that was screaming. Philips midrange and Advent woofer, these resulted in a very distinct sound.

 Extremely power hungry, you needed at least 200 watts to do them justice.Think I used a Dynaco Stereo 400.  The DQ-1W was one of the first commercially successful subwoofers to come along, also used by many with Magnepans.  I used M&K subs (2) along with the DQ-LP1 Dahlquist electronic crossover.


     Dahlquist also introduced a monitor series, DQM-7 and 9, using German made Magnat drivers. Sort of a refined JBL, I still have a pair of DQM-9 compacts.

Altecs

Altec Valencia B's

Basically a Voice of the Theatre in a more domestic enclosure. Real walnut veneer, 15" two way horn system. Still use these on a regular basis. Still sound like live music. Add an Apt supertweeter for an extra "sparkle". Got these for a song about a dozen years ago. Worth substantialy more today, especially sold as individual drivers .Work great with my recently acquired McIntosh MC-275 MKV.

Klipsch

Klipsch LaScala

Screaming,slapping loud, and a whole lot of fun! Folded horn design negates a small room, but in the right context these are awesome! Don't even attempt to use these with anything but tubes! Limited low bass for a huge speaker, but for an outdoor block party these will please!

Klipsch Heresys

Had three or four pairs of these  over the years, my current pair is from 1974. Alnico magnets,no longer used as it is a precious metal.

Cool thing about Klipsch, they all used the same tweeters (the excellent Electrovoice T-35) and mid range (squawker) drivers (Atlas), the only differences as you moved up the Klipsch line were cabinets, the size of the horns, and the woofers.

The mighty Klipschorns are still something I covet today. Sold many pairs in the $2-3000. range in the mid- 80's, a used pair is still worth that today. Amazingly efficient, you could power them with a table radio.They have to go in corners, so many rooms are limited in their ability to use them.

Rogers JR149 / LS3/5A

 Sold locally by Paul Heath in the '70s, the same driver compliment as the Rogers LS3/5A. The JR stood for  Jim Rogers was the brainchild behind the mini BBC monitor below, and this has the same driver compliment- Kef B110 woofer, T27 tweeter, but in an aluminum cylidrical enclosure and more efficient crossover.  The wraparound foam grills deteriorated, otherwise these were basically made to last forever.I still have mine, and will probably replace the grills someday.

Rogers LS3/5A

Several incarnations of this have appeared over the years, the officially licensed BBC monitor.

Chartwell was another well known company at the time that manufactured these along with Rogers. Basically wanted a minimum of 20 watts and a maximum of 20 watts! Mine were the original 15 ohm version. Sold them to a guy in China almost 30 years ago, of course they are worth almost three times as much today!

 Still have a pair of LS2's, more efficient but not quite so esoteric.

B&W

Had several pairs of B&Ws over the years. These were some of many- never kept any more than a few months. Worksmanship always first rate, sound semi spectacular. 802 Matrix Series III at the bottom were probably the best, actually liked them.

Merlin VSM

Merlin VSM Millenium

Bobby Palkovich is a smart dude, a few miles south of me in Hemlock. Best sounding tweeters I have ever known, integrated well with the woofers. Not cheap, five figure price tag. Got rid of these A- because my room is too big , B- because I was scared of having to replace the tweeters ($500. a copy!), and C- because an out of state guy was willing to pay too much for them. Really respected these........  

Carver Amazing Loudspeakers

Had to show these right next to the Apogees. Much nicer cosmetics, much glossier,actually bought these unseen/unheard. Onkyo rep at the time got me a pair on accomodation.


 Bob Carver was famous for his marketing snafus, and I have to admit these impressed me! One of the most resourceful designers I knew of. Resale worth about one tenth of the Apogees, but I had fun. 


Full range ribbons (yeah,right!), six feet tall with four internal flat honeycomb 12" subwoofers  crossed over at 125hz. Something magical about blasting Kraftwerk  at loud volumes.

Apogees

Apogee Duetta Signature and Stage full range ribbon speakers. Definetly the speakers I owned with the most "snob appeal". Very power hungry with a great "slam factor" if you have enough juice behind them. Liked the Duettas  much better than the Stages . Very low wife acceptance factor, looked kind of like a Samsonite luggage finish. Probably the most magical of any speakers I have owned........

ZU OMEN Bookshelves

This is one of very few newer companies that actually excite me. They represent an extraordinary value.Novel "1-1/2" way design. Ten inch driver is full range with a whizzer cone. Super tweeter is crossed over at 10,000hz.  Not as efficient as they claim, though.

These are Omen bookshelfs in Sangria finish. Would love to get a bigger pair of ZU's.

 Thinkin' Omen Def's maybe.

Speakers Speakers Speakers

Next probably the most diverse and debated components of  EVERY audio system, whether you are into analog or digital, a serious listener or just background music, you still need speakers. How many do you need? One? Two? Three? Five? Seven? I guess it depends on what you're doing.

This blog focuses on primarily two channel audio.

  Do you like horns? Electrostats? Planars? Conventional woofers and tweeters? Do you want a subwoofer? Certainly the biggest and at times the most complicated choice in audio. How will they adapt to the room acoustically and visually?

 The following are speakers that I do or have owned, mostly purchased in the Rochester area.

Would like to hear from you

If you are an audiophile (or aspiring) from the Rochester/Buffalo/Syracuse/Albany areas I would love to hear from you! No doubt I may have had some erroneous info somewhere along the way, I  would love for other people to get involved,participate,embelish, correct my mistakes, and comment on these posts.


  You have to have a Google account (I know, a pain), but you can remain anonymous. You don't have to have a picture, or even use your real name. It can be something like "tubedude, seedy cd'er, eight track fanatic, real about reel to reel", or whatever you choose. Once you sign up, click follow.

  I know there are quite a few of you still out there, would like to start a community and keep it active.

Speaking of Craigslist

As frustrating as it is, you still occasionally find that forgotten "gem" on there. Tonight I drove out to Honeoye Falls and picked up a mint condition Arcici Lead Balloon turntable stand.

 We sold these at JB, probably a total of three of them, the perfect companion to the Sota Star table. Sold for somewhere around $300. in the mid '80s, you would fill the tubes with sand (I did tonight), and place the table on top of two 25lb  lead (!) bars placed horizontally across the top. I put my Cosmos on this with the vacuum unit/power supply underneath. Absolutely beautiful!

Arcici was a specialty company that made dedicated stands for various speakers as well. The Quad ESL-63 and Vandersteens amongst others.

  This later became the Lead(less) Balloon, health and environmental concerns. Almost every reviewer worth his or her salt used these in the '80's.

Local (or reasonably local) manufacturers

Many companies got their start here, and some still remain. HiFi and crossovers like Whirlwind and MXR have dabbled in hifi gear. The MXR equalizer was famous in the '80s, its unique coffee table top design let you use it remotely if you had long enough cables. The mono third octave thirty-one band was also a bit of a revelation, many companies brought out competeing models later. They later became ART, or Applied Research and Technology, and currently are based on the west coast, most of the products built overseas.

  Some of the more specialized companies would include:


    CAT or Convergent Audio Technology

  In business for several years, Ken Stevens has designed arguably some of the highest quality tube gear ever produced. Consistently good reviews and accolades, sold in several countries all over the world. Manufactured in Rush NY.

       Merlin Loudspeakers

   As I mentioned earlier in this blog, some of the nicest sounding speakers I have ever owned. Also been around for many years,made in Hemlock NY. Bobby Palkovich is a very clever designer. The Dyna Audio Esotar tweeters in these are unbelievable. 

     Belles Research aka OCM aka Power modules

 David Belles and his company did a lot of work for Nasa in the '70s, and loved audio gear. His first product was a speaker, which I sold (or attempted to) at T.H.E. Audio Threshold. I would be demonstrating DCM Time Windows,  he would walk in the room and unhook me and hook his up right in front of the customer. Probably only made about a dozen pairs, can't remember selling any. Bizzare cosmetics, wish I could find a picture.

The last picture above is an old XLM preamp which I had, not bad. Competed with the Hafler / Adcom level of equipment. Also made a "private label" version of a couple of his power amps for Jim Gala's store.


 He  sold the company to a Canadian outfit a few years later, renamed OCM, he remained as a designer. When the company folded a few years later he reformed the Belles name and again marketed products under his own name. Today his gear represents excellent quality, and is marketed under Belles/ Power Modules. He has  received numerous accolades and good reviews for the current line of products.

   His offices are in Pittsford, NY.


    Of course the most famous of all, McIntosh of Binghamton NY.

     Very distinctive, nothing else looks quite like them, nothing else could get away with it! Black glass face plates with blue meters. 18 karat gold lettering. There is even an Iphone app that looks just like it! A long history way too involved to delve into here, a list of who's who with audio designers.

  Founded by Frank McIntosh in the late '40s, Gordon Gow was the key figure in both the marketing and some of the designing of the products. When Stereo came about in the '60's, he was quoted as saying "Good! Now we can sell them a second amp!"

   Numerous musicians also helped make Mcintosh famous over the years, including The Grateful Dead, whose Alembic sound system had literally dozens of 2300's. They actually bought one from us at JB, never met anyone except the roadies, concert in Buffalo, dropped one off of a forklift.

  They were also used extensively at Woodstock 1969.

   In 1990, Mac was sold to the Japanese, Clarion (read car audio) . They were smart enough not to change anything, liked Mac "the way it was".

  In 2003 the company was sold again to D&M Holdings  (read Denon and Marantz). A private venture capital firm, the factory still exists on Chambers St. in Binghamton today.

   Still American made, almost everything made in house.

 I have had a few Mac pieces over the years, most of them pretty forgetable. As I mentioned earlier, I currently have a MR-73 tuner and a new Mc275 mkV 75 wpc tube amp. Neither of these are going away any time soon.........

 Along with Audio Research, one of the most recognizable and longest running american high end companies  still operating today.




   Soundwave Speakers

   Originally started by Jim Gala (Gala Sound) as a store brand speaker to compete with Paul Heath's Merlins, the company was eventually sold to Canadian company Vero Research. I had a couple pairs of these, the Metronomes on the bottom were actually pretty cool speakers. Fair build quality, mainly MDF and plexiglass. Not a whole ot of wood veneers to be found here. They were originally made right here in Rochester.


   B&K Electronics, Buffalo,NY

  Recently defunct, these were high quality products of very good build quality. I owned a few of their amps,the ST-140 was a giant killer. Basically on a level with Adcom, Rotel, Hafler, and Parasound. "Upper mid-fi,", if you will. Unfortunate that they folded, a lot of their product is still out in the field.