milestones-in-audio-1976

My Stereo from the 70s and the Audio Cult I Was In

Basic Audio Advice – These Are the Fundamentals of Good Sound

A somewhat strange coincidence occurred not long ago. I found an old commentary describing the speakers I used to own, part of a discussion explaining why I have never wanted to settle for small speakers.

At the same time, I saw that a fellow on Audiogon was selling the electrostatic tweeter array for the very same speaker I owned, the RTR 280DR.

Let me tell you, it really took me back; I haven’t seen a pair in over twenty years. The RTR 280DR you see pictured below plays full range, but there is an optional electrostatic tweeter array that is designed to sit on top of it, which provides a radical improvement in the mids and highs. 

The sound of the 280DR with the electrostatic array was dramatically better than any speaker I had ever heard up to that time.

Here is the story from the old listing talking about the RTRs, sparked by a discussion of Demo Discs.

Fooled Again

I was duped into buying my first real audiophile speaker, Infinity Monitors, when the clever salesman played Sheffield’s S9 through them. I desperately wanted sound that incredibly real in my playback system, and so I agreed to buy them then and there.

It was only later when I got home with them that none of my other records sounded as good, or even good for that matter. That was my first exposure to a Direct to Disc recording. To this day I can still picture the room the Infinity’s were playing in; it really was a watershed moment in my audiophile life.

And of course I couldn’t wait to get rid of them once I’d heard them in my own system with my own records. I quickly traded them in for a pair of RTR 280DR’s. Now that was a great speaker! A 15 panel RTR Electrostatic array for the highs; lots of woofers and mids and even a piezo tweeter for the rest. More than 5 feet tall and well over 100 pounds each, that speaker ROCKED.

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The ARC SP3A-1 Tube Preamp – A Giant Leap Forward for Me, Circa 1975

Our Playback System (and Why You Shouldn’t Care)

A blast from the past about the single most revolutionary change I made to my system in the 70s.

In the commentary below I talk about buying the Audio Research SP3A-1 tube preamp (with built-in phono stage, as was the rule in those days). The difference it made in the ability of my system to reproduce the subtle complexities of my favorite music was completely beyond my imagination after having spent my early days listening through transistors.

Naturally, my ability to enjoy music increased dramatically as well. It wasn’t long before I was obsessed.

I was running Crown gear at the time, the DC-300 amp and the IC-150 preamp, so you can imagine that owning a state-of-the-art tube preamp was a real game changer for me.

We talk a lot about Tubey Magic on the site and on this blog. This preamp is the very definition of that sound.

Listening for Tubey Magic was simply not possible until we had electronics that could reproduce it, and the ARC equipment of that day had the best balance of Tubey Magic with clarity and freedom from smear that money could buy.

You could call my old Crown system BTM (Before Tubey Magic) and my new Audio Research-based system WTM (With Tubey Magic) if you wanted to be cute about it.

Now we provide the same life-chaning experiences to the audiophiles of the world through our Hot Stamper pressings. Better sound than they ever imagined. It’s practically our credo.

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