Anniversaries
If I have my numbers right, this year is my 45th anniversary and Audio Research’s 55th doing what we do. In my personal history in the world of high-fidelity audio, there are very few brands still in my sphere that I go back with to my earliest professional days. And there is only one that I discovered before I got into the business.
I remember one of the great freedoms accompanying getting my driver’s license in 1972 was being able to visit record shops and, eventually, audio stores. By 1975, I had made it all the way out to Wack Electronics at 56th and North Avenue. At 19, the distance from my home in Shorewood made the journey feel quite adventurous and only added to the mystique of the exotic equipment in “The Back Room.” I recall speakers, turntables, open reel tape decks, but most firmly etched in my mind were an Audio Research SP3 and D76. A “vacuum tube” (WHAT??) preamp and power amp that seemed to be from a different galaxy compared to the Pioneer receiver I was running at home. Newer, and at the same time, more fundamental. And serious. Man, they were serious.
No matter which speakers I listened to them on, the sound was transcendent. This is where the standard advice of the day to “put your money in the speakers and the phono cartridge” began to crumble. Here was a combination of electronics (separates!) that were grabbing the system by the collar and making it do right, making all music sound present, alive, exciting in a way I had never heard before. And every time I was there, all the people ushered into The Back Room were visibly moved, as I was, by the experience.
I now realize that this was the formation of an icon for me, not based on a reputation preceding, but rather following from an experience. I had heard a thing, a brand, that would accompany me on my audio and music listening path for the rest of my life. I certainly couldn’t have known at the time that it would also be instrumental in my career, but it has been and continues to be. From my first days in retail in 1979 through to today, Audio Research has been a mainstay- a profound musical gateway as well as a trusted tool for evaluation and setup of other equipment, enabling me not only to enjoy music personally, but also to bring it into the lives of my friends and customers, many of whom are both.
Every so often someone will ask, “Why does it have those handles?” I’ll start to answer something about mounting in a professional rack and then remember it no longer comes with rack mounting holes in the face and just think, “So I will look at it across the room and be 19 again.” Concerning icons, there are things you can change and there are things you cannot. What else has not changed is the seeming ease with which the equipment makes a musical performance appear before the listener. It’s doing a breathtaking job of it as I write with Clifford Curzon, Benjamin Britten and the English Chamber Orchestra performing Mozart Piano Concertos. An unbroken history of doing that for 55 years is rare to the point of unique in our industry, and each product generation has done it better than the last.
You may have seen our mention recently that ARC prices are going up next Monday, March 25. This has been an inevitable fact throughout hi-fi in recent times and they have held off as long as they could. This means now is the time to make your move- to upgrade the component or dive into the new system you have always wanted to do. I know we are Midwesterners with an innate desire to husband our resources, but it seems to me that’s what you would be doing. All Audio Research gear costs less right now than it will Monday. Think of it as a sale and your value sensibilities will be satisfied. And just wait until you hear what happens for your musical ones.