A Square Deal

Busy, busy.  Still, found time to add the 1982 year of Stereo Review equipment reports to my excel sheet, while listening to new prog-rock- Haken's "Affinity."  Includes such cool items as the Boston Acoustics A40 loudspeaker, Yamaha M-50 power amplifier and the Hafler DH-110 preamplifier.  Again, please let me know if you are looking for info from a particular year.

As has been mentioned, if I were to have a super power, it would be related to semi-vintage stereo and related topics.  The $10 pair of B&W DM 600i and the $7 Rotel DVD player are among my top finds.  On a related note, I had the most incredible stroke of luck recently to meet a gentleman who is a virtual treasure-trove of information for a novice audio historian like myself.

 Long Island, New York audio fans will no doubt be familiar with the unfortunately long-defunct retailer known as "Square Deal."  Originally located on Main street in Patchogue, they eventually moved to larger digs on Waverly avenue, north of Sunrise highway (long before it became the four lane monstrosity it now is).    The main street location was well before my time, and I became aware of the store through my maternal uncles, all of whom (luckily for me) have impeccable taste in good stereo.  One of my favorite birthday gifts was a pair of TDK chrome tape dubs with Emerson Lake and Palmer's "Brain Salad Surgery" and Chuck Mangione's "Feel So Good" on them.  I was probably 10 years old at the time.  My uncles did a lot of shopping at Square Deal before they closed  their doors in 1994.  Some AR turntables and A/D/S/ speakers were bought there, and I eventually bought my first NAD CD player there in 1992.

So, it was as I mentioned a remarkable stroke of luck that at an event at a local community college I met a gentleman with a terrific history working in the audio industry that included being at Square Deal and later at Harman.  I only barely resisted the urge to bombard E. (as he shall be known on this humble blog) with about a bazillion questions, but I was pleasantly surprised when he agreed to continue an e-mail correspondence and answer some inquiries should time permit.  I was planning to limit my questions to what the nature of the audio business was like prior to home theater and what Square Deal was like in particular, but of course I've gotten ahead of myself and already asked about Infinity Kappa series speakers (" . . . Harman Manufacturing did not produce the high end EMIT tweeters. They were done by a company called Capital in Connecticut. This vendor was tied in to Madrigal Audio which became Harman Specialty and now Harman Luxury audio division . . .")  and Sony ES cassette decks.  At any rate, welcome E., thank you so much for indulging my instability and for sharing your knowledge of audio history.  I certainly find it fascinating and no doubt a couple of readers here will as well.

Update on adsspeakerservice.com A/D/S/ R1 stereo receiver and L470 speakers

Howdy- quick update.  Mr. Richard So of Richard So Electronics at adsspeakerservice.com replied to my request for information and confirmed that he is indeed still repairing A/D/S/ speakers.  The site again is:

http://www.adsspeakersservice.com/

Mr. So indicates that he is the only one using original A/D/S/ parts to repair these rare speakers.  If you are an A/D/S/ fan, I highly recommend that you read the "about us" on his website, as it provides a brief history of this iconic audio company.  I do not currently have a need for speaker repair as my L470s are in great condition, but I will definitely keep him in mind when I find that pair of L1590s that are in need of some help!

Part II: a/d/s/ R1 receiver and L470 speakers - The NY Times Approves of Braun Innovation

Well, back at it.  There is not as much information on a/d/s/ gear to be found, so I am trying to pull a bunch of it together in one place.  I currently own an a/d/s/ R1 stereo receiver in pretty decent shape, and a pair of L470 series 1 speakers that are excellent.  I also have the opportunity to listen to a pair of L1590s from time to time (driven by Emotiva now), and suffice to say I am a very big fan.  In our last entry, I included information from the 1986 Stereo Review equipment guide, and went on a little bit about the R4, which is the R1s superior successor.  If I come across a mint R4 I will probably take the plunge, but for now, let's focus on what we have in house, shall we?  I found a few valuable links to info about the R1, starting with an article in the New York Times (!) written by Hans Fantel in April of 1983.  The entire article is here: 

http://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/17/arts/sound-changed-for-the-better.html

I do not currently read the Times, as I find the Arts section generally to be fit only for the cage linings of non-discerning parakeets.  I do not believe that the Times in its current iteration provides any news content.  That being said, there was a time when it was not so, and this article is from that era and well worth looking at.  Deiter Ram is mentioned, and Fantel confirms that the "Linear" button disengages loudness compensation when depressed and attributes the feature to the needs of those who listen at low or moderate volumes.  Such is not the way of this humble blog author, so I will typically press the "Linear" button.  I also found this site:

http://www.adsspeakersservice.com/

which is maintained by Richard So, who joined a/d/s/ (A/D/S/ on his site, so I may have some corrections to make) in 1987 and provides speaker repair services.  Other than that I know very little about the site, so I hope to change that.  I will reach out to Mr. So to make sure that the link is valid and the services are still available.  If so, that is very good news.  More to come on that.  Next, I discovered this: 

  http://www.kenrockwell.com/audio/ads/r1.htm

Which is a very neat site with a cool review of the R1 along with the L400 loudspeaker.  The site is run by a gentleman named Ken Rockwell and frankly, I think his review of the NAD 7100 is absolutely killer.  Definitely check it out!

You can also find info regarding the R1 at The Vintage Knob.  If you haven't visited TVK by now, you are wasting your time here.  It is the Mecca of sites for vintage gear, especially 1980s Japanese stuff.  I love it.

What better way to test the R1 than with a set of a/d/s/ speakers?  A while ago I picked up a pair of L470 2 ways on EBay that were in excellent condition.  They were entry level in the non "miniature" line (L400 etc), and the info I have (again from the Stereo Review 1986 equipment guide) is:

2-way acoustic-suspension speaker with self-resetting solid state tweeter protectors.  Features 7" stifflite woofer and 1" soft-dome tweeter.  Walnut vinyl or black finish.  FR 50-20,000 Hz +/- 3dB; crossover at 2kHz; sens 88dB SPL/W/m; nominal impedance 8 ohms; 16" H x 10" W x 9" D.  $320.00 a pair (that would be about $692.00 in today's dollars.  The R1 would go for approximately $1,079).

I am not a huge fan of the vinyl finish, but I love the classic a/d/s/ black metal perforated grill.  This set has no dents and no scuffs. 

So, in the short hour or so I had the things hooked up, what happened?  First off, I had to break out a set of pin connectors from Monoprice (need connectors?  Do yourself a favor: http://www.monoprice.com/)  because the R1 and the L470s only accept those or bare wire.

I dug up a pair of old IXOS cable I got from Accesories 4 Less (Have an urge to buy an inexepensive Onkyo something or other?  Go here:  http://www.accessories4less.com/  I see they have the Yamaha A-S3000 Integrated for a mere $3,999.  I shall order one now) and clamped on the pin connectors and promptly only got one channel worth of sound.  It would have helped had I read the diagram on the back of the R1 that showed that the speaker inputs are stacked (see yesterday's post for diagram).  A few minutes of swearing later, we were off and running.  Seriously, I thought at first that the spring clips in the connectors had worn out or could not handle the weight of the pin connectors, as they are quite heavy duty.  But it was just the glitch of hooking up Left A and Left B.  Corrected that, and all was well.  

The only disc player I had that wasn't already on duty elsewhere (no, really) was a Rotel RDV-1040 DVD player that I bought at a thrift a few summers ago for I think seven dollars or so.  That was a winner.  It is not the most solidly built machine, but it sounds all of seven dollars great and then some.  Plays both PAL and NTSC so it has that going for it too.  

A big down side is that as you can see, the L470s are pretty big for bookshelves.  They dwarf  the Dynaudio Excite 14s, for example, so I have no appropriate stands for them.  I have seen some proprietary stands that seem quite low, 12 to 16 inches I would guess, and I will need something like that.  I refuse to buy the crap stands that are floating around out there, and the good ones are eye-wateringly expensive, so I will be making my own at some point. This summer, I think, if I can figure out what I want them made out of.

As a result, my brief listen was done with speakers on the floor, me reclining on a couch pillow roughly midway and equidistant from the speakers.  Very old-school college bohemian style, I guess.  I put on some Joe Jackson, Christopher Cross, some Bowie and some Tears for Fears, nothing critical, just Sunday night casual.  Darned if they didn't image very well on the floor even- vocals were nicely separated and the sound stage was easily wider than the two speakers.  The bass suffered with the floor placement.  There is a crawlspace below the listening room and the reinforcement made the lows too powerful and out of sync with everything else, which is not the fault of the speakers.  The R1 is not remote controlled, so I had to play with the tone controls and volume the old-fashioned way.  Ultimately I left everything flat and the volume somewhere near the ten o' clock position which was fine for the fairly mellow tunes I was playing.  Overall, I was very, very pleased.  The sound definitely reflected the age of the speakers.  They were clean but not analytical, they were accurate but not "smooth" in a phony way.  They probably do Blue Oyster Cult well, and I am sure they would do Gustav Holst justice.  I will also bet that things will improve astronomically with the right stands.  I see a shoot out with the B&W DM60i in the future.

In my opinion, a/d/s/ made some of the very best stuff around in their day, and their speakers are still my second favorite.  They established a design and sound standard that is hard to find in stereo now, at least for gear that is under high four and five figures.  When they were new I certainly could not afford them, but now it is well worth hunting for examples in good condition.  You will note that I did not mention that I cleaned the R1 after getting it.  That is because I did not.  It just worked.  That is not to say that I will not open it up and give it a good going through, I will.  Thirty years on though, it's a testament to initial quality that it still works so well.  If you can find one, give it a shot as it will likely be different from what you have experienced.  And a/d/s/ speakers are a no-brainer.  it is hard to find a pair without the soft domes damaged however, so I will look into the repair site mentioned above.  And if I come across that mint condition R4 . . .           

   

a/d/s/ R1 receiver and L470 series one speakers

Sorry to mislead anyone.  I had mentioned that I was going to listen to the B&W DM610i speakers this weekend, but I wound up doing something entirely different.  In fact I only got to spend about an hour in the listening room anyway, but it was time well spent.  There is a ton of great gear from the eighties, but I have always been a huge fan of a/d/s/ (which stands for Analog and Digital Systems) speakers.  My uncle still owns a pair of L/1590s and I think they are every bit as good as my Dynaudio Focus 220, if not better.  The 1590s are much bigger and are an acoustic suspension design, but both the 1590 and the Focus 220 have soft dome tweeters with extended high frequency responses that (at least where I have heard them) are clean, airy and never strident.  I had heard the 1590s with Hafler and NAD Monitor series amps, and it was not until recently that I spent any time listening to a/d/s/ amplification.  Well, that has changed, so if you're interested, stick with me!

 I have a copy of the December 1987 issue of Stereo Review that contains a special test report by Julian Hirsch of the a/d/s/ R4 .  I remember reading it originally in the local library, probably over winter break from school (As a very poor college student I wasn't a subscriber.  You can buy a lot of Ramen Noodles for the $1.95 cover price.  Although back then it was Kraft Mac and Cheese not Ramen, which reminds me of a Kids In the Hall skit . . . ).  It's a five page review with a really nice full color photo of the unit.  Hirsch concluded the review by writing: " . . . it is easily the most sophisticated product of its type currently on the market, and it is audibly superior, especially under less than ideal conditions, to any other receiver we have used."  I think that is very high praise indeed for Stereo Review.  They were especially impressed with the machine's "engineering excellence," which I can only appreciate in stereo components from a non-engineering point of view.  Nonetheless, I hoped in 1987 to hear the R4, if not own it some day.  Fast forward many years, and still no R4, but I have managed to acquire two of the R1 stereo receivers, one of which resides with my brother.  The second lives with me, and is the object of our current post.

When I find neat vintage gear at a thrift store (an increasingly rare occasion) I accept that it may be rough around the edges, and certainly will lack a manual and maybe the remote if one was originally provided.  Boxes and packing material are usually non-existent at the thrifts.  If I buy something on EBay however (also an increasingly rare occasion, for many reasons) I am a lot more picky.  I always try to get the complete package if possible, but as you are no doubt aware, that can be pretty tough.  "Mint" rarely means mint, and prices can be ridiculous.  Such is the world of the collector. Every now and then I break down and buy something that isn't quite perfect.  The first R1 I bought had no box, and no manual, but was in nice shape and under $100.  The second I bought was a little pricier and still had no manual or packing, but it did come with the hinged rear cover that this series of a/d/s/ components included:

The cover (unfortunately scratched) is labeled: "Atelier R1."  My trusty 1986 Equipment Buying Guide in the February 1986 issue of Stereo Review (written by W. Burton with R. Krueger and W. Schaub) provides the following info:

ADS Atelier R1 35-watt Receiver

5 AM/FM station presets, manual flywheel tuning and amplifier clipping indicators.  Features connections for two tape decks and two sets of speakers; LED digital display.  FM usable sens mono 1.0 microvolts (11.2 dBf); 50-dB quieting sens mono 1.8 microvolts (16.5 dBf), stereo 21 microvolts (37.7 dBf); THD mono less than 0.15%, stereo less than 0.25%; S/N mono greater than 70 dB, stereo greater than 67 dB; channel separation greater than 40 dB at 1,000 Hz; capture ratio 1.8 dB; Frequency response 15-14,000 Hz +0.5, -1dB.  Amplifier section: 35 watts per channel continuous average power output into 8 ohms from 20-20,000 Hz with 0.1% THD; 40 w/c into 4 ohm load.  FR tape, 10-75,000 Hz +0, -1.5dB, phono conforms to RIAA EQ +/- 0.5 dB from 40-20,000 Hz; input sens tape 50 microvolts into 200k ohms, phono 400 microvolts at 1,000 Hz into 47k ohms; S/N tape greater than 83 dB, phono greater than 73 dB; 17.52" W x 2.76" H x 14.84" D; 17.4 lbs, $500.00.

Whereas the R1 is not a remotely controlled unit (the R4 has a system remote which included quite a few programming features), it nonetheless shares some interesting features with its more modern cousin.  They are styled in a similar fashion, which means very compactly and with clean lines, in a kind of gray-green not that different from the NAD gear of that era.  

As you can see in the pictures above, the R1 has connections for two sets of speakers, and as the diagram on the fold down door shows, the spring-clip left and right speaker terminals for each set of speakers are stacked on top of one another.  There are a series of round push buttons on the face of the R1, and they are made of a smooth, shiny black plastic.  To the left of the radio presets is a button marked "key," except that it isn't a button at all, it is indeed a key or peg that pulls out from the R1 and is inserted in the hole under each preset when favorite stations are being assigned.  I would imagine that this key will be missing from quite a few surviving examples, even though it fits quite snugly and does not fall out when the R1 is shifted in the equipment rack.  

An interesting and quirky (I think) feature is the "Linear" button, which I believe operates as a sort of loudness or bass boost feature.  It is defeated by pressing the button, as opposed to being activated when pressing the button.  When I hooked the R1 up to my a/d/s/ L470 speakers it was obvious that there was a boost in the bass region, and I discovered that by engaging the Linear button the bass sounded more natural, to me at least.  The 30Hz button may provide more boost but I did not play with that one this time around as it was getting late.  In fact, I am seeing that this post is getting a bit long, and as it is nearly 23:00 Eastern Standard Time, this will have to be a part 1 post.  feel free to drop me a line if you are familiar with this machine or have specific questions.  And if you are an a/d/s/ expert, definitely let me know!  I'll leave you with a picture, and more on this topic tomorrow!

       

   

A/D/S/ as promised

Well, it took me a while but I managed to dig up an older picture of a system I ran with a pair of a/d/s/ 1290 speakers.  They belong to my Uncle, but lived in the basement of the condo we used to have and a dorm room (!).  Sorry this is a terrible picture, I took it to show someone how we had installed speaker wiring in the walls and had plates for hook up.  The system actually worked pretty well, but the picture does not flatter the room color or the equipment.  At the time, the amp I was using was a Hafler, and that still lives with me now.  It has been recently upgraded with new binding posts, caps and high quality RCA inputs by In House Stereo Repair in Setauket, NY.  Check out their link- they do terrific work.  The Hafler now runs a pair of Dynaudio DM 2/7 mains for a home theater, with a Marantz SR6003 AVR providing the processing brains.  I can't really comment on the sound in detail as the speakers, amp modifications and blu ray player are all very new to me (blu ray is an Oppo BDP-93).  I'm not yet accustomed to listening to multi-channel without a sub woofer, although I will say the DM 2/7s create a ton of bass for their size.  Apparently they need a lot of break in time, so we shall see. . .