On Music

...The only firm that has consistently adhered to these principles is Acoustic Research, Inc., of Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has shown how to make fine stereo economically feasible for a mass market...

...The effect is a considerable reduction of low frequency distortion and an extension of bass response to the lowest musical tones...

...This reflects the belief that certain objective tests for the reproduction of sound are not only possible but desirable: The untrained listener has as much right to standards of measurement as the trained musician or the acoustical engineer...

...To bring them to a mass market, sales policy was to be oriented to the consumer, not the dealer...

...Considering that the price for a complete system is usually discounted by dealers and that better sound than this is simply not available for the home, the total cost is ridiculously low...

...Such niceties as filters and speaker selectors add questionable convenience and cost money...

...After a management hassle in 1957, three of Villchur's associates left to form KLH Research and Development Corporation, which also began to build acoustic suspension speakers and is today one of AR's chief competitors...

...It's awkward, but cheaper to make...

...Putting two AR-3a's together with the AR turntable, amplifier, and the Shure V-15 Type II pickup cartridge gives you what AR calls in its catalogue a "no-Compromise System," listing for $870.50...

...It was a great promotion stunt, for the audience was invariably impressed...

...Naturally, AR comes on strong for simplicity and ease of operation, while Dual exploits the features, convenience, and flexibility of its machines...

...Thus, this year's New York Hi-Fi Show (September 19-22) was a disaster: Attendance was low, exhibits were poor, and both dealers and manufacturers waxed increasingly skeptical of this kind of promotion...

...Although the machine plays 33% and 45 rpm, you have to lift the platter and shift the drive belt to change the speed...

...By 1957 it had moved to a four-story factory, netting about $1 million in sales for that year...

...Because they can hear music of their choice reproduced under conditions of their choice in sonics scarcely interior to the concert hall's, more people are staying home...

...A large and growing group has given up on the concert scene altogether, having suffered too long the stale programming, empty social ritual, and high ticket prices that concert lovers, even now, defend...

...Since the consumers were not flocking in droves, the sponsoring Institute of High Fidelity got compulsive and frantic...

...But the fact is that hi-fi shows have become moribund because they are boring, offensive, and irrelevant to the needs of the buyer...

...Deciding whether it is worth $129.50, as opposed to $78 for the AR, is like choosing between a box and a first-balcony seat at Carnegie Hall...

...His aim was to make high fidelity components that were clearly outstanding in their class and, at the same time, the best buys for the money...

...The circuitry, though, is complex and effective—solid-state, fully stable, virtually distortion-free, and with enough power to drive any speakers—including the 3-a's, which need lots of it...

...It is a simple, totally reliable device that does the job of turning records at an exact and constant speed...

...Shure Brothers, Inc., says its development owes much to computer technology and, apparently, to a kind of research very different from that initially employed by Edgar Villchur —who buried his newborn speaker face up in his yard for its first test...

...Contrary to industry practice, the company attempted to stimulate consumer demand by lowering dealer markups, by refusing to give quantity discounts or fix prices or pay for special promotions, and by allowing any dealer who could pay his bills to sell AR speakers...

...Nevertheless, this approach did work because AR rightly estimated that it was dealing with knowledgeable consumers who could be depended upon to spread the word...

...omitting them is less an expression of compromise than of functionalism...

...You'll hear it all in either place...

...Similarly, buyers are becoming increasingly indifferent to high fidelity equipment that does not contribute directly to their musical satisfaction...

...In addition, the product reviews in various hi-fi publications—usually so approving of everything as to be meaningless —at least provided information...

...Beyond demonstrating the validity of objective test data, the concerts illustrated AR's design contention—that concert hall realism could be achieved in the home...

...The AR-3a, brought out last year, produces a sound which is full yet uncolored by peaks or distortions...

...The company's advertising, most of it originally planned and written by Villchur himself, has been typically factual and understated, often citing critics and authorities...

...To demonstrate this, about nine years ago the company presented a series of concerts in which live performers alternated actual playing with their own recordings of the same selection played through AR-3 speakers...

...These cool, rather high-minded (if not high-handed) attitudes succeeded as long as AR was clearly the price-quality leader...

...Recently, as the industry has developed and the acoustic suspension principle has been widely adopted, product differences have become less meaningful, prices have tended to drop and quality to improve...

...AR is one of the few firms confident enough to publish response curves for its speakers (which can be misleading, however) and full technical data for all its equipment...

...customers were depended upon to "beat the dealer's door down and insist on AR...

...While high fidelity is slowly coming of age, it remains full of divergences of method and design in approaching given problems of reproducing sound...

...One of their press releases told how to make your hi-fi set the life of a party with zippy games like "Name That Tune" and "What's That Sound...

...In comparison with its competition, this speaker is not only far and away the best available in its price class but is probably as good as can be had at any price...

...The hope was that low prices and superior quality would result in the speakers selling themselves...

...Acoustic Research (AR) started in a one-floor Cambridge loft in 1954 with six workers...

...The company's best speaker today, AR-3a, is comparable in sound to anything on the market, measures 14" x 25" x 11%", and costs $225-250, depending on the finish...

...The Dual 1019 is a beautifully engineered unit with every kind of refinement and record-playing aid...

...Like the amplifier ($225 list), the turntable ($78) compares to equipment selling at twice the price...

...Villchur reorganized with the help of four friends, mostly from academic backgrounds, and all worked closely together to promote his business philosophy...

...The company's first speaker, AR-1, soon became the industry standard, and subsequent models have provided the clarity and realism that used to be associated only with giant-sized speakers costing up to $1,000...

...Owing to these policies, few jumped at the chance to sell AR equipment, and there have been continuing problems with dealers who improperly demonstrate the speakers or try to switch customers away from AR to more profitable brands...

...So even while enjoying its greatest success, AR has had to challenge and revise some of its old assumptions about marketing and move into different lines, such as turntables and amplifiers...

...As the high fidelity industry has matured, top-quality stereo systems have come down in price, while the variety and quality of recorded music have increased prodigiously...

...For instance, the front panel of the amplifier only consists of a slide switch and five knobs...

...He found himself forced into business when other manufacturers would not buy his revolutionary idea...

...As for the dealers, with sales boornBy John Goodman Hearing It All ing, they couldn't care less about party games...

...Most recently, AR and United Audio (Dual "automatic turntables") have carried on an advertising war in the hi-fi magazines, stressing the respective merits of turntables and record changers...

...AR achieves this price through the marketing practices already mentioned, and by eliminating gadgets and frills of all kinds from the amplifier and turntable...

...with the advent of stereo and the need for two speakers, apartment-dwellers had begun to joke about moving the big folded-horn systems in and the family out...

...All the music is there, nothing else...

...The small cabinet was the most important by-product of the acoustic suspension idea...

...But it still emphasizes intensive research and rigorous quality control, the keys to its product acceptance, and is presently aiming for a five-year guarantee covering the entire line, something unheard of in this industry...

...Edgar Villchur, the founder and president, was an early pioneer in high fidelity electronics who developed and patented the principle of "acoustic suspension" loudspeakers...

...Since then, the AR-3 speakers have been improved through the addition of new dome tweeters that clarify the lower midrange and the high frequencies, with greater dispersion of the highs throughout the stereo environment...

...Briefly, acoustic suspension allows a speaker to respond against a cushion of air sealed in a relatively small, critically dimensioned enclosure...

...Finally, demonstrations, such as those at the Listening Room in New York's Grand Central Station, where no sales are sought or accepted, have been effective...

...AR, with many other authorities, recommends the Shure V-15 Type II because of the cartridge's exceptionally smooth response and its ability to track the most difficult passages of recorded music...

...Very few firms in the industry have realized that music comes before gimmickry (whether mechani- ' cal or promotional) and that success in the market can still be achieved by offering the customer the best product at the lowest possible price...