My Audio Systems: The a/d/s/ Era

 

Audiophiles of a certain age will instantly recognize these as the "new" and "old" logos of Analog and Digital Systems of Wilmington Mass. Before I get into my end of things, indulge me while I get into it's convoluted history a little bit.

Starting all the way back to the 50's and 60's, the area around Boston was the epicenter of the "East Coast Sound". And by the 70's and 80's home of audio manufacturers which in some way had spun off from the mother ship that was Advent were still in the area. That group included companies such as KLH started by Henry Kloss who had been at Advent, AR, and Jensen, as well as other companies either based on the design theories behind the "East Coast Sound" or guided by someone who had worked for those original companies. This second wave that hit the audio scene included Boston Acoustics, Allison, Analog and Digital Systems (ADS), etc.

Bear with me while I go off on a tangent from my digression! In the speaker world (and somewhat the American audio world as well), there are basically two camps; the East Coast and the West Coast..... yeah, like Rap. At the risk of starting a flame war, here goes! Generally speaking, the East Coast "sound" is thought to be smoother, more refined at the cost of efficiency because of acoustical suspension (sealed boxed) designs. Whereas the West Coast "sound" was a more "boom and sizzle" presentation, but more efficient due to the use of ported designs. The West Coast "sound" is associated with JBL (James B. Lansing) and it's off-shoots such as Altec Lansing, Cerwin Vega etc. Not surprisingly, the Japanese makers tended to be more West Coast oriented, whereas the East Coast sound is similar to the "British" makers (eg. B&W, Tannoy, KEF, etc.). That's all I'm going to say without commentary since everyone's hearing and tastes are different. As for me:

I grew up listening to a German Telefunken system belonging to my father. Then later, that was replaced by a system built around a Dual turntable, KLH cassette deck and Jensen speakers. When I started buying equipment of my own, I started with B&W speakers fronting a Rotel stack. Then came the a/d/s/.

It started innocently enough when I came across an a/d/s/ C2/3 Cassette deck sold on clearance. It sounded good and was nicely understated. Around that time, I had taken some bad advice and replaced the Rotel electronics with Adcom. Don't get me wrong; there wasn't anything wrong with the Adcom, but it was a bad marriage between it and the B&W DM500 speakers that I was using at the time. We'll just leave it at that.

Around that time, a/d/s/ stopped it's home electronics importation from Braun leaving those components orphaned. That was just the nudge that shoved me off right off of the edge of cliff and down that proverbial slippery slope! Next thing I knew, the Adcom was gone and I had a house full of a/d/s/ equipment. This included:

• R4 Receiver
• PA4 Amp
• CD3 CD Player
• C2/3 Cassette Deck
• P4 Turntable
• A2 Integrated Amp
• T2 Tuner
• CD4 CD Player
• C2 Cassette Deck
• P2 Turntable
• L1290 Tower Speakers
• L300 Speakers
• L200 Speakers

Now, this took some years to do and a lot of it was less equipment that I seriously listen to, but were part of a "collection" and run as a secondary system in my bedroom. 

In fact, I was close to owning all of these iconic pieces designed by the famed Deiter Rams. Then home theater intervened. By that time, it had been a few years since a/d/s/  had stopped importing this gear from Germany and availability was drying up. That was before the common use of the Internet. Although I loved the way it sounded AND looked, it was just a huge headache to connect/disconnect and haul around when I moved (which was a lot since I had just started in Higher Ed Administration in those days). Doing home theater meant that I had to patch in an external decoder, try and match a center channel and get more speakers and amplification. 

 

So, I said goodbye to Dieter Rams designs and greatly simplifying my systems and moving!


 

When Audio System Building Meets Collecting

If you're of a certain age, you'll probably recognize these audio components. It was the 80's and in the audio world, everything was big..... even when it wasn't. These guys were the Porsche of the audio marketplace. Refined, stylish, and expensive (virtually all the components were within shouting distance of $1000, 1980's dollars). By the time, I came across a mint R4 receiver in the mid-90s, they were in the last years of producing home audio, having put their eggs into the car audio basket. I know, it's bit of a sad tale. But this isn't a requiem about Analog and Digital Systems (otherwise known as a/d/s/), but of how my audio path led through this iconic company and their unique equipment. 

In my previous post, I had discussed how I went down the primrose path of sonic detail and ended up with a rather harsh sounding system. In order to correct that mistake, I sold off the Bowers and Wilkins DM550s and bought another darling of that era; a pair of NHT 1.3 speakers.

..... No; those aren't NHT 1.3s, they are Acoustic Research AR-3a speakers (of which I would own a pair). ??? Let me wax historically, in an audio sense anyway. Back in the 60s and 70s when American companies dominated the market, there emerged two camps; East Coast and West Coast (the "Bird" vs. "Magic" of audio). To pare it down to the essentials, it was more bass (West Coast), vs. accurate bass (East Coast). On one side, you had JBL, Cerwin Vega, etc and on the other, you had Advent, Acoustic Research (AR), KLH which eventually begat Boston Acoustics, a/d/s/, NHT..... you get the idea. And based on what I've just told you, you can see that I was an East Coast guy. East Coast speakers tended to use "sealed" enclosures, otherwise know as acoustic suspension, generally using soft-dome tweeters. To my ear (note that emphasis, since I'm not into telling anyone else what they should be hearing), they sounded faster and tighter, whereas the West Coast designs sounded brash and in-your-face. And after my experience of the high-end in-your-face with the badly match Adcom amp and DM550s, I didn't want any of that. Thus started my "dark" time. I don't mean dark as in "Dark Ages" or anything like that. In the audio world, "dark" means the opposite of "bright". If you've ever experienced that end of the spectrum with overly detailed highs, you know what I'm talking about. Certain models of certain brands (seamed to be predominantly British) such as Celestian, lower-end B&W and KEF tended in that direction. 

This led to quite a few years with speakers such as the NHT 1.3a and back to my original thought a few different a/d/s/ models culminating in a pair of L1290s that I bought in bad cosmetic condition. I spent well over a week taking them apart and refinishing the veneer while waiting for my job with Tulane University to come through, then they went with me to New Orleans and all through the various jobs during my 10 year odyssey in higher education administration. 

During those 10 years, I went through a rather interesting phase of my audio life. I call it the "Atelier Period". So, we've come full circle back to where I started today. It might be a little weird, but I have a bit of interior designer in me, and when you're unmarried and able to indulge your audio as well as design whims, it can "become a thing". It was completely impractical and really didn't sound as great as it should have given the cost, but hey..... it was cool.

Let me start with a quick primer on a/d/s/ from what I know about it. They were the speaker design arm (based in New England) of German electronics giant Braun (yes, the coffee maker brand) which by the 80s had bought themselves loose. During those years, they had an agreement with Braun to collaboratively design and sell the electronic components of the line in the U.S. under their own brand while it was sold in Europe as Braun. These were extremely high-end pieces, but in the "go-go" era of the mid-to-late 80s they sold well enough. Think of it was the German alternative to (and better sounding IMHO) B&O gear. It all started with a random R4 receiver that I came across at the store I hung out at. So I bought it. Now; it's kind of dumb to just have one piece of a/d/s/ gear. They aren't shaped or sized like anything else and as you might have noticed, they are made to work together electronically as well as design-wise. Before I knew it, I had the CD3 (CD Player), C2/3 (Cassette Deck), P4 (Turntable) and PA4 (Amp). Ultimately, I would have another set of the gear in my bedroom as well. It was cool looking and sounded pretty good, but let me tell ya.... it was a giant pain in the behind to tote around as I move from university job to university job all over the country. On top of that, in order to adapt it to A/V which was becoming a thing at that time, I had to add surround processor(s), additional amps, subwoofers, racks.... the list goes on. Sometimes I felt like I moved more A/V gear than other stuff!

..... and right around that time..... this happened! It's really not what you think. My new bride didn't put her foot down. I simply got tired of the pain in the neck my cobbled together A/V system was getting to be as it progressively become more "V" and less "A". It simply wasn't worth it. Plus, it wasn't as if it was audio nirvana anyway. So, my days as an a/d/s/ collector-user came to an end as the various pieces got sold off to be replaced by a system built around the Yamaha DSP-A1. I still kept my L1290s as well as some other a/d/s/ speakers such as some L200s and L300s for some time, but the days of beings more collector than user was coming to an end. Thus end'th my "Teutonic Era". I'm sure you can guess what the next post is going to be about.