Audio Research Sold

As a former dealer (1973) who knew Mr. Johnson, I can only hope that the values and products he envisioned can be continued/re-instated.

Since I have not had the pleasure of purchasing and listening to their newer products--my "newest" piece is an SP-6--I cannot speak to how they compare to the earlier stuff.  I can say, without reservation, however, that the SP-3-A-1 and the D-150 were amazing products, and I am sure that there were others after that that improved on them.  Let's remember that the circuit designs of tube amps and pre-amps are not exactly rocket science and that there are a very limited number of ways of doing it in commercial audio products sold to the general public for home use.

Today, many ARC products have SS components in various areas of the signal path.  How that plays into the future of the company is anyone's guess.  I can tell you, however, that I am looking to purchase an amp, and a call to AR about one model with the SS areas was met with the following:  "We cannot service or repair that product."

I realize this is rather rare for them, but my guess is that rather than main circuit boards, etc., this has to do with the SS components.

I wish them well.  If you knew Mr. Johnson, you knew that he was all serious business and devoted to his craft.  He did not make compromises--I remember us discussing the difficulty of getting the face plates manufactured properly.  He told me it was much more difficult than getting the electronic parts done as he demanded perfection in every item.  That's the kind of person we need running a company like this, and I hope this team realizes this.  I wish them (and us) the best!

To those who listed my post in their comments:

When I visited the AR manufacturing line in the 1970's, what I saw was a group of nice ladies (mostly) going through what Mr. Johnson told me were the "best" components from each manufacturer. They measured them (supposedly the manufacturer or someone in the supply line had done this already to make sure AR only received the "best of the best" parts) and then discarded (returned) a number of them for not being up to AR standards.

So, despite pre-qualification of the individual parts, AR people were even MORE stringent than their suppliers in picking the individual parts that went into each item they produced.

From a business standpoint, this is obviously expensive--labor, returns, specifying only the "best" (by measurement) parts even be sent to them.  Thus, the $595.00 (then $650.00 and then $695.00) SP-3 pre-amps did not fail EVER under my watch.  I personally installed A-1 kits sent from the factory to many of them as the upgrades became available and none of them ever failed either.

Since this was a comparatively low-volume operation--back then, Lyric Hi Fi in NYC was their biggest dealer.  Mr. Johnson, or it might have been Wendell, told me they sold about 13 of their SP-3 pre-amps/month.  We sold about 2 in my small shop.  Given that there were fewer than 30 dealers in those days, it would not have been that hard to control total quality using such techniques.  Only 1 product from Audio Research ever arrived DOA at my shop, whereas most products from places like Nakamichi, a good product, and Phase Linear, an interesting product line, usually failed within a few weeks of purchase and had to be returned for repair.

SO, hopefully there will be a nice set of products coming out from them soon, and yes, changing a component or two in the signal path DOES change the "sound" as noted above.  This, I suppose, is why the dedication in the early days to only using the "best of the best" parts was Mr. Johnson's way of making sure each of his items were produced exactly as he designed them. 

Designs change, and components change, but as I posted, there are only so many paths to glory in tube-based consumer audio.  And yes, there were some items from them that were not as well done as others.  We can only hope that all their future products will be as good as they can be once again.  And, it remains a business, so must be profitable at the end of the day to endure, right?

Cheers!