Need to learn about Audio Research


Still exploring amps and preamps to go with my Magnepan 3.7i. 
I've always heard about Audio Research being a great match, but I'm not familiar with the brand at all.
I'll need to shop the used market since the new gear is way out of my price range. 

I am looking for a high power (100wpc +) amp and a preamp that has remote control. I'd like the preamp to be tube, and the amp could be either solid state or tube.
I don't know at what point in the model lineup remote control was added, but it appears most of the older gear did not have a remote. 

Any AR experts here?

traudio

Showing 3 responses by whart

Originally, the two companies marketed together. This was in the era -early ’70s- when the first generation of "high end" equipment was being made. (I distinguish that era- which included JG Holt’s Stereophile, erratically published out of Elwyn, Pa. and the emergence of The Absolute Sound and Harry Pearson as two of the leading proponents of the subjective school of listening/evaluation, from what I label as the (earlier) golden era--Saul Marantz tube gear before he sold to Superscope, KLH 9s (double pairs), Quad 57s (double pairs eventually using Decca Ribbons and a Hartley woofer), old Bozak ConcertMasters, early Fisher and HH Scott tube gear, McIntosh tube gear, etc.)

I was an early proponent of ARC and owned their gear starting in 1975, after having heard and compared it to other high end equipment in 1973-75. The marriage of the two was, to some degree for marketing purposes--ARC was a Magnepan distributor in the early days. It was common to see the big Tympani (IU [?]), a very large multi-panel array demonstrated with ARC tube gear and often, ARC dealers carried Magnepan.

Both companies seem to have soldiered on through the years, despite considerable changes in the marketplace. ARC was one of the few to promote tube amplification in an era focused on high power solid state amps and specification battles over things like "transient intermodulation distortion" and "damping factor" and "slew rate" when the typical ARC demo consisted of playing a record and letting you hear what their gear could do. It usually impressed in its sheer musicality at the time when other systems, particularly solid state, had an electronic "glaze" and did not sound as convincingly real.

I have an old "sell sheet" from one of my first ARC systems, circa 1975, that included both ARC and Magnepan product listings and prices. I seem to recall bi- and tri-amplification but only remember the really big tube amps coming from ARC a bit later. Their earlier efforts, after total redo/mods of Dynaco equipment, were typically 60-75 watt stereo basic amps. (I’m working from memory here).

As mentioned, the market has changed considerably since then. There are a lot of different tube offerings, with different circuit configurations and "tube audio" became more than the tiny niche of hold outs and audio outlaws to become a recognized thing, along with greater power.

I stopped on the ARC path, not because of any problem or issue with the company (though the sound of the products changed over the years, from tubey warmth, to a period of "bleached" sound, to the era of the Reference series); I went in the direction of extremely high efficiency horns and low powered SETs.

Magnepans are power hogs. At least the bigger older ones were. And that means a pretty powerful tube amp. I’m not going to pretend to be current on either company’s offerings because I’m not. But I think I’ve given you a capsule history of their origins and early relationship having been there at the time.

PS: not to be a pedant, but Audio Research used to be referred to as ARC because the first company to offer the "acoustic suspension" speaker and the original suspension turntable, headed by Edgar Villchur, was known as "AR." Today, I’m not sure that brand is still active. Good luck and happy hunting, there are a lot of people on this board with experience in both ARC and Magneplanar.

It’s nice to read about folks who owned the gear (from) back in the early days. I guess I’m getting up there- audio history is fascinating to me, and there is so much cool, offbeat equipment that is lost to time. I’m glad ARC is still around.

Special tip of the hat to @kisawyer2 for a great first post!

Apropos @richardbrand ’s post upthread, I got to meet Peter Walker at McCormick Place in Chicago during the 1976 CES. I had a pair of Quads which I bought in 1974 and they are still in use today! (Sympathetically restored by Kent McCollum in 2017). I run them with an old pair of Quad IIs that were redone by the late Bill Thalmann with first rate glass.

Walker was notable for a couple of famous quotes, including the type of wire necessary for his equipment. It went something like this (I’m paraphrasing): First, it must be long enough to connect from the amplifier to the speaker, and secondly, it must be conductive.

Another brilliant guy in a quirky, fascinating industry filled with colorful characters.

~