Audio Critic--Complete Archive

[phoenixdogfan]

Biline.ca now has a complete archive of the original, historic journal of objective, high-end audio reviewing, the Audio Critic. Previously, Biline had only parts of Volume 2, and the online Webzine articles. As of very recently, they have filled in the gap and now have everything ever published under the Audio Critic masthead.

Makes for some very interesting reading. Aczel was in the early days, something of a subjectivist on preamp and amplifier sound. Could have been that early transistor (mid 1970's) to say nothing of tube designs were insufficiently optimized and were indeed distinguishable from one another, though Julian Hirsh would have disagreed even back then. But Peter did come to later espouse the objectivist audiophile conclusion that all well designed transistor electronics will have flat frequency response, inaudible levels of distortion, high input impedances and low output impedances, and be flat in the FR, and so will be indistinguishable from each other if level matched, and not clipping.

In any case, some of the reviews are hilarious, and the takedowns absolutely epic. Other reviews are firsts looks at some absolutely seminal, historic designs. Reading through this is like witnessing the birth of high end audio.

Not to be missed.

Downloads

 

[Larry B. Larabee]

The optimizing cartridge alignment articles. Vol. 1 #4 p.51 in the pdf.
A must read for vinyl fans.

 

[deniall83]

This is a fantastic resource. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Rednaxela]

Bookmarked. Thank you!

 

[sofrep811]

One of my favorite reads. Thanks for the link. I used to have them all.

 

[Chaconne]

Very cool. Thank you. To try to recreate the original subscription experience, I'm going to download one issue then wait two years to download the next one.
(Those who subscribed originally know exactly what I'm talking about.)

 

[mlloyd1]

that was pretty funny about the subscriptoin experience.
Does anyone know if Dr. Rich is still around doing reviews and analysis? I liked reading his insights.

 

[MattHooper]

Drinking game: Shot for every time he uses the term "Tweako."

They were always a fun read. I've seen this link before but it reminds me to start going through the issues again.

Aczel was very big on a couple of speaker brands back in the day, that I also really loved:

Joseph Audio speakers

and

John Otvos' Waveform Speakers (engineered with access to the NRC, employing the design expertise of: Paul Barton of PSB fame and Dr, Claude Fortier of S.O.T.A. Paul was in consumer audio; Claude was in pro).

I'll never forget hearing the Waveform Mach 17s at Otvos' home. Aczel ended up rating the the Waveform speakersr something near the pinnacle of speaker design.

 

[Speedskater]

David Rich does a page from time to time.

David A. Rich, Ph.D., Author at HomeTheaterHifi.com

hometheaterhifi.com

 

[mlloyd1]

Thanks Kevin;
I hadn't seen that before.
Much appreciated.
mlloyd1

 

[anmpr1]

It's been highlighted here before, but at World Radio History we find a dozen or so (mostly complete) back issues from numerous consumer audio mags. WRH offered a handful of the original Stereophile (Gordon Holt, his wife, and maybe one or two other contributors), but the current owner demanded removal. I understand that inasmuch as it's still an on-going entity, and they want to protect the brand.

It's a shame however that Stereophile's owner doesn't allow the early material from the '60s to be made available, on their own site. Complete. For historical purposes, if nothing else. Occasionally they run some of the old reviews, but it's not like actually reading the entire newsletter (you could hardly call it a magazine, back then). Then compare and contrast what Holt was doing with the mainstream press. Some of it good, some of it bad, and every now and then ugly. But Gordon was one of the good guys at heart. And he wasn't obnoxious in print.

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/index.htm

 

[gino1961]

Hi thank you sincerely for the link
Reading TAC issues from different eras I notice that over time listening impressions, by their nature subjective, have decidedly given way to laboratory measurements
I guess we could call it an evolution in scientific terms
Having become aware of the magazine quite late, I remember in particular issue no. 25 where a Morrison Elad line pre-amp was reviewed/measured and showed spectacular measurements at the bench.
In particular, on page 49 the author of the review declared it "the most nearly perfect line preamp known to me".
I should have said that i have always been looking for a really good line preamp.
Strangely, no widely circulated magazine has EVER reviewed this device which is essentially based on an ad797 operational amplifier.
Even today I cannot accept completely this judgment.
Maybe I read too much and listen too little

 

[anmpr1]

Strangely, no widely circulated magazine has EVER reviewed this device which is essentially based on an ad797 operational amplifier.

That was care of Scott Wurcer, recently deceased. ASR member.

RIP member Scott Wurcer

Just found out over at diyaudio. https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/scott-wurcer-of-adi-fame-passed-away.410848/ His knowledge of electronics and no nonsense replies will be missed at ASR.

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[gino1961]

That was care of Scott Wurcer, recently deceased. ASR member.

RIP member Scott Wurcer

Just found out over at diyaudio. https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/scott-wurcer-of-adi-fame-passed-away.410848/ His knowledge of electronics and no nonsense replies will be missed at ASR.

www.audiosciencereview.com

Good evening, very sorry to hear this. He was a designer of great talent and i remember very willing to kindly share his exceptional knowledge even with amateurs Indeed a great loss
As also written in the article, it makes us think that the availability of such a high-performance component was not jumped at by the designers of audio equipment
I had also tried to make a circuit but I don't have the necessary experience I had issue with the pot
I would have liked to hear Morrison's preamp That statement was quite impressive considering how many preamps had passed in the magazine lab

 

[stvnharr]

Drinking game: Shot for every time he uses the term "Tweako."

They were always a fun read. I've seen this link before but it reminds me to start going through the issues again.

Aczel was very big on a couple of speaker brands back in the day, that I also really loved:

Joseph Audio speakers

and

John Otvos' Waveform Speakers (engineered with access to the NRC, employing the design expertise of: Paul Barton of PSB fame and Dr, Claude Fortier of S.O.T.A. Paul was in consumer audio; Claude was in pro).

I'll never forget hearing the Waveform Mach 17s at Otvos' home. Aczel ended up rating the the Waveform speakersr something near the pinnacle of speaker design.

I once had the Waveform Mach Solo, a passive version of the Mach 17 with just a single bass driver in a slightly smaller bass module. I wish I still had them. But they were quite large, and I ended up needing something more portable after a couple of years. I should have just put them in storage for a few years.
I bought them unheard, just by going over the extensive set of measurements that John provided. Pity that John had to close up and nobody took it over. This design with more modern drivers of today would be really something. Then again, they were really something when I got them in 2000.
Peter Aczel was absolutely correct in his assessment of the Waveforms!

 

[stvnharr]

Here is a link to the Waveform Story by John Otvos himself. It is in 3 parts.

Waveform: pt1 of 3

This is the complete story of the 16 years that I, John Gabriel Otvos sought to design, manufacture and market the finest sounding loudspeakers ever known. It is my customers who attest to this fac…

johnotvos.wordpress.com

 

[gino1961]

speaking of Waveform speakers they appeared also in famous recording studios as monitor

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O4kkKGR-fGA/Ut6i3MQkmRI/AAAAAAAAA48/sWPKmbJHMm4/s1600/mach+10.JPG

https://i.discogs.com/3GMZnLqusshHVPLo0__2Mmk4PyDaMTEipcT3Ulp-dUg/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:598/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTY5NDM0/NDMtMTYxMDQwMzk3/OC04NDU2LmpwZWc.jpeg

Jack Renner (recording engineer) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

p.s. still the little Robespierre in me prefers when the head is detached from the body I would cut any tower speaker in half
i am sure that the sound would be better

 

[stvnharr]

Jack Renner loved the Waveforms. Telarc also owned a complete 5 channel speaker Waveform speaker system.
The Waveforms in the pic are an older model, designed by Paul Barton. They weighed like 200 lbs. each.

 

[gino1961]

Jack Renner loved the Waveforms. Telarc also owned a complete 5 channel speaker Waveform speaker system.

Hi Dr Renner's passing is definitely a sad fact and a huge loss for music lovers
I have always loved Telarc recordings characterized by undisputed quality and a reference in the audio panorama
Recordings that are so excellent also need an excellent sound engineer
And an excellent sound engineer will equip himself with excellent equipment. A kind of value chain

The Waveforms in the pic are an older model, designed by Paul Barton. They weighed like 200 lbs. each.

Very interesting. Speaking of speakers my favourite approach is a satellite above a bass box Like the famous Watt plus Puppy by Wilson Audio
The big woofers are usually beasts They deserve a cage just for them