Larry Archibald

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Infinity IRS Beta loudspeaker
Floor Loudspeaker ReviewsJ. Gordon Holt
Larry Archibald, J. Gordon Holt  |  Dec 31, 2005  |  First Published: Oct 01, 1988  |  0 comments
In 1966, two avid audiophile/music lovers—a nuclear physicist named Arnold Nudell and an airline pilot named Cary Christie—labored over weekends and evenings for 18 months in Nudell's garage to put together the world's first hybrid electrostatic/dynamic loudspeaker system. It cost them $5000 for materials, launched a company (New Technology Enterprises), and helped contribute to the popular myth that all of the really important audiophile manufacturers got started in somebody's basement or garage (footnote 1). The system was marketed as the Servo-Statik I, for the princely sum of $1795. (At the time, the most expensive loudspeaker listed in Stereo Review's "Stereo/Hi-Fi Directory" was JBL's "Metregon," at $1230.)
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J. Gordon Holt, 1930–2009
As We See ItHistorical
Larry Archibald  |  Oct 12, 2009  |  0 comments
"What about coming over for a little bit of din-din?"
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LAST Record-Preservation Treatment
Phono Accessory Reviews
Larry Archibald  |  Jun 18, 2015  |  First Published: May 01, 1982  |  3 comments
LAST (Liquid Archival Sound Treatment) is a record treatment developed by one Dr. Catalano, which promises to retard dramatically the wear of vinyl discs. I don't feel that the advent of true digital discs will diminish the importance of LAST; on the contrary, as this century comes to a close many stereo records will be in their 30s and 40s and in need of as much preservation as possible, if the sounds and performances we treasure are to be preserved.
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Mark Fisher
As We See ItHistorical
Larry Archibald  |  Jul 05, 2009  |  First Published: Dec 05, 1992  |  0 comments
Some time ago I wrote about the need for high-end audio companies to constantly reinvent themselves: You may be receiving accolades for your latest and greatest product, but you'd also better be well along the path to developing its replacement. High-end audio is a field of constant change; no product remains supreme for long.
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Mirage M-1 loudspeaker
Floor Loudspeaker Reviews
Larry Archibald  |  Mar 05, 2006  |  First Published: Jun 05, 1989  |  0 comments
Mirage /ma-'räzh/ n [F, fr mirer to look at. fr. L mirari] 1: an optical effect that is sometimes seen at sea, in the desert, or over a hot pavement, that may have the appearance of a pool of water or a mirror... 2: something illusory and unattainable, like a mirage.
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Ralph—The Real Dog
Historical
Larry Archibald  |  Apr 20, 2008  |  First Published: Nov 20, 1991  |  0 comments
Ralph died last week (September 11, 1991), his great and faithful heart stopped in the aftermath of an affliction not too uncommon for older, larger dogs—a gastric torsion. He was approximately 12 years old.
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Recommended Components: the Stars
Recommended Components
Larry Archibald  |  Jun 17, 2014  |  First Published: Oct 01, 1989  |  5 comments
Though it's Stereophile's most popular single feature, "Recommended Components" has many problems. The biggest is that you readers use it—but then, if I didn't want that, why would we publish it? More accurately, problems come from uncritical use, as if only products that "make" "Recommended Components" are worth buying. Alternatively, it's concluded that products which drop out have somehow been consigned to an outer darkness.
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Recording of February 1984: Beethoven/Enescu Violin Sonatas
Recording of the MonthJ. Gordon HoltHistorical
J. Gordon Holt, Larry Archibald  |  Jul 11, 2013  |  First Published: Feb 11, 1984  |  6 comments
BEETHOVEN: Violin Sonata in G, Op.96
ENESCU: Violin Sonata No.3, Op.25 (In Rumanian Style)
David Abel, violin, Julie Steinberg, piano
Wilson Audio W-8315 (LP). David Wilson, prod., eng. AAA.

Oh, what a breath of fresh air this is! An audiophile recording of real music that isn't bombastic, overblown, or high-powered.

Imagine, if you can, a private recital in your own home by two consummate artists who play these works for their own delight as much as for yours. Imagine sound so completely and disarmingly natural that after 30 seconds you're unaware it's reproduced. That's what this record is all about.

I could rhapsodize endlessly about this record, but I won't. Suffice it to say that if you think there's even a remote chance you'll like this music, you will be positively mesmerized by this recording of it . . .

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Rules of Reviewing
As We See It
Larry Archibald  |  Sep 10, 2006  |  First Published: Nov 10, 1994  |  0 comments
My eyes were inexorably drawn to a surprising headline this morning: "New Studies Say Universe Younger than Objects In It." A study by Indiana University's Michael Pierce has just been published establishing a new value for "Hubble's Constant" (the ratio of velocity to distance for distant, receding galaxies) which suggests that the universe may be as young as 7 billion years old; at the same time, researchers at Harvard are saying that the universe is somewhere between 9 and 14 billion years old. Quite a discrepancy! (A billion here, a billion there—pretty soon you're talking real age.)
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Spica SC-50i loudspeaker
Budget Component ReviewsStand Loudspeaker Reviews
Larry Archibald  |  Jun 11, 2021  |  First Published: Sep 01, 1982  |  4 comments
This is a speaker we've been fairly intimate with over quite a period of time. Designed by John Bau, the SC-50i started out three years ago as an inexpensive speaker system ($330/pair) not sold through dealers.

One of the factors allowing it to cost so little was the clever adaptation of cardboard tubes, normally used as forms for pouring concrete pillars, for use as speaker enclosures. They have a number of advantages, other than low cost: their circular form helps eliminate resonance of the back wave within the enclosure; the material is rigid because of its shape, and is non-resonant due to its construction.

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