Larry Archibald

Spica SC-50i loudspeaker
Budget Component ReviewsStand Loudspeaker Reviews
Larry Archibald  |  Jun 11, 2021  |  First Published: Sep 01, 1982
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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LAST Record-Preservation Treatment
Phono Accessory Reviews
Larry Archibald  |  Jun 18, 2015  |  First Published: May 01, 1982
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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Wilson Audio Modular Monitor (WAMM) loudpeaker system
Audacious AudioFloor Loudspeaker ReviewsHistorical
Larry Archibald  |  Sep 10, 2014  |  First Published: Aug 01, 1983
No, we made no typos in the specifications sidebar. The weight of the Wilson Audio Modular Monitor (WAMM) speaker system is enough to make you consult a structural engineer before dropping it on your living room floor—fragile, 300-year old New England frame houses are probably out. And the recent price increase from $32,000 to $35,000 is enough by itself to buy a pair of Quad ESL-63s—which is not a bad speaker system. The WAMM represents an all-out assault on both the state of the art in speaker systems and on the limits to which wealthy audiophiles will go in order to have the best.
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The Quality Deficit
As We See It
Larry Archibald  |  Jul 08, 2014  |  First Published: Feb 01, 1992
I grew up with a healthy disrespect—almost a dislike—for rich people. Though my home town, Winchester, Mass., is one of Boston's wealthier suburbs, and my father and grandfather were officers in a Boston-area company, my father grew up on a farm and I seemed to inherit his farm-grown distrust for those who have money.
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Recommended Components: the Stars
Recommended Components
Larry Archibald  |  Jun 17, 2014  |  First Published: Oct 01, 1989
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
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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Audio Retailing: Change is Certain
As We See ItRe-TalesThink Pieces
Larry Archibald  |  May 28, 2010  |  First Published: Sep 28, 1992
People of my generation have learned that change is certain. You can't know what the change will be, but you can bank on the fact that there will be serious change over the next ten years. Look at the historically most important change in ten years: microcomputers.
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The Case Against Show Reports
As We See ItJ. Gordon HoltHistorical
Larry Archibald, Anthony H. Cordesman, J. Gordon Holt  |  Jan 04, 2010  |  First Published: Sep 04, 1985
Now that Stereophile's reporting on the 1985 Summer Consumer Electronics Show has ended (I hope!), I would like to express strong dissent with its style and content. In fact, I believe that most of it should never have appeared in print.
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Happy 1985, Music Lovers!
As We See ItHistorical
Larry Archibald  |  Dec 27, 2009  |  First Published: Dec 01, 1984
Stereophile is happy to start off another year, only one issue behind our published schedule. For most magazine subscribers, this would seem a confession of weakness; underground aficionados will, however, know what I'm talking about. We did in fact publish eight issues last year, but the first one happened to be Volume 6, Number 6 (the last issue in that volume), so that puts us still one behind. Ambitiously, I predict we'll get out nine (count them, 9) issues in 1985 and catch up with our schedule.
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J. Gordon Holt, 1930–2009
As We See ItHistorical
Larry Archibald  |  Oct 12, 2009
"What about coming over for a little bit of din-din?"
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