Historic AR-1

[snhirsch]

Hi, all. My name is Steven Hirsch and my father is the late Julian Hirsch of Hirsch-Houck Laboratories and Stereo Review. I grew up surrounded by all this great classic gear - before it was classic. As a teenager, II had a chance to meet Amar Bose, Henry Kloss, Ed Vilchur, Bob Berkowitz and many other luminaries of the field. Ended up working for Henry at Advent after my freshman year of college (summer 1970). What a great era. Reading all the postings here is a great nostalgia trip!

More to the point of this forum, I have an AR-1 that by rights is probably one of the rarest of the breed. This speaker was part of a very early live vs. recorded A/B test that compared a church pipe-organ with a recording of same played through a pile of Macintosh power amps and AR-1s. My father and Gladden Houck hosted the event in Pleasantville, NY and it was attended by quite a number of enthusiasts and writers from the NYC area.

The speaker looks to be about a half-step removed from an engineering prototype and includes a typed note on the back signed by Henry in the lower corner. I'm uploading photos with this post. The plastic taped to the back is my attempt at protecting the extremely brittle paper labels. The file attached is a scan of the bill-of-sale that included this system (my father and Mr. Houck purchased the loaner unit and a couple of new ones).

bill.pdf

[script56]

Cool. Check your messages.

[der]

Wonderful post and photos. Thanks for sharing.

der

[ra.ra]

Terrific first post and thanks, Steven, that's a wonderful story and it's great to see that the speaker is in good hands. Your father had a huge influence within the industry for a good many years.

I knew I had seen that grille cloth before - - am wondering if yours is the same speaker that shows up here.

http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/recording.technology.history/villchur.html

[snhirsch]

Terrific first post and thanks, Steven, that's a wonderful story and it's great to see that the speaker is in good hands. Your father had a huge influence within the industry for a good many years.

I knew I had seen that grille cloth before - - am wondering if yours is the same speaker that shows up here.

http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/recording.technology.history/villchur.html

You're welcome, and thanks for the nice words about my Dad. This speaker is serial number 175, so it's certainly a contemporary of that one in the AES article.

I would like to find a way to safely remove the grill and inspect the drivers, but don't quite understand how it's attached.

[ra.ra]

More experienced members will assist you with the inspection process - - - all I know is that the grille removal can be a somewhat delicate procedure, but it certainly can be accomplished.

[JeffS]

Thanks for the great post! I started reading 'Technical Talk' when I was in high school and always appreciated your Dads level headed approach to this hobby. His stories about his first experiences with the AR-1 in the Sept 1986 and June 1990 issues of Stereo Review, along with his review of the AR-303 (with comparison to Tom's AR-3a's) helped fuel my desire to collect and enjoy these speakers as I got older. It's just a thrill to be able to see that very influential speaker. Thanks again!

Jeff S.

[DavidDru]

Welcome Steven. The are some great folks here with wonderful insight that will be a great help (A few maybe even knew your father). I believe you will add to this with your background and history nicely. This site is as much about historical preservation as it is music and equipment appreciation.

[tysontom]

Hi, all. My name is Steven Hirsch and my father is the late Julian Hirsch of Hirsch-Houck Laboratories and Stereo Review. I grew up surrounded by all this great classic gear - before it was classic. As a teenager, II had a chance to meet Amar Bose, Henry Kloss, Ed Vilchur, Bob Berkowitz and many other luminaries of the field. Ended up working for Henry at Advent after my freshman year of college (summer 1970). What a great era. Reading all the postings here is a great nostalgia trip!

More to the point of this forum, I have an AR-1 that by rights is probably one of the rarest of the breed. This speaker was part of a very early live vs. recorded A/B test that compared a church pipe-organ with a recording of same played through a pile of Macintosh power amps and AR-1s. My father and Gladden Houck hosted the event in Pleasantville, NY and it was attended by quite a number of enthusiasts and writers from the NYC area.

The speaker looks to be about a half-step removed from an engineering prototype and includes a typed note on the back signed by Henry in the lower corner. I'm uploading photos with this post. The plastic taped to the back is my attempt at protecting the extremely brittle paper labels. The file attached is a scan of the bill-of-sale that included this system (my father and Mr. Houck purchased the loaner unit and a couple of new ones).

Steven,

I knew your father quite well, and we corresponded and talked by telephone from time-to-time regarding AR and audio in general. AR asked me in 1994 to send a pair of my AR-3a speakers to your dad to be compared with the then-new AR-303 in to be used in his review in Stereo Review magazine. I thought your dad was simply the best of the reviewers in audio for all times, and I would wait eagerly for each new issue of Stereo Review to arrive! I was very sad when he became ill and passed away, but I certainly enjoyed knowing him and reading his wonderful words of wisdom through the years! He was simply one-of-a-kind in audio journalism. Your mom sent a very sweet card to me telling me about his illness just before he passed away. By the way, your dad was very partial to Acoustic Research!

By the way, Edgar Villchur's daughter is going to make an AR museum up in Woodstock, New York, at some point in the future, probably at Ed Villchur's home. I'm going to donate much of my of AR equipment, and you might want to contact her to see about that AR-1 (I seem to recall that Julian said the serial number was around #0220 or so, but I'm not sure). She might be very interested in putting it in that museum.

I have another AR-1 that is very similar to the one you have. It was shipped to Ed Tatnall Canby of Audio magazine for an initial review, but he never returned it to AR. One day years later he called Ed Villchur and said he was sorry about keeping it for so long, and that he wanted to return it to AR. By this time Ed Villchur had been retired from AR for over twenty years, so he had me contact Ed, which I did and the speaker you see here is the one he used in his earliest review of the AR-1. It looks very much like the one your dad had.

--Tom Tyson

[iso]

Welcome Steven

Nice to have you here. Stereo Review was also familiar to me here in land of Santa Claus.

Best Regards

Kimmo

[snhirsch]

Hi, Tom. Thanks for your post! I just took a look at the speaker and the serial number on my unit is 147 (don't know why I had 175 stuck in my head). I also misspoke when I mentioned Macintosh amplifiers. Just re-read the Audio League report and it was a combination of Fairchild and Fisher power amplifiers. The sheer amount of tubes and iron required to produce 450 watts of continuous power in those days must have taken a load off the church heating systems! Interestingly, my father mentions receiving recording assistance from "Tom Doud" of Atlantic Records. Since this was a typewritten proof, I'm thinking that was probably the late Tom Dowd. While I'm correcting myself I should note that the church was actually in Mt. Kisco, NY not Pleasantville. Mr. Houck was living in the latter town and the Audio League used his address and PO Box.

[VintageMan]

These great stories, and replys, make a day as today a special day.

Thank you all!

[Carlspeak]

These great stories, and replys, make a day as today a special day.

Thank you all!

Which is why I didn't hesitate to validate Steven to CSP membership!

[VintageMan]

Which is why I didn't hesitate to validate Steven to CSP membership!

I wanted to "Like This" but according to the software I've reached my quota of likes for today.

So here you go:

[stupidhead]

Hi Steve, welcome and thanks for joining and sharing. Some great historical info for us to admire for sure.

I was intrigued by the third pic which seems to show the seal of the back of the cabinet maybe separated? Would love to see the drivers.

Geoff

[snhirsch]

The third picture is of the label pasted to the rear of the cabinet. The paper is very brittle and a lot has flaked off over the years. I'd like to see the drivers as well, but will need some guidance in safely getting the grill assembly off. I'm a relatively handy person with a lot of tools at my disposal, but I do not want to start prying at it without some idea what's there.

[snhirsch]

Also, FYI, I have been receiving private messages with purchase offers. While I'm flattered to see the interest, I'm not at a point now where selling the speaker is on the table. For now I consider it a member of the family, but will let folks in the community know if that changes.

(in addition to the speaker, I still have the original bill of sale, owners manual, printed program from the Live vs. Recorded concert, draft of the Audio League article and the actual Audio League Report itself. Also a bunch of letters back and forth between my Dad and Henry Kloss. This would all go with the speaker if and when that time comes.)

[VintageMan]

Also, FYI, I have been receiving private messages with purchase offers. While I'm flattered to see the interest, I'm not at a point now where selling the speaker is on the table. For now I consider it a member of the family, but will let folks in the community know if that changes.

(in addition to the speaker, I still have the original bill of sale, owners manual, printed program from the Live vs. Recorded concert, draft of the Audio League article and the actual Audio League Report itself. Also a bunch of letters back and forth between my Dad and Henry Kloss. This would all go with the speaker if and when that time comes.)

Maybe you could scan those documents for the AR documents part of this site?

[Carlspeak]

The third picture is of the label pasted to the rear of the cabinet. The paper is very brittle and a lot has flaked off over the years. I'd like to see the drivers as well, but will need some guidance in safely getting the grill assembly off. I'm a relatively handy person with a lot of tools at my disposal, but I do not want to start prying at it without some idea what's there.

PM me Steven, I have a document to share regarding removal of AR grilles.

[script56]

The ar1 & ar3 are notorious for grilles being broken when removed. The earlier the serial number, the harder to remove. They used glue all around the grille in early models and later just 6 spots of glue. If you want to see speakers you can use your flashlight on your phone by placing up against cloth and you can see speakers. It does state on back of speaker not to attempt to remove grille. Such a historic piece deserves to preserved in its original state. If you must remove, you can start in middle of long side of cabinet and pry ONLY cloth off of wood grille, but trying to remove wood grille you will break and possibly damage speakers you're trying to see. The wood grilles are made of an early type of mdf so it will tear and not remove in one piece.

[Steve F]

Hello Steven,

My name is Steve Feinstein. I was in the audio business for many years, with Panasonic/Technics, Bose, Boston Acoustics and Atlantic Technology. I held Product Development and Marketing roles with those companies, and was therefore our company's "point person" for outside activities such as reviews, literature/brochures, press releases, industry events/trade shows, etc. As such, I had the opportunity and privilege to know Julian very well over a period of many years.

I wrote the attached tribute to your dad in December 2003--it was published word-for-word in the Feb 2004 edition of Sound & Vision magazine. If you haven't seen this, I thought you might like to read it.

Sincerely,

Steve Feinstein

Julian Hirsch tribute.pdf

[der]

Hello Steven,

My name is Steve Feinstein. I was in the audio business for many years, with Panasonic/Technics, Bose, Boston Acoustics and Atlantic Technology. I held Product Development and Marketing roles with those companies, and was therefore our company's "point person" for outside activities such as reviews, literature/brochures, press releases, industry events/trade shows, etc. As such, I had the opportunity and privilege to know Julian very well over a period of many years.

I wrote the attached tribute to your dad in December 2003--it was published word-for-word in the Feb 2004 edition of Sound & Vision magazine. If you haven't seen this, I thought you might like to read it.

Sincerely,

Steve Feinstein

Very nice. I too, remember reading Mr. Hirsch's articles back when I was a young man. I certainly enjoyed them then and I'm enjoying this thread now.

der

[stan461]

Steven (Hirsch),

I did not know your dad personally but I am so grateful to him for sharing his experiences with me through stereo review.

I loved that magazine and couldn't wait for the latest issue.

Sometimes I would read an articles/reviews over and over trying to squeeze out every last bit of info.

Paint myself the most complete picture I could.

The really good writing in this publication allowed me this luxury.

Great magazine and wonderful times.

And your dad was a huge part of it.

Welcome aboard!

[Anthropologo]

Don't sell, you will regret it and be even more disappointed when it is immediately flipped to ebay. Always an innate tension between those of us who do this for the hobby/passion of the history and music and those who view this as another resource in a commodification and mercantile pursuit. If you pair it with a Janszen 130 you have a really interesting mono listening experience (Beatles on mono is really eye popping) and/or pair it with another set and don't worry about buying any more speakers in your lifetime.

[snhirsch]

Hello Steven,

My name is Steve Feinstein. I was in the audio business for many years, with Panasonic/Technics, Bose, Boston Acoustics and Atlantic Technology. I held Product Development and Marketing roles with those companies, and was therefore our company's "point person" for outside activities such as reviews, literature/brochures, press releases, industry events/trade shows, etc. As such, I had the opportunity and privilege to know Julian very well over a period of many years.

I wrote the attached tribute to your dad in December 2003--it was published word-for-word in the Feb 2004 edition of Sound & Vision magazine. If you haven't seen this, I thought you might like to read it.

Sincerely,

Steve Feinstein

Thanks, Steve. That was very touching to read. The AR-1 you mention is the one I currently have. It does look pretty good for a 60-year-old loudspeaker, but unfortunately not quite "mint" :-).

My father, in both his professional career and personal life, always subscribed to the philosophy of "..if you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all". It served him well.