The name just gives me a warm fuzzy. I first discovered their speakers in the early 1980s. They built uncompromising designs in what I think was the hey-day of acoustic speaker design. Not absurdly expensive (but still pricey) and they had an ethos that said "these should be accessible to the normal enthusiast". So they made most of their speakers available as kits.
I bought a set of DAS-6s and have had them ever since. I've blown out a tweeter (with the 1812 Overture; my master recording on vinyl claimed to have the single largest transient ever recorded) and then a mover put his hands through one of the 8" woofers a couple of years ago when I moved from San Francisco.
I've reclaimed the speakers from storage and have just bought two new 8" woofers for them from Speakerlab - who have managed to stay in business all these years. They're down-sized but still produce components.
So I am very eager to return home tonight and install the new woofers. I'll probably have the 12" woofers re-coned (it's hard to get the same quality of components anymore).
Now, of course, I face the minor nightmare of wiring up the system. I have a couple of NAD amps that can be set to put all their power through one channel and fancy multi-media receiver to fit the TV output into the 6 speaker stereo components. Plus DVD, CD, and soon phonograph.
Best of all, I'm just making use of an investment I've made over the years. Total outlay will only be about $300 to get everything going again and most of that will be the phonograph.
Posted by artandscience at January 25, 2005 08:12 PM | TrackBackBack in 1981 I purchased a pair of Speakerlab S50's for $3600.00. I have been using them steady for the past 24 years. I had to replace one of the 10" drivers due to cone material breakage. These speakers are 5 foot towers, with a 12" woofer, 10" driver, 6 1/2" poly mid, 6" dome tweeter and 4" high frequency ribbon unit. The units weigh 200 lbs each, have 3 decibal settings [2 switches] for the mid range and each tweeter. 2 sets of posts are included, along with a setting switch for Bi-amp or full range use. The rating on the units were for 300W RMS. Reading your post has brought back some memories, as these speakers were extremely cool when I purchased them back in the day.
Posted by: Rick Kippen at June 22, 2005 10:14 PMBack in 1979 my dad bought a kit of Speakerlab 1 speakers and we brought it home and he built the enclosures from the plans. I remember they cost around $129 for the kit. When finished they sounded great! Pink Floyd was never the same again. In 1982 when I was old enough to have some spending money from my paper route, I bought a pair of Speakerlab S9 bookshelf speakers. They were $179. My dad built the enclosures and I still use them today, 24 years later. They are excellent speakers and have needed no work at all. I've picked up a Speakerlab S10 subwoofer now and it's so powerful I only use it with a few recordings. Today I picked up a mid 90s pair of Speakerlab DAS speakers for $35. They are a little boomy in the base but will work very well as part of my movie audio system. The 9s will remain as my primary stereo speakers as they have the perfect balance for me.
Posted by: Heck Hechy at January 21, 2006 10:14 AM