Anyone know anything about Allison Acoustics?

[hippojam]

I grew up in the 80s with a pair of Allison Acoustics bookshelf speakers, that I only got rid of a few years ago. I would imagine they are these (or equivalent to these):

http://www.allisonacoustics.com/pb8-2.html

but I don't really remember. I do remember that the speakers were damaged when I tried to sell them and the consignment store opened up the grill to see how they were blown. Though they still worked, I had decided to get rid of them and that my bose wave radio actually sounded better than those speakers and my onkyo receiver.

So my question is this...were those good speakers? Is Allison Acoustics a good company? Does it make sense that my bose wave radio sounded better than those two damaged speakers? (I don't remember hearing any distortion because of the damage...just that the bose sounded better.)

Now that I'm starting to be more discriminating, I'm curious about those speakers....

[markw]

Don't know about today's product but they sure look good.

I remember their Models 1 thru 4. The ones and twos and threes were made specificaly for wall or corner placement. The four was made for wall/shelf placement with room above.

We had the pleasure to see Roy demonstrate the then new 4 at a hi fi show in NY in 77 or so. It was impressive to say the least. I wanted a pair badly but money being what it was (or wasn't, actually) forced me to stick with my JBL Lancer 55's.

The other speakers were excellent but the positioning requirements might be a little stringent for some.

[Jimmy C]

I grew up in the 80s with a pair of Allison Acoustics bookshelf speakers, that I only got rid of a few years ago. I would imagine they are these (or equivalent to these):

http://www.allisonacoustics.com/pb8-2.html

but I don't really remember. I do remember that the speakers were damaged when I tried to sell them and the consignment store opened up the grill to see how they were blown. Though they still worked, I had decided to get rid of them and that my bose wave radio actually sounded better than those speakers and my onkyo receiver.

So my question is this...were those good speakers? Is Allison Acoustics a good company? Does it make sense that my bose wave radio sounded better than those two damaged speakers? (I don't remember hearing any distortion because of the damage...just that the bose sounded better.)

Now that I'm starting to be more discriminating, I'm curious about those speakers....

...I "know" anything about them, but I remember Allison was one of the higher-end brands in a local store, ca. 1980. The Bose better? Roy's speakers MUST have been damaged :^)

I can recall these being easy to listen to, along with other good brands from that era - Snell, Boston, A/D/S, KEF, and a few others. The woodwork was better than most... then again, they were on the upper end of the pricing scale of the brands I mentioned.

A local record store has a pair of Allison 6s for sale (sort of). Actually, the place has a bunch of cool (semi) vintage gear - Linn turntable, Mac tubes, lots of BIG receivers from the 60s and 70s, VPI record cleaners, etc. Fun to look at. Anyway, I wanted to try out the 6s, but they are not hooked up, and I could never get a price - not sure what's goin' on.

At any rate, I would look into them as an alternative to much of what is on the market today... they are an interesting design.

Check out those IC-20 on ebay now... hhmmmmm...

[N. Abstentia]

Yeah there was something definitely wrong with them if a Bose radio sounded better. It don't get much worse than a Bose radio!

The current Allisons are nice as well, Stanford Acoustics bought them back in the 90's and I got to know those guys really well back when I had my car audio shop and we became one of the first dealers for their Volcano line of car subwoofers. We naturally picked up Allison for our small home audio side of the store and we quit selling Polk at that time because of that. I had a few sets of those Allisons, wish I still had them. They wouldn't replace my Active Paradigms by any means, but they would be great for a secondary system.

[2bluechris]

have a look at :- http://www.classicspeakerpages.net . You will find various things about the original designer - Roy Allison - and his Company . There is also a discussion forum on the site where you may find threads already posted about Allison -{I remember reading something about Roy Allison there-in} , or post your own specific query . The original Allison speakers were good , but I have not heard any of the later models , how-ever the photo in the link you posted seems to show the original Allison designed tweeter , which was good and still compares well with many tweeters made now . best wishes , Chris .

[Worf101]

I got them used off the Bay. Wonderful speaker. Too big for a Bookshelf perse, but not a floorstander either. Another "answer" to the Bose 901's of the day. I love my Allison 4's but blew a driver in one of 'em and have to send to Allison to get a replacement. Good stuff... you could do worse...

Da Worfster :p

[freddievortex1]

I worked at Allison Acoustics when they were in Natick,MA and employed only about 30 people from the top (Roy) down. I spent 4 years there, the last 2 1/2 years in charge of the Testing Dept.I tested each individual speaker in a chamber designed to duplicate a living room setting, and sent a audio signal and viewed the response on a scope, The freqency respose had to fit in a tight go-no go acceptance standard. After they were assembled I would put a variable full spectrum signal into the finished product. I started at about 25 cycles to see if there was any movenent of the midrange and/ or tweeter. This told me if the speakers had any airleaks from the inside (a big no-no). To get to the point these speakers were designed to interact with flooors, wall or ceilings (if you had say a pair of model 3's).This increases the bass output. If someone had a old or damaged pair of Allison Speakers then your car speakers would probably sound better. But also remember that Allison Acoustics are designed to be a flat frequency response( often called the East Coast sound VS say JBL's for a more West Coast sound). I found most repairs were due to underpowering (clips burn out the tweeter) or woofers that the family dog thought was a fire hydrant.Any aging or drying out of a component is going to affect the sound quality. And speaking of Bose comparisions, I also worked there in the early 70's When they were also in Natick. I even helped build the production areas when we moved to the 'mountain'. Bose's principal uses the same theory about using reflections from a wall, but tries to reproduce the low frequencies electronically (artficially?). A 4 inch speaker cannot produce a low frequency wave as well as a 10 inch or larger woofer.Their Quality control in Natick was very poor. When you spend all day doing nothing but screwing in the speakers (with a quota system) some time the screw would miss the speaker hole and hit a speaker cone or surround. The testers solution was to put clear nail polish on the tear and ship it out. Not when I took over testing did that ever happen on my watch. And to the guy who was listening to Allison Acoustics in the early 80's were probably tested by me.
For older audiophiles who might still have a Quadrafonic equipment, when I was a Hi-Fi salesman, another salesman and myself drove 3 hours to Conn. to a store where they hung 4 Allison 3's upside down. For those who don't know the model 3, it is wedge shaped to tuck in a corner with a 10 inch woofer, midrange and tweeter. The store put a cheesecloth screen from the ceiling to floor so you couldn't see them, but what an audio experience. I had them play Santana's Abraxis lp. WOW!! But as a salesman and someone who knows speakers, I sold what people liked to hear not just a namebrand.

[RoadRunner6]

Freddievortex1. I'm an old fart that got into audio in the late 60's. I haven't heard the Allison name in awhile. They made high quality speakers. Thanks for sparking some memories.

RR6 :D

[Auricauricle]

I worked with a Chief Petty Officer who invited a select crowd to his bungalow (I was not one of them, alas!) to hear his Allison 1's. The reports were unaminously positive, and I am convinced it spurred many of the guys to go to the Exchange (military version of the mall) and snap up as much high end gear as they could. It was really something to see, these "Stereo Wars". Pretty ugly....

[RoadRunner6]

Aa, that sounds rather petty that you wouldn't be invited with the others. Perhaps that had something to do with his rank.

I was in the real part of our military, The United States Army.



Navy Tale

It's the Spring of 1957 and a sailor goes to pick up his date. When he goes to the front door, the girl's father answers and inviteshim in. "Carrie's not ready yet, so why don't you have a seat?," he says.
"That's cool" says the sailor.

Carrie's father asks the sailor what they're planning to do.

The sailor replies politely that they will probably just go to the soda shop or a movie.

Carrie's father responds "why don't you two go out and screw? I hear all the kids are doing it."

Naturally, this comes as a quite a surprise to the young sailor - so he asks Carrie's Dad to repeat it.

"Yeah," says Carrie's father, "Carrie really likes to screw; she'll screw all night if we let her!"

Well, this just made the sailor's eyes light up, and his plan for the evening was beginning to look pretty good.

A few minutes later, Carrie comes downstairs in her little poodle skirt and announces that she's ready to go. Almost breathless with anticipation, the young sailor escorts his date out the front door.

About 20 minutes later, Carrie rushes back into the house, slams the door behind
her, and screams at her father:

" DAMMIT DADDY! IT'S CALLED THE TWIST!!!"


RR6 :eek6:

[Auricauricle]

"Rather petty"...Oooooh.

(Good story, BTW)...Here's one related to an Army buddy o' mine. Will call him Ralph Rakestraw. In '66, he was dating a girl, and at one point was invited to meet the parents. When the soldier and father had a moment together, the father took him aside. "Listen here," he said. "I want to be very candid with you about something."
"What is it," Ralph answered, apprehensively noting the father's confidential tone.
"You must be most careful with my daughter. She is very fragile."
"No worries, sir," said Ralph.
"I'm serious, Ralph. She has a medical condition that you may not be aware of,"
"Oh?" Ralph's eyes widened with interest.
"Yes," the father continued. "She has acute angina."
"No worries sir, we have already discussed the matter," said Ralph.
"This does not concern you?"
"No, absolutely not," announced Ralph, who nudged the father good naturedly and continued. "She has a pretty nice set-a-twins, too!"

This private matter soon led to the dissolution of hte relationship....

[RoadRunner6]

Freddievortex1, I must appologize for getting slightly off subject here on your thread.

Auricauricle, sorry about a little Navy humor by posting the photo of the sailors on the big boat sunning and drinking beer in the raft jacuzzi. Seriously, I know the Navy boys do a great job.

I read that they are especially impressive with their efforts in training the new Iraqi Navy. I have taken the liberty of posting a photo below of the joint effort of the combined forces of the US and Iraqi navies in the development of the Iraqi Navy's newest twin-hull catamaran supply vessel.

RR6 (very straight military face)

[Auricauricle]

Laugh all you like, Helmethead; you should see the Evinrude outboards on these things!

[moreorles2]

Freddie, I worked across the street on Tech Circle from AA and picked up a set of CD7s back in the 80's for good price. Any idea where AA got their grills made? I'd love to bring mine back to 100% but nobody seems to know where to get replacement grills. Any suggestions?

[lucasb7]

I have a pair of AL-120s that I've had for a while and they are truly an outstanding speaker. They are crisp and versatile. I had them sitting in my living room for a while and then read an article about Roy Alison and decided I would rotate them into my Den. Best decision ever! :12:

[lucasb7]

Oops... Just looked at the date. Sorry for reviving an old thread. I just googled Allison Acoustics and this was the first hit.

[jgourd]

I too worked at Allison in Natick and helped them move to Framingham. I must know freddievortex1 as he could only be one of two people that had that job while I was there. I worked as Roy's engineering assistant, prototyping his ideas, designing production machinery, crossover layouts, etc. I brought primitive CAD to Allison.

When the new owners came in and messed it all up they brought with them, the ideas for the AL series. It was really weird seeing spotted paint getting mixed up. Every time I saw a pair, all I could think of was the Three Stooges.

In the back of my truck I currently have a pair of CD-9s and CD-6s that I really need to move into the house and hook up. I was a fun place to work as an engineer as the projects were varied and never boring.

[jvc]

I have a pair of AL-115 speakers, that I absolutely love. The foam surround has rotted away, and I haven't fixed them yet. One day I'll fix them and start using them again. Over the years, a couple of people heard mine, and immediately wanted to go buy a pair. The store had sold them all, and Allison was closed down.

When Allison reopened, I sent an email telling them what I had, and how much I liked them. Roy sent me a reply, saying that their new PB 8.2 speakers, were the same speaker as the AL-115s. But, they were three times the price I paid, and I couldn't afford them. I see Allison speakers on eBay fairly often. Too bad Allison couldn't stay in business. They built some great speakers................

[Jimjam]

Allison Acoustics engineered by Roy Allison are outstanding Audiophile grade speakers sought after by those in the know worldwide. Go to Yahoo Groups/ Allison Speakers and read the threads by Allison owners. Most of which hold degrees in sound engineering. I personally own Allison CD9 speakers and their sound stage outperform my Infinity Reference Studio Monitors, Energy reference 22 conn's, and my Klipsh KG4's and KG4.5's.

[Jimjam]

You must know that you can get them refoamed. I own a Pair of Allison CD9's in true walnut and I wouldn't part with them.

[Jim in OH]

I have a pair of Allison:Seven speakers that I enjoyed for years. I haven't used them for awhile and they don't really fit with my current system but they are great. Anyone interested?

[JohnMichael]

I have a pair of Allison:Seven speakers that I enjoyed for years. I haven't used them for awhile and they don't really fit with my current system but they are great. Anyone interested?


Jim you are welcome to list them in the Classifieds. We do not post things for sale in the Forums.

[Jim in OH]

Jim you are welcome to list them in the Classifieds. We do not post things for sale in the Forums.

Sorry JohnMichael, new to the forum. I have quite a bit of equipment I no longer use often.

[JohnMichael]

Sorry JohnMichael, new to the forum. I have quite a bit of equipment I no longer use often.


Jim you are welcome to share your audio journey and the equipment you have collected. When it comes to pricing and contact information that would belong in the classifieds.

I am in Central Ohio and have a walk-in closet full of equipment. Welcome and tell us more about you.

[Jimjam]

i have a pair of allison:seven speakers that i enjoyed for years. I haven't used them for awhile and they don't really fit with my current system but they are great. Anyone interested?

i am not personally familiar with the sevens. I have two pair of allison cd9's. Outstanding speakers. Walnut veneer. Someone asked about replacing the grills on their allisons. Contact alex bobtek on etsy.com. Etsy is a site where you can purchase things handmade. Go to etsy.com and type in speaker grills. You will see well made replacement grills for your allison speakers. I have purchased replacements for my cd9's and i am very pleased with the quality and buying experience. Jimjam

[mirage727]

Legendary! A friend of mine was the Secretary for the Boston Audio Society around 1988. He scored a pair of Allison CD-6s from Roy Allison for me. They're one of the best sets I've ever owned.

An interested party wants to buy them but wonders if they will work with a Sansui 8 as a pre amp along with a Dynaco ST-70 which is a 35watt tube amp. Can anyone verify they will work with that tube amp? Thnx.