Snell

A great American speaker company is no more

Snell Acoustics never strayed from its core principles. The company, founded by Peter Snell in 1976, continued to manufacture high-end loudspeakers in Massachusetts until this year. I first met Peter in 1978 while working at a NYC high-end audio dealer, and soon bought one of his original speakers, a Snell Type A. I had it for eight years.

Peter was a perfectionist about the sound and the build quality of his speakers. The cabinets were exquisitely finished, but the amount of handiwork invested in the parts the customer never saw was even more impressive.

Though most of the better speaker manufacturers demand a minimum measurement variation for their suppliers' tweeters and woofers, Snell went the extra mile and hand-tuned each crossover network to compensate for the drivers' response irregularities. Then a computer measured the speaker's response, and a technician noted the difference between the desired flat curve and the speaker's actual frequency response.

The hand-tweaking process continued until the speaker measured within Snell's unusually tight tolerances. The painstaking effort ensured all completed speakers measured within exceedingly tight tolerances (+/-0.5 decibels) of the original design prototype. Every Snell buyer heard exactly what the designer intended.

All Snells, including the most affordable models, were built this way, and all cabinets were assembled and finished by hand. Few American speaker companies continue to maintain that approach; most outsourced manufacturing long ago.

If a Snell customer ever needed a replacement tweeter, midrange, or woofer, that part was supplied with its associated crossover parts, again matched to the original spec; and this was done for speakers 10, 20, and even 30 years after they were sold. That remarkable commitment to customer service is rare in today's market, but Snell was a very special company.

Peter dropped by my store on a regular basis, usually to discuss music or future plans. When I moved to a new apartment with unfriendly room acoustics, he offered to help. He spent three or four hours experimenting with different placement scenarios before coming up with a rather unusual strategy that worked. He really was a great guy, totally committed to designing speakers that advanced the state of the art.… Read more

Confessions of a female audiophile

Women sometimes buy quality audio, but that doesn't make them audiophiles.

With rare exceptions, all the audiophiles I've known are men. The unifying mantra for audiophiles is that there's always something, maybe an amplifier or speaker just out a reach that might get them a little closer to the music. Audiophiles are gear junkies. They want to have Aretha Franklin or the New York Philharmonic or their favorite music sound like it's in the house. Audiophiles crave an emotional, visceral connection with their music.

That pretty much sums up Margery Budoff's audiophile urges. Like most audiophiles I know, Margery had an unusually strong affinity for music at a young age. She described herself as "A child musician with an industrial design fetish." Even as a little kid she loved the look of stuff, especially older, big and clunky 1950s and 1960s record players.

The first record Margery bought was "Telstar," then Dionne Warwick, then the Rolling Stones. The record player was the thing that could "Decipher the secret code encrypted in the records. I wanted to hear the sound in all its glory. That's how I became an audiophile."… Read more

Denon, Marantz, McIntosh, and Boston Acoustics are on the sales block

As reported in Bloomberg.com D & M Holdings Inc, makers of Denon, Marantz, McIntosh, Snell Acoustics, Boston Acoustics, and Escient, is on the sales block. I can't comment on the business aspects of the deal, but speaking as an audiophile I'm concerned. These companies are in the upper echelons of audio, the Marantz name goes back 50 years, McIntosh has been building some of the world's best electronics in Binghamton, New York for 60 years, I was a friend of Peter Snell, the founder of Snell Acoustics, and the D & M Holdings owned company still … Read more

CEDIA sights, sounds: New audio products that knock your socks off

The Audiophiliac has been prowling the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) Expo in Denver over the past several days, looking for the latest and greatest audio products.

McIntosh's MT-10 turntable ($8,000) caused a stir. The turntable's bearing uses opposing magnets to "float" the platter and keep noise low.

I was blown away by Definitive Technology's new Mythos ST speakers ($3,600/pair). The skinny speakers somehow deliver truly deep bass, and the midrange and treble ranges were also exceptional.

Krell's iPod dock on steroids, the KID (Krell Interface Dock, $1,500) … Read more

The most boring $35,000 speakers ever

Considering all the interesting forms that loudspeakers can and do take, the latest pair from Snell is almost inexcusably boring. Then again, this is the same company that has deliberately tried to conceal other products, so maybe it's just not interested in appearances.

Electronic House gushes over the Reference Tower A7 Loudspeaker's "dual 5.25-inch magnesium midranges mounted over and under a silk dome tweeter, combined with twin 10-inch long-throw woofers for exceptional smoothness and dynamic range." Still, at a price of $35,000, one might expect a little more effort applied to the aesthetic factor. … Read more

Home entertainment hide-and-seek

Hiding consumer electronics behind the facade of home furnishings can often be an exercise in excess or silliness (or or both). So we're not sure that it's a good or bad thing that people are starting to create their own camouflage designs for their entertainment technologies. Just as SoundArt does custom art to hide speakers, Snell is apparently doing something similar with its products.

But the company isn't limiting its facades to paintings and photographs, as it's proven with a its "ICS 1030 Bookshelf Speaker." Luxurylaunches says the speaker has been disguised to look … Read more