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Are RTR DR1s among best speakers ever?

hammr7

hammr7

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I recently got a pair of RTR DR1s (I believe also marketed as Dymistatic DR1s) in near-perfect cosmetic condition. I'm hoping to power them up in the next week or so.

They have complex electrostatics top ends ("27 element circumaxial, variable area radiators, asymetrically damped") driven by proprietary amps integrated into the speaker housings, Isobarik bottoms requiring separate amps, and all I can find is a couple of older reviews that claim they are among the best commercial offerings ever. With a build up like that I can't wait to try them in my system.

Unfortunately they haven't been powered up in more than a decade. They were stored in a climate controlled setting, and were refurbished right after their last use. The intention of the prior owner was to return them immediately to service, but he had unforeseen health issues that precluded this.

Given their stature and the potential complexity of any required repairs, I'd like to get technical information on them before going wild. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anything available anywhere on these speakers. Anything that anyone knows about these would be greatly appreciated.
 
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to answer your question I would say probably not. they couldn't be that great if there's no info available on them. Company out of business?? Hmmmm.
 
oldhifiguy said:
to answer your question I would say probably not. they couldn't be that great if there's no info available on them. Company out of business?? Hmmmm.
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Initially that is what I thought, but what little I could find on the web intrigued me enough to give them a shot, especially at the selling price. Here were the references I found on the web:

http://blog.ultimateavmag.com/industryvoice/
(half way down the page)

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread/t-100356.html
(forum discussion)

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~macinc/gm2004.htm
(two reviews, 2/3 way down page - April, 2004)
 
oldhifiguy said:
to answer your question I would say probably not. they couldn't be that great if there's no info available on them. Company out of business?? Hmmmm.
Click to expand...

Info is pretty scarce on RTR products in general and what little I have found has for the most part been quite positive. I like the sound of my Series IV's and I wouldn't discount the quality of their other speakers off-hand. Just my .02.:smoke::smoke::smoke:
 
There is a set of RTR 280's available locally that I could scoop for really cheap but they are just huuuuge and heavy (together they weigh more than me)....I should really give em a try though.
 
IMHO:

RTR is about as good as any other small-run speaker company of the time. They tried some "out-there" designs, and some were better than others. It seemed they were run on the principle "It seemed like a good idea at the time...".

Like many smaller manufacturers that saw enough success to be popular (if not profitable), their name was gobbled up by a string of fly-by-night companies and some of their later offerings were of very questionable design and quality (i.e., think of 1980’s Fisher and Sound Design rack systems). This was the same fate suffered by Jensen, DCM, and others.

They’ll best be known for their electrostatic models, and some of their modular sub/sat systems, and deservedly so.
 
I purchased these speakers, despite the relative panning here and the almost complete lack of information. I hooked them up through my Yamaha C-70 preamp and my Yamaha M-2 amp for the woofers. To keep things simple I've been running A/B comparisons with my Klipsch KLF-20s using a variety of musical genres I have on CD (through the same setup, except the Klipsch is bi-amped with a HK 110 WPC amp). I still don't think my settings and placement are optimized, and I know my room isn't. Nonetheless:

IMHO If you ever see a pair of these DO NOT LET THEM GET AWAY!

They are blowing away the Klipsch speakers, and every other speaker pair I have. I love my Klipsch, but they can't match the upper mids and high end of the RTR electrostatics. These elements are as good as any electrostatic I have ever heard. The speakers melt away leaving a beautifully transparent soundstage. There is plenty of punch where it is needed, and exquisite definition of all musical details. I wouldn't expect anything less out of an electrostatic. There is certainly enough low end to keep me from needing a subwoofer any time soon. One nice feature is that the RTR amps automatically balance sound volume by reducing the active electrostatic area at higher frequencies.

More important (at least for me) is that the cylindrical elements radiate in all directions. There is no beaming, since equal volume is projected around the entire speaker. Unlike some speakers, with these I don't have to consider who gets seats in the perfect "zone". In fact, there is great sound even when I go beyond one of the speakers into the next room.

My only regret is that the speakers are large and heavy, so it will be a while until I can take them somewhere are really crank them. I can easily saturate my 3500 cubic foot room.

Let me repeat:

IMHO If you ever see a pair of these DO NOT LET THEM GET AWAY!
 
jonny guitar said:
There is a set of RTR 280's available locally that I could scoop for really cheap but they are just huuuuge and heavy (together they weigh more than me)....I should really give em a try though.
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RTR 280D's sell for as much as $600 on that auction site... I've been looking for a pair. :yes:

Scott
 
The vintage RtR's, before BIC bought the name (not the technology) were good to very, very good. I had a pair of RTR 280's in the 70's that were awesome and I didn't have the add on electrostatics. I could drive them with a Crown DC300 louder than you would want to here in a medium size room, without distortion. I found some RtR's with electrostatics and I'm very, very happy. The DR1's are very, very good speakers IMHO. Be carefull of the amp you are driving them with because electrostatics can play havoc on a SS amplifier. By the way, when I got the RtR's I relegated my "modern speakers" to the loft -Polk towers, Velodyne sub. Enjoy your RtR's !
 

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hdewees said:
Be carefull of the amp you are driving them with because electrostatics can play havoc on a SS amplifier.
Click to expand...

The DR-1s have custom build Class G (whatever that is :scratch2:) amps developed by RTR specifically for the cylindrical electrostatics. These were designed to handle whatever the electrostatic threw at them.

The story on RTR's demise is a black comedy of great technology and horrible marketing. Apparently at one time they supplied ALL the electrostatics to Heil, ESS, etc. Marketing got tired of those companies focusing on planar sheets, and decided RTR could do better. The DR1's were their solution to take on the audio world. Unfortunately two things happened:

1. Their customers didn't like a supplier becoming a competitor, and began looking for an alternative supplier (or taking electrostatic production in-house).

2. From one of my earlier links, there was more than a little art to constructing the cylindrical electrostatics. One worker, a woman, became particularly adept, and was responsible for assembling and optimizing all the production DR-1 elements, including matching the pairs. When it was time for reviews, she asked for a $1.00/hr raise. The company, not realizing how critical she was, refused and fired her. After she left quality issues plagued subsequent units.

Marketing decided to kill the product, but the damage was already done. By then RTR's competitive advantage was in electrostatics, but they lost their big customers and never recovered financially.
 
Best speaker ever? I would say no. I have heard some very fine speakers that blow my stats away. (Beverage for one. also stats)
Volume wise your Klipsch will blow the RTR's away. But I am sure you are right at the RTR's sounding much better. It's just damn hard to beat a stat.

But I know exactly where you are coming from. I used to have a pair of Altec 19's that volume wise would play much louder than my stats. But I sold them to get my stats. I just had to have accuracy. I have gotten nothing but compliments ever since. And I've had mine 28 years now.
 
Oh yeah. You do need more power. Plus stats love to eat amps. I'm fixing to hook a third high powered SS amp to mine. 2 ohm loads are more common than 4
 
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