I once worked at Design Acoustics ~1976

[Charivari]

I'm a D-series or "Design" series DA fan myself, but your comments, Retro, are in keeping with what others have said about the early single-digit PS speakers that they're surprisingly good. I'll have to find myself a pair one of these days to find out for myself.

Gonzo, Kelly, I'm still trying to determine just what goes into the D-8, since it was the only model, aside from the much smaller D-1 and D-3 from DA's early D-series that Julian Hirsch didn't go out of his way to review -- as far as I know. From what I can tell, and hopefully Nealaz will chime in shortly to correct my inaccurate information, is that the D-8 was a columnar floor-standing speaker quite like a tall D-6.

Here's a picture of one of my D-6s just for reference and to see if this was indeed what you saw at the thrift, Gonzo.

10" woofer in the back behind a plastic screen with a rear-firing port over the input plate.
- JP

 

[wineslob]

Does that thing actually sound ok at all? That is probably the oddest design I've seen in awhile.

 

[Charivari]

Does that thing actually sound ok at all? That is probably the oddest design I've seen in awhile.

I gave some of my initial listening impressions in this thread, though most of the pictures were lost in the database crash. With proper positioning and a big, clear wall in behind to take care of the lower midrange suck-out and if one sits far enough back to allow for proper driver integration, these can be some very fine sounding speakers despite or perhaps because of the odd design.

- JP

 

[hifi_nut]

Hey, welcome to AK, Nealaz. This place needed someone of your experience with the oddball speakers from Design Acoustics.

- JP

JP,
Nealaz´s experience with the DA oddball speakers nonwithstanding, to me, and I´m sure to many other AKer´s, you´ll always be regarded as the DA Man. :thmbsp:
Jorge

 

[Strawman]

I still have the PS-3 sub/sat combo dual 8" woogers if I recall. It's in use in H/T system, just the ths sub.

 

[Charivari]

JP,
Nealaz´s experience with the DA oddball speakers nonwithstanding, to me, and I´m sure to many other AKer´s, you´ll always be regarded as the DA Man. :thmbsp:
Jorge

Thanks Jorge. I'll admit that I've been a bit concerned with this new outcome. My only area of minimal expertise has been put at risk with this, but it's nice to know my take on the DAs won't be left behind.

- JP

 

[MarkAnderson]

Thanks Jorge. I'll admit that I've been a bit concerned with this new outcome. My only area of minimal expertise has been put at risk with this, but it's nice to know my take on the DAs won't be left behind.

- JP

Horse sh!t, JP. You are one of the more knowledgable(sp?) people on this board. I'm constantly amazed at your insight. You know, for such a young feller - Mark

 

[kfa888]

Does that thing actually sound ok at all? That is probably the oddest design I've seen in awhile.

I had Charivari's D-6 at my house before he got them and hooked up to my SX-1010 in a medium-large living room spaed about 3 feet from the wall and on stands I thought they sounded very good. Nice modern sound, crisp highes with a snappy bass responce. Almost sounded like a good sub/sat system.

 

[Charivari]

Horse sh!t, JP. You are one of the more knowledgable(sp?) people on this board. I'm constantly amazed at your insight. You know, for such a young feller - Mark

Haha! I've fooled you all! (j/k) Thanks, old timer. :thmbsp:

- JP

 

[Don C]

Are you sure you're not thinking of the PS-8 of the later "point source" series rather than the original D-8s?

PS-8A

PS-8C

PS-8X

- JP

I guess that I should go ahead and complete this gallery of PS-8 variations.

 

[Urizen]

Welcome aboard! :thmbsp:

 

[gto47]

I feel the need to chime in here as i'm a huge DA fan. The company went through many phases. The first incarnation of the company was responsible for the D-12 when design acoustics was design acoustics. They produced these sort of eames era designs that were well regarded and still fetch a lot on ebay. The company was then bought by Audio Technica, well known for their microphone and turntable equipment. The bulk of what was sold under AT was bookshelf systems which could be used with their passive subwoofers but there were some high end floorstanding tower speakers which used the same drivers coupled with a sub. These systems are very rare and i'm not sure what they went for. There were also the popular bookshelf/subwoofer combo speakers that such as the PS-8 which utilized a 3 way design mid/tweeter/down firing sub. Under audio technica they moved to more conventional and inexpensive designs which really sounded great. The company was then bought out by audio potentials, a canadian company who was eventually responsible for their demise. Under audio potentials they introduced a new line of subwoofers and bookshelfs that to me appeared cheap with thinner cabinets and a lower standard of quality. I remember calling Audio Technica a few years ago to ask for some specifications and they put me on with an old timer who remembered when DA went to pot. It seemed to depress him to talk about it and he kept reminding me how long it had been since the company was sold off. I love DA, the PS55 is a wonderful little speaker you can pick up on ebay for about 20 bucks. Someday when i have the space for them i will own a set of D-12s. I've never heard them but they are one of the most revolutionary designs i have ever seen. I suppose the star that shines brightest burn fastest. There is truly a space in my heard for this wonderful company.

I'm assuming the D-8 is either a smaller version of the D-12 or a larger version of the D-6. I feel like i've seen a D-10 before which was a smaller version of the D-12 but i'm not sure if my memory is working right. I haven't seen the D-6 before. It's important to mention that if he worked there in 1976 he worked for the "real" design acoustics and most of the images that were posted were from AT times .

 

[blue_lateral]

Welcome Nealaz! :wave:

John

 

[Nealaz]

The D-8 had two rear facing 10" woofers, I am not aware of other variations.

The D-8 actually was a larger and better variation on the D-6.

I have posted a short discussion of the D-6 and D-12 on http://designacoustics.info/, each article will expand to address questions regards the particular speaker.

Next is the D-2 and then I will work on the D-8, etc.

I picked the D-2 for next item because of the unique scheme used in that design.

 

[wualta]

Nealaz, thanks very much for the candid telling of the story behind the D-8. I can imagine that many engineers/spokesmen would simply have claimed it as a planned event and a product of their own genius. Very few, it seems, have the guts to tell the truth plain. More, please.

 

[Charivari]

Yeah, that was an amusing story about the D-8's creation. Something about knowing that a design came about haphazardly like that is comforting in some ways and increases my appreciation for the brand (surprisingly) as I think luck can lead to greater things than straight talent. No offense of course.

I was down in the library earlier doing some research that ended up going a lot faster than I expected. So, in the spare time I had, I hit the Music periodicals archive with the near complete set of Stereo Review and High Fidelity Magazine to see if I could find a review or at least pictures of the D-8. Well, my search was in vain, but I did find this advertisement for the D-12 in the June 1973 High Fidelity Magazine. Is that George Sioles standing next to our favorite quirky DAs?

- JP

 

[Nealaz]

Sure looks like George to me..

Some advertising agency work on the hair... :=)

 

[Nealaz]

The point of much of my input is that George 'designed speakers' he did not 'engineer speakers'.

That might be why most of his 'designs' have gone by the wayside. Think a second, with the advances in drivers imagine what those boxes could do now. But most all are wanting to engineer speakers and no true appreciation of the result.

Often when things went goofy, he used his Classical Spanish Guitar to find and point out the exact frequency that was causing the problem. Sense of sound is a very significant part of speaker design, but often neglected by engineers.

George was an Engineer, but his love of music drove him to let people have a way to enjoy it thru the mechanical monster called a 'speaker system'.

Thanks for all the replies and interest in my little project.

 

[Nealaz]

The super photo beta fix...

My try to upload an image....

First pass by my wife the graphics wizard...

 

[Toasted Almond]

Welcome aboard Nealio. You and I have a little something in common. I worked and did SOME designing for Lafayette Radio Electronics around 1970. I had some other works in progress, but by the time I left the company, I had designed my half hour lunch break into a full hour. Management actually frowned upon this design, and in fact, it's why we parted ways.