RDL ACOUSTICS / RA LABS- By Roy Allison [Allison Acoustics] - w/PHOTOS

[Bostown]

There seems to be little information about Roy Allison's RDL Acoustics Speakers. There is one site (The classic speaker pages) that has the old catalog up in PDF format and maybe one review. Does anyone else own any speakers from the RDL or RA Labs lines that were made back in the early 90's?

I've only ever seen one pair of RA Labs speakers ( they are probably still in the shop where I saw them too).

Earlier this week I came across a pair of RDL ACOUSTICS S-1 in very good condition. ( Prior to this, I'd only heard about them and/or seen any of these speakers in a Catalog I had back when the brand launched - same catalog that is on the classic speaker pages website). So today I went back and bought them. - I'm happy I did. They look and sound great. Anyone else have these or any of the other RDL or RA Labs Models? or are they all now in a landfill somewhere? or part of folks "I'll never part with.." collection?

I snapped a couple of photos and posted them up. If anyone else has any RDL Acoustics or RA Labs Speakers, please post up some photos and let me know what other information you might have about this line.

 

[Bostown]

Added a few photos to the original post. - The cabinets have a few scratches on them but no deep gouges or chips. They may be fine with a good cleaning ( simple green or Murphy's oil soap ) and a coat of Old English Furniture polish or some kind of citrus based wood conditioner.

Now, back to listening. - again if anyone else has any photos of their RDLs or RA Labs, post them up. They seem to be lost gems that may have had limited distribution ( mail order only) when they came out. Maybe someone can share more History on these lines. Also, was this the last company and/or products that Roy Allison built before retiring?

Cheers

 

[sealy]

Allison 6 reborn! Cabinets are nicer on yours, though. Best thing about them is the fact that they have the "it" tweeter (in the interest of good manners, I left of the first t).

Congratulations on getting a very nice pair of speakers. I bet they were quite costly when new.

 

[Bostown]

I think I'm going to see if the RA Lab bookshelf speakers are still in that shop near my place ( they were either Reference 4a or The Mini Monitors). I'll start another thread to tackle my observations of Repair shop retail practices.

Allison had also designed a speaker called "micro monitor" under the RA Labs moniker that were made to replace the speakers that came with "all in one / minisystems" and I just picked up a JVC FS 7000 Micro system ( the one with the "cherry wood" speakers ) for a song and a dance that should power them nicely. If I could actually find them anywhere that is.

For once it would be nice to have a NORMAL addiction, like sports or excercise or something. An appreciation for older consumer electronics, motorcycles and audio
isn't conducive to a typical condo setting. I need a frickin man cave and a garage.

 

[deaner33]

Cool score!

 

[Bostown]

So it looks as though RDL Acoustics / RA LABS are pretty rare species out in the audio wild. Either way, they sound really good, and look the part as well. Not the most efficient speaker out there so it's a good thing I'm also an amp junkie and will have a few different models to play around with.

I'll get some good use out of them, which in the end is what the point is. In fact Ive already spent quite a bit of time firing up some favorite tunes and giving these speakers a bit of Play time..

 

[spkrdtr]

I've refoamed a number of Allison 8 inch woofers from speakers mounted facing up like on your RDL's and I have a question:

What was Roy thinking producing a woofer with a sticky finish on the cone and installing it facing up to collect dust, pet hair and God knows what else all over it??????

The first pair I did, I thought the cone had a fine coating of grey colored floc! What a job cleaning those things..... :sigh:

 

[Bostown]

Cool score!

Thanks, and like everything else, as soon as you find one, you stumble upon another. I just came across a set of the big brother to the S-1 speakers. The RDL Acoustics F-1. I haven't committed to buying them yet but I'm certainly tempted. The F-1 seem to be a distant kin to the CD-7.

The F-1 had a Twin called the FS-1. essentially the same components but were designed with different placement in mind. The F-1 was designed to up against the wall. It's woofer is top mounted. The FS-1 has a forward facing woofer ( more traditional ) and was designed to be position out from the wall.

I'm going to sleep on it and see what I can do as far as finding space where they could be used. There aren't alot of options. I live in a loft space, and if I keep up this speaker and amp thing, I'm sure my girlfriend will escort me out to the street :nono: hahahah.

 

[Zilch]

The "It" tweeter was Allison's unique attempt at achieving hemispheric constant directivity through the high frequencies, wide dispersion being deemed essential to reproduction of concert hall realism by classical music enthusiasts. That's also why the woofer is mounted horizontally.... :yes:

 

[HepcatWilly]

Yep, I agree with what Sealy said, it's an Allison Six reborn, but nicer.

The tweeter is where the money is, it's arguably the best out there. Later Allisons (Kentucky) use a generic tweeter and they just don't sound the same.

I have the Sixes, no matter how hard I try, nothing beats them out for a small two-way speaker. Yours are far, far prettier than the Sixes.

Yahoo groups has an Allison forum and some serious heavyweights hang there. Roy Allison posts occasionally as well.

Grab those other speakers and figure out what to do with the weaker species. Many of us in Boston (hey Soundweasel, how you doin'?) are drooling for this stuff. All of Roy Allison's stuff is really, really good. Grab it, figure out what you like, and flip the rest.

Congratulations!

 

[RadShak1251]

The following site includes a page that contains a detailed Allison brochure, and page 4 of that brochure includes a decription & diagram of that special tweeter:

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/...ies_brochure_2/allison_one_series_brochure_2/

 

[sealy]

I've refoamed a number of Allison 8 inch woofers from speakers mounted facing up like on your RDL's and I have a question:

What was Roy thinking producing a woofer with a sticky finish on the cone and installing it facing up to collect dust, pet hair and God knows what else all over it??????

The first pair I did, I thought the cone had a fine coating of grey colored floc! What a job cleaning those things..... :sigh:

Heh, heh! You too, eh? I gave up trying to get all the accumulated stuff off mine and left them a bit hairy. At least you can't notice it through the grilles.

 

[Bostown]

Grab it, figure out what you like, and flip the rest.

Congratulations!

This place is such a bad influence. It's like going to an AA meeting that's hosted at a local Tavern. "while I'm here might well knock back a few" and that's exactly what happened. The F-1's will touch down here in week or so.

The capture the Unicorn factor was just too much for me. - I bet now, I'll start seeing RDL / RA Labs speakers listed everywhere. I pointed my browser towards that Allison yahoo group that was mentioned and searched for discussions related to RDL Acoustics and only came across a few mentions of RA Labs.

Seems that No additional Photos were added to this thread either so who knows. I've always been interested these speakers from back when I first saw the catalog in the early 90's. Now, With the acquisition of the S-1 bookshelf speakers, I've definitely become a fan of the RDL line and may just turn this into the pokemon experience of "Gotta Catch 'Em All" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVp-zIONsrs.

People will be like "hey check out that homeless guy with all the speakers"

I'll post some better pics when they arrive.

 

[HepcatWilly]

Holy crap, those are awesome! Have another one, here, it's on me...
If you see RDL everywhere, I'll pay you to be my friend.
No additional photos have been added because RDLs are so rare. You have the best of the best: classic Roy Allison engineering with modern styling.

Lucky, lucky you. No kidding.
-Hep
Allison fan with Allison models 2, 6, LC something (black Kentucky, not great) and Allison LC 110s.

 

[Bostown]

Holy crap, those are awesome! Have another one, here, it's on me...
If you see RDL everywhere, I'll pay you to be my friend.
No additional photos have been added because RDLs are so rare. You have the best of the best: classic Roy Allison engineering with modern styling.

Lucky, lucky you. No kidding.
-Hep
Allison fan with Allison models 2, 6, LC something (black Kentucky, not great) and Allison LC 110s.

Apparently not so lucky, after selling off another piece of gear to raise the money for the F-1 speaker purchase and After a long discussion with the seller I felt confident that we could handle a craigslist transaction outside of my local area. ( He's in IL I'm in MA. ) I went ahead , sold my gear, raised the cash, then posted the funds via paypal for the speaker purchase

Tonight I received a 'refund' notification and a note telling me that they were sold to someone else by his roommate. I could get bent out of shape but that's not going to do anything. Some people really have no honor. Not sure if it was a better offer scenario, or what, but yeah, not so lucky. Then again maybe I am. There's something to be said about being thankful for what you've already got. Thankfully, I found and own a pair of S-1's and they are pretty awesome. and as for the Seller, Karma will do it's thing. To the Buyer, Enjoy. If they are anything like the S-1s you'll enjoy them.

Moving on...

 

[HepcatWilly]

Ouch. Sorry to hear that. That does suck.
Still, you got a refund and you do have a great, rare set of speaks to enjoy.
They sure are good looking speakers, and the sound is wonderful.

 

[nancysid]

Wow, there are other RDL owners out there! I made a twin killing, buying a nice pair of Allison 4s, with original boxes, and a beautiful pair of RDLs (B1), I think. Now if I could just add a couple of rooms to my house. . . .

 

[redcoates7]

I remember seeing a bunch of these back at a local surplus shop in the mid 90s. Drivers, cabinets, crossovers, and some limited number of complete systems. The shop was called ESS (Electronics Surplus?) in Manchester, NH...they somehow got a hold of a lot of RDL, ads, and AR gear as those companies either folded or left MA

 

[Copa1934]

I have the CD-7's and have to agree with the tweeters, pretty amazing. I just re-orged my listening room and haven't hooked the 7's back up yet. I did notice they are quite sensitive to placement, but do sound nice when placed correctly.

Like others I hate those 8" dust bunny magnets. I follow the concept, but implementation just doesn't cut it when you have drivers coated with sticky substance. May be a brilliant "designer" but he bit the big one on that part.

Can't wait to test them again in their new location.

 

[Bostown]

... Now if I could just add a couple of rooms to my house. . . .

That's exactly how I feel. My RDL's get some love in the system periodically. They are in the "speakers for my future man cave" collection which is a bit out of control when I really think about it.

I'd love to hear the other models in the series. Or some of the RA Labs models. then again that could be dangerous, given my history with buying speakers. I have way too many as it is. Not as many as some other folks I know but still far more pairs of speakers than ears to listen to them all with ( or rooms to play them in). which seems to be one of several common threads we share around here.

There are worse things folks could do with their time and money I suppose.

Post up some pics of your RDL/ RA Labs / Allison Acoustics.