Audio Research

USA1970–3 archived pages

William Z. Johnson founded Audio Research in Minneapolis in 1970, at the moment when most of the industry had abandoned vacuum tubes for transistors. Wikipedia credits the company with helping to re-introduce the tube as the main amplifying device in high-end audio during the 1970s, and its preamplifiers became reference equipment for a generation of reviewers.

The firm later moved to Plymouth and, in August 2018, to Maple Grove, Minnesota. Ownership changed several times: Fine Sounds SpA bought it in 2008, the group became McIntosh Group in 2016, TWS Enterprises took it over in 2020, and AR Tube Audio Corporation in June 2023. Johnson died in 2011.

The archive covers two of the company's preamplifiers, the SP3A-1 in gold edition and the later LS15 line stage.

From the original manufacturer page

Audio Research is one of the oldest continually operating manufacturers in American audio. The company was founded in 1970 in Minneapolis with one goal in mind: to advance the state-of-the-art in music reproduction. Today, Audio Research remains a performance-oriented company by philosophy and design. New product introductions are driven only by genuine advances in technology and performance — the HIGH DEFINITION that is the hallmark of the company’s products. The company has grown steadily over the last 40 years, with a network of top audio specialist retailers across North America and distributors throughout Europe, Asia and South America. The company occupies a 48,000 square-foot, technically-advanced production plant and administrative headquarters in Plymouth, Minnesota, where approximately 50 technical, assembly and support staff guide the product line from concept to finished goods.

Audio Research

Audio Research in the archive