Hidden Gems: Little Known nor Seen Dynaco Speakers: LMS and Phase Three Too Late to Save The Company

November 17, 2022

#459

Gentle reader, 

First of all, THANK YOU for reading my humble blog! I started doing it just as something different to do, but YOU began reading it, commenting on it and sharing it with your friends and now, all these years later, YOU still encourage me to come up with new (and old) things that interest you as well.

I came across this and another brochure on eBay the other day, the price was just five dollars. I had not heard of (I thought) these speakers of the Phase 3, so, I bought them both.

I had a hard time getting my scanner to scan the entire page of the front of the page, it finally did, thankfully. Because if you have ever tried to align your camera exactly with a flat object and make a straight photo of it, you know it is difficult.

I actually had seen photos of the Phase 3 speakers, since I put them in this article more than four years ago.

The Robb Collections: Dynaco: Panor for Short. History PART TWO Plus ODD Dynaco Speakers.

These two pages are the "gatefold" of the brochure. So, it makes more sense to read the top portion of the page above, then slide down and read the top portion of the page below.

If you do a search of "phased array speakers" on the Internet, you will find that MANY speaker companies made them and some still do. I personally have never encountered any (that I could afford) in the wild. So, cannot comment on whether it makes a difference in the sound.

But, the LMS and Phase 3 speakers were last-gasp efforts to keep Dynaco alive. Sadly, it failed. Below, are scans from a BLUE BOOK OF AUDIO which is, as the title states a book of audio equipment with lots of interesting information. They and others like them were made for pawn shops, insurance companies and other with a need of "value" of countless things. 

I put them original size so that you can easily see the individual items and if you choose to copy and save the photos for your own personal use, that is fine. 

The things highlighted are ones I have owned, if there are two options and I highlighted them both, such as FM5, it is because I did not know if mine was factory or kit assembled.

If you try and find "LMS" or "Model" under speakers, they are not there. Plus, of the three brochures I have, none have dates on them. Nor, prices either. Another thing which makes the Blue Book helpful is retail prices.

The three photos above, I just found by searching for Phase 3 speakers. None indicate which model they are.

These three photos I had gathered for the 2018 article. This one also did I see today, it is listed as Model 60.

One thing I found interesting in the Phase 3 brochure was that they filled each speaker cavity with fiberglass. It almost looks like solid pieces rather than loose fill or layers laid in. 

These are scans of the first brochure I found a couple years ago. It is "for the 90's" so, that dates it and is does list SLP on the far right. 

ONLY the A40 and A50 have ten inch woofers, which every original Dynaco speaker, save the A10, ALL had as woofers. The original A50 having two.

There is no A38 listed in the Blue Book, but the others of these are all listed. For a look at actual models of many of these, take a look at: 

The Robb Collections: Dynaco: Panor for Short. History PART TWO Plus ODD Dynaco Speakers.

This article, which is linked at the top of the article above, The Robb Collections: Dynaco Given a Second Life. Pan Orient Company: Panor for Short. A Photographic History PART ONE. does not have any speaker photos but is chock FULL of 1990's Dynaco equipment pictures, including ones of my equipment.

There are other links to Dynaco articles linked in PART ONE, plus, I updated the article later on with even more information and photos.

So, there you go. Some super rare Dynaco speakers you can lust after and seek out in the wild to have and enjoy.

Thanks again!

Scott Robb

#459

If you have never heard dbx-Encoded LP Records, you are Missing Out!

 November 15, 2022

#458

Gentle reader,

If you are of an age from when there was no "digital" anything. Then you listened to LP records and analog tapes, if you had a tape deck or reek-to-reel tape deck, that is.

The problem with analog tape recording is tape "hiss". Dolby Labs became the preeminent provider of tape noise reduction for both the music and film industry but for home use also. Countless millions of cassette tape decks have various types of Dolby noise reduction built right in.

But, there was a newcomer to this field of endeavor, and they called themselves "dbx".

They took it one step further and invented a way to greatly improve the way LP records sounded. 

Look at the black strip across the top of these LP covers. "Super Disk" was an early form of Audiophile records. How successful they were, I do not know. The right LP is the only one I have. I DO have Audiophile LP records, and they do sound better to me. 

But, dbx created an entirely different way to make TRULY better sounding records. They have ZERO surface noise, no tape hiss and much greater dynamic range than even the best audiophile or direct-to-disc record can produce. To find out more, here is a link to the Wikipedia page on dbx: dbx (noise reduction) - Wikipedia 

I first came across a dbx "box" which is an encoder for making your audio tapes which you are recording sound better and lose the hiss. And a decoder for both dbx encoded tapes AND dbx encoded records. Here is what I found:

As you can see, it is pretty simple, control-wise. Once I had that, I began the search for dbx encoded records. 

eBay has some, a small fraction of all the records that are for sale on the site. Discogs is a better choice, most sellers are just trying to get rid of records, they don't care (or so it seems based upon price) if there is a dbx sticker on it. But, the eBay sellers KNOW what they have and will try and get as much as they can for their dbx LPs.

Here is the back of the NX-40 box. Well marked, I see now that is is a TYPE II dbx box as is the one I use now.

These are just three of the fifteen Classical LPs I have found which are dbx Encoded. They were very inexpensive via Discogs.

I already showed you these two. It is the first Classic Rock record I have found and bought that is dbx Encoded. 

So, it was with much anticipation that I sat down to listen to it. Firstly, I had to immediately turn down the volume, because day-am!, it was loud. Then, my mind was immediately blown by JUST how amazing it sounded! I cannot emphasize this enough, dbx WORKS!

If you click or tap on these (or any) pictures, you can read all the nitty-gritty they had provided to the listener.

Note, that I now have THREE different versions of this Aaron Copland album. It is from 1967 and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra from that era was renowned for excellent renditions AND excellent sounding recordings. More on these three below.

I spied this SEALED record on eBay and since I already had an Audiophile record of it as well as the standard LP, I bought it.

Back in those days, they included a lot of information, especially on Classical records about what you bought. Sometimes, they were on the paper sleeve that held the record, thus called "liner notes" or, in this case on the back of the cover.

Aside from the dbx information sheet within the cover was this card. I just looked up the address and it's not much of a building and there is no business name on it.

You can see the dbx II model 122 box I am using now. It is the second one I have bought. The first one had some kind of fault on one channel while decoding LP records, and no amount of contact cleaning helped. But, this one works superbly.

Here is the back of it, note the three different kinds/brands of cables I have attached.

I have written other articles on dbx encoded records, but with the new-to-me box and the two new records, I just could not keep it to myself, I had to share.

Sadly, other than making a video and adding it to this article, there is NO way to truly show you JUST how incredible dbx encoded records sound. 

Analogue Productions produced this reissue LP. Sadly, they only did side one of the Copland LP and put some Charles Ives music on side two.

I always thought it sounded fantastic. Until, I played the new dbx record. Now, it's "Meh".

Ooh! "Limited Edition"! It is, but it has lost it's appeal to me. That IS the problem we music lovers (and those like me that like to get the best sound they can afford) have in that when we do hear something mind blowing, we want EVERYTHING to sound that good!

Here is the system I have accumulated after more than forty years of buying and trying hundreds of components and countless speakers.

The heart of the system is 1990's Panor-era Dynaco components. Right to Left is a PAT-6 preamplifier/tuner, a QD-2 passive surround sound device and a ST-200 power amplifier.

Everything was turned on for the picture. Small monitor is attached to the OPPO DV-980H universal disc player. Some DVD-Audio discs require making choices before playing. Beneath the OPPO is a TDK CD Recorder. To the right of them is my Nakamichi CD changer. Below that is a JVC three-head cassette tape deck. 

On top is a vintage Realistic APM-300 audio power meter. On top of that is a speaker switch which I use to switch the meter from A to B speakers. The power amp actually switches the speakers. Turntable is an Audio-Technica fully manual unit with Ortofon Red cartridge. 

Above, a fisheye view of the listening room. Some of the music collection is seen, but only some.

Of the MANY speakers I have tried over the decades, those Cerwin-Vega! LS-12 units are the BEST sounding of any. Bar none. Inside of them are the only vintage Dynaco pieces I still own. They are A25XL models. The black tower speakers in the foreground of the fisheye picture are Tannoy C88 models. They used to sit where the Dynaco speakers do, but I felt that I was doing the Dynacos an injustice by only using them for rear/surround speakers.

The record shelf was a great thrift store find. It is two pieces which bolt together. The one thing I don't like about them is the side panels are at least ten inches deeper than the back. So, if there were a way to remove that excess WITHOUT harming the shelf, I would do so. But there is not. So, it sits a littler further into the room.

Anyway, thank you SO much for taking the time to read this article on dbx encoded LP records and some of the equipment required to listen to them. Oh, if you buy one and think, "I don't need a dbx box." You will be sorely disappointed. 

Scott Robb

November 15, 2022

#458

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