testimonial - robert durgin

Over the past 15 years or so, I have had the good fortune (as a part time hobbyist and as a collector of vintage tube era audio gear) to own and to listen to a great many classic pieces of equipment and hear how they interact with various speaker systems. Eventually, this led to me building my own single-ended triode amps and becoming a mercenary for vintage Alnico and horn speakers. I have had quite an impressive collection over the years, all of which has eventually been traded away in pursuit of the elusive, and soon to grow tired of, next system with "better sound".

An acoustician/audio consultant friend of mine once told me that, as audiophiles start to "mature", they eventually migrate over to electrostatics. Taking notice of his comment to me, this started the next phase of my audio endeavors. Two of my favorite systems from those days were a stacked pair of Quad 57's and a paralleled pair (four) KLH 9's. Hard to beat, even today.

I was aware of Beveridge speakers, but never had an opportunity to see or hear them in person, as they were always considered very rare. One day, I saw an ad in the local paper. Someone was offering a pair of 2sw's for shamefully little money. It was already well past the time the paper had hit the newsstands, but I figured "What the heck?". I called and, to my surprise, the seller still had them. He had already been flooded with at least a dozen calls from audio dealers, offering to buy them. This fellow was an eccentric sort and refused to sell the speakers to dealers or anyone else who would not "appreciate" them. After meeting with him and assuring him of my pure intentions, I became the proud owner of a pair of Beveridge speakers!

The sound from these Beveridge speakers was more than a pleasant surprise; it was a revelation. I had never heard that level of detail and speed. I had also never seen a stereo image of such depth, without the conventional "head vise sweet spot" that most electrostatics have. Albeit the amps were tired and noisy and needed to be rebuilt, which I did myself. (Do not fuss with these amps, if you don't know what you are doing, as they are potentially very lethal!) They played beautifully in their factory-original form for a few years until, eventually, one of the electrostatic panels needed some attention. During this time, Rick Beveridge put up his web site and was rebuilding the older speakers and building brand new ones. Over the next few years, I acquainted myself with Internet newsgroups about Beveridge speakers and read other testimonials from Bev owners. I eventually decided that these speakers were not only worthy of a complete rebuild, but that they would probably be the last speakers I would ever own.

I called Rick; he was very happy to hear from another Bev owner. I decided to have all six panels rebuilt. When Rick first contacted me (after I had sent my panels in), he informed me of the extra work he would have to do to get them "just right". There were some slight variations in the production methods used during some of the original production runs; this made rebuilding my particular panels a challenge. I assumed that the work involved would be too time consuming and Rick would not want to do it, but I was very wrong. Rick was like a Pit Bull, not letting go until the panels were all perfectly matched. I have never met anyone as obsessive about detail over audio work as I am, until Rick Beveridge rebuilt my transducers. I have also never been so valued as a customer.

During this process, Rick informed me how to go about updating the cabinets and stiffening them in strategic places. I also took this opportunity to further update and modify the amplifiers. This included, among other things, bypassing the original built-in crossovers and subwoofer amps. I also replaced the original closed-box type subwoofers, in favor of some huge 8' tall transmission lines that I built from scratch.

In their original 1970's stock form, my Beveridge speakers were amazing. But, in my humble opinion, they were functioning at considerably less than what they were truly capable of, given today's more sophisticated materials/components and Rick's know how. After all of the work, my speakers sound light years beyond anything I have ever heard.

Thanks, Rick!

P.S. As seen in the photo: Beveridge 2SW speakers. The analog drive system includes an Audio Research SP10 preamp, an Oracle Delphi turntable, and a Marchand XM26 tube crossover, built from a kit. The digital portion is a California Audio Labs Alpha and Delta. The interconnects are all DIY Belden 89259 coax. The subwoofer amps are Apex Seniors. There is also a DIY line filter from an old Sound Practices article. The transmission-line subwoofers, on either side of the fireplace, are 8' X 12" schedule 40 PVC pipe, with Peerless XLS 12" woofers, firing down at the floor.