David Blizzard – Vintage Audio – Home Theater – Movie and Music Reviews

If you have been known to be giddy or drool around Hi-Fi stereo equipment then you have probably heard the name Philip R. Clements. You may have heard of Phil because of Clements Loudspeakers but those of us that go back before 1984 can tell you about a lesser known company, Phase Research Corporation.

Phase research only produced 2 models of speakers that I know of before the business burned down, literally. If you ever had the opportunity to listen to the Model R or the big brother Model RT then you experienced a changing of the guard. We no longer needed the 12″ bass driver for thunderous sound.

The Phase Research speakers were a transmission line design that used a custom 8 inch driver with an oversize magnet. They featured a design that had high free-air resonances and extended travel that turned the entire cabinet into a virtual 24″ bass driver.

Critics and audio salesmen were putting these speakers up against well known brands and models priced twice as much. The best I can remember in 1980 was $600 for a pair off model R speakers. As a teenager without a job in 1980 I could only dream…

Since I couldn’t afford the Phase Research speakers i used the spec sheet to build my own cabinets and crossover. Luckily the marketers for Phase Research Corporation were so excited about the design that they detailed it in the brochure and included a cutaway photo of the inner workings and cabinet design. Although I didn’t have anything comparable to the 8″ driver in the PR speakers I still ended up with speakers that wowed my friends and family.

For 15 years now I have been in search of a pair of my very own vintage Phase Research speakers but they are far and few between. Recently I found the larger model RT speakers for sale on eBay so I clicked buy now and exchanged my hard earned money for a pair. Sight unseen. For a day I was walking on air. I had to travel 4 hours to pick up the speakers and sadly the seller had hidden the fact that he did not have the original 8″ drivers. I was left with an empty wallet and empty transmission line cabinets.

I am still on my quest to find some Phase Research Model R or RT speakers, with the original drivers but until then I will just have to live with the memory of what was almost a dream come true.

If you are interested in the latest developments with Phil Clements you can keep up with his H-PAS speaker technology at Solus Audio and Atlantic Technology.

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