Spectral Audio

Spectral Audio occupies a unique position in the high-performance audio industry. The company isn't obsessed by the need for growth, to introduce products at every "price point", or to achieve maximum return on investment. Instead, Spectral chooses to build its products in limited quantities, to "push the envelope" on every new design without regar... d for development cost, and to run the company almost as an independently-funded research laboratory rather than as a for-profit enterprise. Founded by Richard Fryer in 1975, Spectral benefits from the design talents of Keith O. Johnson. Keith is not only one of the greatest classical-music recording engineers of all time, but an outstanding analog circuit designer, digital circuit designer, test instrumentation inventor, and magnetic tape expert (one of his innovations in the early 1960s made high-speed cassette duplication possible). Keith is also the co-inventor of High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD), the process for improving the sound of the compact disc. Discussing music reproduction with Keith reveals his astonishing depth and breadth of knowledge of how things work, as well as his deep, lifelong commitment to recreating the original musical experience. It's worth noting that at age 14, Keith built a record-cutting machine from scratch that used pieces of cardboard sprayed with shellac as the recording medium. To find out more about the philosophy behind Spectral Audio, I sat down with Richard Fryer and Keith Johnson. I began by asking Richard what led him to start Spectral. Richard Fryer: My interest in audio began many years before starting Spectral, as a young person building music systems through grade school, high school, and into college. I also did some reviewing, and worked around high-end companies for many years. My area of study in college was psychology - cognitive systems in particular - and developing methodologies for research in psychology. Out of that came and interest in perceptual studies, mostly to complement my interest in music ...Read More