the audiophile voice
60
HE
PC 9.1
THREE
-
WAY
tower loud-
speaker is a component of Phase
Technology’s Premier Collection,
the company’s official entrant into
the high-end marketplace. The man-
ufacturer, Phase Technology’s par-
ent, United Speaker Systems of
Jacksonville, FL, was established by
industry legend and audio inventor
Bill Hecht over 47 years ago. The
company has enjoyed continuous
family ownership ever since, which
should be rather gratifying to audio-
philes who have any sense of histo-
ry, considering a raft of buyouts,
mergers and bankruptcies in audio
over the last several years. [Editor’s
Snide Aside: Why, Bruce-ster, my
man, whatever firms are you refer-
ring to? If you instead meant to
write about hi-fi magazines, well,
then I could easily chime in. But
seriously, this batch of hi-fi and
audio pioneers leaving us is getting
serious. I wrote about Henry Kloss
last issue, and I ought to have men-
tioned Craig Stark, who was the
long-time tape guy at Stereo Review
who went on ahead last November
1st, as well as Bob Long, the long-
time Technical Editor at High
Fidelity who led the way last August
.— Gene Pitts.]
Observing this company for a
number of years, it appears Phase
Technology is ever addressing con-
sumer preferences, developing tech-
nical solutions and offering new
products. Creation of the now ubiq-
uitous soft-dome tweeter over 30
years ago is just one of many inno-
vations attributable to Bill Hecht
and company. Son Ken Hecht
serves as president of the company
which is an all-USA establishment
offering various models of two-
channel, home theater, in-wall, on-
wall and all-weather loudspeaker
lines. The company conducts its
own in-house engineering, develop-
ment, manufacturing and testing
and is the OEM past and present for
numerous well-known loudspeaker
brands. A casual observer may per-
ceive the company focusing on the
mid-market, yet with modern, inno-
vative engineering and manufactur-
ing efforts, the output of the patent-
holding design staff looks beyond a
single market niche.
A couple of years past I was
afforded the opportunity to review
Phase Technology’s remarkable
Teatro 7.5 loudspeaker, a modest-
sized, two-way tower which offers
value and performance well beyond
its $650.00 price (see TAV Vol. VI,
No. 2). Therefore, when I first heard
the Premier PC 9.1 prototype early
in 2001, I was immediately
intrigued by the possibilities and
their $2000.00 per pair pricing. The
PC 9.1s are one of six models in
Phase Tech’s Premier Collection,
each of which features cutting-edge
driver design and innovative diffrac-
tion control. The PC 9.1s are not
Teatro 7.5s on steroids; instead,
they represent Phase Technology’s
latest developments and a firm
statement in the high-end without
budget-breaking pricing. If you
T
Chuck Bruce
Phase T
Technology
Premier P
PC 99.1 SSpeaker
Reprinted from:
“...by audiophiles for audiophiles.”
