Price Paid:  $120.00 from Second Hand Charity

Summary:
I aways wanted a pair of decent speakers, but I never wanted to pay the price. You can imagine my elation when I stumbled into a pair of Allison Ones in excellent condition at a local charitable donation shop. The price was right at $120.00 for the two. Three of the four covers were in excellent condition, but the fourth was missing. Sold!

Strengths:
I am no audiophile, and some may be offended by my hooking them up to a 55" Mitsubishi HD 1080 large screen tv. I developed my own surround sound system, using a Denon POA-1500 and a Denon PRA-1000, along with an assortment of other speakers, including a Community Light & Sound 15" speaker and horn, along with six small desktop speakers of unnamed origin. All I can tell you is I love them, and reading about them makes me love them all the more. I feel truly fortunate.

Weaknesses:
I am concerned when my wife watches old classic horror movies on DVDs because the screaming actresses sound too real. I am worried my neighbors will one day call the police, or worse, believe I am beating my wife.

Similar Products Used:
The Allison Ones are much smaller and immensely more attractive than the Altec 1281A speakers I used to have hooked up to the tv. I am clearly no audiophile, but I do like a good sound. If owning thes

Price Paid:  $150.00 from local senior citizen

Summary:
READ THIS.. I wondered into the local donation center (the plae you drop off cloths and buy old lady hats for $ .25) I saw a MINT pair of allison ones hooked to a radio shack piece of garbage tuner pushing an emense 10 watts BUT the sound comming form the speakers was amazing, I bought them for $150 and the lady said they were taking up space and had been her for 6 months LITTLE did I know what they were untill last week. the grills are MINT the wood is Like fine furnature there my pride of my speaker collectio

Strengths:
GREAT looks Great sound even at low volume great bass, the woofers are close to the floor for amazing response. the two tweeters are placed hi in the unit so it can get tinny in some high notes BUT my carver 4000 takes care with supression. AND OH WHAT A VALUE $150 for both speakers and NO cracks on the grill.

Weaknesses:
the weekness was with my toyota MR2, I had to balance the speakers on the rear motor cover to ge them home, so remember DO NOT travel with them on A Toyota MR2 no other weakness nada zip zero

Similar Products Used:
zero I deverted the POLK powered towers to the surround and fed the entire CItation 16 power to just the Allsions and the sound is fantastic

Price Paid:  $360.00 from Stereo Village

Summary:
My father bought these speakers in 78 at wholesale prices. They've been in the family ever since and still reside in the same living room where I grew up. Before everything is said and done every child in our family (my two older brothers and I) will all have a set of Allison Ones.

I have recently learned that Allison Acoustics has been purchased by a group of audiophiles and businessmen (their words) to re-start production of the Allison series. Though I may not agree with their pricing, I still hold true to these wonderful speakers. They've even smoothed the edges of the enclosures themselves and I'm sure they'll offer a variety of nice wood finishes. To an Allison lover it's at least worth a look at the website www.allisonacoustics.com.

With these new ones (no pun intended) on the market, what am I searching for? Another original 70's set of Allison Ones, of course...

Strengths:
Inherent clarity in the high end with an exceptionally smooth yet defined bass presence.

Weaknesses:
Speaker grills - times wears on them and they become almost brittle, breaking easily. They are no longer available and rarely come up on the used market in good condition. Very frustrating.

Similar Products Used:
Allison Three's & Five's.

Summary:
I purchased one pair of 1984 Allison One speaker system about six months ago from the original owner (among the last ones made, discontinued in 1985, with no boxes and no owner's manual) being basically curious how these new speakers for me would exactly perform in my system (Revox B795 turntable; JA Michell ISO/HERA phono preamp; Jeff Rowland Consummate line stage preamp; Krell KST-100 power amp; Niles speaker selector) My Allison Ones are the "black model" (most wanted) Also, I was confident in making this investment knowing that I could easily resell the speakers that are genuinely considered a "Collector's item" (I partially agree with this as being true, in the sense that one can hardly find them for sale) I only had to do the following in order to bring them up to near mint-mint condition: thoroughly clean all four grilles; replace the foam surrounds to all four woofers (although this was not absolutely necessary); polish the wood. The speakers look now close to new condition. I am not a "professional reviewer" (who is, really?!), therefore please accept my apology if you won't agree with my personal point of view. My opinion on the Allison One is as follows: the overall sound should be acceptable to anyone, music lover and/or audiophile; relaxing, not requiring concentration (you just listen to music - this is definitely a positive feature); sometimes the bass is not quite punchy and heavy, as you might expect in a certain musical context, but merely integrated with the music material (I've heard better bass reproduction in other speakers); midrange sound is liquid, accurate, quite natural and effortless; the highs are just a little bit rolled off (but, again, integrated with the music material, such as described above for the bass section) In conclusion, the Allison Ones put out an overall musical and relaxing sound, hard to be found in other similar speaker system within the same or close price range. However, and this is strictly personal, the sound is not transparent and dimensional enough, this compared with all electrostatic speaker system I know, and in direct reference compared with Acoustat Spectra 2 I use as main speakers in my system. The most adequate music material for the Allison Ones would be folk, blues (acoustic music in general), some classical, jazz and country-western, but not recommended for heavy and hard rock. Unfortunately, compared to other speaker system that would definitely deserve five stars (such as Legacy Whisper, Eggleston Andra, Martin Logan Statement, Sequerra top model, Infinity IRS Beta top model, Dynaudio top models, Cello top models, Tannoy top models, Wilson top models, JM Lab top models, and a few more), I cannot grant five stars to the Allison Ones - just due to this reason. I strongly believe that from practical reasons it is always imperative and a good thing to do is to evaluate and grade speakers by comparison, not just considered by themselves, since if we would be doing this we would definitely be biased and very subjective. Musical value is one thing and objectivity, correct and unbiased appreciation is another thing. I believe that evaluating and rating an audio component such as speakers relates a lot with the reviewer's hearing qualities (for instance, if that person has "critical ears"), the musical background, and area of expertise (that would rely on how many valuable speaker systems one would have known and heard until the review was made) I know from my personal experience that this is a very sensitive issue, and I've read so far too many inappropriate reviews and incorrect ratings made by co-called "reviewers" working for audio magazines. Since I am not exactly sure about keeping my Allison Ones in the future, if someone is really interested in purchasing my pair of Allison One, please contact me using my email address est54@juno.com. Listening tests and inspection can be arranged (at my place in Hartford, Connecticut) As a final recommendation: if you will ever find a pair of Allison Ones in near mint or mint condition, you can buy them without hesitation, since I believe you won't have a major reason to regret this move or investment (musically and financially speaking) Thanks for reading my review, Emil - Hartford, Connecticut, USA

Strengths:
Overall musicality; relaxing sound; bi-amplification option; relatively small footprint; non-wearing grilles; all drivers available from Allison Acoustics; RESALE VALUE; COLLECTOR'S ITEM

Weaknesses:
Require one "hot spot" position for best audition and sound perception from all four panels; highs a little rolled-off; not efficient enough; risk of easy damages to the midrange and tweeter drivers if the grilles are mishandled

Similar Products Used:
Dozens of other speaker system since 1963 (heard or owned)

Price Paid:  $400.00 from Allison Acoustics

Summary:

I purchased the Allison One's back in 1978 when I was working in stereo sales. I purchased them under 'salesmans
accomidation' for around $400 each. At that time, this was my worst decision as the speaker market was swamped with very good high end speakers and there were others that I also liked. It took me 6 months to reach my decision and I can now state that after 23 years, I am still happy with them! I have always believed speakers were very subjective
anyway.

I have replaced the woofers a few years back due to the
foam degrading, and the tweeters previously. Both times
I stayed as close to original specs as possible. The cabinets still look brand new and I had smoked glass cut
for the top of the speakers back when they were purchased. Also I replaced the grills a few years back. When talking with a speaker specialist at a local sound company, he had offered me $2000.00 each about 3 years ago. They have increased in value through the years! I coulden't sell them though since they still sound and look great! Thought about it, but why part with something that I am still happy with?
All of my other equipment has been replaced over and over,
but not my speakers.


Roger

Strengths:
Clean, tight base. Crisp high end.

Weaknesses:
Takes power to push them. That was solved with NAD high end components.

Similar Products Used:
Multiple