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What does thirty years in Hi-Fi mean? We asked friends, suppliers and reviewers for their recollections of Russ over the last three decades. The ones we could publish are included here for your delectation.


Roy Gregory - TheAudioBeat.com and Hi-Fi+ Magazine
 
As somebody with a reputation for having a possibly unhealthy – the “O” word has been mentioned – interest in system infrastructure (equipment support, signal cables and AC supply) I think it’s only fair to ship the blame on to the one responsible.

I well remember Russ demonstrating for me the cumulative benefits of a dedicated AC supply, clean ground, star-earthed distribution block and dedicated power cords. The results were fundamental to the system’s performance, impressive enough to open the crack through which I appear to have subsequently tumbled.

But what I really remember were the cracks in Russ’s own performance, his earnest, serious façade occasionally, momentarily dropping to reveal a fleeting glimpse of something hovering dangerously between religious zeal and childlike wonder. It wasn’t just the musical performance that impressed that day but the irrepressible spirit of enquiry and the sheer enthusiasm that drove it.

Since then, others have come (and gone) and our understanding of the inner workings of audio systems and their vulnerability to outside influence has advanced enormously. The Russ Andrews path may no longer be the only route up the mountain – but without it we wouldn’t even have noticed that there’s a mountain there!

 

Paul Messenger - Hi-Fi reviewer and journalist

Russ Andrews might have launched his accessory business some thirty years ago, but I had become aware of him at least a decade earlier, partly through the Edinburgh shop that also bore his name. He was very much a front man for Linn Products when I met him at a Harrogate show, and made the mildly outrageous claim that he could tell which rooms were using Linn LP12s without bothering to enter them. It was a claim I tried out for myself a few years later, and found that I could do it too!

He probably helped install my Isobariks when he arrived in his VW campervan in the 1970s, but was driving a Volvo estate to install a Linn/Naim tri-amp system in Inverness when he got crushed between a mobile crane and a truck. The Volvo stopped quickly but the tri-amp system kept moving, seriously damaging a shoulder. This inhibited his passion for mountaineering, so he left Scotland and moved to Lyndhurst in the New Forest, but after recovering he founded RATA (Russ Andrews Turntable Accessories) and moved back up North to the Lake District.

I certainly remember travelling up to Kendal to witness the opening of a luxurious new manufacturing facility early in the current millennium, where I met Ray Kimber whose fine cables had underpinned much of Russ’s success.

 

Paul Rigby - theaudiophileman.com

I hope that I’m speaking without hubris or any element of presumption when I say that I believe that I ‘understand’ Russ Andrews. The man is a bundle of energy. His aim in life is to learn and, because of that, I guess that he’s a man who can be diverted at a moment’s notice. He both hates and loves problems. ‘Hates’ because they act as obstacles to the aim of the perfect sound, ‘loves’ because they give him a chance to solve a puzzle and, during that task, he might just glean a new strand of knowledge which would please him no-end. 

He casts his intellectual net wide. He wants to do everything, experience everything, be everywhere and learn everything he can in those subjects that fascinate him. The only real enemy that Russ Andrews has is time. The fact that it might eventually defeat him in his task is, I suspect, galling to him. I also suspect that, in the meantime, he will enjoy the journey. 

The splinters from Russ Andrews’ life-long quest for aural knowledge is the stream of sonic benefits in the shape of products that he helps to bring to market.

 

Nate MalanNate Malan - Kimber Kable

When I was a young pup back in the summer of 1986, I met Ray Kimber and subsequently started spinning wire bobbins the old fashioned way: on a drill press. At Kimber Kable, 30 years later, we still wind bobbins that way (If you find something that works exceptionally well, and even better, is simple, then by all means do not change it!). 

Over the same 30 years I have had the pleasure to work closely with Russ Andrews, who operates in the same manner.  Sometimes good old-fashioned effort, expended in well-designed, time-proven processes are best.  

Several decades ago, Russ was visiting the Kimber factory in Ogden, Utah and illustrated to me his willingness to work hard and persevere by “staying the path”.  This example came as we hiked and bouldered a local mountain that rises from around 4,300 feet above sea level to a finish elevation of around 7,000 feet above sea level.  Although I am younger than Russ, he proceeded to teach me a lesson in fitness, and I believe Russ has always taken on tasks with this head-forward attitude.  Congratulations Russ, Sue and the RAA team for this great “milestone” of 30 years!

 

Meridian Audio

Meridian logoWe would like to extend our warmest congratulations to Russ Andrews on its 30th Anniversary. Russ Andrews has been one of Meridian's biggest supporters over the years and the company is a pleasure to work with. Well done Russ Andrews - here's to many more years of great partnership.
 

Angela & John Rogers - Ringmat Developments
 
Only 30 years?  Russ Andrews Accessories seem to have been around forever. Perhaps this is because Russ has achieved so much in that time, setting industry standards, winning awards, delighting customers.
 
We have known Russ since the early days when RATA, as it was known then, was a small family run business and have seen the business grow into the success it is today.  We remember the first workshop, and the caravan, which later became the somewhat rustic 'museum', before the very impressive premises currently occupied.
 
Russ Andrews have stocked some of our products for many years and we have always enjoyed a very happy relationship, both business and personal.
 
Visiting Russ and Sue, listening to Russ's latest equipment and, most importantly, discussing ideas, has always been enlightening.  Their hospitality is legendary, as is their sloe gin - how Russ goes to work the next day will always be a puzzle!
 
Congratulations to Russ and all the team for being both innovative and such friendly people.
 

Ben Duncan - international audio electronics authority

In 1972, I had a style and quality-obsessed friend at Grammar school who was fussy even about mains plugs. He would drool over the MK catalogue.  In Nov 1976, Mullard introduced VDRs and my first article was published. I had developed a special interest in mains, as the Hi-Fi and disco equipment I’d designed and built suffered noises from the lightshows and dimmers of the era. That first article mentions some cures. 
 
By 1986, working simultaneously as product designer, consultant and reviewer in Hi-Fi, recording studio and live show lands, I’d already begun to reprint ‘AQMS’ – a compendium of articles on quality mains for audio. I can clearly recall Russ Andrews Turntable Accessories (RATA) being the only other entity out in audio land that was backing-up what I was saying, across a broad front. Russ wasn’t afraid of being controversial either. At a time when most boffins were championing mains filters (after all, we’d seen the maker’s graphs) he was eschewing them, aware of the degradation to the music that inline filters caused.
 
The idea of listen-testing what ‘plainly worked scientifically’ - let alone checking the cure wasn’t worse than the disease, music-wise – was anathema at the time.  It has been neat to observe how over time, one after another things that Russ and team have promoted, have become proven to have basis in wider science. And some of the best mains plugs are still MK.

 

Phil Hansen - PR Consultant, Red Sheep

“It’s Kirsteen Andrews here, we’re looking for a PR agency and saw your advert. Would you be interested in meeting?”  That phone call was in 2005 and was the first interaction I had with Russ Andrews.

Of course I knew about the company by reputation as I’d been into Hi-Fi and worked in the industry for years, but I’d never actually met the man. When I did, it was instantly apparent that we were going to get on. My company is founded on the principle of only working with clients that ‘do it differently’. It’s fair to say Russ Andrews does it differently – ultra-light Hi-Fi racks; speakers in the corners of rooms (and without their crossovers); unshielded interconnects; the list goes on.

Never afraid to challenge the norm, to question the reasons why and to forge his own path, Russ’s passion is infectious and his quest to perfect is without equal. He may come across as very serious about his subject and certainly isn’t one to suffer fools, but get to know the man and behind that driven exterior you’ll find a man whose wicked sense of humour is revealed by the subtle twinkle in his eye. And you’ll find a man who properly understands what all this Hi-Fi stuff is about – music. Congratulations on 30 years of doing it differently.

 

Paul Houlden -  Toroidal Engineering Company

Chatting to Russ one day, I happened to ask "How long have we known each other?". His answer was typical Russ: "Forever!!"

And that is probably true. We first met in the 70s, we both had Hi-Fi shops, his up north, mine sort of west. The industry then was very different to now, and this is not the time or place to expand on that.

I decided that retail sales were not for me in the early 80s and so got stuck back into manufacturing power supplies. Naturally Russ and I met up again, and so for over 30 years I've been supplying him product. 

I have to admit I've learnt a lot through that time, had some 'downers' ( haven't we all ) and had some terrific 'uppers'.

Throughout this roller coaster of life, both Russ and I have had one aim: to improve the listening experience of the music lover. And guess what.... We're still at it. 

To know someone for 40+ years, and still share the same ideals is remarkable. Well done Russ, and here's to even more future success.