Richter Merlin (1986)
Let’s conclude our look at first-born speakers with Australia’s Richter, which began back in 1986 as Richter Acoustics under talented Australian speaker designer Ralph Waters, who launched the company with three home-made pairs of speakers and capital funds of $2250 — which he expended on good-looking packaging, warranty cards and business cards, some drivers, and badges to make the speakers look more impressive.
“Customers were fed aural sludge for a decade and then decided to buy ‘something better’,” recalled Waters of the time. “I was fortunate to enter the market with my Australian company Richter Acoustics at just this stage, and we seriously challenged the supremacy of British and American speakers as the only legitimate well-designed loudspeakers on the market.”
The first Richter model was not the Wizard or Dragon (the Australian Hi-Fi review above shows the Dragon MkII) but the Merlin. Suitably Arthurian-monikered models followed: the Oracle, and then the Wizard, which went on to do so well for Richter. As Ralph put it, “the Wizard kicked ass, went loud and didn’t blow up.”
Australia’s 1988 Bicentennial made the difference in reversing what Waters saw as a “cutural cringe” against Aussie designs. “All of a sudden people really started thinking about what it meant to be Australian, and whether or not they were proud to be an Australian,” Waters recalled. “And that started them thinking about actually buying Australian.” The Wizard also hit a sweet spot of $899, and in March 1988 drew an ecstatic review from David Frith in The Sydney Morning Herald, lifting sales from “eight or 10 a month to 80 or 90”. And with that, Richter’s path was set.