People assume I'm an audiophile.
Always mixed on Auratone Sound Cubes or NS10-M's --
Healthy volume, 6 feet apart, 6 feet away. Rock & Roll.
Tom Werman
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For some reason a video on Stereophile’s website of me showing my stereo system has close to a quarter million views...blows my mind
youtu.be/H07NpWk_Xf8 Michael Fremer
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I was a retailer for much of my early life in the 60's thru the 80's in Los Angeles. Although we carried high-end everything in our private department store, the audio department was my pride and joy. I usually had the best of what was available because I could. Just before we closed our business in 1985 (after 21-years), I contacted our NEC rep and purchased an NEC A-10 II Integrated Amp along with the matching tuner. This beast was never sold in America and they are very rare. Still using it (the tuner didn't make it) since the early eighties along with my ADS P2 semi-automatic turntable. I inherited some Yamaha MSP5A studio monitors from PF and intend to replace my old Bose speakers with them. Still have my 45rpm collection (2000+) from when Phil and I used to request demos from all the LA radio stations masquerading as the "West Hollywood Boys Club" or some such organization. That story is in the book. I was a printer in my early teens so I had the ability to print letterheads and business cards as needed. Nobody ever questioned us; we were believable, I guess.
Best,
Jered Cargman
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I put together a cheap component system from Radio Shack. The amp blew a fuse every couple of weeks. It was a pain in the ass, but it was right next to my bed and I could play music anytime I wanted.
Loren Parkins
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My first real stereo was a Marantz 2225 receiver (bar mitzvah present from my parents). I bought a Dual CS128 turntable, which I still have, with money I saved from my paper route. Played them through my dad’s old AR 2A speakers, which he gave me when he upgraded to ADS speakers. That system got me through college and grad school.
Dusted off the turntable 3 years ago when I bought a new Integra receiver with a phono input. I had been lugging the turntable and boxes of vinyl around for probably 20 years. I’m not a Luddite or vinyl fetishist, and I love having the thousands of CDs I purchased over the years converted to lossless files on a hard drive, but the vinyl still sounds good.
Gary Lisker
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Pioneer SX-626
Dual 1225 w/ Shure V15 Type III
Utah speakers
(cheap but played Zeppelin II pretty loud)
With a sense of irony the first album for that setup was Money as I had none after I left the store.
All purchased from Musicraft a local Chicago chain.
Upgraded to the Utah's to Visonik David's for my dorm room a few years later.
Neal Berz
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Marantz and Advent. The memory of you followers amazes me more than the impressive systems.
At one point in the early 70s I purchased a tuner/amp with 2 FM tuners. (Can’t remember brand) Local FM broadcasters simulcast stereo signals on specialty shows in south Florida. TV broadcasts did the same. Recollections are dim but I had fun with it.
Earliest memories are of a transistor radio with an earbud that would pick up clear channel signals from NY, Chicago and Nashville at night. 60s
Luke Lewis
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I know i'm tardy with this but....
1975, my last year in school. My uncle was a dubbing engineer at Denham Studios and when he updated his system he gifted me the following:
Thorens TD125 turntable, Quad pre- and power amps, Tannoy speakers.
'Dark Side Of The Moon', 'Wish You Were Here' and Led Zep IV...oh my word, it was mystical! Rocked my world (and everyone else's at my English boarding school)
I later added a Revox 1/4" reel-to-reel to this system.
I know that, technically, modern gear delivers more clarity but I don't think I ever got a better sound, spiritually!
Keep on keepin' on, Bob
Simon TC, London
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I was a bit young during the heyday of all this Hi-Fi ness but I saved my album collection with the idea I will buy a new system someday . Maybe you can start a new thread by talking about what records people kept throughout the years. My collection is only about 60 albums but I would put my collection up against anybody’s. Everything from the double electric light Orchestra album to all the clash albums to beach boys, journey, the dead Kennedys, Zepplin, AC/DC with Bon Scott, and so many others. It would certainly be good stuff to hear what Records people played on their systems.
All the best
Johnny Vieira
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Marantz
Scott Fennel
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Hi, Bob. (We met at Amanda Palmer live interview, I did some magic, I'm the guy who helped her write her book.)
It was 1978 and after spending high school reading stereo mags and fantasizing over the ads, I finally had a few books and ran into a deal. I bought an Optonica SA 5151 receiver (85 watts RMS per channel, it was a brand created by Sharp when they moved into high-end audio for a time in the late 70s and early 80s); a top of the line Technics SL-1600 MK2 Quartz Direct-Drive Automatic Turntable with an Ortofon Concorde cartridge; and a pair of (now rare) Allison Two speakers. Some years ago the turntable stopped functioning and the speakers needed refoaming, and recently I found a terrific little shop here in San Diego manned by two OCD type audio geeks who did a terrific job refurbishing the entire system, even replacing a few of the tiny lamps in the tuner display of the receiver.
So I'm now back to listening to my 500+ LPs purchased back in the 70s and 80s, plus additions from local used LP shops, and the first time I played the system for my 14-year-old sons, raised on computer speakers and phones, they were dumbfounded. I bought them a smaller scale analog system and turntable for their birthdays, but I added a bluetooth wireless input so they can stream their phones to the big bookshelf speakers.
Still trying to tweak the best way to get decent output from my iTunes collection to the analog system -- solutions are clunky and less than elegant. But it's a joy to put on an original LP of Mad Dogs & Englishman or Live at Leeds and crank it up. Nothing else like it.
best,
Jamy Ian Swiss
P.S. BTW, what I learned when I pursued refurbishing my system as that bang-for-buck in buying vintage analog gear is terrific. My system -- the three pieces -- listed for $2350 in 1978. (I got a deal but that's besides the point.) With some effort you can buy that system today for $1100.
Funny thing is I put almost $900 into the repairs. BUT ... if you buy the stuff used, odds are you're gonna want to take the stuff to a guy like I found, and have them do maintenance and get the workings up to snuff anyway, so it really would cost you more than the $1100 to do it right. But this way I knew exactly what I had, and it's the stuff I'd been listening too since back when.
But really, good vintage gear is a bargain these days. There are only a few select items here and there that command high prices, like the Acoustic Reseach AR-3a.
And then there's new stuff like McIntosh which has managed to stay at the very top and will cost you the price of a car.
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Stereo stuff was awesome back then. In the Northwest, we had Speakerlab and Speakerfactory to get hand made speakers to your liking. Cornerhorns were our choice to handle the power, friend of mine owned Speakerfactory, he made me very large bookshelf speakers, matched the wood with cornerhorn components, big mid range horns, 15” woofer and I ran a Phase Linear 700, which was a pure power amp also made locally here in Washington. Played a lot of air guitar in front of those speakers, as we built custom stands to get them off the ground.
Allan Gastwirth
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My old buddy John Carter used to say; digital sound=florescent light, analog sound=incandescent light. I sure wish I still had my old MacIntosh MC-240 amp.
John Brodey
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Purchased my first piece of gear in 1965, a Fisher 500B receiver, from the consignment shelf at Shore Drug in Shorewood, WI -- $60. Shore Drug was a pharmacy that also sold stereo equipment and cameras. That was the start of a wonderful journey that continues to this day.
Jim Charne
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Around 1992 I was browsing in a used musical instrument store in Minneapolis, there was a 1974 Pioneer SA7100 integrated amplifier on the shelf that looked brand new, it was $20. I figured I couldn't go wrong with $20 and if nothing else it would be a good back up amp. When I got home and plugged it in I was surprised how much better and warmer it sounded than the current JVC unit I was using so I started using the Pioneer exclusively. I've used it every day since and it continues to work flawlessly and sounds amazing. Have never had single issue with it. 26+ years of service (and still running strong) for $20 ain't too bad.
Rob Radack
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Bob - The subject of stereo systems certainly speaks to a certain generation of men. Me included. Sansui, Dual, KLH.
A simple set-up, but with enough juice to allow this high school kid from Edgemont, NY (68-72) to play some serious air guitar in the small apartment (bachelor pad) I shared with my 40-year old father.
My dad was the one to select the equipment from one of the many cool, hi-fi stores on the upper 40’s in NYC. My dad was a hip dude. Jumping forward, in my senior year of high school he purchased a 1972 BMW 2002 in Colorado orange. Ya gotta luv it.
All thru high school and college, before the tech revolution, a trip to a stereo and/or record store, in NYC or White Plains, was a regular, must-take adventure. These stores, along with guitar and drum shops, were where we met face-to-face and networked with our music-centric community. The store was the original Facebook and Linked In.
The music maven in our community was my best friend from Edgemont HS, John Stix. John turned me on to the groups, which led to the purchase of the vinyl which was played over and over on my Dual turntable. Balancing the tone arm was as critical as tuning guitar strings or drum heads.
Our stereo equipment, along with our car, defined who we were. This was especially so in the freshman college dorm. Every dorm had the cool kid with the massive set-up. Technique turntables with the strobe light were the then new thing, as were Datsun 240Z’s.
Later in life, I purchased a Carver preamp and amp, B&O turntable and Infinity tower speakers. I still have the Carver and B&O, but had to buy new speakers. Unfortunately I no longer have these set-up in my house. I plan to set-up the system in my garage, where I am hanging my old concert posters, art and photos. Aretha live at the Fillmore, ‘71.
For a specific generation of men...and women...the component stereo system created a gathering point where we listened, discussed and danced to the music of our lives. The current generation certainly does the same, but probably with Spotify thru an iPhone linked via Bluetooth to a Bose speaker? These are their good ole days.
Keep provoking us,
Patrick Sbarra
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Another great column that caught my eye. Boy, was assembling a great stereo a preoccupation of my childhood.
For me and my geek friends, home-building the Dynaco PAT-4 preamp was a rite of geek passage. You could couple that with a brutish Dynaco power amp at 200 watts per channel. Dorm room convenience forced a replacement of that with the Sherwood S-8910 FM-only receiver at 80 watts a side. it was AM and not FM that was irrelevant then.
I accompanied that with an Advent turntable, later replaced it with a Dual 510, reputed to have zero tracking error. I had Dynaco A35 and A25 speakers, the latter of which hang on the wall of my garage to this day.
I couldn’t afford JBL L-100’s, so I built myself copies. I got a local Amish millwork place in Lancaster to build the oak ogee-cornered cases and mounted the three drivers flush with the surface of the front like JBL did, and sanded and painted the fronts with black resin so, like the JBLs, they looked as good with the grilles off as on. I sold them to a friend in college “with a lifetime guarantee” and he dropped one out his dorm room window 3 stories to the ground below. The force of impact knocked one of the woofer magnets loose from the metal basket, so I had to replace that, but the speaker went right back into service.
For tapes there was the first Pioneer auto-reverse deck with digital VU meters that looked VERY cool, and a cheap Superscope and then a 3-channel Nakamichi for Dead shows.
Aside from what I owned, I could dream: DCM Time Window and Dahlquist speakers, Macintosh tube amps, stuff that cost as much as a used car.
Thanks for a peek into a common thread of our youth!
Cheers
Henry Eshelman
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Background. At the halfway point of my Junior year of high school my family moved from idyllic upstate NY to central Illinois. No more ski club and NASTAR winters, fantasies of sports cars fueled by the races at Watkins Glen, and contact with lifelong friends.
The only thing that made it were my albums. My parents in their effort to overcome guilt allowed me to buy a $45 compact all in one setup with a couple of shitty bookshelves speaks. My beat up on Zenith console didn't make the trip but that compact system made me understand the weight of that early 60s Zenith was for magnets. Found a record store in a shitty Decatur, IL strip mall where the only hippies, punks, metal heads and real country fans in town would gather and I got familiar with their schedules based on who was behind the register and what they played. One of the people I had met ran the local electronics store and recognized me when I came in to his store with my savings from busing tables after school and weekends to buy a "component" stereo, spent $250 on a Pioneer receiver, Dual base model turntable and some small JBLs. He offered me a job as they were starting to see sales and thought I could handle the gig.
There are hundreds of experiences in the 4 years I worked there but to the point of this email. Successful floor salespeople got terrific discounts. As it happens, people would ask "what do you have" all the time.
Damn near every bit of my paychecks went to albums, fun, and this setup.
4 Epicure 602 speakers, insanely inefficient, a larger Bose 901 format, amazing separation and depth.
2 Phase Linear 400 amps both with upgraded 700B driver boards.
Technics SU-9200 preamp.
Kenwood KD 500 turntable (massive, synthetic graphite base) without the tonearm.
Infinity Black Window graphite tonearm.
Audio Technica and Shure Cartridges available in mounts.
Macintosh MR something tube tuner with an 8 yagi antenna I put in the attic over my bedroom. KSHE from St. Louis, and out of Chicago WXRT, WMET, WLUP all from Decatur.
Pioneer CT-F1000 cassette deck
Dokorder 1140 4 track reel to reel.
oh, and 2 Koss Pro4 headphones cause...
All assembled while in my 16th and 17th year. Had room in my home bedroom and later dorm room for bed, albums and the above gear.
All I had in my teens was music and I worshiped sound. BTW had one of the first Rockford Fossgate DC amps in my 68 LeMans hooked up to homemade cabinets with EPI drivers mounted.
Keep sharing!
John Strong
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You’ve hit a nerve.
I’ve been into stereos for quite some time. I’ve built multiple tonearms for turntables. One of my favorite materials was good chopsticks. Super lightweight high quality bamboo.
I’ve got a Marantz Model 150 FM tuner with the 2” scope recalibrated so it shows station modulation accurately. Then there’s the 3600 PreAmp with the custom 70v per microsecond slew rate amp boards in it. They sound very clean and sparkly. The entire front panel still works on the 3600. Just the phono pre and the times-ten amp were bypassed with the high performance British boards internally.
I finally found a set of ESS AMT Towers, speakers I didn’t even know existed. The high frequencies are so detailed that I found new things in recordings I had made in my own studio. That’s where those speakers live now. They have 10” woofers on a transmission line, just like in the amazing ESS Transtatics (different woofer though).
I’ve adapted a pair of JBL CBT1000s to work on speaker stands, with Speak-on jacks on the backs. Are you listening JBL? (These speakers are made for permanent mounting only. I had to modify them.)
(JBL CBT1000 speakers use Navy sonar technology to get controlled dispersion in a small, lightweight externally amplified cabinet – 4’ tall, 1’ wide, 1 1/5’ deep, 60 lbs. They put out 130db from 6 6.5” woofers and 24 1” dome tweeters. Tiny footprint, very hifi, very loud, good outdoors and in reverberant halls. Equalized using IK Multimedia’s ARC2 system. The CBT1000s actually do what the Bose Pro speakers claim to do. There are tons of these speakers mounted up on poles all over Disneyland.)
I’m driving the CBTs with 3000 watts per channel – just about ideal. That’s what I’m using with my custom keyboard system.
I enjoy playing things like old Cold Blood recordings and playing along with them on my hotrodded Hammond H100 (I did that mod, too.) No need to turn the organ down to mix with the sound.
Louis Hogan
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I’ll chime in as well. My adventures in the land of High Fidelity began in high school, probably around 1969. Curious coincidence, but my cousin Vinnie (literally her name), worked with the legendary Henry Kloss, just like Adam Pressman’s father. I’ll bet they knew each other. And Vinnie got me started with the KLH Model 17 speakers and the first KLH receiver. I also had a Benjamin Miracord turntable with a Pickering cartridge (the one with the dust brush, ha ha) and set of Superex Pro headphones. So I had some pretty decent gear for a 16 year old.
Cousin Vinnie then followed Henry Kloss over to Advent (which he founded), so I sold my KLH 17 speakers and stepped up to the original Large Advent speakers, which some 46 years later still work! The Benjamin Miracord turntable died, and it got replaced with a Dual direct drive 1219 turntable and Shure V15-IV cartridge. The KLH receiver also died, and got replaced with an Onkyo TX-4500 quartz locked receiver (probably in 1976) . When I came to LA in 1978, the Large Advent speakers, Onkyo receiver and Dual turntable came with me. And all of this vintage gear still works!
I know this is getting long, but a little bit more of Hi-Fi history is in order. Henry Kloss had a dream to bring to market the first large screen consumer projection TV, which he did while at Advent (my cousin Vinnie sent me a letter describing Henry’s dream TV). Unfortunately, Henry was way ahead of his time, and the $10,000 price tag for a TV back in 1978 was astronomical – and that venture plunged Advent into bankruptcy.
But Henry Kloss rose from the ashes to launch yet another company, Cambridge Soundworks, which offered as its first product the Ensemble speaker system, consisting of two satellite and two subwoofers! This speaker was only sold direct to consumers, and the ads began with the following quote from Henry Kloss: “If I Had It To Do All Over Again…And I Do…This Is How I’d Do It.” So of course, I retired my Large Advent Speakers (they sit comfortably in a closet) and bought Henry’s new Ensemble speakers in 1988. And they still work as well (and sound quite respectable as my music- only living room system). When Advent went under, my cousin Vinnie didn’t follow Henry Kloss to Cambridge Soundworks, instead casting her lot with a fairly new company called Apple.
These days I have great set of Paradigm speakers ( 5 speakers plus powered subwoofer) and a Yamaha surround sound receiver, which are admirably accurate, whether in stereo mode for music or surround mode for video. But I am, like many people, indebted to the late, great Henry Kloss for his game-changing contributions to the faithful reproduction of music. RIP Mr. Kloss…and thanks!
Michael R. Morris
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Congratulations on your JBL L-100's, Bob. You could do a lot worse. Also the Technics SL turntable. Non pareil.
However, if you're a professional (musician, music critic, etc.), or just serious about music, you should afford a professional sound system, in a room with padded carpet, drapes and acoustic panels to prevent reverberation
I recommend a Marantz pre-amplifier, Model 3200 or 3600, because none better have ever been made. Carver also made fine electronics, but too many bells and whistles for my taste. Then you need and electronic crossover and separate power amplifiers for low and high frequencies. You won't find them at Best Buy, but Guitar Center and professional audio shops have them. This is called bi-amping, and while it's popular in car stereo equipment, it's practically unknown in home stereo.
The reason for bi-amping is that in a single amplifier or receiver, the smaller high frequencies ride on top of the larger low-frequency waves, and when you turn it up, only the top and bottom of the low frequencies encounter distortion, but the smaller high frequencies are totally into distortion. This is obvious on an oscilloscope. See the attached.
Also, the passive crossovers used to separate the highs and lows inside a speaker cabinet are sources of distortion themselves, and should be avoided like the plague. They are acceptable between a mid-range speaker and tweeter, because at those frequencies the distortion is minimal, but not between a woofer and mid-range.
Then you could upgrade to JBL 4330 Studio Monitors for a system equal to a recording studio. I like Phase-Linear power amplifiers, but then I'm "old school." Note that the high-frequency amp needs only half the power of the bass amp.
Also, avid sub-woofers. I like my bass notes to Hu-M-M-M, not THumP!
--Tyco Tom
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You need to talk to this guy about his loudspeakers:
www.tektondesign.com, which will change your life. Seriously. They absolutely trounce everything I’ve used in my professional career, including multi-thousand dollar stuff from PMC / ATC / Wilson / etc. They just totally slay the 'competition'.
Michael
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Bob, I miss my old stereo - along those lines...I'm not sure if you have addressed this before but could you weigh in on the compressed music trend?
I think that is one of the big things wrong with the music biz. These horrible mixes where everything sounds muddy like you can't even pick out the individual instruments. They're all mixed to be played loud and its horrible!!! What's up with that? When people say new music sucks, I think compressed mixes are the culprit.
Sara Joseph
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Says it all….(via Bill Murray and the National Lampoon crew)
open.spotify.com/track/6pE93QbGFpv8FaAoj6iACh?si=WSN9BVrVTpOI98HE0fB5tg cheers
Philip Mortlock
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I don't remember the exact details of my circa 1976 system which I bought with my first real job, but I'm pretty sure it went to 11. At least, I got yelled at enough by neighbours and the landlord, so it must have.
Jim Carroll
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