I remember Karmon Hardon and San Sewer.
Does Anyone Else Member the Golden Age of Audio Insults and Product Degradation?
My time in audio (and, video) goes way back. How far back? Does selling console stereos with ceramic cartridges mounted on record changers go back far enough? Things were very competitive back then. And, energetic and creative peddlers of consumer electronics didn't hold anything back.
Here's some examples from my memory. Maybe you can add some of your own?
Maggotbox: Magnavox
RCA Victim: RCA Victor
Kindlingwood: Kenwood
Soundshitty: Sansui
Altec Lansing "Voice of the Outhouse": "Voice of the Theater"
Karmon Hardon: Harmon Kardon
And, who can forget?: "No highs. No lows. It must be Bose."
Or: "You can knock a Yamaha. But, you can't Nakamichi."
Enjoy.
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So Funny!!! I recall an audio salesperson in about 1980 in a nice store jokingly telling a potential customer who owned Big Ohm speakers (w/ original inverted cone Walsh drivers) that they need lots of power but can’t it so he had the perfect amp for them - the Carver Magic Cube that has lots of power but can’t deliver it. I’m not sure if his effort to sell some new equipment worked or not but it was a good effort. I then went returned to that same store months later to hear another salesperson, after being asked about the quality of Pioneer receivers vs the new NAD stuff, said they so poor & they were being so heavy distributed & discount Ed you could buy them at gas stations! Meanwhile, no Pioneer product I ever heard of shot up flames on turn on which happened on occasion w/ the early NAD stuff. Good times |
A little on subject/off subject remark: When I was 17, I blew a woofer in my brother's Sansui speakers playing The Big Sound of the Drags LP. I took them to the local audio saloon for repair and was told: "Sansui speakers aren'tt worth the postage to send them here from Japan!!" That was my first experience with an audio specialty store. Then I opened one years later. Slow learner, I guess. |
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And, who can forget?: "No highs. No lows. It must be Bose."
Yes, and that simple formula continues to make millions for them. We here might want realism in audio but obviously many, manyore than us don’t. They seem to prefer a soft focus version of the real thing.
There’s a good flavour of the kind of mostly harmless nonsense Linn used to regularly churn out in the 70s and 80s here. http://audiophilemusings.blogspot.com/p/linn-brochures.html?m=1
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I have that record, complete with a bunch of autographs (Garlits, Eddie Hill etc.)! |
Some people just live to be faux-enraged. |
One that I heard was Junky But Loud (JBL). My JBL compression drivers have been performing admirably for years now, but I do recall when I first bought them they were plagued with metal shavings stuck in the gap, causing some bad response. I took them to an authorized service center who declared them to be functioning perfectly. I asked them how they determined that and they said by listening to them. I had already measured and knew the response was way out of spec. I guess for those who can't hear it or don't care they were just fine! |
Besides the equipment specific quips, I think that some of that attitude is alive and well today on this board but thats okay by me. Those Harry Pearsonesque type put downs, as long as they’re witty and not too mean or directed. The last one that was directed at me I thought was a hoot. The discussion was about updates to a turntable that I was quite familiar with and the person asked about possibly earlier factory updates and I made a suggestion. Then this other person chimed in and didn’t so much suggest as he said I’m wrong and he’s right. I told him that some long-standing dealers of the said table thought the same as well as friends of mine who thought the same. Well, Mr. Knowitall suggested or alluded to the fact that he has a better group of friends ( I think he might have gotten snooty injecting a preferred single malt scotch or some sh*te like that into the discussion) than mine and he may very well have. Something else about cleaning or re-educating my ears, hearing, something like that. I could have been offended but instead found him quite amusing. I'm laughing thinking about it as I write. |
I never knew any funny comments about the Dalqhuist DQ - 10's so I'll make one up - the speakers w/ the Don't Quit crossovers - so complex w/ many mediocre parts & drivers. I know they were amongst the first speakers to address the concepts of time & phase alignment & sounded good in some ways but I didn't find the high or low ends convincing, especially when pushed loud. |
The most contentious UK magazine was probably The Flat Response which later morphed into Hi-Fi Review in the 1980s. It was edited by one Chris Frankland who certainly had strong opinions about audio equipment. I recall reading that the SME arms got short shrift as did many 'exotic' cartridges. CF seemed to genuinely prefer the Linn Basik arm and cartridge. (Neither of which were built by Linn). I can only imagine how such opinions might have gone down in certain places such as Celestion whose SL6 and SL600 also took a real hammering. When you see how tame reviews are now, lord knows how they got away with it back then. Anyway, there's a great background article to the whole shenanigans linked below. Interesting to hear that Linn once employed blind listening tests themselves!
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The Flat Response Magazine by Tom Tom Audio Nov 28, 2017 http://thetomtomclub.ning.com/m/blogpost?id=6506457%3ABlogPost%3A9465 |
@secretguy Wow! Sounds like you've got a nice piece of racing memorabilia there. Congrats!! I just hauled 3 boxes of LPs from my big brother's basement. I'm pretty sure that album is in there somewhere. |
Funny, the best sounding setup I heard in 40 + years that I owned was from a Stromberg Carlson integrared Amp. I owned it until a tube shoted and smoked it. I was kicking the heck out of a pair of JBL Lancers with the aquadag woofer. I kicked mysel for decades not fixing the SC. I remember fondly Magget boxes! I studied tube technology in tech school. The LEDs just hit the market. Stereos were either tube, or hybid. No ICs. TTL was born, gate to gate, then the 8080. Ventage 1957, I saw many changes. What was the knock for Crown from the late 70s, 80s? Mine sounded great for 45yrs. Still decent, just aged out. |
Here's a little on topic/off topic story. Back in the late 70's the dealer "sound rooms" often used sliding glass patio doors to seal them off. Vendors were happy to provide stickers with their logos on them, which we proudly displayed on the outside of the glass. One day, while inside the sound room, a customer was staring at the glass door from the inside with a very confused look on his face. A little more time transpired, then he just couldn't hold back his comment: "I've never heard of A-HA-MAY." True story. |
