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Who remembers audio from the time when ...

... I recall hurrying home with the newest vinyl, placing it on the rek-o-kut  belt turntable (arm and cartridge beyond recall) then turning on the HeathKit preamp (with all sorts of equalizing circuits) and amp, then watching the tubes warm up.  The anticipation of hearing the new music through a decent system built up with the warming rube glow from orange to red and dimming into the infra red.  Gently grasping the arm and rotating it to place the needle’s crystal  perfectly into the first cut.  The Heathkit 2way speaker was placed forward from center wall to mimic a mono transducer at center stage.  Switching the turntable motor on while gradually increasing gain at the preamp required a soft touch.  Then stereo,  Reel to Reel.  The Dolby cassette deck, tubeless amps and preamps. Digital ...

  i continue to be amazed at the continuing tidal wave of efforts directed to achieve more accurate sound reproduction and more pleasing perception utilizing our incredible ability to hear sound in the spectrum of musical experience.  The sounds of nature: A drip of water on the wet surface of a broadleaf in the rainforest. The startling gasping wheeze of the change in air flow through the mountain pass.  The sizzle of receding waves through the pebbles on shore.  And the sounds made by humans.

  Old timer’s reminiscences of early audiophile recollections are welcome.  




davesandbag
bsheckler
10 posts
 
I vividly remember riding my bike to Seligman Bros. Record Store, which luckily, was only about a mile from our house. I mowed lawns and shoveled snow for the money for the bike and records. The LP I bought was Harry Nilsson - Son of Schmilsson.
It's 1971 in America on a beautiful Saturday morning and Mom has just served a nice brunch. Everybody is still sitting at the table, and it seems like the perfect time to show off my new purchase...
Mom and Dad both love music and it seems to be going pretty well
until track 5  - You're Breaking My Heart
Life lesson: Never play a track for an audience without previewing it !
I just ended up skipping that track, but I never forgot the lesson.
The system was a large Magnavox console with an Ampex eight-track recorder jacked into it.
I built my first stereo with a Garrard turntable Sansui receiver and  speakers shortly after that. Next stereo was DCM Time Window speakers with Adcom electronics JVC TT and Dynavector cartridge.
After that I ran across a good deal on a pair of B+W 804's.
There have been a lot of iterations over the years.
Great sound and great music both excite me very much.
Best Regards,
Bil


analogvm15's avatar
analogvm15
112 posts
 
Grammar school. 8th grade.1965. Buddy's finished basement. Paneled, bar, killer stereo- don't know what. He was into soul, Motown. His mom handled the drinks. Ginger ale for us, vodka tonics for her. She was hot. Think Elizabeth  Montgomery. Weekly parties, bring your own 45s. Skinny black pants, mohair v neck sweaters, dickeys, beatle boots. My folks had a Garrard changer set up in our basement, two speakers. Can't believe they bought me Volunteers and Let It Bleed one Christmas. We bought our records from Sears and then Sam Goody's.
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feldmen4
108 posts
 
I was turned on to “hi fidelity” by a good friend whose dad had components - as opposed to the all-in-one systems that were common in the 70s. Still remembering listening to The Who Live at Leeds on that system. 
Soon after my Grandmother decided to give each of her grandchildren their inheritance on her 90th birthday - $1000.  Silly impetuous Matt ran out and bought the stereo he’d been dreaming about - a Kenwood KA-701 amp, AR-14 speakers and a Pioneer PL-17 TT. That stereo served me well for many years. None of my cousins or siblings has any idea what they did with their inheritance.

I’ve been fortunate over the past few years to finally get to upgrade my stereo and I’m very happy with what I have now - though I’m always looking for the next “thing”. But the best part of getting the new system has been passing the old gear on to my 2 sons. The TT gave up the ghost years ago but the Kenwood is at grad school in Utah being worked out every day by my oldest who has turned me on to more great music than I ever did for him and the ARs are in my youngest’s room and will be packed off to college next fall. Not that I’m proud of my boys or anything but the fact that they love music and audio the way I do is just icing on the cake. 
lhasaguy's avatar
lhasaguy
329 posts
 
I spent the late 60s in Germany in the army where I bought my first System of separates.  Sansui AU-555, TU-555, Dual 1019, Sansui SP-100 and and AKAI reel to reel.

When I returned to Pgh and went back to college, it was an amazing time of shared music with friends, FM radio was just taking off and “underground” stations would play long tracks, think Alice’s Restaurant.

It was a time of early Steve Miller, Jethro Tull, Janis Joplin, Cream, Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, etc. and of course John Lee Hooker & Canned Heat.

For some reason, Fried Hockey Boogie in its many variations was popular with everyone.

It was a time of cheap wine, good weed and amazing friends, think Big Chill.  And I got the Dave’s not here reference in an earlier post.

Thanks for starting thus thread as it makes me smile remembering those times again.
ronrags's avatar
ronrags
275 posts
 
It was 1969, my older brother was in Vietnam and I would use his portable Zenith record player which he received for HS graduation. The turntable would fold down and the speakers were on hinges to spread them apart to listen to stereo. Wow it was a revelation to hear stereo since my family owned a large Grundig radio that played mono. I would ride my bike to EJ Korvettes in Brooklyn and buy the newest Moody Blues album. I would play it religiously along with other albums my brother had collected like the Beach Boys and the Byrds.

When he returned from Vietnam later that year, he gave me that Zenith player. I went to the local radio shop and bought my first headphones and a headphone adapter that I spliced into the speaker wires. I was in heaven which started me down the audio path.

After graduating HS in 1974, I bought my first real system, a Pioneer 737 receiver, Dual 1228 turntable and Altec bookshelf speakers. I finished the basement in our house so I would have my own listening room.
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