Hi-fi in the seventies???

Hifi in the 70's was good. Interest was mainstream, and a larger percentile of the general population more informed and appreciative of good sound. A young man could impress a girl by the great sound his system produced. Hifi equipment offered was more affordable to the working class, higher quality per dollar than today.

 

It's a 606 direct drive.

 

Really? Could it be an early model laser disc player?

 

Yes, it looks like my Pioneer VP-1000 laserdisc player. I just now pulled it out of storage for the photo below:



This thing came to market in 1980, so it fits with that video about "tech" in 1980. Uses a helium-neon gas laser, which predates the solid state diode lasers that became common in CD players (and LD players) that came out a few years later. It's a heavy, bulky monster--really belongs in a museum.
Ah, well... back to the basement it goes.

 

Cool! Does it work?

 

Large Advent Loudspeakers.

Got a pair from a friend who bought them new, sold them to another friend who was an EE student at the time and built new crossovers for them, bought them back and sold them to me.

Blew out one of the tweeters (it made a horrible, painful noise on its way out), took it to the local repair shop (yes we still had those back then) to have it replaced, and the guy said "where'd these crossovers come from? Nice work, better than the factory original."

The Advents replaced some big Realistic speakers.

Still have them out in the garage. They have ugly replaced grill cloth, no badges (think I still have them in a drawer somewhere) and the woofer surrounds are shot. I keep meaning to fix them up, but you know.

 

Ooooh, I remember seeing that at the stereo/TV shop at Park Central Mall in Phoenix, circa '81 or so. I wanted it so much, but it was waaaaay out of the family's budget. Still, it's hard to underestimate how incredible these seemed at the time.

I think if RCA's shtty CED's hadn't poisoned the well for disc-based video formats in the US, laserdisc would have been far more successful here.

One consolation though - CED's implosion pretty much took RCA down with it, clearing the way for Sony, Matsushita/JVC and Philips to dominate the '80s.

 

Yes bought a Altec Voice of the Theater kit, and a cabinet design: after floundering to make the cabinets, I hired a local Carpenter, who knock off the cabinets in less than a hour and I put them together. There was quite a bit of cabinet resonance, so I drilled and installed 1/2 inch bolts front to back to tighten things up. Had those pups for 15 years. cheers

 

Pro: lots of discarded valve amplifiers and valves for peanuts.
Con: end of hifi mono records, reissues fake rechanneled "stereo", music in the pop field more and more boring and bad sound.
Lousy bright solid state amplifiers, fatiguing sound caused by crossover distortion and transient distortion. Still not solved.

 

Reading this thread sure brings back a lot of fond memories. Hi fi in the 70's was if nothing else, infectious.
I was a teenager in the early 70's and started things off pretty early. By the time I was 16, I had a Dual 1226 & TEAC A-450 that served me well into the 80's. I initially had a Pioneer receiver with a set of Marantz speakers, but they weren't around long, acquiring a Dynaco Stereo 70 & PAS-3X combo. A pair of Altec Model 9's were on hand briefly, but I then acquired a set of late 60's Altec Flamenco's, which I still have to this day. By the late 70's, I had begun my lifelong love affair with McIntosh. I initially had a C-28 & 2505 combo. Over the years, many different components have come & gone.

Today, my primary system still consists of McIntosh, Altec, Thorens & TASCAM.

 

I didn't fully test it (with a TV) when I pulled it out for that photo, but I put in the laserdisc you see and it appeared to spin okay.

Most laserdisc players were built like tanks... Probably because those large 12" double-sided (sandwich) platters were quite heavy and had to be spun up to 1800 rpm. The motor, clamping, spin stability, etc. all had to be near industrial strength. Through the '80s and '90s, I progressed through six laserdisc players (5 Pioneer and 1 Panasonic)--still have all of them and none have ever failed to function.

 

Early to mid 70s I used an Emerson tube console that previously belonged to my mother. Mid to late 70's I used an 8 track receiver, and BIC TT with a crystal cartridge. An "upgrade" was installing some Crazy Eddy house speakers. Late 70's early 80's I used a Heathkit AA1500 receiver / AR 5 speakers / Dual 1229Q combo that sounded so much more natural than the Japanese receiver / JBL or Cerwin Vega combos owned by my friends. The Heath/AR/Dual system lasted from HS, through college and into early adulthood before mechanical deterioration, improvement in cash flow and expanding taste prompted the first of many upgrades....

 

1972. US Navy, Southeast Asia. Money to burn. PXs loaded with gadgets for half-price.

So I went Quadraphonic, natch.

Pioneer QX-8000A
Pioneer CS-88A... yes, four of 'em.
Garrard Zero 100... yes, the headshell pivoted.
Audio Technica cart... specialized for CD4 quad.
JVC CD4 demodulator

Provided nothing but pleasure for many years.

 

Yes I had the 1st DBX 128 model and a Digital Delay system (the Koss K/4DS)http://www.audioenz.co.nz/2000/11/dsp-dance/, classicaudio.com..... For Sale..... DBX 128

Early venture into noise reduction, home made 4 channel, before Dolby Thx. All that died when the CD player hit the market, then it was multi player at home, in the car, Alpine CD player at home and in the Car. I remember you could use the same 6 cd changers in either.

 

What a great thread.... brought back lots of memories paging through. I started out in high school with a Dual 1218 TT, Sony STR 7045 receiver and Sony bookshelf speakers. By the time I got to college in 1978, my dorm room system was an Advent 300 receiver, using the pre-amp section only, to drive a Marantz 240 power amp (still have the 240 in one of my home systems today). An Empire Troubador 598 spun the vinyl. I passed on "the bug" to my roommate who decided to buy a pair of large Advents, to begin building his system, and for the specific reason the we combined them with another pair I purchased. Nothing like "Double Vents" stacked in our dorm room clothes closets (who needed to hang up your clothes?) with the sliding doors removed. What sucked was that, when I went home for summer break I had to score another pair of Large Advents to maintain the awesome sound the doubled up setup produced. Awesome sound and bass. I've read a couple posts in this thread about "dueling stereos" in college and the social aspect of music. This was so true.... especially weekend evenings were spent with doors open, music playing and going room to room to socialize, drink, talk music etc., etc., etc. Great times.

 

Memories!! In '71 I had a Dynaco SCA-35; a Pioneer PL-12A with a Stanton 681EEE cart; a Sherwood S-3000 mono FM tuner going through a pair of JBL D208s, 075s and N-7000 x-overs in homemade cabinets (bigger than the JBL Bel-Aire). A bit bright and beamy but I loved it! Sennheiser HD-414s as well. Still have all but the Pioneer and the Sennheisers.

 

I blew a Large Advent teater once back in the day also.... remember it made a weird high pitched sizzling sound. Happened on that first hanging high note at the beginning of Walter Becker's guitar solo.

 

My first stereo, 1973,age 16.
Connoisseur BD2 turntable w/Grado cart
HH Scott 490 integrated amp
Sound Engineering Labs SEL2 speakers



A year later my dealer started selling Linn, Audio Research and Magnepan. Sounded awesome, but way out of my price range.

 

Oops... Becker's guitar solo on Reelin' In The Years...

 

Never could afford the expensive components..(hs class 78) and grew up in a rural area so never even heard of Marantz or Sansui..Advent? Sounded like some church speakers! My college had a record listening room (headphones galore) at the Union which doubled as the smoking lounge. So ended up working at a RS in college to afford Realistic. Got Stereo Review in the mail every month. Never could afford Marantz...All gone-blown up by the late 80's..Now? Buying it all back and then some. 8 Marantz's, and ungodly number of Advents (yes a pun), and many would not believe my Realistic collection (yet another bad pun). Anyone else trying to reshape the past?

 

Serious gear, indeed. You were lucky!

 

You're not the first whose story ends in a traumatic theft. Capital punishment, I say!

 

1980--this thing must have cost a year's salary.

 

I was lucky enough to own a B&O R2R , i thought it was the dugs baws but over time it became to much effort and cash to keep going.