Elvis Presley's HiFi - What Brand?

Here's a picture of Elvis' HiFi in the RaquetBall Court at Graceland (just to the right of the upright piano where he reportedly performed "Blue Eyes Cryin' In the Rain" for friends the morning he died.)

Can anyone make out what brand of stereo equipment Presley had in the rack?

 

I see what looks like some Crown amplifiers and other Crown gear.

 

Yep. What else for "the King"?!
-Bill

 

Definitely Crown. Looked very closely when I took the tour a couple of years ago.

 

A Crown DC300?

 

I think the Graceland Raquetball Court was built in 1975 and the Crown gear was probably purchased to outfit it around that time.

 

Wow ... pretty "industrial" amplification for a home stereo! Hope he was running complementary speakers on the end of those ...

 

Do you think Bill Porter picked it out for him?

 

Just Googled Porter and Elvis HiFi and found this. Porter picked out the RaquetBall Court audio gear. Some info here on the speakers too: Electrovoice with 18" woofers.

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/int...gineer_bill_porter.shtml#sthash.FGqeopPC.dpuf

 

A p.a. amp? Maybe; shudder! Having just read the article, seems this wasn't Elvis' main stereo; the Electrovoice speakers mentioned sound like a variant of the Eliminator p.a. rig.

 

Anyone know what HiFi Setup Elvis had in the basement (room with 3 TVs)?

Speaking of Bill Porter, there is a new official Sony Elvis 2CD release, entitled On Stage Season that will be released on the Sony FTD (Follow That Dream) label which is due out sometime this month. On Stage Season features two complete Elvis concerts that Porter himself recorded from the soundboard in January and February 1970.

The reason this release is so significant is that when RCA's Al Pachuki recorded Elvis on multitrack tape in mid February 1970 for what became the On Stage album, they didn't record any complete shows, only certain song selections.

So Porter's soundboard recordings (perhaps mono on 1/4") mark the first ever official release of a Jan/Feb 1970 Presley show in its entirety.

While Porter's recordings have been pirated, FTD has reportedly obtained the original masters so the On Stage Season FTD should sound much better than heard before. Here's the cover art and tracklist for the Porter recorded 2CD set, which can be preordered on shopelvis.com

CD-1: Las Vegas, Jan. 26 1970 (O.S.)

All Shook Up
That's All Right
Proud Mary
Don't Cry Daddy
Teddy Bear/Don't Be Cruel
Long Tall Sally
Let It Be Me
I Can't Stop Loving You
Walk A Mile In My Shoes
In The Ghetto
True Love Travels On A Gravel Road
Sweet Caroline
Polk Salad Annie
Introductions
Kentucky Rain
Suspicious Minds
Can't Help Falling In Love

CD-2: Las Vegas, Feb. 23 1970

All Shook Up
I Got A Woman
Long Tall Sally
Don't Cry Daddy
Hound Dog
Love Me Tender
Kentucky Rain
Let It Be Me
I Can't Stop Loving You
See See Rider
Sweet Caroline
Polk Salad Annie
Introductions
Lawdy Miss Clawdy
Heartbreak Hotel
One Night
It's Now Or Never
Suspicious Minds
Can't Help Falling In Love

 

I have a crown DC300A just exactly like that in my basement right now. I had been using it to power my built-in infinite baffle subwoofer. One time a couple years ago I mentioned it to a friend of mine who works as an engineer at QSC (a pro audio amplification manufacturer), because I was thinking of a QSC rack mount amp to replace it. He told me that those old Crowns tend to fail catastrophically. Not a great vintage solid state piece. I now use a Vestax amp for the IB sub and it sounds much better than the Crown.

Crown had a whole line of stuff; preamp, amp, components, that they were selling as high end rack mount solid state hifi gear. That's what this is.

 

In the Porter interview I referenced upthread, Porter stated he equipped Presley with a Luxman tuner. I did some Googling and found a Luxman tuner that appears identical to the unit second from top: Luxman T-310. Anybody heard these Luxmans? Compare this tuner with the one in the raquetball court which sits on top of the Crown VU meter unit.

 

Some info on the Luxman T310U http://www.thevintageknob.org/luxman-T-310.html and here: http://www.hifido.co.jp/KWLuxman T-300/G1/E/0-10/C11-57793-98323-00/

Specs:

FM section
IHF sensitivity :1,7µV
50dB s/n sensitivity :2,2µV
Ultimate S/N ratio :75dB
THD :0,1% (mono, 400Hz)
0,12 (stereo, 400Hz)
Alt channel selectivity :75dB
IF rejection :99dB
Image rejection :90dB
Spurious rejection :95dB
AM suppression :53dB
Capture ratio :1,5dB
Stereo separation :42dB (400Hz)
30dB (100Hz...10Khz)
Muting threshold :5µV (4...30µV variable)
Stereo threshold :5µV (4...30µV variable)
Frequency response:20Hz...15Khz (+0,2 / -1,8dB)
AM section
IHF sensitivity :14µV (250µV / m / 1MHz)
S/N ratio :50dB
IF rejection :85dB
Image rejection :80dB
THD :0,5%
Muting threshold :320µV / m / 1MHz (400Hz, 30% modulation, fixed)
140µV...1000µV / m / 1MHz (400Hz, 30% modulation, variable)
Output level :400mV / 1MHz (400Hz...30% modulation)
DOLBY section
Input sensitivity :100mV / 100kOhm for 0dB Dolby level
0 Dolby level :40% FM modulation + 10% pilot
Output level :1,8V at 100% modulation (FM and FM Dolby)
900mV (0dB Dolby level)
1,5V (AM, 100% modulation)
Dolby frequency response :20Hz...20Khz (± 1dB, tape play position)
Dolby frequency & level tracking :20Hz...20Khz (± 1dB, tape play position ; +12...-60dB)
Dolby tape play THD :0,1% (20Hz...20Khz at 0dB)
0,1% (1Khz at +12dB)
Dolby tape play S/N ratio :80dB
Dolby tape play bias filter :18dB/octave starting at 25Khz

 

He probably got an employee discount too!

 

The Crown system was set up in one of the outbuildings- the squash court building? -when we visited Graceland a few years ago. The basement stuff- I don't remember, it looked pretty cheesy- maybe possible to discern from pics. I do remember the big RCA console TV in the 'gold record room' that the company gave him after he made them a giant pile of money.

 

Porter didn't mention the cassette deck brand. The unit sitting on top of the Luxman tuner looks like a cassette deck. I did some research using Google images and search terms (70s cassette desk, wood paneling) and found this image. It appears Presley had a Tandberg TCD 300. It certainly looks like the unit in the Raquetball Court photo (note the distinctive two stripes in front).

 

Yup, that's a match!

 

Anyone have pictures of the speakers that Porter referenced? ==> Electrovoice with 18" woofers. Porter says it's a custom system, so perhaps the speakers were built into the walls of the actual court itself?

 

Able to narrow it down a little more.

Presley must have had a Crown DC300R. The 70s "R" model apparently had the distinctive two tone knobs with both aluminum and black instead of all black (see below). Also, Porter noted he equipped Presley with an IC150 preamp:

 

Are there any photos of the turntable in the Raquetball that Porter mentions? I didn't see one.

 

More images of the Tandberg TCD 300

 

I kind of remember pictures of Elvis Memphis house and seeing an RCA Orthophonic Record Player, the model with the legs.

 

That's about right. I bought my Crown DC300A in 1976. The 300A had silver knobs. Didn't make me sing any better, either.