Pacific Stereo - share your memories

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Socalguy, Mar 19, 2018.

  1. Bobsblkwax

    Bobsblkwax Forum Resident

    Location:
    NorCal
    I still use Philips 212s and 312s to this day. I like to buy them on Ebay if they have a nice cartridge on them. I fixed 2 of them up and gave them to my son and also my son in law.

    Great sounding tables with the right cartridge. Especially the Stanton 881S.
     
  2. Sal1950

    Sal1950 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Central FL
    212s were great tables, belt drive, suspended platter and arm, nice lightweight tonearm perfect for high compliance MM cartridges like the V15 or 881S. The Stantons were always my fav.
     
  3. The Beave

    The Beave My Wife Is My Life! And don’t I forget it!

    Beautiful Deck! Made a lot of band live recordings on it until it puked and could never find anybody wanting to take it on for repair.
    Way after PS closed their doors. Great Store and really a pity when they went away.
    Quadraflex speakers-Orange Foam Covers-Yep!
    TransAudion Speakers-Yup!
    Concept Turntable......I had a friend who had one but I never could afford one......still lusting after one but that ship has sailed a long time ago.
    Beave
     
    Jerry likes this.
  4. Jerry

    Jerry Grateful Gort Staff

    Location:
    New England
    Yeah, two of my friends had that Concept ELC deck too. The motors would die eventually and no one could fix them. But we made hundreds and hundreds of Dead tapes, so they died for a good cause. My friend who worked in the service department said Sansui made them.
     
    Ham Sandwich likes this.
  5. Grootna

    Grootna Senior Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Got it by accident....I had originally ordered a Lenco L-75 from Dixie Hi-Fi. It was back ordered for a very long time...so I cancelled the order and went to Dallas and purchased the GA-212 from their store on LBJ Freeway and Welch. Did have good luck with Dixie Hi-Fi later on though. Purchased a Dynaco SCA-80Q and FM5A as kits....and when they arrived the tuner was preassembled. Cut my soldering down by 50%.. Still have never heard a Lenco L-75.
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2020
  6. gd0

    gd0 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies

    Location:
    Golden Gate
    Were there more than one PS store in San Francisco?

    I remember visiting infrequently, but I'll be damned if I can remember where it/they was/were, or what/whether I bought there. If anything. I did business at a variety of retailers.

    Was there one on Howard(?) and 2nd St(?) near the Financial District?

    Grandpaw don't remember so good no more...
     
  7. anonsequitur

    anonsequitur Forum Resident

    Location:
    CA
  8. billnunan

    billnunan Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    I still have my Concept receiver. Very heavy and still works perfectly.
     
    Magic likes this.
  9. Sal1950

    Sal1950 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Central FL
    That ad reminded me of something else I bought at PS, a Pioneer RT-707 reel to reel deck.
    A great little tape deck in its day. I sold mine cause after a couple years I just never used it for anything.
    But they sure look impressive in the HiFi Shrine. ;)
     
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  10. Showers Drive, Mountain View. Got a few things there, including a pair of quadraflex house brand speakers. Used them until the foam wore out from the ozone layer!
     
    Magic likes this.
  11. Acapella48

    Acapella48 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Elk Grove, CA.
    I bought my first pair of Bose 601's at a PS store in San Jose, Ca. back in 1978 I think it was. I had them until 2005. Earlier generation Bose speakers were hella better than the junk Bose sells nowadays.
     
    Magic likes this.
  12. rebellovw

    rebellovw Forum Resident

    Location:
    hell
    Rocking my Precept 220 (new stylus) that I bought "in person" at Pacific Stereo in the 80's - on 3D VPI arm.

    [​IMG]
     
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  13. Sal1950

    Sal1950 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Central FL
    Your cartridge looks canted to the right. (clockwise) .
     
  14. Dude111

    Dude111 An Awesome Dude

    Location:
    US
    I know the guy who runs Pacific Stereo,he is a nice guy.... I am on his site :)
     
  15. rebellovw

    rebellovw Forum Resident

    Location:
    hell
    Thanks - I'll have to pull out the VPI rod and recheck the azimuth.
     
    Magic likes this.
  16. The Wudman

    The Wudman Well-Known Member

    Location:
    95610
    Wow, memory blast while looking up some information on Pacific Stereo. I worked for them starting in Sacramento, CA in the mid eighties up until they came apart. Worked as an Assistant manager in Fresno, Stockton, and Sacramento. Also helped open the store in Madera, but by then unbeknownst to the store-based staff, the company was in a flat spin and on fire.

    Yet the memories are strong as it is where I learned just about everything relevant to a time when the sound your speakers made actually mattered. I was there to put out the first CD player which was made by Hitachi. It was cool, but a terrible design, especially since it loaded the CD vertically. Beyond the complaints by vinyl enthusiasts that early CD players sounded harsh, the Hitachi's door was powered by a motor and damn near every one I sold at 1,000, came back broken because people just had to try to push the door closed. Push on the door to close it and you immediately stripped the gears. Sony's CDP-101 soon followed with the conventional design, but vinyl enthusiast still hated CDs. You could try to sell a CD player, but it wasn't worth all the A/B comparisons using the SAE amps and Infinity Reference Standard speakers. Selling one high end MMC cartridge and any turntable, made you way, way, way more money. Furthermore, that turntable/cartridge customer came back every few months if they really liked their pricey Japanese albums. One stylus made you more money than a $600 Denon CD player. I mention Denon because they were the first and fastest to deal with oversampling.

    Back then we moved fast from stereo, cassette decks, reel to reels, turntables, and speakers to video cameras, beta and VHS technology. I can remember the first SuperBeta, front loading VHS, Betacam, video cameras that demanded you drag around half your vcr, and even JVC's first SuperVHS. I can't remember how many early JVC SuperVHS machines I sold instead of the beastly TEACH autoreversing reel to reels. Half the money, better audio fidelity, cheaper media, and you could basically record and organize and not watch it get destroyed when your reel to reel decided to eat a $25 reel.

    I also said I worked there when sound mattered. Odd thing to say when you know that at one point "rack" stereo systems dominated sales. In a store that featured extremely high end speakers, you had to walk past rack systems by Technics, Sony, Sherwood, and yes, Fisher. By the eighties, Sherwood, Fisher, and a few other companies such as Akai, were just brands on cheesy, cheap rack systems. Also there were "high end" brands I could never get into such as Bose and Cerwin Vega. If you had the perfect room (Bose) or wanted "boom boxes", (Cerwin Vega), we could accommodate you. On the other hand, if you wanted to hear the subtle ring of a high hat, we might spend an hour A/B testing Infinity Reference over DCM Time Arrays. Having said that, I sold a crapload of Bose 901 - 101 speakers 'cause of spiffs. If someone came and said, I wnt some Bose, you sold them Bose 'cause you got paid well and the price was the price.

    I still own the last real speaker Advent made, a pair of 6003s, purchased when they were on clearance and heavily spiffed at the Stockton store. The cones have been rebuilt, silver solder and pure copper wire from this once unknown company called "Monster Wire", was installed within days of bringing them home. The cabinets are showing their age, but through reconing, they still sound sweet even though my hearing has taking a beating from chemo. Back then all Monster Wire sold was wire...

    There are ugly memories too. I really knew the world was over when we were forced to sell extended warranties. There was also a very "eighties" culture in some of the stores and most of the Northern California management based in Emeryville. Anyone that went to a Christmas party at the Claremont, that got invited upstairs would know what I am talking about. If you don't, just think of the eighties, bowls full of stuff, plenty of smoke and mirrors to go around.

    Fortunately I survived Pacific Stereo. Made a decent living and even have a few friends among former employees and customers. In fact one of our old customers in the valley, is a client of my existing business.
     
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  17. tdcrjeff

    tdcrjeff Senior Member

    Location:
    Hermosa Beach, CA
    When I came from Oregon down to Pasadena for college in 1982 I had a JVC boombox. I used that for quite a few Dead tape dubbing sessions, either borrowing a deck from someone else in the dorm (with tapes) for a day or else at a dubbing party (like for my first Dead tapes, Frost Amp Oct 9/10 1982). In the spring of 1983 a friend was going to host a big dubbing party (24 hours!) with a bunch of reels (including the 10/18/74 SBD!) he had borrowed and I decided I wanted (needed) a better cassette deck and went to the Pasadena Pacific Stereo that was near Colorado and Rosemead and ended up buying a Sony TC-FX33. I also used to buy blank cassettes (TDK usually) there and as well as another nearby store (University Stereo?). Later that spring (May probably) I was in the store again and one of the sales guys was playing a live Return to Forever cassette that was from the reunion tour concert that had just happened at Universal Amphitheater in April. He graciously allowed me to copy it (at the store) as long as I bought some blanks.

    [​IMG]
     
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  18. mkane

    mkane Strictly Analog

    Location:
    Auburn CA
    Can't remember if it was Pacific Stereo where we bought our set up, on Monument Blvd., Concord, CA 1980
     
  19. Mike from NYC

    Mike from NYC Senior Member

    Location:
    Surprise, AZ
    In 1975 I bought a set of ESS Heil's there - the model with the 10" woofer as the 12" woofer was too muddy.
     
  20. Jerry

    Jerry Grateful Gort Staff

    Location:
    New England
    We sold a lot of Infinity speakers at PS. I always thought they were inefficient and boomy. We sold a lot of NAD integrated amps, too. And Beta hifis like the SL5200 and SL-HF300B, both of which I purchased.
     
  21. Sal1950

    Sal1950 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Central FL
    To you ex PS employees.
    I keep trying to remember the name of some speakers I got there around 1974. I remember they had 2 models with either 3 or 5 tweeters on the front and a 8 or 10 woofer. The tweeters were mounted on a sheetmetal plate the had them pointing it different directions for claimed wide dispersion. I think they may have been PS house speakers but not sure on that. I would love to fill that empty spot in my memories old hard drive.
    TIA
     
  22. The Wudman

    The Wudman Well-Known Member

    Location:
    95610
    I will agree that Infinity speakers were not the most efficient speakers I sold, but I only found them "boomy" when under powered or driven hard with a crappy amp. The EMIT ribbon tweeters were definitely prone to fry when over driven. If someone came in looking for "loud", I went almost anywhere else 'cause I knew someone would be pitching a fit after they toasted their tweeters. Oh the day when you got philosophical about nuances in sound while listening to a Telarc or other well mastered CD.

    As to the Beta HiFi, you know there were Beta folks and VHS folks. I learned fast to sell whatever format they wanted. Sony people were crazy loyal. Once PS went down the TV road, life was miserable. We ran non-remote 19" Trinitron as loss leaders and it would take an act of Congress to sway someone away from that -$1 commission TV. Good luck selling a "Diamond" extended warranty on a Sony. To this day I still use a remote control as a "Feature - Advantage - Benefit" training example.
     
    Jerry likes this.
  23. Bobsblkwax

    Bobsblkwax Forum Resident

    Location:
    NorCal
    Not an ex PS employee, but they could have been Micro Acoustic speakers. They used a tweeter array similar to what you describe.
     
  24. 4_everyman

    4_everyman The Sexual Intellectual

    Location:
    Gillette, Wyoming
    When Pacific Stereo opened their store in Davis, California, I was still in high school and bagging groceries for $2.25/hour. On the store's opening day I stood in line to be one of the lucky first 100 people to received a free vinyl LP. All the desirable stuff was already gone, but I did get a copy of John Denver's Greatest Hits. :winkgrin:
     
    OC Zed likes this.
  25. Sal1950

    Sal1950 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Central FL
    BINGO, Give that man a prize. Thanks a ton Bob, I googled Micro Acoustics and was able to see the speakers I had. Knowing what I do today about speaker design "which isn't much" I doubt they'd measure very well with lobing, etc of the tweeter dispersion but back in 1974 it seemed like a good idea to me. But paired with a Marantz 2270 receiver and AR XB turntable they made for a killer stereo system back then, my first real Hi Fi rig. Thanks again as I've been trying to remember those speakers for a long time now..
    [​IMG]
     

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