Posted on 12/12/2018 9:31:34 AM PST by ETL
It’s hard to believe we went from Mono to 7.1 Digital sound in one lifetime.
Of course, I went from a 10mg hard drive to a 1TB SSD since college
I had a 4 channel open-reel tape deck and quadraphonic amplifier (and 4 speakers, of course). My music library consisted of about 18 discrete four channel tapes which might have been all that were ever recorded. Then, they began to sell 4 channel LPs which I thought was a gimmick - after that, 4 channel died.
My Uncle Dale Lydick was the engineer for Packard Bell designing all those many different wooden cabinets for the hi fi, and then stereo of the day.
My GGF had one of the first ten inch televisions from Packard Bell given as a gift by Uncle Dale.
We used to go over to the Great Grand Parents house to watch Ed Sullivan, What’s My Line, and of course GGF’s favorite Wrestling from the Olympic.
As a teen in the 70s, after coming into a few bucks a from an insurance settlement, I bought a new at the time really good Kenwood receiver with Koss headphones. Thought I died and went to heaven, as it was the first time I ever heard music of anywhere near that quality. The first album I bought was Boston's debut album.
Could not believe the sound. Drum rolls sounded like they went back and forth inside my head. Super clear deep bass. I had not even heard stereo prior to that. Had an old am/fm transistor radio and a portable cassette player, but both had only a single speaker.
That never really took off, either................
1. More Than a Feeling
2. Peace of Mind
3. Foreplay / Long Time
4. Rock & Roll Band
5. Smokin’
6. Hitch a Ride
7. Something About You
8. Let Me Take You Home Tonight
I still have my Marantz 1030 amplifier............bought in 1976....
My dad had a train album he would crank up at 7am on random Saturday mornings he played on his homemade, 8 foot long stereo cabinet, complete with turntable, reel-to-reel tape recorder, microphone and sound gages with plenty of storage for albums, tapes and accessories. I wish I knew what happened to that thing.
He made his own speaker cabinets too, all probably made from popular mechanics plans.
The train album was so cool. It would start out slow with a barely audible rush of air escaping from the braking systems and progressing to full on, loud track noises and train whistles. It sure woke the whole family up nicely.
Just listened to the RCA Sounds in Space on YouTube. I was wrong about Victory at Sea being played, but besides that, it was like I was a teenager again hearing that demo record. I’ve gone from the little yellow 78 Golden vinyl records I used to listen to as a kid, to 45’s and 33 1/3’s in my teens, then 8 track tapes, cassette tapes, and CDs through the years. God I’m old!
>p
I bought a Stereo! Wow! With TWO speakers!
But then I heard the quad with the four speakers and I was like this is it, so I got rid of the stereo and got the quad.
I’m listening to this thing and I’m like, 'Hey this sounds like SH|T!'
So, I got rid of that and got the dodecaphonic with the 12 speakers.
This was more to my liking . . . for a while.
But the gear gets pretty sophisticated pretty fast and I got rid of that and got the milliphonic with the 1,000 speakers.
And I’m listening to that one and I’m like, 'Hey, this sounds like SH|T too! The other one was SH|T one, this one is SH|T too!'
So, I traded that in and got the googolphonic, which is the highest number of speakers you can have before infinity.
Sounds like SH|T!
So, then I said, 'Hey, maybe it’s the needle!'
I had the typical diamond needle. So I searched around and got the moonrock needle; cost me 3 million bucks, but what the hey?
So, now I have a googlephonic stereo with a moonrock needle.
OK for a car stereo, wouldn't want it in my house."
His prices were INNNNNNSAAAAAAANE!
I don’t remember owning an FM radio like that when I was young, but I do remember having portable AM transistor radios as a teen. I had one in my purse on the day that JFK was assassinated, and I pulled it out, and our Bookkeeping class sat there and listened to it through the whole class.
Don’t waste your money on a new set of speakers
You get more mileage from a cheap pair of sneakers
First stereo was Second hand but what a system. All Fairchild tube amps & Preamps and a Fairchild transcription Turntable...a massive thing. With Klipsch speakers no less.
Helped my grandad was a Hi-Fi salesman in the Golden Age when the first stereo equipment was coming on the market.
I have a Marantz 1060 with Imperial 7 speakers and a Puoneer 12D turntable. I call it my time machine.
Original Fisher vacuum tube stereo amplifiers can be found on eBay, but they’re expensive. Must be the sound.
Not stereo, but the restored Westinghouse FM radio phonograph which my grandfather bought in 1947 has very rich sound. At some point a Garrard Type 1A was installed, which helped.
Still have my Dad’s Pioneer QX-8000 receiver. Has anyone tried using a Pioneer spring reverb to simulate quadraphonic sound?
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