My old stereo speakers-funny story

[Magicfloat]

In 1976 I bought a set of ESS AMT-1 studio monitor speakers. Best available back then. They used the Heil air motion technology,best out there in 1976. Used them at my home since then. Taken a lot of flak from techno guys about my obsolete stuff,but never bothered me,cause they were old like me,and they always sounded great. Today Karen's best friend's kids and their friends came by and did not understand the old dark wood cabinets and dark brown fabric,a blast from the past in their eyes.Not making fun,just did not understand why I did not upgrade .I suggested trying a new CD,Karen's favorite,Brandi Carlisle.I cranked up the volume till the windows shook but the sound was crystal clear.They thought I was messing with them with new stuff,they could not believe the sound from 1976,way before they were born. Moral of the story,being old doesn't mean you are out of date,and old technology doesn't always go out of style.Pardon me while I crank up some old Neil Young.:cheers2:

 

[Perlmudder]

my dad let me bring a pair of box speakers to university with me. they each had a 10 inch sub and 5 tweeters and a 6 inch mid. they rocked many a house parties!

 

[MacGyver]

I loved my old Infinity speakers. Until the suspension around the woofers finally gave up. Did many house parties with them and my Sansui receiver

 

[Bobcat]

A buddy of mine still has his Bose 901's from the early eighties, they'll also blow out the windows.......His wife hates them.

 

[Chris]

If you ever smoke the diapragms, they're still available from Parts Express.

ESS made another speaker called the Transar- used the same tweeter and an AMT midrange. It was a series of horizintal diaphragms- looked like four sections of the bottom of an egg carton. They were connected through the center of each compartment with four metal rods that were driven by voice coils in the base. There was a local dealer that had a pair in the mid-70's. I remember them being obscenely expensive and incredible sounding, but that was 35 years ago. There was a pair for sale on one of the audio boards last year but I could never get ahold of the guy.

 

[BBB725]

I have a system thats 25 years old, Mcintosh electronics and Martinlogan speakers. I broke the set up, Speakers are in Florida and the amp, pre amp, tuner, and system control unit all sit in the basement in Wisconsin. It has 6 channels and with the sub woofer I could spill drinks on a table.:sifone:

 

[fund razor]

That is funny. I have people ask me about my Magnapans all the time. Ribbon HF and magnetic planar drivers.

"Where is the sound coming from?"

I had a chance to buy a JBL paragon from an estate but I was short on cash and passed. A Japanese guy paid like $5,000 for it. This was 1997 or 1998.

A single cabinet, stereo... with something like fifth order LF section.

 

[fund razor]

Martinlogan speakers.

I was a Martin Logan dealer in the 90s. The electrostatic craziness.
Plug em in to 120v so that they could make the other side of the charge. :willy_nilly:

They were cool, and had super fast HF response, but I liked the magnapans better for some reason.

 

[fund razor]

I have a friend with a set of Electro-Voice Patricians with the 30W (30 inch woofer) drivers in them. They need like a half a watt and the neighborhood shakes.

 

[Awaken]

I still use my Polk Audio SDA 1 speakers they are great.
This reminds me of an old story, I went to college in the late 70's and took my Dad's old Scott Tube Amplifier and a set of large Altec Lansing speakers (I still have). Anyway, I went home one weekend and my roomate had a party. He was playing a bunch of records (big round black vinyl things that kids have no ideas what they are anymore) on an old Garrard Turntable. He kept piling the played records on top of the amp. He actually got mad at me when he realized the heat of the tubes had warped his favorit Bruce Springsteen, April Wine and Styx records - LOL.

 

[BBB725]

When I was in college I had this huge Kenwood tuner amp it must have weighed 100 pounds and would heat that small dorm room up fast

 

[Awaken]

I had a seperate tuner, it was made by Fisher. I wonder where all these companies went? Fisher, Scott and Altec were all american top notch electronics in their day. I think Garrard was English. Only see Japanese stuff now.

 

[BBB725]

I had a seperate tuner, it was made by Fisher. I wonder where all these companies went? Fisher, Scott and Altec were all american top notch electronics in their day. I think Garrard was English. Only see Japanese stuff now.

I think Mcintosh is still built in New York

 

[Chris]

The garden-variety home stereo stuff was overwhelmed by the video thing. Now the landscape is populated by a bunch of nice manufacturers making upper-end stuff. Fortunately it's almost all American made.

I have an old Harman-Kardon receiver in my shop. It's built like a tank. All discrete components. Dual power supplies. I couldn't imagine what you'd have to pay for something built like this today.

 

[Bobcat]

In 1982 I bought a Sansui stack system from the BX for 639 dollars( a lot of money when the A.F. was only paying me 140 dollars every two weeks) It would heat up and you could smell it.......still love that smell.

 

[fund razor]

I had a seperate tuner, it was made by Fisher. I wonder where all these companies went? Fisher, Scott and Altec were all american top notch electronics in their day. I think Garrard was English. Only see Japanese stuff now.

When I was a dealer... (mid-late 90s) we had tons of american made stuff. I remember going to the CES show in 97 and buying a few things myself.

Audio Research, Jeff Rowland Design Group, Transparent Cable, Lightspeed, Thiel, Martin Logen, Boston Acoustics and Elan were all USA at the time.

I sold plenty of German Audio-Physic, British Rega and B&W.

Italian Seleco projectors.

 

[DAREDEVIL]

I did read thru all this, but i had a BANG & OLUFSEN in germany...nothing can keep up with sound or volume..clear like they where playing in your head !!!!!

Big money tho..:ack2:

 

[MacGyver]

I did read thru all this, but i had a BANG & OLUFSEN in germany...nothing can keep up with sound or volume..clear like they where playing in your head !!!!!

Big money tho..:ack2:

But well worth it :cheers2:

 

[fund razor]

I did read thru all this, but i had a BANG & OLUFSEN in germany...nothing can keep up with sound or volume..clear like they where playing in your head !!!!!

Big money tho..:ack2:

I sold B and O.

Atractive future forward designs.

Sound? Ok. Not bad.

When in Germany you should have scored a pair of Audio-Physics from Joachim Gerhard.

Listening to a properly set up pair of Audio Physics... you can hear the space. You can hear the mixing engineer think. I have had people bring their favorite CD and sit down and hear it for the first time. Tears are not uncommon. I am not exaggerating. I can even prove it to the internet truth enforcers.

 

[TCEd]

Funny................ We're talking old school stereo performance and todays kids talk cellphone pixels.