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Who remembers audio from the time when ...

... I recall hurrying home with the newest vinyl, placing it on the rek-o-kut  belt turntable (arm and cartridge beyond recall) then turning on the HeathKit preamp (with all sorts of equalizing circuits) and amp, then watching the tubes warm up.  The anticipation of hearing the new music through a decent system built up with the warming rube glow from orange to red and dimming into the infra red.  Gently grasping the arm and rotating it to place the needle’s crystal  perfectly into the first cut.  The Heathkit 2way speaker was placed forward from center wall to mimic a mono transducer at center stage.  Switching the turntable motor on while gradually increasing gain at the preamp required a soft touch.  Then stereo,  Reel to Reel.  The Dolby cassette deck, tubeless amps and preamps. Digital ...

  i continue to be amazed at the continuing tidal wave of efforts directed to achieve more accurate sound reproduction and more pleasing perception utilizing our incredible ability to hear sound in the spectrum of musical experience.  The sounds of nature: A drip of water on the wet surface of a broadleaf in the rainforest. The startling gasping wheeze of the change in air flow through the mountain pass.  The sizzle of receding waves through the pebbles on shore.  And the sounds made by humans.

  Old timer’s reminiscences of early audiophile recollections are welcome.  




davesandbag
elliottbnewcombjr
5,610 posts
 
SQ Quadraphonic

I just found an album liner with promotion of many Columbia recordings, and one section discussed the 'new at that time' SQ Quadraphonic system.

"startling, miraculous engineering, total realism, flexible, imaginative, complete, compatible, amazingly simple, in short, the most natural sound ever designed for records".

"the finishing touch to the revolution in home audio that Columbia began in 1948"

They issued both Quad LP's and Q8 4 channel tape cartridges. (I never saw or heard one of them). A list of 15 early issues, all big name artists was included.

 My friend jumped in, certain things were interesting. It died.
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dweller's avatar
dweller
3,803 posts
 
The difference between driving a stick-shift car VS an automatic transmission.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
TV. The ultimate wasteland. I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy. 
jameswei
883 posts
 
Or your imagination reading a book.

Curiosity led me to buy a Fisher 105 3-piece system during high school. It handily outclassed my parents’ Magnavox console.

But it was greatly outclassed by the other guys’ rigs in my college dorm. I started to upgrade with AR amp, AR tuner, Miracord 50H, Rectilinear hiboys.

Started working and added an Adcom GFA 1 and a NAD tuner. Still have the Adcom but the NAD was a disappointment.

After reading a retrospective column by Julian Hirsch in the 1990s on how good the Rectilinears actually were, I got back in with Thiel 3.6s. They sounded so much better! It got me upgrading everything.

Don’t like discarding stuff that I once lusted for before buying, so I had music in more and more rooms in the house. Now with smaller house, I am down to systems in only 3 rooms. And a lot is in storage. lol
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