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Were you an audiophile in the 1980s and 1990s?

If so you will probably recognize a lot of the anecdotes in my new book about the music, the equipment and behind the scenes in some of the audio journals.  It's "The Lucky Audiophile - Anecdotes from High End Audio".

"Mike Kuller’s book, part autobiography, part musical history, chronicles his life and journeys in the world of high-performance audio during the 1980’s and 1990’s with Harry Pearson and The Absolute Sound magazine. His reminisces bring back memories of what could be considered the “Golden Age” of audio. His concert lists document many of the important and influential artists of the last thirty years. If you ever wanted to peer behind the curtain of The Absolute Sound during its heyday, give Mike’s book a read."  Steven Stone, reviewer and columnist for The Absolute Sound and FutureAudio.com

"It's a fascinating and engrossing tale of the journey he has taken.  An enjoyable read."   John Atkinson, Technical Editor Stereophile

https://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Audiophile-Anecdotes-High-End-Audio/dp/B0BT79V6SS/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3C11H2HWOXJ9T&keywords=lucky+audiophile+book&qid=1678391980&sprefix=%2Caps%2C410&sr=8-1

mikekuller
terry9
2,333 posts
 

Jonas Miller and Ken Kreisel ran the store, and what a store it was. I remember asking about a much advertised and much prized piece of equipment, and being told, "That’s the best thing that I won’t tolerate in my shop."

They designed and built M&K loudspeakers, but I didn’t quite care for the sub they started with in ’74. M&K records were a wonder.

mikekuller OP
8 posts
 

I bought my first separate preamplifier at Jonas Miller's LA boutique.  But it wasn't one they carried. 

 

The Lucky Audiophile

curtdr
348 posts
 

the new and better "golden age of audio" is right now!

Yes, I was an audiophile in the late 70s, and through the 80s and 90s... 

and my MVL, most valuable lesson:

bigger, fancier, more expensive does not equal better 

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,627 posts
 

I started messing with hand me down tube amps in the sixties. Started buying my own in the seventies. Worked to much in the eighties though the two thousands and rekindled my trek in the twenty twenties. 
So happy to be back. So sad there are so few stores left! 

drbarney1's avatar
drbarney1
177 posts
 

In the late 1990's Stereophile ran an article about the 300B "God's tube" single ended triode. You could buy as a kit or a schematic to build your own such SET from Cary Audio in North Carolina. I built my first SET and began my journey. The modern 300B tubes had cheaper inferior cathodes to the coveted Western Electric 300B tubes so the price for scarce Western Electric 300B tubes went to hell. However, the less powerful 2A3 sounded richer, but NOS 2A3's were less available. The 45 globe triodes, or the 245 globe triodes were made the same way the Western Electric 300B was made and were affordable but they are less powerful. Eventually someone I thought was crazy built and sold 833A radio station transmitter tube SET amplifiers costing $350,000. The 833A was driven by a 300B. The circuit was simple and I was ready to change from complicated box speakers to Magnapan 0.7's which circumvented all the problems of box speakers. 0.7's could not be driven by 45 SET's but I could keep my SET sound if I used my 45's to transformer drive the grids of 833A's and Hammond made a perfect output transformer for the 833A that could insulate up to 4000 Volts the modest 1000 Volts I used for the plates of the 833A's. 

I never went back to factory built amplifiers since I started my 300B journey. 

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