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Whatever Happened To SAE?

I remember in the seventies walking into a Cal Stereo store in the LA area and seeing the SAE equipment. I was a college student back then and owned a reciever. The SAE stuff with it's black metal and white graphics looked sooo imposing and impressive. Amp, preamp, tuner and EQ all in one stack....man, if I could ever own something like that one day! By the time I could afford decent equipment, SAE has been long gone.

Was their stuff any good?

What happened to them?

thanks.......mitch
128x128mitch4t
whart's avatar
whart
3,062 posts
 
Remember Quintessence? I had their preamp for a little while back in around 1973 or so. I worked for a dealer and tried a couple of them- each one sounded a little different. I remember putting the preamp to the 'challenge' of an ARC SP-3. The ARC sounded so much more musical. That was my next preamp.
islandflyfisher
94 posts
 
Gunbei,
How about "Dimensions in Stereo" in the Old Towne Mall. Threshold, Dalquist, Tanberg and Revox. Remember the old guy in the bean bag chair?
fatparrot
1,314 posts
 
Got an SAE cassette deck..late '70's? It was a black unit, but had the coolest blue fluorescent horizontal VU meters that could be switched between peak, and peak hold...the peak hold display was like a mini-light show...ah, the memories are thick!
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
For some info about James Bongiorno and SAE you might be interested in:
http://www.tnt-audio.com/intervis/bongiorno_e.html.
gunbei
2,327 posts
 
Old Towne Mall?! Dimensions in Stereo? I remember that place! Old Towne used to be such a happnin' place thirty plus years ago when I was in high school.

There are still two places in Redondo Beach right next to each other. Systems Design Group and Definition Audio. It cracks me up that they've been duking it out in the same little strip mall all these years.

I remember going to an audio show about 25-30 years ago in LA. All I remember was the Dahlquist room and the Penthouse Pet sitting in a bar stool signing her pictures.

That James Bongiorno interview is hilarious! I always admired those SAE and Sumo chassis. And he always used the same square extended font on the faceplates for both. But for the life of me, I can't think of that typeface.
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