ah indeed McGee Radio, Electronic Goldmine and C&S Sales where all suppliers from the past that are the reason i can't retire...i spent way too much on stuff from them...i just couldn't resist those quantity prices and still have a bag of assorted photo cells that i can't find a use for....
7000$ h*** s*** man!!
7000$ h*** s*** man!!
Had to think about it for a bit. My first audio related “build” would have been a pair of car 6x9” on small open soffit mounted open baffles in my basement bedroom (dad was very generous in allowing me my first exercise with a jig saw) - probably circa ‘64/65. We still had a roof top TV antenna, with lots of 300 ohm twin lead to spare, so I was able to run some leads from the Silvertone stereo console in the living room directly above for late night listening to the radio. Can’t remember what type of switching I used, and how I never blew it up is beyond me.
Maybe a year or two later there was enough newspaper and TV Guide route delivery money to afford the gateway drug into the decades’ long addiction that is audiophilia - Noresco Consolette NC321. Whatever the model number of their cheapest speakers was in the late ‘60s (made in Canada, using Isophon drivers) followed shortly, and the Merry-go round chasing the brass ring was at full speed - to where, exactly?
But that’s a whole ‘nother thread.
Maybe a year or two later there was enough newspaper and TV Guide route delivery money to afford the gateway drug into the decades’ long addiction that is audiophilia - Noresco Consolette NC321. Whatever the model number of their cheapest speakers was in the late ‘60s (made in Canada, using Isophon drivers) followed shortly, and the Merry-go round chasing the brass ring was at full speed - to where, exactly?
But that’s a whole ‘nother thread.
I remember that, or one of their's, tape deck when I worked at Olson's as a side job in my last year at University of Buffalo.
As a floor salesman, there were times when the store was empty and I didnt have to harass anyone with "can I help you?". So I'd play with the equipment and with that Fisher 3 head deck, the different tape formulations Olson's sold. I found one - not the one formulation I was expecting - that, when you switched the monitor back and forth between live and memorex, you couldnt hear any change in how the music sounded - just the delay. Impressive as that was, I dont think I ever sold a deck based on that demo.
Another geezer reference point - who can remember standing in line outside of a store having a sale on TDK SA blank cassette tapes - when they first came out?
Those were like a "porn" rag to a 17 year old audiophoole kid; "Oooh, look at that - I want that; Mmmmmm; butyl rubber, foam cone, long excursion, 40 oz magnets, 50 oz magnets!" I remember being somewhat miffed when I ordered the Phillips 8" woofers, my friend ordered some other foam surround jobs - and on arrival, his had way bigger magnets, while I spent more!
I helped a couple friends build one of McGee's plans, where they sold the driver collection and the plans. Those were big, with a 15" woofer and if I recall correctly, multiple drivers in a line across the top.
I'm no geezer, I just started young! 50 years ago would have been a large iirc ~ 4cubic ft ported box I painted Yellow. I bought a brand new 12" Celestion guitar driver and cap crossed it to a piezo tweeter. I don't remember the turntable brand but the amp was a Lafayette (sp) receiver 5W per channel. Soon after was a Sinclair Z50 power amp connected to the Lafayette (sp) which had the power and pre sections separated by a friend.
Crap… that looks just like the one i got in Grade 10 (1964) with the money i earned at the swimming pool. Skipped the Noresco speakers with the 5; FR and gotPaterson Industries (Vncouver based) with the 8” RSC.
Enjoyed the hell out of that system.
dave
I convinced my parents to surrender the lower half of my sisters closet located in her bedroom adjacent to the living room to create a horn loaded sub with 2x15" drivers powered by a Dynaco ST120. The satellites each contained 4x8" drivers, 2x 5" philips midrange drivers and 4x1" philips tweeters. My dad was impressed... my sister not so much....
Hate to be "promoting" this kinda drool worthy material, but if you want to know what it was like, or a trip down memory lane McGee wise;
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Consumer/McGee-1972-Catalog.pdf
I think I probably bought the AD8065 W8 on the cover. Price was about right - for me!
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Consumer/McGee-1972-Catalog.pdf
I think I probably bought the AD8065 W8 on the cover. Price was about right - for me!
The speakers comprising my - sniff - very first DIY speaker set. My father cut the hard parts on the table saw. Cabinets were 1" hard rock maple, as I recall. He had some difficulty getting the 45 deg edge angles perfect.
The plastic coating on the suspension edge cracked and eventually the wire came off where it attaches to the cone. I attempted to replace it, but burned a hole in the cone trying to get the solder to stick. The little woofer hung on a basement wall for a couple decades after and the cabs got stored in the attic. Both drivers were mounted to the back side of the baffle, so the grille cloth was more easily glued on. I didnt know what "imaging" was back then...I had them on a bookshelf.
The plastic coating on the suspension edge cracked and eventually the wire came off where it attaches to the cone. I attempted to replace it, but burned a hole in the cone trying to get the solder to stick. The little woofer hung on a basement wall for a couple decades after and the cabs got stored in the attic. Both drivers were mounted to the back side of the baffle, so the grille cloth was more easily glued on. I didnt know what "imaging" was back then...I had them on a bookshelf.
50 years ago (at 12) I was much better at taking things apart than building them. I took a gas mower engine apart quite - ahem - nicely... But I did learn a lot, and eventually could actually build and rebuild things (including houses and re-building gas and diesel engines). The first real electronic thing I built was a hydrophone for when I was doing cetacean research. My first audio build was one of Fred Nachbaur's tube amps (the miniblok, for those who remember Fred). But that was only 18 years ago.
I was quite the HiFi hobbyist back in the 'seventies. I recall building a Sugden Connoisseur BD1 vinyl turntable/ SME 30009 II tonearm/ Shure V15III pickup.
Along these lines:
Just needed a suitably cut piece of chipboard, some rubber feet (squash balls would do), all quite happy days if kept well away from the speakers and the thump of people dancing!
The buzzword then was superlight tracking from the cartridge. High compliance. You even could send away for a test disk from Shure to put it all through its paces.
"Mais Que Nada" by Sergio Mendez and Brazil '66 was prominent. Herb Alpert's future wife on vocal.
In retrospect, the moving-magnet Shure was a step backwards from the heavier Decca London cartridge and tonearm.
The top end was a muddle.
The removeable stylus benefitted from a blob of Blu-Tac underneath to keep it from rattling, for instance.
My flatmate had the beautiful Garrard 401 setup, which was way cooler with a neon speed indicator and adjustment:
He had a huge plinth that suspended the whole thing on sofa webbing, so it kind of rocked back and forth as the music played.
Best, Steve.
Along these lines:
Just needed a suitably cut piece of chipboard, some rubber feet (squash balls would do), all quite happy days if kept well away from the speakers and the thump of people dancing!
The buzzword then was superlight tracking from the cartridge. High compliance. You even could send away for a test disk from Shure to put it all through its paces.
"Mais Que Nada" by Sergio Mendez and Brazil '66 was prominent. Herb Alpert's future wife on vocal.
In retrospect, the moving-magnet Shure was a step backwards from the heavier Decca London cartridge and tonearm.
The top end was a muddle.
The removeable stylus benefitted from a blob of Blu-Tac underneath to keep it from rattling, for instance.
My flatmate had the beautiful Garrard 401 setup, which was way cooler with a neon speed indicator and adjustment:
He had a huge plinth that suspended the whole thing on sofa webbing, so it kind of rocked back and forth as the music played.
Best, Steve.
In 1974, the essential handheld electronic item was the pocket calculator.The Sony Walkman was introduced only 45 years ago, youngster
Ed
Ah, but the kit builders like myself could make the much cheaper Sinclair Scientific for about £30 in 1974...
http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/scientific_-_giant_scientific.html
Apparently prone to keypad corrosion due to lack of gold-plating and lacking accuracy on trig functions, but we did not notice.
It replaced bulky slide rules and log tables and even a high level of mental arithmetic as our calculator of choice.
The geeks immediately noticed that if you typed in 07734 and held it upside down it said hELL0 on the red 7 segment display. Which we thought was cool.
The later Apple Macintosh computer did this trick too.
Made artificial intelligence seem friendly. Little did we know where it was all going. Frowns at mobile 'phone, it's watching and listening to me...
http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/scientific_-_giant_scientific.html
Apparently prone to keypad corrosion due to lack of gold-plating and lacking accuracy on trig functions, but we did not notice.
It replaced bulky slide rules and log tables and even a high level of mental arithmetic as our calculator of choice.
The geeks immediately noticed that if you typed in 07734 and held it upside down it said hELL0 on the red 7 segment display. Which we thought was cool.
The later Apple Macintosh computer did this trick too.
Made artificial intelligence seem friendly. Little did we know where it was all going. Frowns at mobile 'phone, it's watching and listening to me...
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Not too hard to remember the Electronic Goldmine as they are still in business. I get stuff from them several times a year. And yes, I have accumulated an odd collection of photo cells and LDR's. Remember Olson Electronics? I worked at the biggest Olson store in the US 52 and 53 years ago.
The Garrard rep was in the Olson store, and we were talking when I asked a question about the older SL72B. He asked me if I had one and was it really a "B." The answer was yes to both. He needed one for his "collection" so I traded for a brand new "Zero-100." It was a complicated beast that took me nearly a year to get right, but it did work pretty well until my cat killed it about 10 years later. By then Olson was out of business, and I worked at Motorola. I just went into a "catalog store, Luria's or Service Merchandise, don't remember which, and bought a Technics SL-D2 Direct Drive TT which I still use 40+ years later.