Only if Elvis is on it, or at least dogs playing poker..That's what grille cloth is for, although I'll bet yours wasn't crushed velvet. Now that's class!
Jn
Remember the time period during which those speakers were made. I can personally verify that the pair seen in this thread NEVER played any disco music. I couldn't say that about any of the others sets I made.
I got the Naugahyde and velvet from the trash bin at a factory where bean bags and waterbeds were made. Since the material was remnants there were only "limited editions" of each color combinations. I had the only 4 made in this color pattern. Some sets were really gaudy. The exterior dimensions were carefully "modeled" to maximize the use of whatever free or low cost materials I had. These were made from some recycled plywood recovered when my neighbor was repairing a rotten roof.
I kept them in my car and stacked them in two columns (hood and trunk lid) for blasting the beach with 70's rock. Sometimes we plugged in some guitars to get loud.
Two of the 4 were actually stolen from my car in the Motorola parking lot......like who would take these things......UH, but a popular disco bar was right across the street, in a Holiday Inn motel of all places.
If I could have found one of those in a smaller size.......
I worked in the Motorola plant from 1973 to 2014. In the mid 70's I worked afternoons until midnight. The partying people were divided into 3 unique groups that rarely intermingled.....the disco people, into flashy clothes, cars and cocaine. The rockers, jeans flip flops and t-shirts, you couldn't go to a party without hearing Boston and smelling reefer. The country rockers.....Free Bird, Jack Daniels, the dogs playing poker on the wall, and people playing cards at a table.
I guess that the Digital Keyer did exist in 1968 when I built the amp in the picture. I saw one for sale at the Miami hamfest somewhere in the early 70's.
I built my first "computer" in 1975 and found out about DigiKey from an ad in Byte or Kilobaud magazine. DigiKey, Jameco, and JDR Microdevices were the places to order chips for the DIY computer hobby. I'm talking SS-50 and S-100 bus stuff, well before the TRS-80 and the Apple II. They all had small paper catalogs, and all 3 seem to still exist today. I still get parts from Jameco and Digikey, haven't ordered from JDR in 35 years or so.
I built my first "computer" in 1975 and found out about DigiKey from an ad in Byte or Kilobaud magazine. DigiKey, Jameco, and JDR Microdevices were the places to order chips for the DIY computer hobby. I'm talking SS-50 and S-100 bus stuff, well before the TRS-80 and the Apple II. They all had small paper catalogs, and all 3 seem to still exist today. I still get parts from Jameco and Digikey, haven't ordered from JDR in 35 years or so.
Hey George, I hope you didn't take that as a personal dig. It's just that the Seventies were, well... the Seventies. Your speakers remind me of a pimped-out Chevy van that my uncle tooled around in during those days. The "sound system" included a pair of speakers boxes almost identical to yours, including the velvet speaker cloth (but alas, no Naugahyde)! I only wish I'd taken pictures of my more "imaginative" creations.
And as far as the disco bar at the Holiday Inn is concerned...
Your speakers remind me of a pimped-out Chevy van that my uncle tooled around in during those days. The "sound system" included a pair of speakers boxes almost identical to yours, including the velvet speaker cloth (but alas, no Naugahyde)! I only wish I'd taken pictures of my more "imaginative" creations.And as far as the disco bar at the Holiday Inn is concerned...
Last edited:
UH, I made one of those too......tricked out 350 CID V8 engine, loud exhaust monster fat tires....capable of flat smoking a friends brand new 1982 Trans Am every time he was stupid enough to race me......but, inside.....Well let's just say that I used a whole roll of bright blue crushed velvet, and half of a roll of black Naugahyde. LED's and plexiglass lit up the inside (no blue or white, they weren't invented yet). There was enough R-13 insulation in the walls to block out the loud exhaust and Florida heat, and enough stereo power to shake the whole van. The customary bed in the back concealed the subwoofers.
The original sound system was decidedly low tech, but quite effective, and nobody even dreamed it was possible. I mounted a Fisher 601 Quadraphonic receiver, and a Concord (Nakamichi) Home cassette deck UPSIDE DOWN from a DIY overhead console. Surprisingly the cassette deck worked just fine upside down. There were a total of 10 speakers, most hidden behind the velvet. There were two piezo tweeters in the overhead console that were visible, and a pair of some sort of bullet tweeters in the back. There were four 6X9's in the walls, similar to what's in the speakers in my previous post, and a pair of 10 inch subs under the bed driven by a SWTPC Universal Tiger clone.
The old Fisher had enough of the humidity and road vibration and died. It got replaced by a DIY "octasonic" system that was really just 8 Plastic Tiger boards in a box with a DIY power inverter under the hood. Each had its own volume control. Working at Motorola got us free silicon just by filling out a sample request and checking the box marked "home project." Let's just say that there were a few of us that build a lot of the "Tiger" amps.
Just for grins I Googled "mirage lounge plantation florida" and was totally surprised to find that IT"S STILL THERE!!!!! I thought Disco died, and I thought that the Holiday Inn went away too, but Google earth shows it, and the Mirage still right across the street from the site of the former Motorola Plant.
Mirage Night Club & Lounge - Plantation, Florida - Dance & Night Club | Facebook
Hey George, I hope you didn't take that as a personal dig. It's just that the Seventies were, well... the Seventies.
And as far as the disco bar at the Holiday Inn is concerned...
Wait...there really was velvet speaker grill cloth?? I though that was a joke.
As to disco bar in a holiday inn, I visited one in ny, place was pretty much abandoned when I went there with some friends.. No music, boring..I had my records and styli in the car, so asked...they allowed me to fire the system up and mix...
That was the best and most relaxed sound system I've ever heard. Tri-amp, lord knows what speakers behind the tall wide acoustically transparent screen. I've never heard a sound system that good...
Sigh, not even mine...not even close..
jn
Real velvet, no.....A synthetic plastic material appeared in the 70's that had a velvet look, but was usually "crushed." This gave it the wrinkled look seen in my speaker grills. If you ran it through the washing machine, then the dryer the "crushed" look would go away leaving something that almost looked and felt like real velvet....if it didn't fall apart.....
This was like real velvet like polyester was like real silk....It was trendy for budget furniture, and some decorating during the disco years, and disappeared with the Bee Gee's. The heavy backing was to nasty to use for clothing, although some did exist.
Even the fakey stuff from the 70's was an effective low pass filter. Back then I used Motorola piezo tweeters and they were not covered, but most live venues didn't use them.
These speakers were generally used for outdoor music blasting at the beach, generally sitting on top of the car, or sometimes for filling as room full of noise (dance music). They were either fed by the car stereo system, a small guitar amp, or my trusty Olson Mic mixer. Ultimate fidelity was not a concern. When I used these indoors the grill "cloth" frames were often removed, mostly to "look cool."
We also made some large "disco boxes" using the same technique, and an "Olson Electronics" ( I worked there before going to Motorola) branded 15 inch woofer that was actually made by Eminence in a cabinet of about 5 or 6 cubic feet......never blew one of those up. We would feed the 15's with a TigerSaurus on each cabinet, and use Plastic Tigers for each of the 6 X 9 boxes. All were fed the same signal, just tweaked the bass and treble knobs on each preamp (another DIY clone design). I had a couple of tweeter boxes with a row of piezos in each cabinet, but the dance floor preferred that we left them at home.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.