Does my stereo make me look fat?

[Mike B]

Ya gotta give the hippies their due, the stereos back then sounded great.

Actually they probably didn't sound as good as the stuff today.

But the rooms were better.  Wall to wall carpet, overstuffed couches, bean bag chairs, papa-sans with think heavy stuffed cushions.  Tapestries on the walls.  Quilts.  Sonic bliss.

Now I see the high end stuff in rooms that are stark.  Barren.  Hardwood floors or tile even.  Tables with glass tops.  Nothing on the walls.  Stone sculptures on hard pedistals.  Wood framed chairs.  Minimalist.

Just looking at it gives me an icepick in the ear.

 

[Chris]

And those are probably the same hippies with the "todays rooms"... Only older, more mature and MARRIED??   

 

[4krow]

  Mike,

  I like that observation. That IS how my room usually looked. And yes, it did sound incredible. Some of the equipment was ok, although I hear you loud and clear about the typical stuff. I owned some SAE stuff that was dressed up nice but no better than the regular equipment inside.

 

[earwaxxer]

True Mike, those little overstuffed rooms did sound good! I think the the thick smoke also added to the sound.

- Hey Greg - my college roomate and I built a system around an SAE amp/pre combo - 200wpc. 1975. That paired with a Thorens tangential tracker, and my home made speaker lab horns. "If the dorms are a rocking dont bother knokin just come in":...

 

[4krow]

FWIW,  I had an SAE pre,, 2 power amps, parametric  eq, a tape deck(it was COOL SAE used solenoids for the functions), tuner, AND a crossover for the BIG JBL  4343 speakers( bi-amping). Then a high end Technics  TT which model I have never seen again. GOD it was great. I enjoyed every single minute with that system.

 

[Grainger49]

I sold SAE during the Hey Day of James Bongiorno designs.  I owned several of them to drive my SS-1 system.

 

[earwaxxer]

Yep... Loved the VU meters!

 

[Chris]

His Ampzilla 2000 is supposed to be pretty darn good..

 

[Grainger49]

Check in with WardsWeb (loooooong time Bottlehead).  He has a pair.  He also does the Ampzilla 2000 Site.

 

[Chris]

Yeah , that's where I saw it, and a friend of mine was knocked out also by a pair...

 

[Grainger49]

Knocked out?  They are large and heavy enough to kill.