Disco Inferno!

[whirlcool]

If you liked that fireplace stereo, complete with bar just think of what you could do with this thing! It just needs a little work.

http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/ele/2806517707.html

 

[cfz2882]

Cool!!-and a steal for $50-if it was local i'd be after it! Soundesign had a stereo
something like this back around 1978-80,saw the soundesign version at a local shop
but i was too late-sold already....
Time to grab my white polyester leisure suit and install a big mirror on the
ceiling above the waterbed LOL

 

[retropia]

SO much particle board

I've got to grab and post photos for posterity.

 

[retropia]

Good taste is never extreme

In this photo, you can see what appear to be silver "rings" that perhaps at one time surrounded each of the upper speakers, and have since come loose. Now they slide back and forth behind the speaker cloth. Maybe they roll left and right when the bass line is thumpin'.

 

[jasonl]

The sound isn't great on those. My neighbor when I was living in Chalmette had one.

 

[cfz2882]

sound

yeah,does look like it would be bass heavy,possibly a little boomy and muddled with
(appears to be)4x 8"woofers in ported cabinets and apparently no tweeters or
midranges...Still should play most "period"hits ok-though might be a little lacking
with some of the "falsetto"vocals of the era...

 

[yogitunes]

what a great find.........

maybe bass heavy.....but like you couldn't tap in and add a surround sound of satelite speakers and a sub-woofer......don't just rely on its internal sound system.....add an amplifier, and mentioned speakers...a disco ball.....and you'll have one massive sounding unit.....

 

[cfz2882]

i was thinking that too-could "soup it up"with added tweeters,satelite speakers or
more amplifier power if needed.

 

[tolivac]

Another Morse Electrophonic abomination!Styled to look like a JUKE BOX.Love the loose chrome speaker sorrounds to make CHEAP speakers look EXPENSIVE thru the transparent grillcloth.Yes,bet this one thumps all right to one note bass.And the string section would sound like steel strings of torture thru whatever tweeters the beast has.And yes so much particleboard-favorite cabinet and speaker cab material of the 70's.Can't tell what kind of TT it has-and the "color organ" where the juke box speakers normally would be.Like this a little better than the fireplace unit.But-could picture this one waiting at the curb for----EZ PACK!!or Pak-MOR!May even be good to take to the ranges "plinking" section-or another victim for that Youtube guys golf club!

 

[tolivac]

And--love those VU meters on the cassette machine-remember got to set those levels of those disco cassette "pirate" copies just right!

 

[mysteryclock]

Just the look of it made me smile! Thanks for sharing that!!

 

[jasonl]

My cousin had a smaller version. Flashing lights, BSR turntable, two 4" speakers. Typical 70s sound quality

 

[whirlcool]

I wouldn't say typical 70's sound. Musical components of the 70's sounded a lot better than some stuff on the market today. The early 70's is when the popularity of high quality stereo really took off. Manufacturers such as Pioneer, Marantz, SAE and Kenwood started selling components that actually sounded good. Speakers of the time such as JBL, Altec-Lansing, Wharfdale really gave you good sound.

This comment does not include the estoic brands of today such a McIntosh, Krell, etc.

Tolivac, your description of this thing made me laugh so hard I almost fell out of my chair! Probably because it is so true. Good one, sir!

 

[petek]

It is true,, it's really cheese a licious though.
Even back then when they were new they were hardly hi-fidelity. There were lots of low tier brands sold at discount dept stores.. aka Electrophonic, SoundDesign...help me out here. LOL

 

[cfz2882]

pure late '70s kitsch delight! Thinking if i really must have something like this,
an era correct replica would be pretty easy to knock together-i have 1975 zenith
"allegro"AM/FM 8-track phono that would be just about perfect to build such a
device around!
Thanks to this thread,i had to play all my 1977-79 rock and pop records;ABBA,
the cars,grease soundtrack,sniff'n the tears,the cars,dire staits,rod stewart,
ETC,ETC....

 

[yogitunes]

I got a DUAL turntable at a thrift store last week.......for 12.00........

hooked up and playing all my 45's....from the Disco era......."Shake your Groove Thing"........

even if your Groove things can't shake anymore....lol

 

[cfz2882]

dual

i have a dual as my DD turntable too,a #1229 from around 1972-it's a wheel drive
with a neon strobe that reflects off the strobe rings under the platter made of a
heavy zinc like metal.
Starting a turntable thread...

 

[yogitunes]

Turntable Thread?.......

give me a day or two to get some pics.....and we can start one!.......

I don't care whats out new.....8-track, Cassettes, CD's...MP3.......give me a turntable and records any day....it just takes you back!

 

[whirlcool]

Believe it or not, sometimes I get e-mails from viewers of my Dual website and they usually read something like this:

"My uncle left me his Dual turntable and a bunch of records. I don't know how to make it play music. How do the records and this machine come together to make music?"

When I first got the first one like that I thought "Who doesn't know how to play a record?" I thought it was impossible for someone not to figure it out! But then a few months later I receive another similar e-mail from another part of the country or the world. Amazing.

Then I get the occasional person that writes to me and tells me they found a turntable at a thrift but it doesn't make any sound while playing a record. Usually it turns out that they bought a turntable, but don't have it plugged into a preamp or speakers or anything like that. Usually the response is "You mean I have to buy MORE equipment?"

For those of you who have Dual turntables I'd like to remind you that the turntables need to be cleaned of old lubes and new ones applied every 5 years or so. Otherwise the turntable may gum up and stop working properly.

And for those of you with newly acquired Dual turntables it's important to set up the arm properly. When you set it up as directed in the video in the link, it will sound the best it possibly can.

First read this:

http://www.dual-reference.com/Troubles/setup.htm

now watch this:

 

[jasonl]

70s sound

I didn't mean the high end stuff, indeed those rocked!

I'm talking about what every one else had like Lloyds, Soundesign, Electrophonic, etc... The consumer grade stuff.

 

[whirlcool]

Jason:

You certainly did hit the BOL rock bottom when you mentioned Soundesign and Electrophonic. BSR looks positively high end when compared to those two.

I used to shudder when I'd see Soundesign in stores such as Service Merchandise and Woolco. I'd just think "Why?". Just save up a little more money and get something better.

I bought a previous girlfriend a Pioneer SX-424, a pair of AR 4x speakers and a Dual 1219 turntable in a package deal for about $400.00 in 1972. It sounded more than decent, in fact it sounded very good.

 

[tolivac]

Records-at some radio stations "DJ's" don't even know what records and TT's are!!!Same with RR tape machines.Have to explain to them.And--even how to "Q" up a record for airplay!!these jocks only knew the computer Scotts Studios Touch screen digital systems.Yes,there are some "new Fangled" folks out there that don't know how to play records.Duals are excellent TT's even their "changers" had balance pivot arms so you could adjust tracking and skating.Glad my description of the Morse "Hi-fi" -yes,hi there was good.I knew some people that had morse machines and they thought they were the BEST-showed them what I had-then minds were changed.And loved Morses peak power claims-200W instant peak power-and from an amp that has two minamally heat sinked TO-66 transistors.Connected a real speaker system to this-instantly blown Morse output stage-they used higher impedence speakers so as not to overload the output stage in their amps.

 

[philr]

I remember the sound of my aunt's Morse Electrophonic console, definitely not the best! I also have an Electrophonic receiver with an 8 track deck that was given to me many years ago and it has a similar sound quality (or lack of!)... I remember as a kid I had to replace a transistor that turned on the FM Stereo light on this receiver. I didn't buy one, I just took one with the same number from my parent's dead Wynford Hall receiver which had an 8 track recorder (when it worked, you could record over any 8 track tape without even needing to block a hole with a piece of scotch tape!). That's how my Janis Joplin's cosmic blues 8 track tape got Frankie Smith's Double Dutch Bus recorded all over it's original tracks!

cfz2882,
I have a Dual too, but it's a cheaper 1228. It's has a neon strobe too but it's located just below the Dual badge and the turntable isn't as thick as those on the 1229. I bought it new in box when I was a kid. That was in 1989 (I was 12 then). A friend of mine bought another one, still new in box from the same store about 7 years later!
Just a few years before I bought mine, this store sold plenty of vintage NIB electronics, sports equipment and toys. They still sold brand new Suzy Homemaker washers!

I had also ordered separately the Dual 45 rpm changer and the angle changer for the Ortofon cartridge (that is supposed to change the angle of the cartridge so it's in best position in the middle of a pile of 7 records...)

The store had many 1226 and 1228 turntables remaining but no 1229.

 

[whirlcool]

A lot of people didn't like the 122X series with the smaller platter. They thought that it just wasn't right for a few inches or so of the LP being played to hang over the edge of the platter.
But a lot of people love the idler wheel drive of the earlier 12xx-1229 series turntables.

 

[twintubdexter]

more memories

How well I remember those god-awful Electrophonics at the department store I worked at, The Emporium in the SF Bay Area. So many were "DOD"...dead on delivery, and those vinyl-covered particle board cabinets were heavy and easily damaged (as I recall they smelled bad too, sort of a "cheap" smell.) Unlike the cabinets on units like Magnavox, you could not easliy repair an Electrophonic. We would have warehouse sales every so often and there'd be a mountain of Electrophonic stereos, especially those ugly bars with the flashing lights. At that time, California Sate Law prohibited retailers from selling electronics with damaged cabinets...no portable TV's that were cracked, no console stereos with severly damaged cabinets, etc. Many Electrophonics went to the scrap heap. A few years later the TV/Stereo buyer left the company to work for Sony (the pricey Betamax console was still new then) and I got his job. By that time all the Electrophonics were gone and console stereo sales were on the skids, but I still inherited plenty of junk... a ton of returned Odyssey games that no one wanted...Atari's Pong was the "in thing." Damn I'm old huh?

 

[jasonl]

The worst sounding stereo

Was my grandparents Sears (after they dropped Silvertone) small console. It had two 4" speakers. Just low midrange, no bass, no treble at all. Had a low end VM turntable in it. Records sounded horrible on it.