Disco Inferno!

[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.