CaptnBob Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Flying in the face of common sense and good judgement, I recently purchased a set High Fidelity magazines from 1951 to 1975. So far, I've only really looked at the early seventies. What a hoot! I had forgotten how seriously everyone seemed to be taking cassettes as a hi fidelity medium. Plus the efforts to get 4 channel off the ground and the "all in one units," like the Fisher receiver complete with turntable, 4 speakers, cassette recorder and cartridge player, ready for stereo or quadraphonic tapes. Whew! The record reviews were more forthright too. I especially admire the account of the Carpenters first album, ending with the recommendation that whoever took the cover photo "should be shot." Then there's the RCA quadradisc that had a lot of clicks and pops because the excessive humidity was leading to static electricity (?) and the Hugo Montenegro album ending with a carousel ride, and all the instruments swirling around the listener. And of course the ads. Who could forget the weedy Marantz guy sitting in the closet wearing the Viking helmet? Or the naked girl in four poses around the Empire Grenadier? The good old days, formerly known as "These trying times." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I had forgotten how seriously everyone seemed to be taking cassettes as a hi fidelity medium. I recorded some music onto cassettes using a Nakamichi deck. It was every bit as good as good vinyl. Most cassette decks were crap... and doomed to failure.Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 and in 1989 I paid $800 for a HI-FI VHS (VCR) deck to use for audio recordings. I am not completely sure if I have been made smarter or not..... I have boxes of 60-70s Hot Rod magazines somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nu2toobs Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I had forgotten how seriously everyone seemed to be taking cassettes as a hi fidelity medium. I recorded some music onto cassettes using a Nakamichi deck. It was every bit as good as good vinyl. Most cassette decks were crap... and doomed to failure.Bruce I still use a Nakamichi, and have a lot of NOS metal tapes. The sound is great!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunburnwilly Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Remember when turntable covers weren't just for turntables ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
germerikan Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Or the covers of the double albums just for albums[:|] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 ... and tickets to a good rock concert were only about $15..... [H] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunburnwilly Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 ... and tickets to a good rock concert were only about $15..... Or 5 books of Greenbax Stamps . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gagelle Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 I'd love to see those back issues. I was a High Fidelity fanatic in the 70s. I wonder if they're available online? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 I had an attic full of those old HF and Audio mags. I finally realized that there was no reason to ever go back to review articles or reviews (although I tore a few out to save), so I finally tossed them. Someone here offered his for sale or gift, but no takers as I recall. I saved Audio's annual directory issues for a while, but finally dumped those, too. I even finally dumped my original complete set of The Absolute Sound, when I realized they were coming too fast and furious to warrant keeping a set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crd97086 Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 If you hated cassettes, then you probably only heard the ones that the recording companies sold. They really sucked. I started with cassettes in 1974 when I first started to drive. I first had a Realistic, not so much. in 1979, I purchased a very good quality Harmon Kardon. It was truly excellent, and it was fantastic to be able to record my vinyl onto cassettes to use in my car. I don't use it now, but it, and cassettes made me very happy for over 20 years. When Peter Frampton came to the Paramount here in Portland Or in 1976, on his Frampton Comes Alive tour, the tickets were $8. Elton John in 1980 was $10. Not the easy buy that big acts ask today at $100 each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 My first stereo was a 4 track player under the dash of my parents '63 Chevy; who knows what kind of butchered in 6x9 coaxials I had in t he rear deck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gagelle Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Some of the later cassette decks that took metal tapes actually made a good copy of a record. I also had a few HK decks that had excellent dolby systems. They were just refining the technology when CDs took over. I saw a beautiful Sansui deck at a thrift store that had gain settings for metal tapes. I'm still kicking myself for not picking it up. If this new demand for vinyl and analogue keeps up, we may see the reappearance of auto cassette decks. And who knows, maybe 8 track? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeFord Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 One of the audio guys from some past forum/newsgroup used to work the big trade shows, consumer electronics, Audio engineering society, etc for TDK. He ran a contest where people would bring in some kind of music, and he would make a copy of a short segment on TDK metal tape, and if you could hear a difference you got to keep the tape. Only people who ever got a tape used some trick to reveal the noise floor. Poor sound quality when it was working right was not an issue with tape during its last couple decades, with arguably the best sound possible being a half track master on an Ampex ATR100. Some of the Direct to Disc stuff would get a tape done at the same time, and the playback comparison left many favoring the tape, but no way to duplicate it without loss or at a reasonable price. I sure miss the late 70's to early 80's in audio, wild exciting times, and before the $$$ ruled everything. Except for materials, nothing I think has audibly improved in design since 1960. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I still have my Sony cassett deck. It cost like $450 in 1979, has two metal tape EQs and made pretty darn nice recordings. I had totally forgoten about it, I think I still have it and have a lead on where it is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 It was every bit as good as good vinyl. What Bruce said. I have a metal cassette I made at the National University of Singapore in about 1986 that sounds not only as good as vinyl, it's as good as ANYTHING. Cassettes reached their technological peak a couple of years after the CD was introduced and were (and remain) audibly superior to that medium. Needleless LP TTs were still several years off and only the one that has remained around was ever completed, to my knowledge. Of course it was, and remains, a flawed gen 1 device. A shame. It would be great if someone were willing to shell out the bucks to complete that work. Since the laser LP TT a number of technologies have matured that might be used to play an LP without touching...but nobody cares. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeFord Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Real high fidelity is a tiny portion of the audio market, but that isn't what killed it, its the huge dollars in home theater. OTOH I don't think anything remotely typical in cassette technology was audibly flawless. The tape is too narrow, and restrictions in the Phillips licensing prevented the use of known improvements in the tape handling mechanism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Flying in the face of common sense and good judgement, I recently purchased a set High Fidelity magazines from 1951 to 1975. So far, I've only really looked at the early seventies. What a hoot! I had forgotten how seriously everyone seemed to be taking cassettes as a hi fidelity medium. Plus the efforts to get 4 channel off the ground and the "all in one units," like the Fisher receiver complete with turntable, 4 speakers, cassette recorder and cartridge player, ready for stereo or quadraphonic tapes. Whew! The record reviews were more forthright too. I especially admire the account of the Carpenters first album, ending with the recommendation that whoever took the cover photo "should be shot." Then there's the RCA quadradisc that had a lot of clicks and pops because the excessive humidity was leading to static electricity (?) and the Hugo Montenegro album ending with a carousel ride, and all the instruments swirling around the listener. And of course the ads. Who could forget the weedy Marantz guy sitting in the closet wearing the Viking helmet? Or the naked girl in four poses around the Empire Grenadier? The good old days, formerly known as "These trying times." Hell yes! I buy those as well. I concentrate on the 40's - 60's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rummy Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I still have my Nakamichi 700 II. I have not checked to see if it still works in years, but it is way too beautiful to let it go or give to the garbage man. So it sits in the storage room silently. I have some TDK tapes around the house somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 Remember when turntable covers weren't just for turntables ? ...or the devastating little craters in records from burning seeds??? As to ads, appropriate here would one of the original "Heresy" ads with the headline "Everybody thought the minister was just speaking a little more loudly..." From that one, I learned what very few facilities have ever attained: A PA system should be completely transparent to the space except for amplitude. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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