Life Before Computer Audio: What Were Your Personal Golden Days As A Music Listener?

[Rt66indierock]

The seventies were a sweet spot for equipment if you could do some stuff yourself and I discovered the Texas roots of Americana.

[mordante]

Maybe not really an answer to your question.

 

But the first time I heard a high end system was ML No33h mono amps with ML pr amps and CD player. Wilson Watt/puppy 7 and NBS cables. I got hooked on audio at that time.

[Rexp]

Had alot of fun with 8track and Rega based systems in 70's but it wasn't until I heard a high end turntable at a dealer in mid 80's that listening became a truly religeous experience, system:

Pink Triangle Turntable/Helius arm/can't remember which mc cartridge

Crimson pre/Power

Heybrook HB2 Speakers

[Screwdriver]

I grew up in the Los Angeles punk scene in the late 70's/80's. Going to Moby Disc, Licorice Pizza, Vinyl Fetish etc and buying 45's from unknown punk bands. Many of these bands could only afford 500 pressings, so I got to hear some cool stuff. Trading cassettes of these 45's...seeing all the cool early punk bands live. Later listing to KKGO stoned and discovering Jazz and being able to see Buddy Rich, Miles Davis live. I miss the time when you had to work to find good music. Friends would call you and have you come over to hear a new record and many bands I only heard their music live and not from a file.   I liked that leaving the house was a necessity to find good music and music was for me more about the music than the equipment.

[rodrigaj]

Music was more of a social thing...Groups of friends sitting on the floor listening to records, sometimes getting high, talking, laughing together, sharing...

 

That same age group today have their heads buried in smartphones.

 

There is hope. I've been reading about millenials going "retro". They are giving up their smartphones and going back to flip phones. Seems that they are recognizing the danger of the walls they are constructing around themselves, their lack of empathy, there inability to have social discourse, etc.

[esimms86]

The social aspect of listening to music is really what made those days the golden days for many of us. The rituals of vinyl and reel to reel tape worked to keep the music in the forefront for so many of us. Video gaming and iPods were major contributors to the rapidly downward slippery slope.

[Rt66indierock]

Early to mid seventies equipment would be Technics SL-1200 with a good moving magnet cartridge , Dynaco PAS modified by Acoustic Research or Van Alstine, Dynaco ST-70 modified to triode and AR-5 speakers. The AR-5 interacted well in room people lived in.

[realhifi]

Tough question really.  Golden AGES would be a better description for me as I had one when I was quite young (late teens) that was composed of a Dual turntable, Marantz receiver and KLH speakers.  That system just rocked and we definitely pushed it hard nearly all the time!  Second golden age would have to be love affair with Ls3/5A's, Audio Pro B50 sub, Linn LP12 and Conrad Johnson electronics.  Simply awesome system.  Would listen for hours and hours to ALL kinds of music on that system.

[Rt66indierock]

3 hours ago, realhifi said:

Tough question really.  Golden AGES would be a better description for me as I had one when I was quite young (late teens) that was composed of a Dual turntable, Marantz receiver and KLH speakers.  That system just rocked and we definitely pushed it hard nearly all the time!  Second golden age would have to be love affair with Ls3/5A's, Audio Pro B50 sub, Linn LP12 and Conrad Johnson electronics.  Simply awesome system.  Would listen for hours and hours to ALL kinds of music on that system.

 

With the possibility of something Ken Kessler mentioned recently stacked Ls3/5's.

[Superdad]

6 hours ago, esimms86 said:

The social aspect of listening to music is really what made those days the golden days for many of us.

 

I thought it was the girls and the pot...

[Rt66indierock]

19 minutes ago, Superdad said:

 

I thought it was the girls and the pot...

 

Back then at the PAC-12 school I went to  even the cheerleaders could tell the difference between Advents, the AR-3a and JBL-100s. 

[Ralf11]

Univ. of Spoiled Children??

[AudioDoctor]

My Dad had a nice system right up until he bought his first CD player in ~1990.  He got rid of his turntable and records.  That Sony CD Changer sounded awful.

 

I did like listening with friends to new albums.  Or a high school sweetheart.  The fireplace and the record player with her favorite band playing were a good go to...

[Rexp]

4 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

My Dad had a nice system right up until he bought his first CD player in ~1990.  He got rid of his turntable and records.  That Sony CD Changer sounded awful.

 

I did like listening with friends to new albums.  Or a high school sweetheart.  The fireplace and the record player with her favorite band playing were a good go to...

An orchestra leader friend of mine did the same, ditched the records for an awful cd playing system, goes to show just because you can play doesnt mean you care about good playback.

[AudioDoctor]

23 minutes ago, Rexp said:

An orchestra leader friend of mine did the same, ditched the records for an awful cd playing system, goes to show just because you can play doesnt mean you care about good playback.

 

Funny.  My parents were both in the Minnesota Chorale for a while.  I never heard my Dad complain about it though.

[biosailor]

One of the things I relished those days was my Lenco L75 turntable. I loved that heavy, quietly running turntable. I particularly liked to tinker with the counterweight and especially with those delicate, I presume nylon, thread of the anti-skate control. I don't remember what cartridge I had, I presume it was some Shure model. The turntable was connected to the legendary NAD 3020 (what else at those days), but I don't remember what speakers I used.

 

I didn't have the equipment with me when I was at university, but whenever I returned to my parents place, the first thing was to lift the Lenco's lid and put Dave Brubeck's 'Blues Roots' on. I still hear the mellow sound of Gerry Mulligan's baritone sax emanating from the speakers. I still have the record somewhere, but no turntable :-))

 

 

[plissken]

For me it's right this very minute. When you can get a DAC for ~$ 300 that has no measurement issues, sounds great when blinded, when you can get transparent amplification for $400-500, when you can get a 5 watt computer for $90 running Linux, when you can get 12TB of network attached storage for $400-500....

 

[Rt66indierock]

15 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

Univ. of Spoiled Children??

 

Nope a Moo U. The best parties were thrown by the Rodeo (Row day oh) Club. And even the city girls liked to wear cowboy hats and boots.

[barrows]

Now really, sitting in my living room with my fabulous girlfriend listening here, but since this is a nostalgia thread:

 

After college I was road traveling gypsy rock climber who lived out his car/truck, and occasionally various girlfriend's homes as I travelled from place to place to go climbing and find some meaning, somewhere.  All my albums were transferred to cassette tapes, and the playback system consisted of a Sony Walkman Pro mounted hanging under the dashboard (powered via the car 12VDC system), going out to an ADS 100 WPC car stereo amplifier mounted under the drivers seat, going to a pair of ADS 300i speakers mounted in DIY MDF cabinets (the speakers had a spec for appropriate enclosure volume).  The speakers were set up such that they could be removed for the vehicle at various campsites as well.

Lots of road time from place to place meant lots of music listening.  And lots of camp time meant having jumper cables at hand!

[Ralf11]

4 hours ago, Rt66indierock said:

 

Nope a Moo U. The best parties were thrown by the Rodeo (Row day oh) Club. And even the city girls liked to wear cowboy hats and boots.

 

Good to hear you are not a condomized type person...!

 

best Pac-8/10/12/666 Moo-U is Davis.  I did stints at OSU & WSU...

[Ralf11]

barrows - you might enjoy a video "Valley Uprising" - besides big wall dirt-bagger culture, it goes into the cultural effects on the culture over history from the iron-men to today

 

has a soundtrack too....

[Ralf11]

I went from a suitcase-sized all-in-one stereo in HS (which I have fond memories of, mainly due to listening to Dylan with my gf), to

Garrard, to

original AR, to

Thorens

 

Ssssssony reel to reel, to 

Advent 200 (Nakamichi) cassette, to

Advent 201 (Wollensack), to

various Nak cassette decks - still have a Nak 680zx, which needs to be repaired

 

 

[Indydan]

When I was a teenager in the 1980s, owning a ghetto blaster was the greatest thing! I could listen to tapes and the radio at home, as well as when walking around. Showing it off, while walking around with it on my shoulder at school was awesome! 

 

This is a picture of a similar one I had as my first. I later bought another one that was bigger. The bigger the better! 

 

[Ralf11]

Hey - that looks like GUTBs device!

[AudioDoctor]