The Culture and Mood of America as it relates to audio circa 1967

[soundminded]

For those too young to know except second or third hand or those who have simply forgotten, I think this is a great opportunity for those of us who were there to talk about what (we remember) it was like in the heyday of the Classic New England speaker golden age and coincidentally at the time Bose 901 appeared on the scene.

Much of what we take for granted today didn't exist, wasn't even dreamt of. The computer you are on right now looking at this seemed like it might be a couple of hundred years in the future, its very notion inconceivable. I recall reading an article around the time I graduated college in 1969 "Will the 4 function calculator ever break $100" and a hundred dollars was a lot of money in those days. Computer programming was Fortran 4H and Algol and you typed punch cards, left your deck and came back for your printout the next day usually with a list of error messages (they only gave you the first error on each card so you might have to resubmit two or three times before a program actually ran.) Gasoline was around 25 cents a gallon, cigarettes were around 25 cents a pack, and McDonalds advertised about their meals that "You get change back from your dollar." The war in Vietnam was raging and there were protestors all over college campuses around the nation. The country was divided into those who supported the war and those opposed. Lots of college students were experimenting with drugs, especially the dangerous hallucinogen LSD while use of cannibus was common. But in engineering schools, any such indulgence would get you kicked out, not only if you were caught but more likely because you could not keep up with difficult courses unleass your mind was clear, you'd simply flunk out. Most people drank beer and hard liquor, many smoked cigarettes, it was very common.

Quality audio equipment was making a transition from a hobby for the very rich to something for the average person to own but the best equipment was still beyond the reach of most people. New cars only cost a few thouand dollars and even houses were around maybe $15 to $25 thousand. Salaries were often $6 to $10 thousand, in fact 10 was pretty good for many people.

The audio industry was just about done making the transition from tubes to solid state equipment, the last holdouts were Dynaco and McIntosh. McIntosh and Marantz were king of the hill, Dynaco was called the poor man's McIntosh. A notch below were HK Citation and below them Scott, Fisher, Sherwood, Eico, Heathkit, and then below them Bogen and Pilot. Lafayette Radio was considered a joke. 60 wpc was big and the 75wpc was McIntosh's top unit (I don't recall when the 2105 solid state amp came out, I think a few years later.) AR and KLH were the top selling speaker brands, Bozak, Klipsch, JBL, Altec, and EV top models beyond reach although they had cheap models too. Lots of people had bookshelf models like Scott and Fisher but those in the know stuck to AR and KLH. I think Advent didn't exist then. Dyanco had their A25, I don't recall if A35 was out yet. AR3a was the top regarded conventional speaker, KLH9 also considered a top performer. There was no subwoofers in the sense we know them today, the first one didn't appear until later with the Infinity Servostatic I around 1970 or 1971. AR1W was as close as it got but amplifiers were so expensive that multiamping was out of the question. There were no electronic crossovers or equalizers, everyone had bass and treble tone controls. As I recall, there were few people lamenting the disappearance of vacuum tube amplifiers or receivers, they were considered obsolete. The best turntables were Thorens, Empire, and Rek-O-kut but most people settled for automatic record changers, Dual, Miracord, and Garrard top models the most popular. AR's turntable competed with the best of them performance wise at about 1/2 to 1/3 the price. The best cartridges were made by Shure, ADC, Empire, Ortofon, Stanton, Grado and there were a few holdouts for MicroAcoustics, Goldring, Decca, and one or two others. Open reel tape decks offered the best performance but there were few pre-recorded tapes and people just didn't like them, probably because of the problems of handling them and lack of easy access to different tracks. Crown was the ultimate tape deck for home users and many professionals. Cassettes were just coming into their own. There was no Dolby B yet or maybe it had just come out. The Crown DC 300 didn't appear I think until 1968 and esoteric high powered amplifiers like McIntosh 300 were practically unknown to the general public. AR's amplifier appeared around 1967 or 1968.

Most people didn't buy audio components to play LPs though, they bought all in one mass produced consoles from the likes of Zenith, Magnavox, RCA, Philco, and even Capehart and Stromberg Carlson. Some came with television sets built in, set between the speakers. The turntable was invariably on the left side, the tuner/preamp on the right, the power amp inside at the base of the cabinet. Each side was accessible under a separate back hinged cover but in some models a single larger hinged cover sufficed. Cabinets were usually made out of real wood.

This was the climate and mood when Bose 901 appeared on the scene as I recall it. Anyone else like to share their memories? Comments? Questions?

[Guest Americain]

A fascinating read. I remember most everything you conveyed here and I marvel at how much our world has changed. You're right about one thing, the audio products we remember from this era are best put into the historical context that you've laid out. What makes Bose interesting to me is how cutting edge the stuff was for those times (or any time for that matter). I'll have more to add later but thanks for this.

[Guest Jethro]

This was the climate and mood when Bose 901 appeared on the scene as I recall it. Anyone else like to share their memories? Comments? Questions?

Just awesome!!! Really takes me back... although a little too far for me. I'm just a little later.

I was riding my Stingray Apple Krate 5 speed (Ralph Nader bike) complete with a Vrroom motor and wheelie bars. Mom drove a 63 Nova with 3 on the tree and Dad had a Mercury Cougar with a 289 V8. We practiced "Duck and Cover" in school and watched Speed Racer, Gumby and Star Trek on TV. I remember kids talking about SST airplanes and California was the place to be. Popular toys were blocks, the erector set, hoppity hops, Lincoln logs and legos. I got a tool box, transistor radio and a BB gun for x-mas. Ashtrays, TV diners and rotary dials telephones were everyday. Beach boys, Carpenters, Neil Diamond, Simon and Garfunkle on 45rpm records. Clint Eastwood and spaghetti westerns...Steve McQueen and the Shelby Mustang. The World Trade Center was just being built and we were going to beat the Ruskies to the moon. USA was the most innovative, resourceful and productive country in the world with credit going to its scientist, engineers and workers in our high quality industrial base. Anything was possible!!!

[Guest pbda]

Excellent post, soundminded.

In 1967, when I was eight, HiFi in our house was Dad's KLH all in one Model 11 system, which played exclusively classical and jazz. Mom drove us around in a Ford Futura station wagon; Dad drove a four-door Ford Falcon (we were a Ford family, until the Japanese appeared on the scene). I got my first taste of the pain that it was (until recently) to be a Red Sox fan, as the Sox lost in seven to the hated Cardinals.

I had one of those briefcase-style record players, on which I played my meager collection of 78s.

And each day seemed to last a lot longer than they do now.

[Steve F]

Soundminded,

A very nicely done walk down memory lane. Some of what you recount is very slightly off time- and sequence-wise, but most of it is essentially spot on.

Advent introduced their first speaker products in 1969. I believe their 200/201 Dolby-equipped cassete decks were intro'd in '69 or '70.

My father had a Miracord 40A automatic turntable, and my older cousin had a Miracord 50H Mk II, which was perhaps the smoothest, silkiest, most graceful turntable I ever experienced. From its push-button actuated operation to its phenomenally smooth, slow cuing, to the disc brake (!) with which it brought the massive, heavy platter to a beautifully-controlled stop, it was a monument to Germanic over-engineering, in the best sence of that phrase.

If there's one common characteristic that much of the older equipment had (those heavily-weighted flywheel tuning knobs, the sultry back-lit tuning dials and power/signal meters, the smoothly damped cassette doors) that modern gear sorely lacks, it's the sense of 'romance' and individuality. The old equipment had personality and craftsmanship, engendering a pride of ownership/operation that transcended the mere functionality of today's computer-oriented models.

In 'those' days, it was the journey as well as the destination. Not any more.

Steve F.