Hi Fi Ads from 1978 - Pioneer, Infinity, Sony, Sansui, Ohm, Marantz, Hitachi, McIntosh, etc.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- What a year for Hi-Fi Home Audio! Some of the Monster receivers we know well are from this period along with a huge number of other manufacturers putting out some great products. Manufacturers like Sansui, Sony, Marantz, Pioneer, but other brands like Nakamichi, Fisher, ADS, SAE, Crown, Yamaha, Harman Kardon, Dahlquist, JBL and many others.
URL for video: • Hi Fi Ads from 1978 - ...
Email: stereoniche@gmail.com
I could have easily watched another hour of this, great stuff, thank you. I nostalgically recall pulling the Reader's Service Card (I believe it was called) from my father's Stereo Review magazine and checking all the boxes for which advertising brochures would be sent to you from a particular audio manufacturer that you were interested in. And some of the brochures were glossy full-color multi-page adverts that were quite impressive. The hours I spent just taking in the beautiful equipment depicted in those pictures. Incidentally, I got my driver's license in 1979, right around the time you did, which puts us in the same generation to have experienced and appreciated this golden era of hi-fi.
Unfortunately, I didn't have any audiophiles in my household or I probably would have done the same. I would have to do my drooling over this era while tagging along with my mother to the local mall. :-)
Thanks for the video. Takes me back to high school when I first fell in love with audio equipment and my journey began. I have the money now to buy everything I want except my teen ears. Peace, love and music.
It was a time of plenty for audio, fantastic era.
Absolutely love my SX-980. I listen to it everyday w/Hpm 100’s.
I bought a pair of Videoton Minimax II D132A bookshelf speakers in about 1977 up here in Canada after hearing them at a stereo trade show. I still have them. 🙂 They were made in Hungary and were imported and marketed as the poor man's BBC LS3/5a and general opinion was they sounded about as good.
They are decent small bookshelf sealed enclosures that still sound good when I spin some mid century jazz through them from my restored Rega Planar II turntable. My biggest peeve is that the masonite sheet supporting the grill cloth has circular cutouts that make the tweeter "beam" so I leave them off despite the rather unfinished look underneath.
I'm really enjoying your walk through time in these videos. Thanks!
Thanks for adding to the conversation and great to hear you enjoyed the video. I plan to do more of them soon after completing some reviews.
A high school friend's dad was a Boeing engineer and they had a Pioneer SX-1250 with Pioneer speakers(I can't remember the model). It was by far the best sounding stereo of anyone I knew back then. Sitting next to it while listening to the music was pretty amazing.
Many say the 1250 is the best sounding of that era.
@@stereoniche I saw something about comparing the 50 series Pioneers to the 80 series and the person said that the 50 series were built with higher quality components. I haven’t done the research though.
You said it right - The golden age of Just Audio was at its peak in 1978. The marriage of audio to video was still in its infancy. The components offered were well-built and affordable. Marantz, Sansui, Pioneer, Kenwood, Accuphase, McIntosh, Phase Linear, Nikko and especially Luxman had hit their stride.
So many great brands all competing to one up the other and the consumer was the big winner. Is the "Just Audio" reference some subliminal messaging attempt? LOL
Back in the '70s when I was 13 I would forever and a day just gawk at the McIntosh amplifiers at a stereo shop I loved going to!
Very Cool , there was even More, equalizers, lots of Accessories for your Vinyl etc. Crazy Years
I think 1978 was the peak of audio excellence. My ship was in Japan in 1978 and I would go to the Navy Exchange and drool all over these beauties. I was sending money home to my wife so I could only afford a Kenwood KA-7100 and matching tuner and Pioneer CS-722 speakers which supposedly were never sold in the states. My friend used to loan money at interest and he bought a Pioneer Spec 1, Spec 2, Pioneer's best cassette deck and tuner and Bose 901 Series III speakers. He was single. LOL Most of the guys on the ship knew I was a HI Fi nut and they all asked me for advice. Great times. It's a strange coincidence that my KA-7100 and my son's Luxman L-80V are on the same page. Pretty cool. Thanks for even more great HI FI history!
It seemed to hit another level at that time, but also had the mindshare of the consumer market before video games and the VCR hit the market.
Audio products have gotten better since. We have better bandwidth and power now. Receivers had voltage, but not a ton of current. Components were voiced to be polite and warm, not neutral or balanced. Mosfets/Jfets/hexfets are all superior to bipolar transistors. We have better power supplies now. The old iron core transformers aren't used as much. Cassette decks got better (Nakamichi, A/D/S/ etc) , so did tables. Japanese speakers of that era were definitely not the best of anything. There was very little testing and engineering. US and European designs have more precise crossovers components and better drivers. (like Infinity, Dahlquist, KEF, B&W, Braun (A/D/S) , Celestion, etc) The one thing that really changed? It was an era before companies went cost is no object and started price gouging for audio. This stuff was good for the time, but not any peak of anything.
I bought a rack full of components from the military just before I was discharged in 1978. A Pioneer CT-F1000 was one of them, along with a Technics SL1400 turntable and Sansui TU-9900.
I purchased a Technics rack system at our PX in Italy in 79 for roughly half the price back home. Still have it.
It will live well beyond all of us. Enjoy it!
I had a pair of ADS 200Cs with the big ADS Powerplate Amp. Still have the amp. Been using it since 1984.
I drooled over so much stereo gear in the day, I used to read the Radio Shack catalog over and over again. I would go into poverty to buy new stereo gear, buying selling trading. It was truly the Golden Age of Stereo. Thanks for the great memories ... now I've got my Infinity Kappa 7's to re-foam.
In late 78 I was in grade 12 (Canada). My parents gave me 100 dollars for Christmas toward a stereo. I took my 100 to the post Christmas clear out at the local independently owned TV-hifi store. I bought a used Marantz 2216 receiver for 99 plus tax. Little power but good sound and that cool classic Marantz look. Took a few months to save some more cash but I eventually picked up a jvc turntable and some Altec-Lansing “Atlantic” speakers. Pretty cool for a high school kid I thought. My dad, who had a full Technics system, was quite surprised I was able to acquire a Marantz at such a bargain price.
You called it right, I978 was the pinnacle year. I'd love a time machine to go back again.
Sooo much gear was being released strictly for stereo playback (vs later years with Home Theater, etc.), especially speakers. It was certainly a special time.
Hey, thanks for doing this! I'm going to tell myself you did this because I asked for the 70s LOL! So excited to dive in.
Hope you like it! If your friends ask, I did it just for YOU! :-)
Boy this brings back some memories. The one that stuck out to me was the ESS transar that was one great sounding speaker.
I would love to run across a set.
Very well done, thanks! BTW, I think Optonica was Sharp Electronic’s high end line as I recall (either Sharp or Toshiba).
Yes indeed, it was Sharp.
Nice trip down memory lane😊
Yes it was!
Thank you for taking me down memory lane! Back in the day, when going thru all the audio magazines, I got just as much enjoyment reading the ads as I did the articles and reviews. Now, as for the Quadrflex brand, it was the middle of the line house brand for the big west coast retailer Pacific Stereo....with Concept being the TOLT and TransAudio the entry level house brands. In the SF Bay area along, I can remember at least 6 or 7 Pacific Stereo stores... almost every big city and town had one. There were two less than 8 miles from were I lived!
Also FYI....Micro Seiki was one of the biggest OEM makers of turntables including those Denons and others? And you mentioned Sony turntables being kind of basic...that couldn't be farther from the truth. Sony produced some the most innovative turntables of the time with their Biotracer tonearms, Magnedisc Xtal Quartz Lock speed control, SMBC plinths, BSL DD motors ( to reduce cogging), etc. The PX-7 model shown in the ad is one of their best ever.... I have one and it's in constant rotation in my systems due too it's excellent sound!
I was aware of the Concept line at Pacific, but did not recall the other in-house labels. They were quite the savvy marketer. I grew up on the Southeast, so was not familiar with them at the time.
Great video that brings back memories of my freshman yr in college. I subscribed to Stereo Review magazine and remember the first issue I got, in the cover page there was picture of a stack of all the big receivers you mentioned titled receiver wars. Also, car stereos started to pick up too, remember replacing the original stereo cassette player on a 78 Honda Accord with a German Blaupunkt CR-2001. Those were the days!
Glad you enjoyed it! It was a fantastic time for audio.
The only attraction I held for those monster receivers were those pretty bells and whistles that comes with it. The power output from relatively inexpensive mid range gear was more than enough for me.
Same here really. I do enjoy a good TOTL, however, those like the SX-1980 cannot handle 4 ohm speakers, so that limitation doesn't really make them a great all around unit.
I have a receiver from 1978. A Vector Research VR-7000. I had this back in 1978 but got rid of it for a Technics SA-4046. It was my first foray into "home theater". It took many years, but I now have a VR-7000 again along with its matching VQ-100equalizer hooked up to a pair of Cerwin Vega RE-30's. Back in the day, I had Cerwin Vega U-321's. Loved seeing all the ads, FYI, Lux is not Luxman, Lux was a company from here in the USA, Luxman is from Japan.
I was a year out of high school, first job in Canoga Park, CA. Right down the street was Marantz, next block was Infinity, across town was JBL. I remember nearly every ad you've covered. I ended up buying a matched set of the big Sansui receiver and power amp. Dual direct drive turntable and Teac cassette decks.
Great job on this video sir!
I still have Dynaco A50's and tuner amp from the early 70's. In the late 70's I stacked A35 speakers six per channel with the Dynaco 416 amp and capacitor storage bank C100. Still in everyday use.
Really enjoyed that blast from the past Scott. A little before my era as I started becoming interested in audiophile quality gear in the 1980's at my age. Thanks for the facts and tidbits you interjected. Very interesting. Looking forward to your 1980's Ads.
Glad you enjoyed it! Stay tuned!
Finally!!! Technics correctly pronounced. Thank you.
You mean it isn't Teck-neeks?
That's exactly what I mean. In fact I cannot remember any salesman or user EVER saying "Tech-niques" here ... Cheers from sunny Australia!@@stereoniche
Not that it matters because this subject has been pounded into the ground, but there is a Technics commercial out on TH-cam and they pronounce it Teck-neeks@@Warpedsmac
Daniel, there must have been a valid reason for changing the way it is said, perhaps there was a competitor, or simply they wished to make it "u-neek" or rhyme, pardon me...the link with this note shows an overdubbed US produced ad with the Australian pronunciation. Things like this just happen don't they?...And soon the origin is forgotten. I refuse to believe it is a function of phonetic language learning. th-cam.com/video/R6OnnlyI3Tc/w-d-xo.html@@danielknepper6884
I still have my pair of Allison:Twos that I'll be refoaming the woofers this winter and rebuilding their crossovers.
Nice!
I remember getting an audiovox fm converter for my am car radio around then.
Thank you!
You bet!
I first heard a cd in early 1983. They had the Sony CDP-101 and a pair of corner Klipschorns with the Technics amplification from your ad here. Of course it was playing Billy Joel.
Of course it was Billy! He was on fire at that time. Saw him and Elton together in the mid-90's, incredible.
Sankyo Electronics made the tape drive mechanisms in Nakamichi cassette decks all through their production run. They were an OEM, and didn’t make much headway selling their own branded gear
Thank you for that detail, very much appreciated!
1978, I bought my first real receiver - Pioneer sx-780, and aTechnics SL-D2 turntable!
The SX-780 is probably in the top 5 sold receivers of all time by volume, I think.
I was surprised there were no Klipsch advertising.
They did not seem to be advertising very much in this timeframe, but hold tight, they do in other years. 🙂
55:40 The Jensen car receivers were high quality items. The model I owned (top of the range as shown, following high end Pioneer and Alpine) had a separate power amp that drove the Jensen rear bass drivers. No wobbly sloppy bass and crystal clear highs. (Note the Power, Bi-amp, Loudness, Dolby buttons and Fade / Balance control. It was the best of the lot through to the mid 90's. Excellent tape transport ... tuner would pull in FM stations, at distance from the transmitter, better than home audio tuner.
Courtesy of Uncle Sam I was in Asia in early 70s. While there I, like many others, purchased many components. One I had for a short time was an Akai reel to reel with an 8 track in the side. The Akai was in the shape of a tape deck, with audio in/out, but it also had an amp and small speakers in the side of the cabinet. Weird!! Traded it to some unsuspecting GI shortly after I got it.
I've seen that model a time or two! :-)
@@stereoniche Back in the 1960s, AKAI made Roberts reel to reel.
Great and cool video enjoyed looking at those ads of yesterday years. By the way you may already know, but in that accuphase “win it all” ad with the infinity speakers and other gear, that crazy style turntable, looked a DDx series Micro Seiki direct drive TT (there were earlier version with slight difference) I believe they were designed that way to accommodate up to 3 or 4 tone arms. And for the ad with the Design Acoustics, those are the D8 and D6 and there was a top dog of the bunch maybe discontinued by then, the D 12. The D 12 were known as dodecahedron 12 an Omni directional ball like shape with 10 or 11 cone tweeters a 5 inch mid and down firing 10 or 12 inch woofer per cabinet! The D6 and D 12 I m sure date back to early 1970’s because having heard the d12’s and d6’s along with that odd micro seiki table at a high end boutique-it sparked dad to later pick up a pair of D6 in a deal that came his way. They were the original line up for DA I guess before audio technica bought them out in the 80’s. So the I think the numbers in model denotes the amount of high and midrange drivers per box. Dad (RIP) was a Hi Fi guy. I grew up in household with two big stereos, my moms marantz 80’s rack system and his which happened to have the Design Acoustic D6 speakers which were 5 cone tweeters, a 5 inch midrange and rear firing 10 inch woofer per box they powered a Setton AS 5500 integrated amp 55WPC and Turntable was a BIC 960 or 980 passed along to me in high school it ended being one of my first turntables , unfortunately the amp was long gone before I even turned 10 yr old! Anyhow I enjoyed this keep up great work !
I have actually seen those Omni-Directional DA speakers many years ago, unfortunately, I did not get to hear them. DA certainly had some great products in their hey-day. As well, MS, I don't think they ever turned out any dogs for turntables, it was high end and VERY high end for the most part.
@@stereoniche ahh ok i figured you may have seen them , but yes growing with the D 6 I remember them having wide dispersion on the highs they were all about that. And the bass was very solid for speakers of the time even the 80’s overall efficient not hard to drive. But love the videos looking forward to exploring more
I bought an empire 698 back in 1980. Still my main turntable today. Where did you find that advertising? Would love to have that ad on my wall? 😊
Search for the World Radio History website and you can find various magazines archived there. I cannot recall what month it was shown, so you will have to search for it.
Was hoping to see a Concept Ad.
Well, I guess in 1978 they had a minimal marketing budget.
5:23 Sankyo used to make electric motors and tape transport mechanisms for many other brands.
Thank you for that detail, very much appreciated!
Quadraflex was the house brand of Pacific Stereo Stores.
Ahh, did not know that, thanks for commenting!
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Rarely Show Cased
Yet Very Powerful Home Equipment
I Found a Phase Linear
Professional Black Face Rack Handle
700-B
It Just Won’t Die
It Weighs More Than a
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The One I Have Is Out Of
Washington State
Most Likely Made in
Bob Carver’s Garage Before He Sold
Phase Linear
Side Note:
In Godfather lll
Michael is in His Office and Too His Right on The Book Shelves is a
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and The Quad
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With That Center Joy
Stick
Phase Linear Washington State Equipment is
Good Stuff
For Just Big Power
Their Pre/Amps
I Don’t Know
Yet All That Early
1970 to 1976
Before Bob Carver Bounced is Not Bad
It Was Expensive Then and Still Expensive Now
This Is Cool Stuff
Phase Linear Is Always
Past Up By The Other
HiFi TH-cam Shows
Nice video ,stereo/ niche
Great / recievers from the stereo wars of the 70s!!
Thanx for your video of fantastic audio for your dwelling!!
Some of these brands , not only made audio, Yamaha made , motorcycles, hitachi made heavy equipment, Mitsubishi also made cars / heavy equipment, etc.
Unless you hadda good job, in the early 70s, late 70s high-school, were probably going to get a car & insurance..
Luv , Ol vintage audio, Butttt!!
Tbh ! Once they started making great car audio, now you can, go mobile, have great sound, with a pioneer kp ( 1st supertuner, anda set of 6x9 tenna mindblowers, in the rear deck..You hadda great sound system..
Jensen made coaxials/ triaxials..
Coaxials were better imo
No 6x9s..like, Tenna mindblowers!! Best 6x9s ,I've ever heard..
Trunk of a vehicle is perfect for acoustics ,with car audio.
Boxes were ok, nothing like a car trunk though
Pioneer, 1st supertuner with the day glow round dial , Imo.
Is the holy grail of car tuners/ 8 track/ cassettes....
Tenna mindblowers had a distinct advantage with having built in amplifier under the , speaker magnets..thick wiring harness..50 to 60 bucks at K - Mart..everyone had em ,once they heard em in the older high school students, cars...
Yeap, at that time, the car and our mobile audio was the only thing we could afford. Mobile tunes since we couldn't afford a place of our own. So many memories!
@@stereoniche Lol..Yes
Ave ya ever errd of tenna mindblowers??
People that were selling weed ,usually had the marantz, pioneers, sansui. recievers..lol
I'm surprised that you don't have any audio equipment by Heath. I mean they did make the best audio equipment in the business.
I do have some audio equipment from Heath, just no ads. :-)
One of the biggest regrets I had with selling my sansui aw 417
how does one get a hold of you to shop for a receivers
While I do periodically sell items, I am not a store like other TH-cam channels. I am a collector that occasionally sells. I can always be reached at stereoniche@gmail.com
I have a serious question. Has anyone figured out who built the receivers for RadioShack?
A fella that watched my Nova 8b video wherein I asked that very question just replied a few days ago. I had asked that Q in the video, but about the 2100D model I had once owned. He replied that Foster Electronics was one of the manufacturers for RS. They apparently made the 2100 model. RS used many manufacturers over the years. Not sure if there is a list out there of model & manufacturer.
Dude respectfully and gently I suggest you are wrong about the Sansui G-9000 being the most powerful receiver of their G-Series. Technically the big dog in the Sansui G-9XXX Series is the Sansui G-9700 at 200 Watts Per Channel RMS. It was an analog digital beast. The Sansui G-9700 was Sansui's biggest monster in the 10's war of the watts. I have one in my collection. The Sansui G-9000 is in my opinion the prettiest receiver Sansui ever made but not the most powerful.
Hey there. So in the video, it is a review of gear only made in 1978. In that year, only the G-x000 series is being manufactured which was from 1978 - 1980. The G-x700 series did not start until 1980 and ran thru 1982. Each era is considered a model line for that year, so in 1978-1980, the G-x000 is the model line which the G-9000 is the most powerful from that series. Now, one could argue that the most powerful in that line was actually the G-33000 at 300w, but it is two separate pieces, so not actually a single receiver. If we are talking all G-series single unit receiver over all years, than yes, the G-9700 would be the TOTL. BTW, my first vintage receive was a G-9700. 🙂
Denon put the lost in space ship as the platter. the jupiter 1
And now those monster receivers carry a lefty price tag these days, SMH.
They are rare and in demand.
Yes but their aint nobody around in nebraska that will fix them for a reasonable price, they want $$$$$$$ to fix them