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NAME SOME RARE AUDIO ITEMS THAT DID NOT TAKE OFF BUT SHOULD HAVE & WHY.HERE'S MY LIST

I thought that this would be a good one to post, since I am a new member and hopefully it will be interesting and give some background.

 First off let me say that I first became fascinated with audio as a pre-teen.A relative of mine called me over.His brother was in the service overseas and he was able to get both he and my relative a great deal on some brand new stereo equipment at favorable country of origin prices..He turned it on and I didn't even know what it was.I had heard a few stereo rigs before.The ones where the speakers fold out on hinges and revealed the record player and the amp inside the box.But this was something completely different.Each piece was separate.It sounded like the floor was moving.Voices sounded like they were in the room.I didn't know what to make of it.Very impressed and intrigued.My first job was only a temporary summer job but I did make enough money to make my first major purchase; a component stereo.A Sherwood receiver,a turntable and a pair of (2 tone grill) Jensen Speakers.Had a nice few months listening and eventually traded it in for a Yamaha guitar.I wanted to become involved with the music,not just listening.To this day I have musical instruments around the house; it helps me in my modding stereo equipment.It helps to know exactly what sounds a guitar,banjo,sax really make and just as importantly what sounds they don't make.My first true high end speaker was the Goetz Systems GMS 1.They were a beautiful floorstanding speaker which looked similar to the KLH Scxa.Perhaps KLH's  most exotic offering ever along with the model 9 panel speakers.The Goetz were not well known.A beautiful 3 way made in Georgia with beautiful imaging & a beautiful crossover which made them sound effortless on conveying transient detail.They did some shows,took out some display ads in the old Audio magazine,but never quite made it in the market.One of their dealers put in some line ads for them,proclaiming them "Speakers made by Hillbillies".That might be what did it.I heard a Koetsu cartridge for the first time through the Goetz,and I Don't think I will ever forget that wonderful experience.Many people liked them better than the Thiel,Celestion,Spica models of that era (early 1980's).Goetz later came out with pre and power amps which through the grapevine might have easily been the best sounding SS amps on the market,but the market was not there for them.These are among the rarer items out there.I have never seen Goetz on ebay or Craigslist.

 Another item from around the same era (a few years earlier)that was really interesting were Watson Labs speakers.The model 7 through 10 had separate cabinets for the woofers & the cabinets were filled with lighter than air hexaflouride gas.Their bass speed,authority and definition surpassed even transmission line speakers like IMF,and from my still vivid memory they would still be a marvel in that way today.They were designed by Dayton Wright,(actually same company)and they might have been the first speaker with dynamic drivers and an open baffle dipole arrangement that reminded you of the clarity of good electrostatics.The local dealer for a long time demo-ed them alongside Dahlquist DQ10's,and they sounded better in every way to the DQ10,which were a really good speaker themselves.Mike Wright the owner,stopped production and the company after a few years when Audax stopped making the tweeter they used.I have never seen Watson Labs for sale used on ebay or Craigslist.Don't know if deterioration factors would make them worth seeking out,but their sound was something I had never experienced before and will always remember. It would be interesting to know if their bass modules still retained the hexaflouride lighter than air gas after all these years.

Mod Squad phono cartridge tiptoes.Circa early 1980's.This was a flat black thin piece and on the top it had 3 sunk in b b size balls,made of what looked like ping pong ball material which made contact on the three points against your headshell with the cartridge underneath it.This amazing gizmo actually made my dismally tracking moving coil track like a champ.The sound was incredibly faster,cleaner,clearer and more open.Wish someone still made it.Tiptoes for your cartridge.I used too much torque on the cartridge screws one day and one of the b b size ping pong balls caved in giving it an uneven tilt and made it unuseable.

Finyl CD spray.Really liked the stuff .Unplayable scratched cds would start playing again with improved sonics.

Eon pod LP disc clamp.A light as a feather plastic clamp that exerted downward pressure on the record label by gripping the spindle and lunar module type feet putting pressure on the record label.Impressively better transients and detail.Was made in Canada.
 
What's on your list?

 

supertweak
trelja
3,223 posts
 
@lewm thank you for relaying your experience with the IMFs. I smiled when reading you reacquired your incredible homegrown pair.

Bud (Irving M.) Fried was one of the true pioneers in audio, and a lion of this industry. Doubtless you know, but after WWII, he brought over the Lowthers, then the Quads, the Decca cartridges, introduced companies like Dynaudio, KEF, etc. to North America. They certainly don’t make them like Bud anymore.

I actually became close with Bud, and am blessed that he gave me his own personal loudspeakers a few months before he passed away in 2005. They are a Valhalla System ** plus ** with standard C satellites with true TL midrange and not the D (8"), but the O (10") subwoofers, and obviously more than a couple of other upgrades. Bud felt more than happy when I talked about TL midrange being much more important than the lows, as many forget he coined the phrase that 85% of the music lies in the midrange.

Anyway, not to understate true TL bass... Other than perhaps the single pair of correctly implemented Ohm A loudspeakers with their 18" full-range drive, the O subwoofers produce some of the most impressive bass I’ve come across, though they sound VERY different. I’ve personally watched more than a few bass freaks come as close as it gets to jumping out of their skins playing the beginning of a Fiona Apple track. Needless to say, that’s a heck of an introduction to TL, and certainly fuels the conversation from there
supertweak OP
90 posts
 
Re:Tekna Sonic.If you have lots of these to experiment with, try them on anything you think makes a vibration,even if you cannot feel the vibration with your hand.Any designer can tell you micro vibration in componentry affects the sound.Transformers vibrate,capacitors vibrate,mechanical housings vibrate.I actually DONT use these inside speakers,(their main intended use),since I temper vibration within speaker cabinets with something else.N.E.A.R speakers used Tekna's in some of their models and a few others.If you're not as good at hearing subtle differences as myself (from experience), then put about 6 of them all over: on transformers,capacitors that are huge enough to balance them, under equipment,under shelving.If you cannot hear a difference doing this with about 6 of them all at once,then I DONT what to tell you.But DONT make light of someone else's experience with a different set of components whose resolution may be well beyond what you are dealing with (even if you doubt it),and Don't let biases or your theories dissuade you either.Do Don't stew.Try before deny.If you cannot hear a difference with just one,as I say try many at a time and then try to determine where they are making the biggest difference.Unwanted vibration degrades sound like nobody's business.Some of the early CD players were not made of special heavy compounds for nothing.They realized the effects of even small amounts of vibration.It wasn't fun manufacturing them (or lifting them).

biketech60
51 posts
 
Recordings on reel-to-reel . If all your gear and room are actually perfect , then what you are listening to is the limitations of the source . No digital, no vinyl,no turntable at any price renders a truer representation of the sound of music as a good tape deck and recording .I've heard nothing even come close .

Joe B.
invictus005
597 posts
 
@biketech60 What reel to reel recordings? Your personal garage ones? Or the commercial 4X or 8X fifth generation 7.5ips dupes? If it’s the later, then good vinyl blows them completely away.
ap1
17 posts
 
I would expect Smyth Realiser (http://www.smyth-research.com) to get more attention with all recent headphone craze. The idea of synthesizing 3D sound field using regular stereo headphones was excellent. Too bad that none of mobile phone makers pick it up. Having the ability to provide surround sound and imitate room response using regular headphones could be a hit. I feel that marketing of their products was not strong enough to catch buying public's attention.
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