1973

I was in my second year of college at UCSB and had earned enough money working at a picture frame/headshop the previous summer to buy a used BMW 1600 for all of $1,200. But the hi-fi bug bit hard, and because I had my priorities straight (and my roommate had a perfectly fine VW bus), I decided to sell the BMW and put the money toward a new stereo system.

Getting all the money for the BMW wasn’t easy. A guy showed up who offered me $600 and (I swear) his monkey. I explained that, while I had no aversion to monkeys, money wasn’t thick on the ground, and as students, we were often reduced to rice and canned tuna by the third week of the month. A monkey would starve living with us. We finally settled on $1,200 and no monkey; a better deal for all parties, human and simian.

After much angst deciding between unwieldy Tympanis and only slightly less manageable Quads, I bought a system from Ken Kreisel at Jonas Miller in Los Angeles: Quad ESL 57s, 33 preamp and 303 amp, and an AR turntable. Certainly, it was the best-sound coming from any college apartment.

Funnily, I still have a pair of Quad 57s (rebuilt, of course), which remain as magical today as they were in the tie-die days of Santa Barbara.

Anyone have thoughts on the nets as a viable option for speakers?

Nets can make for an excellent means to suspend speakers! Getting them exactly the same height and angle would be the problem. The very best system I have heard in the 80's had speakers hanging from chains having adjustable height and angle. The speakers sounded wide open that way. I spoke with Disk Sequerra over the phone about how his Met 7ll’s sounded better hung from chains. He then told me his own big speakers (he was looking at while speaking to me) were also suspended by chains. It opens up the bottom end and over all sound for some reason.

OP here.
Loved the memory lane excursions.
As for nets I would think they would do a great job with the vibration and improving isolation. Getting the measurements right would be a pia.  Not to mention SWMBO. 
Joe

By far the best thread on AG!

I was in Vietnam until February of 73. Either there or in Thailand (where the Air Force sent me next) I ordered an AR receiver, a pair of AR2ax speakers, a Dual 1229 turntable and Shure V15 cartridge. Various vendors offered "deals" to service members, so supposedly I got a good price. Had it all sent home to Denver and lived with that system for a number of years. Used to read Stereo Review religiously.