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ARSCLIST  May 2016

ARSCLIST May 2016

Subject:

Mainstream onset of stereo (was Re: [ARSCLIST] Topic for Discuss ion: Completism ver sus Expe ri e nc e – Pros and Cons)

From:

Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Tue, 3 May 2016 09:54:38 -0400

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (116 lines)

Hi Jamie:

Do you remember Tech Hi-Fi? Wasn't that originally a New England chain?

I think you were in the upscale niche that early-adopted stereo. ;). But it is true that US record 
retailers stopped allowing mono/stereo dual-inventory in the mid-60's. I cite the early 70's 
mainstreaming of stereo because that would be about the time that all the fabulous 50's "Hi-Fi" rigs 
finally died out, and by the Japanese gear was ubiquitous and relatively cheap, and RadioShack/Tandy 
had started to take off.

I came along about 10 years later, got my first decent-quality rig for my 10th birthday in 1976 
(Lafayette 10W integrated amp, BSR record-wrecker, Lafayette bookshelf speakers). I did the same 
thing with putting my head between the little speakers. That Christmas, I got a Pioneer headphones. 
Two summers later, I started working at paper routes, to buy a Pioneer RT-707 reel to reel deck. I 
had by then inherited better gear from my older brothers. First Christmas when I was working, I 
bought a Pioneer receiver. That next summer, New Advent Loudspeakers and a Technics SL-D2 turntable 
with Shure M-44 cartridge. I was on my way, at age 13. Haven't stopped working, or buying sound 
gear, since then. When I started buying records, there was no mono inventory for pop or rock. Even 
reissues of mono recordings were out in processed stereo. I didn't get into jazz until later, and 
that was my gateway to appreciating a good mono mix.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jamie Howarth" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2016 9:39 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Topic for Discuss ion: Completism ver sus Experi e nc e – Pros and Cons


By 1968 the demographic buying classical and Perry Como was still mono but Rock and Roll listeners' 
record players were predominantly stereo. In 1962 my father invested in a Garrard 301/Gray Dyna tube 
(PAM/MkIV) and an AR3... Fateful decision ----- Mono. Stereo was a fad.

He loaded it all into a piece of antique furniture and reveled in the booming bass. After cocktails 
he would turn it way up set the needle on a stationary record and play "bongos" on the lid of this 
thing until it achieved feedback, and the bass always sounded like a Seeburg under the best of 
circumstances.

Bass was prodigious and it lasted from the transient onset until the following weekend. This was 
considered an asset.

My grandfather otoh bought a marginal quality Westinghouse portable stereo with the detachable 
speakers, which sounded better. I remember vividly hearing the Reiner Lt Kije - thrilling. Head 
stuck between the two 5" speakers maybe a foot apart. That was awesome. Dad's rig sucked.

It wasn't until years later that I realized a spike of LF bongo noise had fried the AR's tweeter. 
Not that there was much above 8K left after the GE record wrecker tore through it...stereo or mono.

By 67 everybody in the neighborhood was stereo. The rich doctor's kid had an AR XA/v15 PAS3x AR4x 
that was a killer. I had my grandad's Westinghouse - the June 65 teen party we played Satisfaction 
over and over all night until 10pm parents' pickup. Eventually my dad spotted me some Heathkit 
lawn-mowing cash. But he'd only pony up for one speaker.

We spent a lot of the summer in the rich kid's house listening to Bones Howe records, Association, 
Mamas and Papas, 5th Dimension. It was that summer that settled my career path. Turns out the old 
man's high school buddy in Ohio had some dough, and we visited that summer. Harman Kardon/JBL 
bookshelfs. Source was a Viking reel to reel. Damn. Whipped Cream and Other Delights. I was a goner.
The Westinghouse made it to the Jersey Shore in 68... The old man almost smashed it when I played 
the Electric Flag Mike Bloomfield "Killin Floor" solo one too many times at 16 2/3 RPM trying to 
learn it.

College came and summer payscale was higher... AR XA with a Pickering (with the brush defeated) a 
Kenwood that lacked watts, and Rectilinears model number lost to the mists, but not the 3s. We 
argued over whether the "Boston sound" 4Xs or Advents sounded better. I knew they didn't. Fervently.

Those were typical rigs of the day. I never bought a mono record after '65. My dad never bought a 
stereo record ever. He finally went stereo --- nice stuff--- all Mission--- when CDs came in. 
Stuffed it all into a piece of furniture.

Jamie



Please pardon the mispellings and occassional insane word substitution I'm on an iPhone

> On May 3, 2016, at 8:38 AM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I bet they would have sold some mono copies in the US market in 1968. There were still 
> rack-jobbers and urban stores carrying mono versions of things, because stereo players had not 
> proliferated everywhere and old 50's record-wreckers would destroy a stereo groove very fast. 
> Also, AM radio had to suffice with folding down the stereo, or playing it with a heavy-tracking 
> mono cartridge and wearing it out fast. Were there US singles from that album, issues in mono for 
> AM radio? I'm wondering about all of this because many Americans did not replace the old mono 
> systems with Japanese solid-state stereos until a little bit later, circa 1970 onward. And, music 
> AM radio was still a major source of listening for the rock/pop crowd into the 70s. I'm not sure 
> album-oriented FM radio was ever massively mainstream.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Shoshani" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2016 8:23 AM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Topic for Discuss ion: Completism ver sus Experie nc e – Pros and Cons
>
>
>> Two mono versions, actually, but not exclusively for 3rd world markets. The
>> White Album had a dedicated mono mix (the last Beatles album to do so), but
>> it was only issued in the UK, Australia (from UK-supplied stampers), Spain,
>> Chile, and South Africa. A mono version folded down locally from the stereo
>> mixes (that is, folded down and mastered by the local EMI operation, not
>> from headquarters in England) was issued in Brazil and Argentina, who also
>> got folded-down mono versions of Abbey Road.
>>
>> Surviving EMI documentation (as collated by Messrs Spizer and Daniels)
>> indicate that the mono White Album was ordered and sold very heavily in the
>> north of England, while the south preferred the stereo version.
>>
>> On Mon, May 2, 2016 at 7:57 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> There was a mono version of the White Album, mainly for 3rd world markets,
>>> but it was made by the engineering staff, much as the stereo mixes had been
>>> done just a couple of years previous.
>>

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