Hi-Fi magazines

[TC Chris]

We're still working at clearing out my Mom's house. One reason it's taking so long is that all her kids viewed it as the default storage unit. My sister found my old stash of HiFi/Stereo Review and a set of late '50s Tape Recording magazines, the latter a gift from an old family friend. I thought I had tossed them when I moved back in 1994, and always regretted losing them. But here they are. When I get home I scan scan and post some ad images. Lots of cool stuff.

Chris Campbell

[William]

Looking forward, Chris, I love looking at all of the vintage gear that is long gone.

Bill

[TC Chris]

I keep picking up a magazine or two. Lots of interesting articles on equipment and on musicians, and record reviews. The ads are enticing. At the dawn of the transistor era, so many manufacturers!

Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

I spent much of yesterday evening organizing the old magazines. I have issues of Hi-Fi/Stereo Review from 1961-1969. It was fun going through and reading articles--about equipment, musicians, music, technology, and recordings. There were a lot of domestic manufacturers then and very little reference to Japanese builders (there were a couple ads for and images of Sony tape recorders and a Panasonic ad). I always liked Julian Hirsch's test reports. It was especially fun to see him encounter Heath stuff, which always made him go "whoa!" Why? Because Heath always met or exceeded its specs. In one article about one amplifier power standards, Hirsch suggested that many of the claimed power ratings were produced by the advertising dept., not engineering. He must have encountered a lot of fanciful specs, and when the Heath equipment actually did what it claimed--and at a low price point--it got his attention. I saw his reviews of the receiver that contains my AJ-11 tuner, a pace-setter in its day, and the one that contained my AA-22 amp, which Hirsch loved all over again. And then his review of the AJ-14 receiver that also went into the Heath console that I slaved over last winter. They all earned his praise.

I didn't find his review of the AA-22 amp because I had cut it out years ago and have it saved. I did see the jagged edge where it had been pulled out.

And then there was "Tape Recording" magazine, 1953-1961. These were gifts of an older family friend. I also now have his two reel-to-reel machines, a big TDC Stereotone recorder (it records and plays in mono; not sure who coked up that name) and a later Norelco that plays 2-track stereo (with an external amp and speaker for the second channel) and records in half-track mono. That came with the 2nd channel amp and speaker, a suitcase device with a V-M single-ended 6V6 amp. At any rate, he had saved the magazines and gave them to me long ago.

The TDC ("Three Dimensional Corp.") machine was a three-motor transport machine--one each for reels and capstan drive that allowed electromagnetic braking on the reels. It was later used in Bell transports, one of which was used in my Knight-Kit 4-track stereo deck. (The record-play amps were the kit part).

Chris Campbell