Custom Driver Matched Red 520i's currently are my HiFi speakers.

Been a few years since we ran across any Telefunken gear. That stuff was the shit in 1962. Picked up a couple cool cabinet pieces thru the years that clients were getting rid of.

Radio Shack Optimus, w/Linaeum tweeters. Later marketed as Linaeum speakers, then Aura speakers (when I carried the line).

I had a couple of the Aura towers in a 2 channel set up that sounded REALLY good, and sold quite a few of them. Paired really well with the old Harman-Kardon amps..

How far Harman-Kardon has fallen as well...

We called these things “Flame Linear”. It was interesting that the touring rock bands would travel with small truckload of these amps because they were so cheap. As the amps failed, they would pull out a spare and throw the failed one back in the truck. Once back home, they would repair the stack. Hopefully, they would carry enough spares and enough spare tweeter diaphragms to complete the tour. (Those amps loved to take tweeters along when they went down) After the group became successful, they would switch to McIntosh amplifiers and skip the spares.

As a very young lad I poured over the RadioShack catalogs. When I finally saw the flesh, I was greatly disappointed. I also learned to never buy their semiconductors.

Runco

Pioneer Elite Plasma

Roger Sound Labs.

edmund,
God Bless You.
I was wondering if anyone would say that. See, I was the other salesperson at RSL when Howard hired me in late 1970. I saw all the changes that RSL went through over the years and it just didn't feel right for me to mention them.

By the way, RSL still sells speakers. Howard has developed a couple of different lines over the last ten or so years. You can find them on line.

I was the other salesman for only about six months. Then we got an additional one. This helped me transition into the needed technical things (I'm a horrible salesperson). And it went from there.

Used to have an Advent 300. Great sounding phono preamp, designed by a guy who later did stuff with a film maker... Little 15 watt amp, but had pre out/main in loops, so you could feed an external amp as needed. Used to sell them to the right customers by doing an A/B comparison with a 185 watt Pioneer receiver.

Were you comparing the power amp, the phono preamp or the overall sound? We sold Pioneer and Sony- I bought a Sony TA-4650 integrated amp, rated at 30W/ch and it had VFet outputs, as well as VFets in the phono section. I was also using an Audio Technica AT30E moving coil cartridge without a MC head amp and could still get usable output. The SX-1280 and SX-1980? Only heard a whisper from the same cartridge and the sound quality of those two- not even close to the Sony. They were big and loud, but....

It says old favourite brands. Is it ok if I throw in a bit of car audio?

Back in the day I had a trunk full of HiFonics Series VIII. Pluto, Odin, Cyclops, and Zeus. I bought Pluto when I was 15. The others came over time and they were in every car I ever had. Speakers and other amps came and when but the HiFonics were always better. I sold them about 2 years ago so I could buy carbon fibre wheels for my tri-bike.

I will always miss them.

There's a lot of brands that have not disappeared, but their brand has become so diluted its not funny:

Boston Acoustics
Adcom
Velodyne
Atlantic Technology
Jamo
Carver
Nakamichi

These were mainstays for us back in the day, and all of their products are sh1t today....pretty sad.

In every case listed above the companies and the products (when created) were driven by a single personality with a very obvious passion and not a corporate committee. Sadly when that driving force departs and accountants take over.....

I think I have a Zeus in my basement.