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Vintage Audio (record players, hi-fi etc) Amplifiers, speakers, gramophones and other audio equipment.

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Old 14th Aug 2018, 5:17 pm   #1
Ekcoman
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Default 1950s Stereo Systems

Just wondering if this is one of the first stereo systems that became available here in the UK. This Bush set up dates 1957 and as far as am aware very few stereo records available at that time to play on it. The cost is staggering as would have set you back the equivalent of over £1000 in today's money.
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Old 14th Aug 2018, 5:24 pm   #2
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

Stereo hifi preamps became available with the introduction of stereo records, to be used with two mono power amps (now referred to as 'monoblocs' in the hifi world). These setups were extremely expensive and only affordable by the select few. The technology gradually became more affordable, but only became mass market around 1970.
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Old 14th Aug 2018, 5:30 pm   #3
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

That could be right. The Leak Stereo 20 and Stereo 50 amps and Point One Stereo pre-amp were launched in 1958 and the Quad 22 stereo control unit in 1959.

The Point One/Stereo 20 combination would have cost £51/9/0 which, inflated over the last 60 years, would now be nearly £1150. And that doesn't include a record deck, speakers or cabinet.

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Old 14th Aug 2018, 6:15 pm   #4
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

sorry but the dates on that receipt look like 1959 to me which makes sense as stereo records did not come out until 1958. I have a Regentone NINE-3 stereo gram from Nov 1958, the label states it as " the first fullyStereophonic radiogram" it cost a massive 89 gns(£83 9s) £2145.11 in today's money
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Old 14th Aug 2018, 6:25 pm   #5
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

It seems stereo tape systems pre-dated disc-based ones. My copy of the 1957 HiFi Year Book has an article by James Moir on the advantages of stereo, followed by a list of commercially available domestic stereo systems. All of those which included a source used tape.

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Old 14th Aug 2018, 7:01 pm   #6
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

Quote:
Originally Posted by regentone001 View Post
sorry but the dates on that receipt look like 1959 to me which makes sense as stereo records did not come out until 1958. I have a Regentone NINE-3 stereo gram from Nov 1958, the label states it as " the first fullyStereophonic radiogram" it cost a massive 89 gns(£83 9s) £2145.11 in today's money
Steve
Steve, you definitely have a point and could well be 1959...and I thought I had bad hand writing
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Old 14th Aug 2018, 7:26 pm   #7
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

"HMV Stereophonic Amplifier Kit Type 33" converts the HMV Radiogram model 1633 to
stereo with addition of a stereo pick-up and second speaker. Cost 5gns. Date Nov 1958.

The leaflet depicts a self powered ECL82 amplifier with a new escutcheon with separate
volume controls for l.h. and r.h. channels, and speaker socket.
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Old 14th Aug 2018, 7:37 pm   #8
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

Quote:
Originally Posted by GrimJosef View Post
It seems stereo tape systems pre-dated disc-based ones.
Indeed so. EMI launched Steresonic tape records in April 1955 with great fanfare and a playback system costing 275 gns. Tapes cost around £4 when mono LPs cost 39/6. Quality was (and remains) impressive, but cost, technofear and limited repertoire caused the system to be a commercial failure. EMI themselves realised early on that the Stereosonic system would break them if it became popular - they were probably selling tapes at a loss, and the production process stubbornly resisted streamlining.

Stereo discs appeared in 1958 and the changeover took more than a decade to complete - record companies ran dual inventory until around 1970, and I remember fitting compatible cartridges to record players in the mid-70s when I worked Saturdays in a record shop.
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Old 14th Aug 2018, 7:56 pm   #9
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

Decca turned themselves inside out to capitalise on the success of their FFSS arms and cartridges by producing the Stereo Decola. It was indeed a fabulous thing.....and it cost about the same as a new family car in 1959! It was supposed to be released in 1958 but there were teething problems.
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Old 14th Aug 2018, 8:39 pm   #10
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

As Ted says there was a dual inventory until 1970 or so. From the teenage consumer point of view the period 67/68 was when we began to focus on stereo. The helpful chap in a rather up-market dealership advised us to buy our LP's in stereo and preserve them by fitting a compatible cartridge [eg the GP91]. If anyone had mentioned there was Stereo in the 1950's I don't think we would have believed it as we were the "modern" generation!

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Old 14th Aug 2018, 11:14 pm   #11
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

My earliest memory of a stereo anything must have been about 1960. On a family visit to one of mum's cousins we were shown into a front room and a record played. The player was the usual box on four spindly diverging legs but there was a second box and there were sounds coming out of both. Can't remember noticing anything about the sound. I was rather fascinated by the eggbox type speaker grilles on both boxes... I think it must have been a Deccalian. I think George must have spent rather a lot of money on it for the time and by our family's scale of things.

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Old 16th Aug 2018, 7:11 pm   #12
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

I remember the first Stereo Radiogram being delivered to the shop I worked in during my apprenticeship, it would have been around 1958, it was the first for the Town (Tenby) and the boss invited in many locals to hear the first Stereophonic demonstration, we had a test record which was great fun.
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Old 16th Aug 2018, 8:08 pm   #13
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

Some of the earliest commercially available incarnations were the EMI/Capitol (ECL83s) 3 piece unit and the Decca Stereogram with 2 satellite speakers from the Autumn of 1958. At Pye we followed with a 3 piece unit using the BSR UA12 ("Designed for Stereo") autochanger and 2 wall hanging, curly edged, baffle speakers.
Maybe a topic for another Thread, but Pye did a lot of experimental protoypes of "Curly" speaker designs, which when viewed from the top resembled a garden maze. Fiendishly complex, they never made it into production. I may be the last person still living to have ever seen these.....
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Old 16th Aug 2018, 9:14 pm   #14
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

I have one of those Decca Stereograms (SG188) very nice it is too. And I am fairly sure I have had a Pye stereo pass through with curly ended wall-hanging speakers. Did some version of them make it into production?
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Old 16th Aug 2018, 9:39 pm   #15
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

As a lad of 16 in 1958 I started my stereo systems with 2 Cossor kits. They were a mono amp PCB with an EL84 output with a generous sized transformer, EF86 and EZ80 on the board. Seperate mains transformers. Came complete with a 10" x 6" speaker and a 3" tweeter. Made the speaker boxes and it sounded great. The hardest part was getting a stereo cartridge for which I scoured the shops of London one Saturday. Next move, later that year, was a Decca SRG 300 with the satellite speakers. The bass was superb for that era as it was a transmission line design housed withing the bottom of the substantial cabinet. The satellite speakers gave a good sound and enhanced the stereo effect by having a good distance between them. Those were the days. By 1959 I had about 25 Stereo LP's. Probably most of those issued at the time. Still have most of them and often play them on my Hi-Fi.
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Old 16th Aug 2018, 9:49 pm   #16
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

I must have had one of the earliest Transistor Stereo Record Players -the E.A.R. 'Autobat', which had a second amplifier & speaker in a separate cabinet. This coupled to the record player via a length of cable terminated in Phono Plugs. Both the record player and the 'add-on' amplifier used 6 x 'D' cells ('U2' batteries as they were called back then). The 'Autobat' dates from around 1962, and would have cost maybe £30 (around £1000 in today's money). Needless to say it was bought on H.P. - I still have the payment card somewhere. If anyone's wondering why i had a battery-operated stereo record player, the answer's simple. Until mid 1966 I live in an old house with no mains electricity supply.
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Old 17th Aug 2018, 9:26 am   #17
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

My first stereo system was assmbled in Aug 1958. Collaro "Transcription Turntable" / Garrard TPA10 pickup arm / Ronnette ceramic cartridge / Pamphonic single chassis stereo amp / Pair of WB 10" Stentorian full range speakers in home constructed reflex enclosures.
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Old 17th Aug 2018, 10:04 am   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RojDW48 View Post
. And I am fairly sure I have had a Pye stereo pass through with curly ended wall-hanging speakers. Did some version of them make it into production?
Yes, this was the only version, of many prototypes, that made it to production.
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Old 17th Aug 2018, 6:11 pm   #19
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

Post 15 talks of pcb fittted with an EL84. My very first experience of dealing with a faulty pcb was in a beautiful Wood Cabinet Radiogram. The customer complained of one speaker not working and a funny smell. Upon inspection the pcb was black around the base of the valve holder. We had to order a new pcb the faulty one was beyond repair.
Cheers
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Old 17th Aug 2018, 7:53 pm   #20
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Default Re: 1950s Stereo Systems

Beyond repair is just a starting point here!
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