1978 Apartment in VA Beach - The "Stereo"!!

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JonUrban

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We've been "de-cluttering" the house. Been here 35 years and as you can imagine, there are piles of stuff from way back when that we'd forgotten we had so we're giving stuff away and throwing stuff out. Anyway, my wife found a pile of pictures from my illustrious Navy career and in that pile was this photo from 1978 of my pride and joy "stereo".

I honestly don't remember what the Q8 or cassette player models are, but you can obviously see my QRX-999 and the AKAI GX-630D-SS, a TEAC box that I forget what it is for(!), along with a few pre-recorded Q4's, some nice "new" Q8's in their proper sleeves, along with some quad headphones, a Shure microphone (for recording quitar so I could accompany myself using the sound on sound of the AKAI), my Discwasher kit (a must have back then), and the requisite Othello game on the table to play while enjoying the surround tunes.

Oh, and how about that high-tech shelf unit from Woolco! LOL

Yes, it's a 40+ year flashback to a VERY simpler time.

VA Beach 1978.jpg
 
By "TEAC BOX", do you mean the little one on top of the cassette deck? And, is the domed container in front of the AKAI an Empire cartridge container?

And, a candle, lower right corner, almost as much a must have as a Discwasher kit, back then.

Doug
 
By "TEAC BOX", do you mean the little one on top of the cassette deck? And, is the domed container in front of the AKAI an Empire cartridge container?

And, a candle, lower right corner, almost as much a must have as a Discwasher kit, back then.

Doug

It was a TEAC AX-10, and I can't remember why I needed it, as the AKAI allowed for sound on sound (I think)

And yes, the candle. Required of course, for the day and age. As for the domed enclosure, I don't remember what that was, maybe a clock? I never had an Empire cartridge. I remember owning a Pickering XUV-4500Q and a Shure M-24H.


teac ax-10.jpg
 
It was a TEAC AX-10, and I can't remember why I needed it, as the AKAI allowed for sound on sound (I think)

And yes, the candle. Required of course, for the day and age. As for the domed enclosure, I don't remember what that was, maybe a clock? I never had an Empire cartridge. I remember owning a Pickering XUV-4500Q and a Shure M-24H.


View attachment 63181

Would that gadget give you tape slap-back echo on your home recordings?

I remember messing around with that effect on another guy's Nakamichi cassette deck.
Something about the gap between playback and record heads made a delay?
 
I had 4 Bose 301's scattered around the room. Remember, I was on a sailor's budget. 301's were small and efficient and did the job without being very expensive or very big. They got the job done.

I don't remember what happened to them. I either sold them or gave them away at some point
 
This is awesome! I still think the Discwasher is a great tool to have to a new vinyl collector. I found a 70s one that was sealed when I started collecting and it was better and more effective than anything similar in the early 2000s.

Is it me and I'm being nostalgic or does modern kit just look boring? a lack of controls, buttons, VU meters
Nope. I feel the same way. I hate the huge black receivers with one or two knobs. They aren't a conversation piece unlike everything in this photo.
 
Does anyone recognize that little black box thing sitting on top of the cassette player next to the AX-10? I seem to recall it had 4 silver slide switches on the top of it that allowed you to move audio outputs (I think). I can't remember what it is or who made it, but I can almost picture it in my head. It had white graphics with the manufacturer and text for operation. I looked through some old catalogs and can't seem to find it, but then again, I don't recall exactly what it did.
 
I had 4 Bose 301's scattered around the room. Remember, I was on a sailor's budget. 301's were small and efficient and did the job without being very expensive or very big. They got the job done.

I don't remember what happened to them. I either sold them or gave them away at some point

Heck the sailor's budget was huge compared with the sailor's son.

My dad had the quad system from Panasonic, then in his last sea tour, he started shipping stuff from the Exchange in Sasebo and Subic Bay. My mother was mortified. I, OTOH, thought it was cool... quad Akai reel to reel, Sansui G7500, next to top of the line Akai cassette deck. I guess he didn't buy speakers there because they were too big, so he repurposed the Panasonic speakers. At that point we were in the mainland ( the exchange sucks ) and I was in college so I gave him my 2 year old Dual turntable with Stanton 681EEE cartridge ( I upgraded ).

However, in the mid 70s, the sailor's son was able to scrape enough money while in Pearl to buy a Marantz 2020B, Marantz 4Gs, Kenwood 710 TT, Kenwood 510 cassette and a Pickering 725 (?). My little stereo blew away those big watters that the sailors had... including our neighbor's Pioneer 929 with JBL L100s.

Love that Sansui look. The Navy and AF Exchanges at Pearl (main) and Hickam used to have walk in audio stores, with a separate inner sanctum to listen to the speakers. I spent lots of time in those two places.

Those where the days.

Oh, BTW, love the furniture, so 70s. Yes, we had it too. I recall you could take it apart so it was easy to move.
 
Hi TonyE,

Yes, those Exchanges and Audio Clubs in the military were amazing. I remember the first time I got off the carrier in Naples, I headed straight for the audio place only to find it just closed. Back then, the stores in Italy closed for most of the afternoon! What was up with that?

When I finally got in there it was like the kid in the candy store. I went nuts. Got my QRX-999, Shure M-24H, and some other stuff. I remember lugging that big old QRX up the fan tail of the ship, and let me tell you, that was not an easy thing to do. Good thing I was young and in shape, the box was wide and the thing weighed about 80 pounds and I schlepped it up there on my own.

Hard to imagine now
 
Hi TonyE,

Yes, those Exchanges and Audio Clubs in the military were amazing. I remember the first time I got off the carrier in Naples, I headed straight for the audio place only to find it just closed. Back then, the stores in Italy closed for most of the afternoon! What was up with that?

When I finally got in there it was like the kid in the candy store. I went nuts. Got my QRX-999, Shure M-24H, and some other stuff. I remember lugging that big old QRX up the fan tail of the ship, and let me tell you, that was not an easy thing to do. Good thing I was young and in shape, the box was wide and the thing weighed about 80 pounds and I schlepped it up there on my own.

Hard to imagine now

Europeans (not the British) take off from 1 to 4 for "lunch" which is the main meal of the day.

I'm surprised the Navy would shut it down too according the local hours, likely it was due to hiring lots of locals. In Spain that was not the case, large stores and supermarkets all stayed open all day long. Napoli is definitely a lazy place.

We were in Naples once too... but I was too young to remember the Exchange. I do remember the long spaghetti noodles (like foot and half long), the great pizza and the fact that downtown smelled like piss.

No stereo then... we had a tubed Telefunken radio... awesome. It had a lot of tuning knobs... I spent hours playing with it. I don't most of them did anything unless you had some outdoor antenna to tune to hear the instructions from Ming Of Mars to the Traitors of the Earth.
 
The Naples Audio Exchange, as I recall, wasn't run by the Navy, it was more of a joint forces deal. I don't recall the exact details, but I heard all about it so that the first day I could get off the ship I headed right for it. That was the day I got there a little after 1PM.

As for Naples, I never did any sight-seeing, but I do remember that almost everything I saw there, buildings, statues, everything, had spray painted graffiti on it (this was 1977). I would imagine it's in much better shape today.
 
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