Paul Rogers...

and half the hot guitar players in England.

Images propagate.

I have no idea, but I'd bet that the artist who created the amazing turntable piece that I posted last week either never saw, or can't remember ever seeing, the inside cover of Jethro Tulls 'Songs from The Wood' album from 1977.

On Thursday Seventies Stereo reached 500,000 hits.

Please comment ASAP. Can I use teak oil in salad dressing or do I have to go to the market?

This is amazing.

I don't put video on the is blog, partly because I don't watch a lot, but this blew me away.
Description from Stimulant:
We all know that you can tell how old a tree is by counting the rings inside its trunk. But Munich-born artist Bartholomäus Traubeck has taken this practice several steps further, creating a one-of-a-kind record player that analyzes the rings’ strength, thickness and rate of growth, converting that data into piano music.

YEARS from Bartholomäus Traubeck on Vimeo.

B&O Beovox 3702 photos.

I refoamed these yesterday afternoon, then gave a light sand. There are some rings that I can't completely remove, but all in all they look pretty good. They were designed in 1972 by Jacob Jensen, a Danish industrial design god, who pioneered Bang & Olufsens signature look. These were the smallest 3 way systems in the range.

The midrange drivers look like toys...they absolutely aren't (the tweeters are Philips, I don't know about the mids or woofers, which aren't marked). These speakers are fine and mellow.

Just arrived. B&O Beovox 3702 speakers.

These are vintage 1972 3 way, 8 inch speakers. Here is some information. My pair is in teak. I'm refoaming them now, will report soon.

This is my thousandth post.

It's family day in Ontario.

In Saskatchewan and Alberta too.

Just arrived KEF 104s, BIC 980 Turntable.

Here are a couple of shots of the BIC (British Insustries Company) 980 turntable.

Weekend Update.

A lot of speakers have left recently:
The B&W DM2s will be missed. One of the best I've had here.
The uber cool Sansui SF-2s left this morning. They'll be singing with the new owners Marantz separates.
The PSB Passif 1s left last weekend, as did the Realistic Mach One 4029s.

I've been listening mostly to the Mission 770 Freedom Vs, and am actively searching for the next speaker project(s).

This is so good.

Technics by Panasonic SU-8080 photos.

Updated Sunday:
This amp is really growing on me, visually and sonically.

I'm very happy to have this beautiful (to me) amp back after 2 trips for service. It delivers a very strong 72 watts/channel into 8 ohms, 90/channel into 4 ohms, and sounds great.

PSB Passif 2 Speakers.

This is one of Paul Bartons early designs, refined using the anechoic chamber and test equipment at the National Research Council Lab in Ottawa.

They used a common Philips 8 woofer, but one was blown when I got the speakers. I've upgraded them with what look like the same Philips woofers, but with much bigger magnets, and squiggles of black toothpaste on the cones. They're actually hand calibrated versions, a matched pair intended use in a pair of Wilson Audio WATT speakers, highly respected audiophile speakers costing thousands of dollars a pair. I've never heard them, but know that Dave Wilson, who was an early reviewer at The Absolute Sound magazine, could've chosen many excellent woofers, and chose these.

They aren't going to be exploited to their fullest in the Passif 2s, but the system does sound great...as good as any I've heard that use the same classic Philips tweeter.

B&W DM2 photos.

I rebuilt 3 corners,sanded, oiled, touched up, painted the backs, redid the grills, repainted the badges, and now they look almost as good as they sound.

Realistic Mach One 4029 photo.

This is the second iteration of one of the iconic macho speakers of the seventies. The original Mach One was catalogue number 4024. It looks the same, except that six screws hold the horn tweeter/mid/high frequency adjustment panel, rather than ten, as in the 4024. The 4024s fifteen inch woofer had a lifetime rubber surround, where the 4029 has a foam surround that rots. I just finished refoaming the woofers. This is my third pair of Mach Ones, but my first 4029s. The woofers were easy to refoam, but slow. They speakers sound better than I remember, are awesome for dance and reggae, and I think the 4029 has even better bass than the 4024.

Horn loaded speakers aren't usually my thing, but it's easy to see what the fuss was about.

B&W DM2 Sneek Peek.

I have to do a bit more touching up, and the grill cloth, which I thought was ok, isn't, and will have to be replaced. I wanted to show you how the stripping sanding and oiling worked out, and will have them all finished soon. They're sounding great with the Technics SU-8080.
This is the before picture of the tops:

Wednesday Update.

The Technics SU-8080 is back and healthy. The phono stage is a revelation.

Just arrived PSB Passif Twos, Realistic Mach Ones (4029).

Monday Update.

I got the B&W DM2s stripped and sanded today. I had a couple of dented corners to rebuild, which are setting now, and they should be looking good by tomorrow.

The speakers continue to impress with their overall musicality and solid bass response.

Just arrived. B&W DM2s!

Updated: These speakers are awesome.

These sound great, but are a mess.
This is going to be fun!
Here's an excellent description and review from Gramophone Magazine in 1972 when the DM2s were released.

This is perfect.

From the White Rock Blues Society website:

Craigslist Ad:

We are a small & casual restaurant in downtown Vancouver and we are looking for solo musicians to play in our restaurant to promote their work and sell their CD. This is not a daily job, but only for special events which will eventually turn into a nightly event if we get positive response. More Jazz, Rock, & smooth type music, around the world and mixed cultural music. Are you interested to promote your work? Please reply back ASAP.


A Musician's Reply:

Happy New Year! I am a musician with a big house looking for a restaurateur to come to my house to promote his/her restaurant by making dinner for me and my friends. This is not a daily job, but only for special events which will eventually turn into a nightly event if we get a positive response. More fine dining & exotic meals and mixed Ethnic Fusion cuisine.
Are you interested to promote your restaurant? Please reply back ASAP.

Friday Update.

Happy Friday. I'm sorry that I haven't updated the blog since Tuesday. One of you, between when I went to sleep and when I woke up, was the 450,000th viewer of Seventies Stereo. The blog has been averaging over a thousand hits a day for a couple of months now, with a peak of 1,461 earlier this month. Thank you for visiting.

Just arrived. Another cool amplifier.

I know, I said I had my go to amp. I planned to just concentrate on speakers, which for me is the really fun part. The Rega P1 with Grado Black phono cartridge is working nicely me right now, and I've been enjoying more vinyl lately.

I've aquired a brand new, never used, high output moving coil cartridge, manufactured in Japan in 1975, and highly, highly recommended by someone I trust & respect. He could've settled on any cartridge at almost any price (and has owned some amazing ones), but bought 2 of them. I'll tell you about it when it's installed.

Anyways, when I read about this beautiful amp on this Vintage Knob page, I was really anxious. It seems positioned as competitor to the wonderful dual mono Sansui AU-717.

As for the Technics, I'll tell you more when I get it sorted out...it was really dirty when I got it (layer of pet hair all over the interior), but has cleaned up beautifully. I had it sounding strong and transparent through both channels, with digital and vinyl, but the direct/tone control switch is messed up. It played at half volume direct, but sounded amazing with tone controls in, now not playing either way. I'm pretty confident that one switch is my whole problem, and will investigate further soon. This is am amazingly well built amp, with huge potential.

My Marantz 1152DC is back.

And it sounds fantastic again.

Sansui SF-2 photos.

Updated: They sound pretty nice. They are clearly vintage speakers, a little soft in the high end, tonally warm and musical. Their sins (and ALL speakers have them) are of omission. They don't image like conventional speakers, but produce a diffuse soundfield that fills the room with music, but won't tell you who's where on 'stage'.

If their style appeals to you (and it's been growing on me...I think they're funky), you should consider them. If you're thinking about KLH, AR, Rectilinear, Advent or speakers of similar vintage, you may find them ideal.

Cerwin Vega 24 pictures.

I refoamed these last night. They really are a californian Sound Dynamics 100s (port in rear).

Realistic Minimus 11s

These arrived yesterday. They are about three times the volume of the Minimus 7, and much better, to my ears.

Numbers.

Last month was the second in a row in which Seventies Stereo averaged over a thousand hits a day. So far this month, the average is over twelve hundred (the high so far has been has been 1,461)! Thank you. I've been swamped by my day job these past two weeks, and hope the updates can/will become more frequent again soon.

Just arrived. Cerwin Vega 24. Realistic Minimus 11.

Pictures soon.
Updated. First picture.

Nineties Mission 760i speakers with seventies look wood.

Sunday Update.

A few bunch of speakers have left to excellent new homes in the past couple of weeks.

The Yamaha NS690s left for the north of the city on New Years Eve. They are fantastic speakers, among the best I've had here.

The latest JBL L26s left with the Avid 100s for a good home on Friday, to be driven by the Marantz 1060.

Update: I never told you about the Avids. Avid was a Rhode Island based speaker manufacturer in the 70s. It made products in the vein of, and competetive with Advent, AR, Rectilinear, EPI etc. The 100 is a well built 2 way, 8 inch, sealed system, with rubber woofer surrounds and phenolic ring tweeters. They sounded very nice, not as sweet and extended in the highs as EPI 100s, but nice.

I've been really enjoying the Sansui AU-888 (the Marantz 1152DC will be back in a day), driving the Mission 770 Freedom Vs or JBL L16s.