Dad Story

[Grav]

My Dad was a huge classical music fan. In 1947, he saw a demo of the new LP format and sold all his old 78s to his friends, making more than enough to buy LP replacements. By the time I came along and heard the story, I didn't pay attention to the underlying lesson: he liked to win.

In 1967, he had a new Phillips console that we were forbidden from using to play our rock ‘n’ roll records. Instead, they bought me a GE Mustang and packed me away to school, motivating me to get a summer job the next year. I saved up $450, marched into Sam Goody’s, and bought my first love (see sig.) He was ripped.

When I got home for the holidays, three months later, my Dad couldn’t wait to show me his brand new Dual TT, Sherwood receiver, and Large Advents. You could tell he had been looking forward to it for a while.

Things continued to escalate. I bought a pre-owned MA230/MR67, and he bought Marantz. I bought JBL and he bought Scott. I went to college and was forbidden to take my system. (He turned out to be right…everything would have been ruined or stolen.)

My Dad passed away more modestly, with an HK receiver, Bose speakers and a Sony CD player. Still playing his classical music, though.

I just wish I had all those old 78s today…

 

[mhjmhjones]

My dad don't do much right, but he did have a kickass stereo and music collection. One good thing I got from him was an appreciation for music and good sound. Since his stroke, I'm not sure how much activity his enormous Klipsch speakers are getting these days. I know his Thorens TT is out of operation in need of repair and he replaced his Carver receiver with a Denon. I hope there is some music there still.

 

[nedseg]

Nice elegy's = respect.
My dad didn't have the music interest (except cowboy music); that was mostly my mom.
But he did like building cabinets similar to some of the Nelson designs (he was an architect), not that he did a particularly good job of it. (Typical architect...if it looked good from 10' it was 'done'.)
Sort of MCM console variants, but with separate boxes for LPs, 'lectronics, speakers, TT on top (compromise), with masonite sliding doors and hand hammered bent aluminum 'knobs', which were always falling off
His last purchase was new (early 90s) sherwood or similar, don't recall which speakers. I could never get him to spend 'up' to JBLs (KLHs maybe?). Also one of his (and mine) last purchases from the great pro audio dealer we had in town then.

Interestingly, his taste for 'hidden' audio was passed on to my brother (not me) who spent considerable effort shoe-horning a 50" HD sony TV - mounted on one of those Blum lift door mechanisms(!) to raise it up from within his room/divider counter/cabinet, along with (also hidden) electronics and L100s. Nice stereo that 'does tricks' visually. Very slick, and exremely well built.

I think I inherited my mom's taste for music and missed the 'hide everything away in sharp-cornered shin-poking furniture cabinets' gene.
Point is, we all inherit so much more from our parents than we think, and it takes decades to begin to appreciate it, so pass on the thankses for that while they are still around.
I didn't have the chance to, for the most part.
Thanks for the great remembrances!

 

[KingBubba]

I was in the mid twenties when I discovered that I was my parents. I saw all their aspects in myself. I had my father's practicality and my mother's alcoholism. My father's idea of good sound was his transistor radio and his clock/radio. He did, however, buy a nice Zenith console for the downstairs rec room, for us kids to use and it really got used.

 

[HTWillie]

I just wish I had all those old 78s today…

I have a bunch of my grandmother's 78s with no way to listen to them yet. I also have her much newer piece of crap all-in-one from the early 1970s which I haven't the heart to throw away yet.

Also I have my other grandmother's stand up Crosley radio which I'll get working sometime, hopefully before AM radio disappears entirely.

But the big prize is my dad's gear from the early 1970s he got while stationed in Taiwan. 2x quad RTRs, a massive Pioneer Quad receiver, and Dual turntable, all in a giant custom built teak cabinet. I never cared for the speakers he had with the system, so they're still around my mom's house somewhere.

 

[jrtrent]

. . . My Dad passed away more modestly, with an HK receiver, Bose speakers and a Sony CD player. Still playing his classical music, though.

Nice story about the hifi escalation. I'm curious, though, if your dad felt that the more modest system he had at the end was a sonic compromise for him, or if he found it to sound just as satisfying, or perhaps more satisfying, than his previous systems. My parents also somewhat "downgraded" (that is, went from brands like NAD and Linn to Onkyo and Bose) with their last music systems, but seemed to enjoy music as much or more than ever (classical for Mom, big band for Dad). I'm also on a bit of a downward path as I get older, but not finding it a detriment to musical enjoyment.

 

[Grav]

Nice story about the hifi escalation. I'm curious, though, if your dad felt that the more modest system he had at the end was a sonic compromise for him, or if he found it to sound just as satisfying, or perhaps more satisfying, than his previous systems. My parents also somewhat "downgraded" (that is, went from brands like NAD and Linn to Onkyo and Bose) with their last music systems, but seemed to enjoy music as much or more than ever (classical for Mom, big band for Dad). I'm also on a bit of a downward path as I get older, but not finding it a detriment to musical enjoyment.

Tough to say since he had lost 70% of his hearing and had moved from a house to a one bedroom apartment in a retirement community. But he thoroughly enjoyed coming to our house and listening to our system!

 

[Mister Pig]

Great story and welcome to AK!

Dad passed last year, and I do miss him. He was not a music person, but the center of his world was his family. He loved gardening and taking care of the yard and working on home projects. Mom was the center of his world.

Our parents aren't perfect, we aren't perfect as parents ourselves. The thing to remember is most do the best they are capable of with what they got. Remember the good times, as that is the bedrock of our relationships.

Regards
Mister Pig

 

[mprince]

Nice story! My dad was also very into hi-fi when I was growing up, there was a dedicated room in the house with a reel-to-reel, AR turntable, and Dynaco separates in a custom-made (by him) cabinet. Speakers were large Advents. He gifted this to my older brother when he left for college in 1978 and he went several years without a system until the mid-80's when he bought Adcom separates (GFA-545/GTP-500), a TOTL Nakamichi CD player and TOTL Allison CD-9 speakers (the Allison factory was only a few miles from our house). I bought my Adcom amp specifically because it was the exact same one he had.

Now his "system" is a desktop computer and a set of generic computer speakers, he streams radio all day on it and still enjoys it at 82. He also got into HT for awhile (in fact he recently gave me his Sony/Boston Acoustics system as he bought a 65" 4K set and a soundbar to match). He is happy with it which is the most important thing, in his words he just enjoys the sound now (and less about getting gear).

He and my Mom moved from our childhood home to a smaller, more manageable condo in 2014 and that started his downsizing. I was shocked when I asked what he did with his Adcom/Nakamichi/Allison system when he moved and he told me he left it behind for the new owner because he couldn't even give it away. While he and I have always shared interest in HiFi (he helped me a lot when I got out of college in the 80's, got a job and had money to spend ), he wasn't aware that I was still interested.

I saw a nice pair of CD-9's on my local CL the other day for a song, I almost pulled the trigger in honor of my Dad, but I don't think my wife would understand (and I really don't have a good room to put them in)...

 

[Dr Tinear]

My dad was also a classical music fan. He grew up in Chicago and used to attend orchestra concerts as often as possible, sitting in the nosebleed section of Orchestra Hall to save money on tickets. Frederick Stock was the CSO's conductor in those days, and Dad often shared his opinion that Stock was a major talent who deserved a bigger reputation than history gave him. Years later, when I added some Stock/CSO records to my 78 collection, I learned that Dad was right.

Dad's record collection was modest, but it had a few treasures that helped get me hooked on classical music. He didn't have a fancy stereo; until the mid-1970s, his playback system was a Wards Airline console from around 1950, with a V-M changer, a tubed radio and amp chassis built by Wells-Gardner for Wards, and a single electrodynamic speaker. It wasn't even close to hi-fi, and it didn't get replaced because Mom and Dad felt that musical instruments and music lessons for the kids were a higher priority than a fancy stereo for themselves. When I upgraded from my first stereo to better gear around 1977, Dad took over my old Realistic receiver and Jensen 17 speakers, and I bought my parents a Garrard Zero 92 changer with an Empire cartridge so they could listen to records in stereo. That was my dad's first 2-channel system, and I think it gave him a lot of musical enjoyment.

 

[slow_jazz]

We had one of those console stereo's and my dad was a big Sinatra fan/Big band always playing their music.

He would just listen to the same music never changing. He did embrace the cd buying the same music on cd.

He wasn't much into high end stereo equipment but he was always playing music.

 

[toxcrusadr]

I often wonder what my dad would think if he could see my stereo now. He came up through radio (Navy) and got tube gear in the 50s-60s. Always hi-fi in our house. He never bought the top of the line much though. The stuff he couldn't (wouldn't) afford in the 70s-80s is my main system now, at much lower prices. I think he would like it.

Re: classical 78s, talk about a medium that goes begging at estate and garage sales! They should be pennies per pound if you can find them.

 

[sarpilot]

Great story and welcome to AK!

Dad passed last year, and I do miss him. He was not a music person, but the center of his world was his family. He loved gardening and taking care of the yard and working on home projects. Mom was the center of his world.

Our parents aren't perfect, we aren't perfect as parents ourselves. The thing to remember is most do the best they are capable of with what they got. Remember the good times, as that is the bedrock of our relationships.

Regards
Mister Pig

Well said Mr Pig!

 

[jdurbin1]

My dad was also a die-hard classical music collector, with a major interest in opera in later years. We had a Packard Bell console in the mid-60's which didn't stay with us too long due to Navy moves but was in the picture long enough to do some fairly major damage (wear) to some of the baroque and classical period LP's I grew up hearing in the house. By the time he passed, he had been accumulating new LP's and boxed sets - particularly operatic music - at such a pace that he couldn't get through them as quickly as they arrived so many of them are still sealed. Fortunately, the ones he did get to enjoy were being played on a little Technics linear drive TT that was much gentler than the Garrard in the console had been.

I've kept that entire collection but have yet to come around to appreciating the operatic stuff vs. the baroque/classic period music, so there are a bunch of boxes of unopened opera LP's on a pallet in the garage.

John

 

[Jim Marantz]

My dad was always, and still is into hi-fi. It's the only thing we have in common and forms the basis of our relationship. I got very into Dynaco stuff because I always liked the look of his ST-70 he'd drag out of the basement every now and then when I was a kid in the 80s. I'm a builder and fixer by nature so the line up fit me perfectly. My Marantz fetish camefrom watching the meters on his old tape deck.
Now he has a nice Pioneer multi-channel integrated and loves the digital format though we argue every now and again about phono styli.

 

[Lavane]

Funny thing is I'm that "dad" now. I always had a decent system in the house and music was played often. Now im passing along to my kids some restored Mostly Marantz equipment from my stacks. One of my sons regularly calls for trips to record stores and guitar shops. He has my old record collection that I gave him about 9 years ago as I was more into CD's at the time. Now I have a new turn table and a new collection of records that is growing. Another of my sons is moving back home soon and I have a nice system waiting for him. Im just glad im still around to enjoy it all with them.