thedelihaus
Nocturnal transmissions
I think there was also a mail order bride company called Orange Blossoms that put out a catalog- unfortunately not Hi-fi, but forgien wives. Am I correct?
Mail Order HiFi back in the Day.... Where'd ya Buy?
- Thread starter bowtie427ss
- Start date
mhardy6647
Lunatic Member
uhh, I don't have one of those handy, Paul...
Brian
An Old Geezer
My 1st position with Cramer Electronics in the late '60s was as the head of their Campus Rep program. We had some 400 school reps we sold to at the height of the program. Only a few brands did we restrict from sale such as McIntosh. They also had a mail order division but it really was not as successful. Eventually the 2 merged.
OvenMaster
Baby, you're my winterblue
Illinois Audio got my money: two Empire phono carts (66EX, 2000 E/III) and a pair of Koss HV/1A headphones. Everything else was bought face-to-face at either Fred Locke Stereo (the Dual) or a local chain called The Sound Company (everything else).
thedelihaus
Nocturnal transmissions
mhardy6647 said:
I'm not suprised you don't have one of those, but am suprised you don't have a DAK catalogue...
for what it's worth, the Orange blossoms Mail Order Bride deal is actually Cherry blossoms.
I remember coming across a catalogue at a friend of the family's house, cannot recall whom, and being kind of confused. I had to be 10 or so, at the time, and was more interested in ordering Legos or X-ray specs or decoder rings than- YUCK!- girls!!!:thumbsdn:
shstrang
Vivien's Daddy
I bought a Kenwood 80watt/side int amp back in '83 and a pair of Sennheiser hd 410's from STereo Discounters in '84.
Blank cassettes from WDS. Aiwa AD-F 810 from American Stereo. Marantz CDR 615 and Sony DAT recorder from Full Compass Systems.
I used to love those old discount stereo catalogs from Illinois, WDS, STereo discounters, etc.
Blank cassettes from WDS. Aiwa AD-F 810 from American Stereo. Marantz CDR 615 and Sony DAT recorder from Full Compass Systems.
I used to love those old discount stereo catalogs from Illinois, WDS, STereo discounters, etc.
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
I bought my first system at Dixie Hi-Fi in Rockville, MD. That chain of supply houses later became Circuit City. It was worth the drive as the discount was sweet and the shipping companies did not need to handle the stuff, although they damaged less in those days based on my experience.
bloodrock
Active Member
Mail order where'd ya buy
Back in the 70's things for me were so much different than today. I remember that you could fine up to 10-15 audio stores within a 20 mile radius around the seattle area. There was one store in particular called Stereoland in Burien (10 miles south of Seattle) that in this case, the owner would "let" you take home pieces of equipment that you might be interested in buying. I remember that he carried Marantz JBL McIntosh Yamaha Phase Linear and others. There was no deposit of money, more times then not, no asking of ID and a period of a week or more to make a decision of what item you wanted. I know that this was in my case, and cant speak for all of his potential customers. There were other dealers back then who were not as "loose" with their equipment, but i just remember when you could walk in, they would know you by name, adjust your turntable on the spot, or just BS all day if you wanted. I know that this doesnt have anything to do with Mail-Order, but with dealers like these, there was never a need. To bad Stereoland after opening 2 more stores, went out of business Pacific Stereo and the others either were bought out ie: Magnolia Hi-Fi, or just disappeared:tears:
Back in the 70's things for me were so much different than today. I remember that you could fine up to 10-15 audio stores within a 20 mile radius around the seattle area. There was one store in particular called Stereoland in Burien (10 miles south of Seattle) that in this case, the owner would "let" you take home pieces of equipment that you might be interested in buying. I remember that he carried Marantz JBL McIntosh Yamaha Phase Linear and others. There was no deposit of money, more times then not, no asking of ID and a period of a week or more to make a decision of what item you wanted. I know that this was in my case, and cant speak for all of his potential customers. There were other dealers back then who were not as "loose" with their equipment, but i just remember when you could walk in, they would know you by name, adjust your turntable on the spot, or just BS all day if you wanted. I know that this doesnt have anything to do with Mail-Order, but with dealers like these, there was never a need. To bad Stereoland after opening 2 more stores, went out of business Pacific Stereo and the others either were bought out ie: Magnolia Hi-Fi, or just disappeared:tears:
FoolForARadio
Super Member
I bought a JVC RS-11 from Wisconsin Discount Stereo in about 1980, then an Akai tape deck, and a couple of turntables. I loved that company!
thedelihaus said:
DAK really was more of a cheap, close out dealer selling schlocky stuff, than a seller or anything most of us would buy, right??
BSR Thunder Lizards anyone.............
Wasn't it the initials of it's Ron Popeil like owner/operator, Drew Alan Kaplan?????
Yep, it was and still is: DAK
SpeakerLabFan
< speakerlab 7's
mhardy6647 said:
Yep, I ordered a Sansui AU-717 integrated amp by mail order from Warehouse Sound back in 1977. Still have the Sansui owners manual here but the original invoice is buried in some drawer. I was upgrading from a raw sounding Kenwood 40 WPC integrated amp (raw sounding compared to the AU-717).
That was an exciting day, Christmas in June, when the UPS truck showed up in the driveway... :yes: :yes: :yes:
justw
Well-Known Member
I never bought from WDS but I used their price quotes. Stereo Lab and a local store Swallen's would without fail match their price or better and there was not shipping! 
They did have great prices though and if they weren't matched I would have ordered from them. I did buy a little from J&R.
They did have great prices though and if they weren't matched I would have ordered from them. I did buy a little from J&R.
Paul C
Super Member
Back in the mid 80's, I think, my mothers old console hi fi (wasn't even stereo) finally quit for good. She said, "Paul, you know about stereo stuff. I've always wanted a good stereo set. Here's $500, you know what I need. I want FM and a turntable. This will get you started, and when you need more, let me know."
I orders from Wisconsin Discount Stereo, which came highly recommended. I remember they were very professional on the phone, made some good suggestions.
A few weeks later I went to visit my parents. I popped the trunk and started carrying in boxes.
"What's this?"
"Your new stereo gear."
"What else do you need to buy? How much more money do you need."
"I don't need anything, but I spent all of your $500."
"Yeah, but I wanted a turntable. I have lots of records."
"Yeah, Mom, a Technics turntable, a Shure cartridge. Good stuff."
"But I need to get some speakers, too."
"Yeah, that box... Boston Acoustics. That's a very good brand." (I forgot the model, had 8" woofer and I think a small cone tweeter.)
"And this is an Onkyo receiver, 30 w/ch. And this box has a cassette deck. Everything you wanted. $498.00. Here's your change."
I gave her $2 back.
She STILL has that gear. And I put new woofers in the speakers a while back.
I orders from Wisconsin Discount Stereo, which came highly recommended. I remember they were very professional on the phone, made some good suggestions.
A few weeks later I went to visit my parents. I popped the trunk and started carrying in boxes.
"What's this?"
"Your new stereo gear."
"What else do you need to buy? How much more money do you need."
"I don't need anything, but I spent all of your $500."
"Yeah, but I wanted a turntable. I have lots of records."
"Yeah, Mom, a Technics turntable, a Shure cartridge. Good stuff."
"But I need to get some speakers, too."
"Yeah, that box... Boston Acoustics. That's a very good brand." (I forgot the model, had 8" woofer and I think a small cone tweeter.)
"And this is an Onkyo receiver, 30 w/ch. And this box has a cassette deck. Everything you wanted. $498.00. Here's your change."
I gave her $2 back.
She STILL has that gear. And I put new woofers in the speakers a while back.
runpaulrun
Member
Anyone remember "Fair Trade Laws"? I believe in some states (Pennsylvania included) the manufacturers were allowed to set the prices that dealers had to charge. I remember several road trips to Maryland to get stuff discounted because they had Fair Trade Laws which allowed dealers to charge what they wanted. Got a nice AR XA TT that way. Sadly it's long gone.
This was the late 60's or early 70's.
Paul
This was the late 60's or early 70's.
Paul
uriah Heep
Active Member
SpeakerLabFan said:
This thread brings back great memories for me as well. In 1975 I bought a sansui 771, BIC 940 and a pair of Altec Model 7's for right around $750 delivered from CA to WI. I still remember taking my hard earned $ to get money orders. Stuck them in the mail and hoped all would go well. At the same time my brother bought A pioneer 727, a BIC 960 and a pair of JBL 36's also from warehouse sound for about $25 more. We still debate who had the better system!
Uriah
SpeakerLabFan
< speakerlab 7's
uriah Heep said:
Heh - my brother and I still have the one-upsmanship going on with our stereos. Back then I think he bought local and didn't get as much for the $$ he spent. I liked my Sansui AU-717 + Speakerlab 6's over his Technics 100 WPC integrated amp + Speakerlab 1's. Our parents weren't particularly happy with either system.
tentoze
Twangophile
My memory is hazy with age, but did WDS have an advert in the back of Stereo Review every month? If so, I bought 2 Denon DRM-30HX cassette decks (1st one got stolen and I liked it well enough to buy it again), and a DCD-1700 cd player from them. The cd player came with Brothers In Arms in the tray.
bowtie427ss
Lunatic Member
Absolutely!
Little, more or less business card size ads that could be stuck in a column anywhere thru the mags. Another poster has jogged my memory of IA ads (Illinois Audio) they advertised in a very similar way.
I haven't seen one of those ads in at least 15 years or more, but i still have the 1-800 number in memory.................. shows just how deep this illness can run!