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Mail Order HiFi back in the Day.... Where'd ya Buy?

I used to get some stuff from Stereo Discounters, both by mail and from the store they had in King of Prussia, PA. There was somebody else I bought stuff from that was based in Brooklyn, but for the life of me I can't remember their name.:scratch2:
 
turnitup said:
This is an OLD thread, but a fun one…

Growing up in western Kansas it was mail-order or nothing. I'll never forget getting my Kenwood KR-5600, Dual 1228, and my Pioneer CS 99A's from Wisconsin Discount Stereo in 1976 – oh yeah and my big ugly khaki-green Koss headphones. The speakers were so damn heavy they had to be shipped by train. The house was never the same again, and all of my friends were JEALOUS! I started the stereo wars with all of my buddies. Worked during high school and spent ALL of my money on stereo equipment, records, and gas (at .29 a gallon) - great memories. Incredible audio equipment availability, amazing bands and music, and not a care in the world!

Same here especially the stereo wars part:music: But I didn't live in Kansas just listened to em a lot.
Click to expand...
 
I was just thinking about how nice it would be to have the old "Audio Mart" publication in circulation. Back then you did business by phone and regular mail. It was a league of gentleman audiophiles in an equipment trading venue, and honour was held in high regard. Most deals were done WITHOUT PICTURES of the equipment, just brief black and white text descriptions on newsprint type paper. No neurotics obsessively writing incessantly thrice daily and few inconsequential anonymous "safely hide behind a computer screen" type enquiries (the internet wasn't around yet). If someone had to spend a mere $1.00 on a phone call enquiring about an ad (a surprisingly useful pre-qualifier) the motivation to fulfill a transaction was usually there.
 
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I got one of those neat BSR equalizers from DAK back in the 80's somewhere, I loved those catalogs! Most of my other stuff came from stores on Long Island like the Wiz (which became circuit city), Crazy Eddies, or Newmark & Lewis.
 
Allied Radio, Knight kits back in the 50s. Burnstein Applebee or something like that too. Back then you saved money for six months to buy a piece of equipment. I remember when DAK had a closeout on scanners that would pick up cell phones, analog at the time. Scanner was soon to be illegal, sure was an interesting idea though.
 
I'm pretty sure that I got my gear from Stereo Discounters. The speakers came directly from Speakerlab. Man it was fun setting up that first system in my dorm room.
 
I am surprised that Allied Radio wasn't mentioned more in this thread. They carried just about every major name brand under the sun. Their store on Western Av. in Chicago was HiFi heaven! I bought a Robert's R2R and a Wollensak R2R from them.
They have the gamut of services from sales to a large service department, etc.
One could get lost in that place on a Saturday afternoon. And their catalog could rival the one from Wards!
 
1977 - my first real stereo from Wisconsin Discount. Techbics receiver and cassette, Sony turntable, Empire cartridge. Speakers I got used from my neighbor.

In the 80's I bought a BSR equalizer and huge DBX unpowered subwoofer from DAK.
 
Stereo Discounters in DC, but I picked it up.
Regards,
Jim
 
Found an old receipt in my papers. I bought some gear from the "Stereo Corporation of America" in Brooklyn.
 
Sure is fun to see some of that 70's advertising.
I keep hoping to stumble upon a box of those old catalogs someday.
*sigh*
BG
 
Old thread I know, but great topic...
Used to buy my "bricks" of Maxell UDXL-II cassette tapes from Wisconsin Discount Stereo. Mail order was the way back in the day...
 
I would buy drivers and other parts from McGee Radio in Kansas City. Sadly, they went out of business many years ago. I'm still using Peerless tweeters I got from them 30 years ago in my studio monitors.

Cheers,

Otto
 
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