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

Warehouse Sound Co for me too though I actually never ordered via mail as my grandparents lived in SLO. My dad bought a nice Dual/Sherwood/Electrovoice system around 73-74 then later when I was 13 I bought a Superscope all-in-one system that actually sounded quite nice. However, by 15 I had upgraded to separates. They were very cool folks, Brillo Bob et al. My mom also purchased a car stereo from Warehouse Sound and was impressed because they had a woman salesperson. Dang, a lot of great memories coming back.
 
Kenwood Audio Purist integrated amp from DAK. That I remember.

ADS L710's, SL1300, Teac tape deck from Stereo Discounters????

Seems like I also recall buying from a Baltimore mail order outfit and Dixie HiFi. The Baltimore company carried Dynaco speakers.

Did Dixie HiFi become a part of Circuit City?
 
VinylRob said:
Wisconsin Discount Stereo was one of my fav's as well.
Picked up a set of ESS Heil AMT1b's and HK PM660 from those cats for (I think I can divulge it now) about half of retail. That set us up for many years of fine Rock n' Roll.
Happy Listening! Rob :beatnik:
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WDS was a cool place to get stuff :)

Heathkit and Speaker Lab were also way cool :D
 
Poultrygeist said:
Kenwood Audio Purist integrated amp from DAK. That I remember.

ADS L710's, SL1300, Teac tape deck from Stereo Discounters????

Seems like I also recall buying from a Baltimore mail order outfit and Dixie HiFi. The Baltimore company carried Dynaco speakers.

Did Dixie HiFi become a part of Circuit City?
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Dixie HiFi was the mail order division of the Ward Company, which changed its name to Circuit City.
 
International HiFi in Baltimore sold me a powerful Sherwood receiver which was a terrible match for the HE Fraziers. I remember how the horns in those Fraziers used to give me a headache.

The Kenwood Audio Purist amp I bought from DAK was gorgeous with it's retangular knobs and glass face plate but never sounded very good with the ADS L710's. Probably the reason DAK had them and sold them so cheaply.
 
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WDS - EPI T/E 360, T/E120, spks. Salesman name, Reed. (1988)

Illinois Audio - Onkyo Integra A9180 intg. amp., Teac V700 casssette deck, AKG K340,

Stereo Discounters - Toshiba DX-7 HIFI vcr $500

DAK - EPI VCS 2000 rack/stand

Crutchfield - Sony 32" TV (1998), Jensen, JBL, Polk, car spks.

J&R - Onkyo Tx-609 receiver, JBL 12" subwoofer

I have a bunch of old brochures from all of these. Plus product brochures. Altec, Pioneer, Sansui, Tandberg, Crown, Carver, Nakamichi, Denon, etc. My favorite place was Illinois audio. They always seemed to have the best price.
 
Perhaps this'll bring back a memory...
StereoD.jpg
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Oh Man does that bring back memories! I sure remember them.
 
"Illinois Audio" was the mail order site. I bought a Dual 604 Turntable. I thought the prices were much better than the local stores. I may of bought my Phase Linear gear from them, but can't remember.
 
I bought a lot of minor stuff from Allied, Lafayette, Olson, etc. to mess around with in the sixties and early seventies but the only real HiFi equipment I bought was direct from Heathkit in 1976. They were an AA-29 integrated amplifier and BIC 980 turntable, both of which I still use and they have paid for themselves a billion times over.

Doug
 
How about buying tape from Saxitone Sound back in the 70s and 80s ...
They had a shop on 18th and Columbia Rd in Adams Morgan before it became a hipster part of town
and they did a HUGE mailorder business. When cassette tapes took off,
they opened 3 local shops, expanded too fast and went under!

Saxitone Audio-Video Closes Its Four Stores in D.C. Area; Action Surprises Suppliers, Customers - The Washington Post - October 17, 1991
 
bowtie427ss said:
Who bought via mail order back in the day?

What was your favorite place to buy from?

Where are they now?

For me it was a place originally called Wisconsin Discount Stereo, eventually changed to Wisconsin Discount Sales and abbreviated WDS. A great bunch of guys there, i bought from the same salesperson exclusively which as time passed proved quite beneficial as we got to know each other on a first name basis over the phone and the more i bought, the better my deals got.

Anybody remember this place or relate to similar experience?
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I did not buy from them, but I located a physical address for them and realized it was 50' from American TV in Madison. I used Illinois Audio, (I think that's the name) and bought a Dual TT.
 
Years ago when I didn't have two cents to rub together I had a catalogue from The Radio People of Nathan Road Kowloon Hong Kong.

How much I wished that I could travel there and bring home a shitload of stuff.
 
thedelihaus said:
What was the company/catalog that carried DBX, Polk, and Infinity?

Was it DAK?

I remember pouring over those catalogues in high school, the polypropylyne drivers of the Infinitys, the Polk reverence, the DBX trio of two sattelites and a subwoofer...

But a high school boy with girls on his mind and a Firebird in the driveway- the money went elsewhere...
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I bought the dbx subwoofer from the DAK catalog, before I was a serious 'phile (cough) in 1985. I was working at Record Exchange in St. Louis at the time. :yes:

It made a great stereo stand, and rolling table. :smoke:
 
I never thought about ordering audio gear like that back in the day. But Edmund Scientific had the best telescopes available and I did mail order their 6" Newtonian reflector kit. It was an endless, tedious job grinding the mirror and I wound up passing it on to a friend who thought he might be up to finishing the job. He never did. I only knew one person who managed to complete such a project, with a 4" reflector. In the end, I lost interest in the stars after seeing something disturbingly unexplainable in the night sky and deciding not to pursue it any further. You know, some things just have to be let go.
 
Does anyone have any pics from these stores? I am looking for any old school hifi shops especially in the east coast/Maryland area. None of the pics posted are still available.
 
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