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Pacific Stereo History

Recycled Stereo,PS's used store next door was where I bought my first system,and then upgraded a year later.A Sherwood 7100,maybe,and a Dual 1215 to go with the Infinity POS I's my dad gave me.The upgrade was a Hitachi 50 watt receiver,the one made the year before they introduced the line with the Mosfets.
In North Hollywood,they had Stereo Row,with Pacific,University Stereo,and I think,Federated,in a 3 block stretch.
Jimmy
 
Thanks for the kind welcome, Njord.

"The Spectrasonics did not have a good reputation which is probably why Pacific Stereo changed house brands to Quadraflex and later Concept."

But I distinctly recall, like Negotiableterms, that the Quadraflex line had been out for years before Spectrasonic. What I recall more vaguely was that they seemed to be positioning Spectrasonic as the new high end but it just didn't last -- quite possible due to quality/reputation problems -- so I speculate that this high end effort was replaced with the legendary Concept series, which I do think was sold concurrently with mid-market Quadraflex, at least for a while.

I also seem to recall that the Spectrasonic receiver had remarkable styling and claimed breakthrough specs. But I have searched, and unlike all the other PS house brands, I have never seen mention of one in eBay or other aftermarked forae.
 
As odd as it might sound there were a few Pacific Stereo shops in Atlanta. A good friend I had worked with (and I am not making up the name here) at The Stereo Shop, Randy Shirley, was the manager of their repair group.
 
Grainger49 said:
As odd as it might sound there were a few Pacific Stereo shops in Atlanta.
Click to expand...
Berkeley, CA, was their first store. From there PS expanded into the rest of California, to other Western states, and then to certain Southern and mid-Western states. The expansion was fairly quick. According to information from a store sales receipt provided by AK Member "Oldtubes", Pacific Stereo had the following store locations at some point in 1980: "56 stores in California, 4 in Georgia, 15 in Illinois, 4 in Missouri, 16 in Texas, 5 in Washington, and 3 in Wisconsin." If everybody got their sales receipts out, we might be able to garner more information about PS store expansion pattern and strategy:yes:!

All the best,
 
I only have the vaguest recollections of that chain, mainly through remembering my father dragging me around to the various stereo stores as a kid and him reminding me of it. Then there was Federated Group. My memory on that one is a little clearer because they lasted longer. I believe they folded in or around 1987.

Then there was the last of 'that' breed that I actually DO remember because by then, I had more-or-less came of age: RogerSoundLabs, Leo's Stereo, and [at the time], Good Guys. Both RSL and Leo's were gone by 1993. Good Guys joined the "digital rush", and by 1997 was really no longer an audio store. Then, there were the two Johnny-come-lately short lived chains, Silo and Adrays, which were short lived. Both sold largely low end gear. I remember Silo mostly because I thought they were an outlet chain for Sony as that's the only brand they seemed to carry.

Making the rounds on a Sunday afternoon. Those were the days.

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DL-When I wasn't chasing the girls
 
I used to work in Atlanta with Pacific Stereo from the day they opened in 1979 until they closed in 1981.

I knew Randy Shirley, worked and roomed with him for some of that time and I still have contact with him, although he lives in FL and I live in CA.

I used manage the Soutlake store and the Akers Mill store. It was a great time and we had great people there but the manglement at the very top was stooopid and the whole thing crashed a few years later out in Emeryville. I personally got out when Burke Mathis bought the company and went into computers.\

I'd be interested in getting in touch with anyone who worked out there in those days. Ron Camacho can be found on the radio once a week doing a business show.

And if you are interested in how the place ran from the inside just ask.



pm if you like

Don
 
Their radio ads here in Chicago were either recorded badly, or the person singing the jingle had a bad lisp - the joke around here was calling them "Pathific Thtereo."
 
I spent a lot of free time there,most of the sales people knew me by name. I was like Norm on Cheers around there.
 
Bought my 1st setup at the South San Francisco Store in 1974. Gear setup as far as the eye could see. They put combinations together that had pretty good discounts, and good sound. Got a SX-434 and a pair of Marantz 4-G's for I think it was $249. AND the guy delivered it(I rode a Honda 250 at the time) to the barracks on Treasure Island, and hooked it up for me, then went thru and made sure I knew how to work it. Now THAT was customer service.
Larry
 
bought my JBL L 100's in 1975 at the Santa Rosa store. Still have them and the receipts ! Seems like most of my friends had various versions of Quadraflex speakers. BTW , they had a good service department in the original Santa Rosa store. By the time I graduated as a tech, they had moved to a different location and started to go downhill. Too bad for me because I wanted to work there.
 
I used to hang at the shop in Monterey, drooling at the mid '70s gear. One day, they brought in some Ohm Walsh speakers, the mono-cone monstrosity. I was there for the entire unboxing, hookup and listening session. Good stuff.
Anyone remember Stereo West? They were also in Monterey, and their ads and brochures were very nice hand drawn illustrations of the systems they offered.
 
My first forage into the audio world, at the urging of a zealous fellow co-worker, I purchased my first pieces of equipment from Pacific Stereo in Van Nuys, Ca sometime in 1974. A TOTL Pioneer SX-828 and PL-51A and still have both in working condition.
Rogersound Labs eventually prevailed as top dog.
 
Bought my first cans at the Long Beach store in '71 or so. Quadraflex with the uber-cool volume adjuster.
 
In 1979, I bought a Quadraflex 085R FM receiver from the Pacific Stereo in San Diego, the one that was located in the Rosecrans/Sports Arena area. I had it installed in my car for awhile (it's an AC/DC design) before retiring it to my repair bench. I had modified it for use in the car, wiring the preamp output to the rear panel Phono jacks internally so I could use it as my head unit. I had a Nak 250 plugged into the AUX jacks for playing tapes. Both were mounted in a custom console with the supplied side bolts so they could be pulled out.

That 085R is still on my bench today and I recently added a second one that's not modified. I use these all the time to either power my bench speakers or to provide an audio source, amplify the signal from a low voltage source etc. they're nice and compact and other than scratchy controls, have been incredibly reliable. I wish I could remember what Pacific sold these for, but has to have been one of the better audio buys I even made.

John
 
Obviously, I remember Pacific Stereo. I was there from 1981 until the close, and did every job imaginable for them, from sales to management to service, special events, promotion, and sadly, undertaking.

My cousin and I were the last two employees and were there right up to when the deal with US West fell through.
 
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The 085R is actually a Reference by Quadraflex, and was sold for $99. 8.5 watts per channel. :) And I spent many a day in the Rosecrans store!
 
Greep said:
...And if you are interested in how the place ran from the inside just ask...
Click to expand...

I think it'd be really interesting and instructive to hear about the inner workings, from you and from AK member Pacific Stereo.

When I bought my first gear from the Berkeley store in about 1966 (a Scott 344C) they were pretty dedicated to helping folk find a decent-sounding system, and Quadraflex didn't exist. Not long after that, even a high-school kid could see that things were changing.

I'm interested in hearing what the staff thought of various lines and models, compared to what the company required them to push for the bottom line. Especially, I'm interested to hear what changed as things went along.

Please start a new thread!
 
PacificStereo said:
Obviously, I remember Pacific Stereo. I was there from 1981 until the close, and did every job imaginable for them, from sales to management to service, special events, promotion, and sadly, undertaking.

My cousin and I were the last two employees and were there right up to when the deal with US West fell through.
Click to expand...

I've allway been wondering about the nightmare the logistic behind such a big chain of stores must have caused.
 
We were never required to "push" anything. Of course, some items and lines were incentivized, and nothing works to motivate commissioned salespeople like more money. We loved the Quadraflex, Concept and Calibre stuff because it was high GP dollars, and it was damn good stuff as well, in many cases better than the competitor's.
 
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