Ishmael
Super Member
A year ago, an odyssey began, a trip back to the origin of my discovery of recorded music in the mid-1960s. This is the story of my brother’s music system brought back from the Vietnam war. A Sansui 500 receiver, Dual turntable and a pair of co-axial speakers that laid on the floor (we never got around to building their speaker boxes). All my years of high school this system played and many many a Friday night friends would gather with a new album, and we would play it, read the liner notes, and talk about the music and our lives late into the night.
After my brother’s death, five decades later, the only remaining part of that system, the Sansui 500 receiver, returned into my life. But could it be brought back to life? Yes, it could, our decades long stereo shop Hawthorne Stereo could do this through the connections and wonderful professionals they knew. While great, playing the Sansui 500 through our Spendor A7 speakers, I felt something was missing, those 16 Ohm speakers long gone.
So, I would look time to time, eBay, Craigslist, Hawthorne Stereo’s Used Room for vintage 16 Ohm speakers until it happened. One day a pair of NOS, still in box, with all papers and the critical design for a front ported speaker box, Pioneer 16 Ohm PAX-20E co-axial speakers were found.
Then I read the seller’s description and Déjà vu. They were purchased by a Vietnam Vet at nearly the same time and at the same Japanese PX my brother purchased his system. No, they weren’t the same lost speakers, but they were, perfect.
Tonight, I bring the finished PAX-20E speakers home, turn on the lava lamp, Sansui 500 and pass back in time. I will cue up Joan Baez to play “Forever Young” and as she sings, another voice will join her in song, my brother’s.
You can come home again.
