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Selling Junk: DAK

V

vintagestereo

Addicted Member
Banned
It's always amusing to see how people pawn off their "thrift store treasures" (aka Junk) on E-Bay. But, no one pawned off junk better than DAK Industries, a noted liquidator of the 1980's. I think their catalogs must have been generated by the "Hype-O-Matic Word Processor", which was something akin to a Veg-O-Matic for "The Truth".

I was reading through some old Stereo Reviews and came across some DAK ads, which I hope you'll find amusing too!
 
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DAK, the Mr. Ron Popiel (sp?)of the audio world....

For the time frame though, good ads. Probably he made a ton of money.
 
Despite the overhyped products (well that's the whole point I guess), I quite admire the man for his writing skills. He could sell pretty much everything he wanted and after reading those ads is easy to know why...

He always referred directly to the customer when writing, using the word "you" in practically every sentence. Very effective.

His technique can be used in say, an eBay auction, with amazing results. I have tried it and it certainly works! :D
 
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Dak

He was an amazing communicator. I was in grade school when those catalogs came out, and I remember eagerly awaiting every one. He had a pretty lasting effect, too. I still run into guys who swear that subwoofer placement is a non issue, because bass is completely non-directional. I'll say, "you used to read those DAK catalogs, didn't you"? At which point they always say "yeah - how did you know"?

Mark
 
I bought a few things from him in the day.

BSR EQ-3000 (threw it out two months ago, something blown).
SAE 5000 (still have it).
Some belt clip on equalizer for a walkman (still have it).
Mura Red III headphones (long gone).
Welbuilt Breadmaker (R2D2 lookalike).

I didn't have a job then (either) but I wanted to buy the SAE II amp, preamp etc...
 
Ah yes I remember the lizards.

Its these guys advertising in stereo review. "The money must have been
pretty damm good"
 
Despite the overhyped products (well that's the whole point I guess), I quite admire the man for his writing skills.
Click to expand...

His writing style. Basically, it involved periods. Lots of them. Because, they are useful. Also, the common comma. Use it. You know you like it. And, it is so easy to use.
 
The Welbuilt bread machine under the DAK lable was pretty well regarded, I have one that was given to me, still works like a charm, turn up at the thrifts pretty regularly too (must have sold by the boatload), most still work too.

As far as the Thunder Lizard speakers, I remember he claimed they sent them with the wrong drivers and he was including the proper driver. Gotta admit though the guy can write pretty decently.
 
Yup, here it is. Still works too. The amp/equalizer for your Walkman. Those jacks are 1/8" mini stereo.

I come close to regarding him as the 70's version of the comic book ad.

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Wow, Vintage! I'd completely forgotten about DAK! I used to love those ads - never bought anything, but that didn't keep me from wanting some of this stuff.

I think he's a great American success story - and it makes me happy to see him back in action!
 
I ordered something from DAK once-can't remember what it was-but they screwed up & I never got it. I always thought the guy writing those missives was too clever by half-a bit patronising, & I could read "stereo Review" & High Fidelity", so I knew what he was selling was basically crap. There was another schlock merchant back then that sold a lot of electronic gizmos who patterned their stuff kinda like DAK- but they didn't have such an Artiste De Bullchitte writing for them as our ol' pal Drew was.-Sandy G.
 
In Drew's defense, yeah, he sold alot of crap, but there were more than a few gems. He sold the SAE stuff dirt cheap and those were very good for the price. I bought a walkman from him with the Cybernet brand. Well, Cybernet turned out to be a brand that Kyocera put on some of their exported stuff. It was very well made and sounded great, except it had no dolby. The catalogs were fun to read.
 
The mighty DAK subwoofer

I never regretted my purchases from Dak. My "big" purchase was the Cerwin Vega subwoofer. I was in my first year of college, and I was truly the only kid on the block with a subwoofer. I had 20 people in my small room to see it right after I got it. It went with me after I got married to the 2nd floor apartment that my wife and I shared. Our downstairs neighbors were real jerks, and my wife and I took great pleasure in blasting them once in a while with that down-firing subwoofer. Everytime StarTrek came on, I would give it the full 130 watts, and the Starship Enterprise would roar by over their heads. Great fun!!!!! I didn't realize that Drew's line about bass being totally non-directional was a load of BS until I moved into my first house, and could place the sub at different points in the room. Contradictory to the DAK ad, sub placement makes a huge difference!!!! But by that time, I had enjoyed the sub for 10 or more years. So who am I to complain? Right now it's taking up space in my storage room. I should get rid of it, but it's hard to just give it away with so many fond memories, you know?

Mark
 
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