Walt Bender of Audiomart fame, RIP

[mech986]

Just found out today that Walt had passed away in July, 2008. Most of us older vintage guys may have known Walt Bender and his wife Lennice Werth through the small but influential Classified Ad publication called Audiomart.

http://www.hifitown.com/waltbender/

Audiomart, started in the late 70's, was the first national classified ad publication and tried to link up sellers and buyers directly. Imagine before the days of the internet with ads sent in, then reentered by typewriter and shrunk to fit a folded 8.5 x 11 format for snail mail. It was imperfect, time consuming, and sometimes difficult (due to the mail, subscribers would get them at different times, thus not everyone had equal access to the deals at the same time), but it worked!! And just like AK, there was a real community built upon person-to-person contact (by phone usually) of like-minded individuals.

I subscribed to Audiomart from about 1979 to 1990 or so and spoke to Walt on and off about many things as I learned about vintage and classic audio. I bought quite a few items from Audiomart and sold a few too. Still have fond memories.

Walt was a great person and helped a lot of people along the way, as I recall. Not all in audio believed some of the hype he had for vintage gear, but what started then has certainly set the foundation for our vintage interests today, even of the then recent's 70's gear.

Post some of your recollections of Walt and Audiomart if you have them.

Regards,

Bart

 

[tcdriver]

I subscribed to AudioMart for a few years in the later 70's. I sold a few things and bought the speaker stands that I still use in my main system. It was fun to read through all the advertisements when a new issue came in the mail. I guess ebay killed AudioMart.

 

[devnull]

I read the writeup and have to say that Walt Bender was audio karma long before this site existed. Different era, but the spirit is the same. Looks like he was a hell of a nice guy to know.

John

 

[dshoaf]

Oh we've lost another of those who could see into the future. I subscribed for many years in the early 90s. I bought and sold lots of gear to gentlemen across the US usually with only a phone call on that most civil of ways, the Gentleman's Agreement.

I'd usually retire early on the day I received that little folded flyer and read it cover to cover.

Cheers,

David

 

[slow_jazz]

R.I.P. Walt...

 

[nailer]

Was an Audiomarter from the late 70s until the end. By far the best marketplace ever for used audio and I really miss it. I loved going through it and higlighting wishes. Art was a great guy, always willing to talk (on your dime), and was fun to talk with.

Art wanted to go on the Internet, but someone claimed the Audiomart name and Art was unwilling to pay the bastard for it and he didn't want to go through the hassle of "rebuilding" under a new name. At least that was what Art told me toward the end of Audiomart.

 

[d3imlay]

It was always a race to speed read the newest issue and find the great deals. Today I don't think I could read that ultra small print. Buyers and sellers didn't need feedback ratings because everyone I dealt with was honest. Never had any problems.

 

[soundmotor]

It was always a race to speed read the newest issue and find the great deals. Today I don't think I could read that ultra small print. Buyers and sellers didn't need feedback ratings because everyone I dealt with was honest. Never had any problems.

Buyers & sellers didn't need feedback because you needed a recommendation from an existing member to get a subscription IIRC. Mine came from Barry Falcon of Falcon Audio in Canada. I remember how stoked I was to get a subscription as it was (A), exclusive and (B), most into audio thought 'Audiomart' was Stereophile's 'Audio Mart'. When I finally connected the dots about this whole other enterprise happening it was "Ah Hah! I just knew there was something going on!". I really liked the true underground nature of it.

When I didn't run ads I went over each page quickly and hopped on the phone. When I knew the issue was due I'd take a late lunch and rush home to check the mail to get a jump on the after 5:30PM crowd too. Pre-internet & auction sniping, this was an advantage if you were buying. When I sold, lots of vintage tube stuff, my phone would start ringing the day it hit people's mail boxes and be pretty much non-stop for the next few. Audiomart, Sound Practices, & the Angela Instruments catalog, those were fun times.

RIP Walt, I remember.

:thmbsp:

 

[JimmyBlues]

Just found out today that Walt had passed away in July, 2008. Most of us older vintage guys may have known Walt Bender and his wife Lennice Werth through the small but influential Classified Ad publication called Audiomart.

http://www.hifitown.com/waltbender/



I started subscribing to Audiomart in the early 1990's and did so for most of that decade.

Walt and Lennice were always helpful, and I used to really look forward to the arrival of the Audiomart once a month. I would never have been able to own all of the hi-fi gear that I have over the years, without the help of that magazine.

The only problem was that because you had access to a market where you could easily sell your gear, and the fact that equipment that you'd always was to own was frequently being made available, many enthusiasts would be constantly selling their gear to sample other amplifiers, preamps, tuners etc.

The buying and selling of hi-fi gear is such a convenient venue could make the hobby become very addictive.

I also heard that Walt had accumulated a lot of Western Electric gear, so much so, that he was actually able to set the used market for it. Hence the prices were quite high for gear that dates back to the 1920's and '30's.

Overall, Audiomart was a great experience, giving both buyer and seller the ability to own equipment that they could never dream of owning new.

I hope Lennice and Walt's son Early are doing ok after what must surely
be a tremendous loss to them.

Jimmyblues

 

[tuberadios69]

I was thinking of Walt Bender this evening

Walt Bender was a true gentleman and a wonderful wealth of vintage audio gear information. I met Walt back in the mid 1980's, as I recall, through a friend running a business called Audiowealth, or maybe it was at Stereo Trading Post, both located in Richmond, VA. Walt would come into town from Crewe to check out used gear at the local hi fi shops and visit with friends. I was the Regional Sales Manager for Pioneer at the time and we struck up a friendship. I dropped by his home one time to buy a few old Allied and Lafayette catalogs as I had tossed my original copies out during a move in 1978. I was very impressed with his Western Electric amp driving Quad electrostatics but hadn't gotten the tube audio bug yet. He would occasionally drop by the Pioneer office to say hello and a few times brought me old Pioneer brochures he'd come across and knew I'd love to see. He'd give them to me and one day brought me a Lafayette horn tweeter (SK-105) that had "Fukuin Electric Works, LTD" on the back of the flange edge of the tweeter. That was the original name of Pioneer before Mr. Matsumoto adopted the Pioneer name in the 1950's. Such a nice gesture by Walt. I was delighted by Walt's discovery and he was pleased to give it to me. I proudly displayed that tweeter on the file credenza in my office until Pioneer downsized our office and staff in 1996. While seeking a new job, Walt dropped by my house that Summer and bought a Marantz 8B from me and a collectible Hitachi transistor radio for his son (who collected them). I appreciated the sale as I was running short on my severance package at the time. Fortunately I landed a job about two weeks later. I noticed a Wes Bender Studios of NYC tonight while playing around on the internet and thought of Walt and what a wonderful person he was. Hence this note. I actually did not learn of Walt's passing until the Summer of 2010 so it was quite a shock to me. I hope Lennice and Early are doing well and only wish Walt were still with them and all of us! I know he's still in our hearts.