Putting the Westminsters inside cupboards seems like sacrilege to me! They are items of furniture in their own right, and beautifully finished!
I agree, the old minimalist NAD look was great. The no nonsense studio equipment vibe it had. They really should have stuck with it for their latest gear.
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I had a Nagra IV-SJ to play with at work. Also one of these, which was an exquisite piece of engineering and design. I felt very James Bond using it.
A paperback sized mini Nagra.
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It was a common thing to take the Tannoy and build them into custom boxes. A thing I learned about from this very forum. Talking to my aunt, she recalls that in this instance he worked with Tannoy themselves to retain most of the original box but added a single matching door which slid across. It was actually a thing of beauty in many ways although I wholly understand why many would object. At the time he had 4 children including 2 with severe learning disabilities and a tendency to destruction so I wholly understand the impulse.
Not something I had ever come across! And pictures I had seen always placed them somewhat into the room, where they stood in fine cabinetry glory! (The only ones I’ve seen close up were in a junk store in Hong Kong, with other things on top - what I never thought to do was enquire about buying and shipping to UK! That was about 25-30 years ago.)
Yes these were well into the room. One placed next to a baby grand piano at one end of the room with the other placed at the top of 8 stairs up to the living area. I think he worked with Tannoy to get that right. They must have been at least 25 feet apart.
All these years later the thing I recall is the extraordinary depth and liveness of the sound. You were in a cathedral listening to the oratorio.
That accords with my memory from first reading a review of them back in the mid to late 80s, indelibly fixing them in my mind as THE speakers to have!
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I think a lot that was done then seems irrational now.
My first introduction to hifi was a family friend still living with parents in Cotswold cottage. I cannot recall the speakers, but they were big. Garrard 401 with a Decca arm and cartridge, originally Quad valves morphed into 33/303. Ferrograph tape and the piece de resistance, a DIY HFN Bassett built into the window seat. Demo was Mercury 1812 and the bass was felt.
This inspired father to go stereo. Updating his Collaro turntable, adding a Collaro tape deck. All the electronics were DIY. The speakers were Gilbert Briggs drainpipe, Goodmans Axiette 8s stuck tight into the corners of the room. There was no stereo to speak of, but all the neighbours came to listen
It occurs to me that as well as the weirdly successful Amstrad speakers I am long overdue for my sibling to give me my dansette back.
This was my first upgrade from a cheap Pioneer amp.
Oh yes, really like my NAD Monitor series tuner. Would love to own a complete monitor series setup and of course a Braun Atelier series as well.
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If I ignore the first definition of fetish and go with
“ an inanimate object worshipped for its supposed magical powers or because it is considered to be inhabited by a spirit.”
then this still sits on a shelf and holds my affection
My first “hifi” receiver though it was rather than separates. The vol pot is a bit scratchy but is fine when a vol is set. The VU is a tuning meter not tape or channel, and I could afford to find a top of the range Pioneer of the same vintage but this one stays.
I could add a Naim item, the CB Nait 2. Again little used but still on display. My first Naim kit.
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My sister had one of those feeding AR7 speakers, I blew up the output stage when I connected in to a medium wave transmitter I was messing with back in the late 70’s, had it repaired and she never knew! That one looks to be in lovely nick.
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Pioneer/TAD.
My first personal HiFi amp was a Pioneer SA-7300, in 1975:
and I’ve never lost the soft spot I have for the brand.
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Same with me, although I don’t recall exactly when I read the review. It was by Paul Messenger I think, who always seems very level headed and not prone to hyperbole. After that they never really featured on my radar simply because I knew that there was simply no way I would ever be able to afford them, or accommodate them for that matter.
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Thanks I see they big pro studio monitors. I bet they sound awesome.
I am afraid I could only run to the 301’s as a bookshelf speaker with its deflector plate.
Red LED power or recording meters such as on my first amp the Sony TA242, bought wholly with concern for aesthetics and budget from Comet; rather appropriately under the celestial circumstances…
Hmmm I didn’t think much to the 301. The 401s were good but big. A local cafe runs a pair near me. The 601s were clearly the inspiration for the Shahinian Obelisks and by all accounts performed. But for me, growing up with 901s was a treat. Some complex transmission line loading gave them immense scale and wallop. And while I’ve move on, after those, I could never do without a transmission line speaker ever again. In fact, it’s safe to say that the only period of my life I had no transmission line speaker was when I had no hifi at all.
Like the JBL Paragon, love them or loath them, the 901s were an important bit of hifi history.
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