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mbs, nice find!
I've got one sitting in my front room, still works quite well. But I paid a bit more than $12 for it. It still sounds great, though it could probably benefit from a good external DAC. Far worse was the mixing of many of the CDs in that era.
When audio gear started eschewing wood, faux or otherwise, part of the music died for me.
And I spent many hours checking out gear in Pacific Stereo. Finally I found high-end audio boutiques in Berkeley and Oakland. It got to the point that sticker shock was almost pleasant.
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The Pacific Stereo we had out here on the West Coast went out of business. Don't know if there were others.
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Pacific Stereo was massive for its time, and it symbiotically supported a number of smaller chains, like West Coast Stereo, Cal Hi Fi, Sunset Stereo, etc. (Note the strong left coast influence in names.)
When the stereo balloon popped, all those chains folded, leaving the independents, (Who also imploded unless they went high-end.), mail order, and the big box stores.
The current "Pacific Stereo" has nothing to do with the original, which they take care to point out in one of their web pages.
To realize just how large and ubiquitous Pacific Stereo was, at one point, there were three stores within a three mile radius of where I then lived.
Their initial success was based on a now simple premise. Instead of buying a massive Magnavox console or a crude GE "compact", you could mix and match. Say, a Scott receiver, a Garrard turntable, and KLH speakers. If you preferred Sherwood to Scott, or BSR to Garrard, or AR to KLH, they could match something up for you. There were ratios for various price points, but typically 50% went for speakers, 30% for the receiver, 20% for the turntable, and 20% for bits and pieces. (Those inclined to math will note something weird there, but that last 20% was critical for profits. The markup on cartridges, headphones, cables, and all the other last minute "Just one more thing" bits, was huge.)
The House brands were the most profitable, but they weren't junk. The best, the "Concept" lines, were really among the best, and have a small but vocal following to this day.
I could go on at quite some length, but that is enough for now. But I will finally say this: Pacific Stereo was actually kind of ethical. When they sold something as new, it was new. They honoured warranties, even if the item wasn't purchased from them. They took trade-ins; the best was resold at Recycled Stereo, the worst... well, it turns out that old Magnavox consoles weren't even worth much as firewood.
(The back shelves at Recycled Stereo were filled with old Dynaco, Scott, Fisher and other tube gear, that were occasionally scavenged for parts, and then crushed and written off. Yikes.)
Eustace
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The local stereo heaven in KC through the '80s was CMC Stereo IIRC. This was followed by Circuit City, and Silo which died maybe late '90s. CC died more recently of course.
I have one of those '60s-era Magnavox console stereo/turntable in my basement (belonged to my folks). My dream is to someday replace its innards with quality components. It's a pretty piece of furniture, all wood, about 3-4' high and room inside for LPs. I'll attest to this thing being a real stinker out of the box...I remember a lot of scratchy crap whenever the volume was turned up. Crappy turntable, too.
By '77 my dad wised up and bought a nice set of BIC speakers and a Marantz receiver (my brother still uses the BIC Venturis but the receiver has also been in my possession since about '99)...this receiver sounds so much better and warmer than my Denon that's just a few years old. I use the Denon because I need it for my hdmi TV, wii, dvd player, etc. I had my dvd player running through the marantz before, though.
I may just set that Marantz up in the basement with its turntable and an old set of Onkyo speaks and trash the Magnavox console.
