Hi Fi Hall of Fame?

[20to20K]

Why not? Baseball, football, and basketball has one. Downbeat has a jazz hall of fame. Some audio publication should sponser a Hi-fi hall of fame. Each year inducting a piece of gear that has made a significant and long lasting contribution to the world of audio equipment.

Since Cooperstown opened by indicting 7 or 8 shoe-ins (Ruth, Cobb, Walter Johnson etc) I'll open this hall with a list of 10 initial inductees:

Please chime in with more worthy contenders:

1) Shure V15
2) Bryston 4B
3) B&W 801 Nautilus
4) Nakamichi Dragon
5) Linn LP12
6) Adcom GFA555
7) Bose 901 (What's a Hall of Fame induction without controversy?)
8) JBL Century L100
9) Marantz 2270
10)Wilson Watt Puppy

 

[Mort Corey]

The Ohm F's from the mid seventies with the Walsh driver were pretty advanced for their time. They tended to need a lot of power but a little too much would blow them apart. No sub necessary in the days before the sub became common place.

Mort

 

[cornelius]

Right on with the Ohm F's. (Obviously they've since addressed the power problems) - Ohm's Walsh designs are still one of the best around today.

NAD 3020
Vandersteen Model 2
McIntosh MC275
Magnepan 1.6

 

[MBauer]

Macintosh MR78 and Acoustic Research AR 3A

Any number of Macintosh products could be on the list how about the famous MR78 FM tuner, still in use doing a great job and a real ground breaker in its day. The AR 3's were a real breakthrough. The AR's are controversial to some but hey we like controversy

This is a great idea

 

[markw]

One word... Dynaco.

Cheap power to the masses.

And, I'd suggest the AR 1 instead of the AR 3. That's the one that started it all with prodigous bass in a moderately sized cabinet. The 3a was a later derivative.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

Klipsch Heresy's
The Marshall stack

 

[20to20K]

Great responses...I love this stuff!

Klipsch Heresy's
The Marshall stack

I actually had the Heresy's as #11 on my list. I was also trying to remember that AR speaker from the '80s that was about 6 feet tall with the 14" woofer and was slanted in shape. Was that the AR 1? JBL had a similiar one that got a lot of praise...I think it was the 250Ti or something.

Don't know if either of them would be good candidates. They were impractical in size and hence didn't have much staying power.

 

[Mudcat]

What about people?

An equipment "Hall of Fame" is just a shopping/wish list. But what about the folks who made the developments that we crave.

The guys who did the math to make your crossover work:

Linkwitz
Reilly
Butterworth
Chebysev [sp]

The guys who designed and developed the great equipment:

insert names here, I don't know their names - someone might.


The writers (the ones who didn't sell their soul).

The people who brought esoterica to the masses like Ray Kimber and Noel Lee (you don't actually have to like them or their product).

Anyway, you get the picture.

 

[MrKlister]

John Bau - Spica speakers.
Ivan Tiefenbrun - Linn products
Roy Hall - Music Hall

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

Great topic! Some more people:

Henry Kloss (AR, Advent, etc...)
Edgar Villchur
Paul Klipsch
Lincoln Walsh (Ohm Walsh driver)
Drs. Nyquist and Shannon: for the math and theory of digital sampling that makes CDs possible - the Nyquist/Shannon theorem
John Eargle (great recording engineer from the great days of Mercury in the 50s to nearly the present)
Les Paul: a pioneer in recording as well as guitar.
Julian Hirsh, recently deceased: technically astute, honest and ethical audio journalist who set the tone of the old Stereo Review. John Atkinson and his ilk are not fit to lick his boots!

 

[cornelius]

Thanks, Rip, forgot to mention Lincoln Walsh (duh!).

**** Sequerra
Roger Russel
Roy Allison
John Dunlavy

 

[20to20K]

Thread has strayed off topic a little...

...but that's OK...this is still great stuff.

My intent was to single out specific gear...not company owners, designers, journalists, or innovators. But since were naming signficant individuals, I'll add a few:

Nelson Pass
Jeff Rowland
Paul Rodgriguez (love those Stereo Review cartoons!)
Bob Carver
Matthew Polk

As far as gear, I guess I was remiss in not giving the Sony CDP-101
a mention. I believe that was the model of the first consumer CD players on the market back in 1984. Philiips pretty much built the entire guts of it, but Sony had the distinction of actually housing, packaging, and marketing it for mass consumption.

 

[Mudcat]

Okay, some other gear

Now that I got people involved, I'll select some gear.

Tascam 122 Mk111 Tape Deck - still the standard.

BSR EQ3000 Spectrum Analyzer - almost a gimic when sold by DAK 20 years ago, but now everyone wants one.

 

[20to20K]

Wasn't there a Teac...

Now that I got people involved, I'll select some gear.

Tascam 122 Mk111 Tape Deck - still the standard.

BSR EQ3000 Spectrum Analyzer - almost a gimic when sold by DAK 20 years ago, but now everyone wants one.

I remember back in the 80's there was this one Teac deck that everyone used to swear by. Don't know if it was consider a "standard" or "reference"
deck but I know many people used it as such. I'll throw out another classic piece of gear:

TDK MAX-G C90 blank cassette - recorded like a dream and made a decent paper weight on your desk.

Notice no one has mentioned a single AVR, surround speaker, or universal player? Not a coincidence!

 

[johnp]

Oracle turntable - big, bold, and beautiful
Paul S. Barton (Mr 'PSB') - put Canadian-made speakers 'on the map'

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

OK, back to gear:

The original Advent speakers. A commercial and critical success by Henry Kloss that built on what he learned with his classic AR speakers (also Hall of Fame designs). Combined accuracy (for the time) with good bass extension in a reasonably sized and priced package. They sold a ton. I owned a pair for over 30 years (my grandson has them now). Not very efficient, though.

Speaking of speakers, Klipshorns have to be included. Those were efficient!

Can'r remember the model number but there was this big Revox reel-to-reel tape recorder in the late 60s to early 70s that was the audiophile tape deck to have. I lusted after one in vain for years.

Early Fisher, Scott, Marantz (both tube and solid state), and Macintosh gear would have to qualify but I'm not enough of a historian to single out specific models. Those are some of the names that were synonymous with what was called "hi-fi" in the beginning.

 

[cornelius]

I forgot about my Rega Planar 2 - Redifined budget turntables way back in the 70s and they are still around today!

 

[bpape]

Day Sequerra Tuner
Vendetta Research Phono Pre-amp
Rogers LS3-5A
Mark Levinson ML-2
Futterman OTL's
Sota Sapphire
Shure V15-V

 

[20to20K]

That's Rega's a great one...

I forgot about my Rega Planar 2 - Redifined budget turntables way back in the 70s and they are still around today!

Dual had several great turntables in the 70's but I can't think of a specific one. I think the Dual CS5000 was highly regarded in the 80's. Couple more great turntables:

The AR turntable
Denon DP59L
Thorens TD160
Harmon Kardon T60

 

[20to20K]

OK, back to gear:


Speaking of speakers, Klipshorns have to be included. Those were efficient!

We've already given the Heresy's a shout out. Any Forte' lovers?

Klipsch also made this HUGE DJ speaker that DJ's swore by in the 80's.
Can't remember what it was called but it was supposed to be DJ speakers for the discriminating listener (which may be an oxymoron!)