Recently joined this forum which I've found to be the most interesting on the internet.
My main interest is loudspeakers - why? - I don't know - maybe because with over 40 years of listening to hi-fi, I've found the item which makes the most difference is the speakers. I don't wish to start a debate on this subject, however - I'd much rather talk about speakers and I would like to share some of my experiences with you. In the late 70's I worked in hi-fi retail for 2.5 years and had the opportunity to listen to many, many mostly British speakers and I believe mid 70's to mid 80's were the most interesting for the consumer of speakers. I think what fascinated me most was the plethora of so many smaller manufacturers who sometimes produced better products than the 'big boys' which I felt were KEF, B & W, Celestion and Wharfedale. Furthermore, some were using KEF drive units and sounded 'better' than the equivalent KEF (to my ears, at least!). I say 'better' in inverted commas because it was, at times quite subjective - again fascinating for me. Many of these manufacturers were based in old rented garages, barns etc and employed only a handful of staff yet produced some very fine speakers for the time - the term 'box stuffers' springs to mind. I miss this diversity now - I miss listening to different manufacturers versions of the classic 8" Dalesford Audax soft dome tweeter combo all sounding different.
Until recently (October 2015) I lived in Norwich - not exactly well known for hi-fi loudspeaker production with the major exception of RAM electronics. A few years ago, I went through the stage of buying, listening to re-selling some older speakers (always at a loss) - I did it for fun and enjoyment not a business and it was brilliant comparing them to other speakers I had heard and owned in the past and present.
If anyone is interested, I'd like to talk about some of my experiences with speakers over the years. For example, I remember listening to RAM STL4's - not boasting but I bet I'm one of the very few - I'd like to talk about speakers that really stuck in my mind eg Yamaha NS1000's and Celestion SL700SE's etc etc.
If anyone is interested, please let me know.
In any case, thanks for a wonderful forum.