Cool Old Kit You Never Heard Of

[rmcin626]

Yes, mate. I used to work for Bill Hutchison Hi-Fi, in Glasgow in the early 90s, who was a big Technics and Denon dealer

Marco.

I had forgotten about Bill Hutchinson’s.

[Macca]

Fortunately all my gear uses plain lettering for the legends; with the sole exception of the Miyajima SUT where the manufacturer's name is in a green cursive font. And talking of colours, I really dislike the use of a mixture of coloured LEDs: just keep them to the one colour - either red, blue or green.

On professional equipment the idea is to clearly indicate at a glance which functions are in operation and which are not, also the use of different colours for different controls is pretty common. That all makes sense to me and I don't see why domestic use is any different.

Having all the LEDS and controls the same size and colour may look harmonious but it's function following form, which I don't like. These are tools to do a job, decoration should be a secondary consideration if it's to be a consideration at all.

[Pigmy Pony]

I'm stuck with a variety of LED colours - Amp's are all blue, as is the phono amp, CD player's is red, t/t is green, as well as its power supply (goes to amber when 45 rpm).

Pretty much out of my sight line, so no big deal really.

[Marco]

I had forgotten about Bill Hutchinson’s.

Did you used to go there?

Marco.

[Marco]

Yeah, they look a lot better. Apart from the knobs.

Ha - I like the knobs!

Marco.

[rmcin626]

Did you used to go there?

Marco.

From memory, I think only the once, in the late 80’s I bought some equipment from John Neilson’s shop, Elite Rock and some valve amps, which led me to Concordant Amplication around that time, which I bought direct from Doug Dunlop.

Too be honest the Glasgow stores at that time were a bit full of their own importance and not really listening to the customer.

[Barry]

On professional equipment the idea is to clearly indicate at a glance which functions are in operation and which are not, also the use of different colours for different controls is pretty common. That all makes sense to me and I don't see why domestic use is any different.

Having all the LEDS and controls the same size and colour may look harmonious but it's function following form, which I don't like. These are tools to do a job, decoration should be a secondary consideration if it's to be a consideration at all.

The aesthetics of domestic audio gear is different from professional audio gear precisely because it is in a different setting with different requirements of use. Professional gear will often have provision for 19" rack mounting, or will have grab handles at the front. When professional electronic gear is used the controls are deliberately set before use; the only 'glancing' that is done is with the displays: meters or waveform traces. None of this is done with a domestic audio system (unless of course if you like to watch the power meters dancing to and fro).

On all of the domestic audio gear I have used, none of it has had control knobs of the same size: the most used control, the volume control has always been larger than the rest (the only exception is with the Levinson ML10 preamp).

But in the end the styling of domestic audio should harmonise with its surroundings; most women don't want to see the corner of the living room look like a corner of a laboratory, and not everyone is fortunate to have a separate listening room.

[Macca]

The aesthetics of domestic audio gear is different from professional audio gear precisely because it is in a different setting with different requirements of use. Professional gear will often have provision for 19" rack mounting, or will have grab handles at the front. When professional electronic gear is used the controls are deliberately set before use; the only 'glancing' that is done is with the displays: meters or waveform traces. None of this is done with a domestic audio system (unless of course if you like to watch the power meters dancing to and fro).

On all of the domestic audio gear I have used, none of it has had control knobs of the same size: the most used control, the volume control has always been larger than the rest (the only exception is with the Levinson ML10 preamp).

But in the end the styling of domestic audio should harmonise with its surroundings; most women don't want to see the corner of the living room look like a corner of a laboratory, and not everyone is fortunate to have a separate listening room.

It's not just that though. For example I had an Audiolab CD transport where eject was next to play, same size button. I was always ejecting when I wanted to play. Piss-poor ergonomics just so the front of the unit looks 'tidy'. I mean, for who? Women IME are either not bothered by hifi in the living room or don't want it there at all, whatever it looks like.

It's replacement has the eject button set away from the other controls and I've never hit the wrong one once. Basic stuff.

[Marco]

From memory, I think only the once, in the late 80’s I bought some equipment from John Neilson’s shop, Elite Rock and some valve amps, which led me to Concordant Amplication around that time, which I bought direct from Doug Dunlop.

Too be honest the Glasgow stores at that time were a bit full of their own importance and not really listening to the customer.

Yeah, you're not wrong... We were simply told to sell the gear with the biggest mark up, and you got a 'slap' if you didn't!

Commission rates were good, though

Marco.

[Pigmy Pony]

Ha - I like the knobs!

Marco.

Then you'll love my air fryer