ray4410 Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 yeah douglas hifi,travel up there to the big smoke from chelsea,bought amcron es 212 electrostatic speakers also a pair of jensen 6 the fully imported version,sonus blue cartridge from a great guy roger price who unfortunately is no longer with us, great memories from a great era for both music and hifi(from the words of JERRY LEE LEWIS- i wish i was 18 again). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keyse1 Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 Anybody know what this is Top of Collins Street Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ando Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 If you scroll back through this thread you find a few mentions of the Recorded Music Salon which was Melbournes most idiosyncratic HiFi / music shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proftournesol Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 It's where I bought my first turntable, an ERA 555 with an Empire cartridge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ando Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 Apparently there is now a cafe of the same name above where the old shop was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oztayls Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 12 minutes ago, proftournesol said: It's where I bought my first turntable, an ERA 555 with an Empire cartridge 1 hour ago, keyse1 said: Anybody know what this is Top of Collins Street I still have some ERA turntables (NOS) from the Recorded Music Salon. PM me if interested. ERA 6066, 5055, 3033. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keyse1 Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 40 minutes ago, oztayls said: I still have some ERA turntables (NOS) from the Recorded Music Salon. PM me if interested. ERA 6066, 5055, 3033. Is it a shop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiofeline Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 On 23/02/2019 at 11:11 AM, Tonyi said: I just came across this post whilst looking for old colleagues I used to work with. No Luck of course. I used to work at Douglas HiFi Melbourne late 70's early 80's, through a bit of the hey day and through the demise when Brashs bought them out. They were fantastic days to work in Hifi, loved listening to all the top end gear and walking the floor looking out on to Bourke Street. Really fond memories for me. Still have some gear I bought myself back in the day. Welcome Tonyi, even though you didn't connect with your old workmates I hope you enjoy it here. Did you work anywhere else in the Melbourne HiFi world? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number 9 Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 (edited) Ah! Empire Cartridges, that brings back some memories. During the final days of Sound City, we were buying an OEM Empire cartridge in thousand-piece drops for under three bucks each. We had a total exclusive on the E-20 model in Victoria. Initially, they were sold as an upgrade on Sansui Systems, or thrown in as a close. On our pricelists, we had a RRP of a tad under forty bucks and they were a big improvement over the crap that Sansui was factory fitting at the time. One of Sound City's dodgier Store Managers decided to run a little incentive program. Each week there would be a $50 cash bonus for the salesman who sold an Empire E-20 for the most money. In the industry, it's called a "SPIV". After 3 weeks the going price on an E-20 was hovering around $180. It gave the "Gross" in "Gross Profit" a whole new meaning. One afternoon two guys came storming into the shop and straight to the cartridge display case. where the duty salesman, affectionally known as "Tengrain" because he always a least one loaded gun in his pockets at all times, attempted to serve them. (I didn't personally witness this, I was running Penny Lane, but I wish I had been there to see it) Here's what happened. 1st Guy: I bought an Empire cartridge from you people about 3 weeks ago from that guy there. (pointing across the shop floor at a salesman called "Brenda"). My mate here came around last week and really liked the cartridge, so I got him to come here and buy one. Tengrain: So, is there a problem? 2nd Guy: Bloody oath there's a problem! You charged me $169 for the same cartridge my mate got for forty bucks!!!!! Tengrain: Well there's obviously been some kind of mix up, do you have the carts with you? TG knew we'd been busted, but as usual, he didn't miss a beat*, no hesitation, no sweat. The guys put the two identical carts on the counter. TG calmly when and got the Stylus Microscope and placed on the counter. After spending much time positioning the carts, adjusting the scope and making random boffinish noises, he reaches a verdict. TG: So! What's happened is that the cartridge you originally purchased has the standard Elliptical Stylus Profile while your mates' cartridge has the higher performance Hyper-Parabolic Diamond. So we have two options, we can upgrade yours (looking at 1st Guy) or downgrade yours (looking at 2nd Guy), whatever you choose, I want both you to be happy when going home. Silence. But statistically, no guy is going to ask for a downgrade, especially in front of a mate. Tick Tock. 2nd Guy: I really liked the sound of mine. 1st Guy: Looks like I'm upgrading then. You breathe a word of this to the missus, and I'll rip your head off. So what am I up for? TG: Here's what we're going to do, I going to credit you for the original purchase and give you identical new cartridges and I'll cover the cost of your upgrade, to compensate you for the inconvenience of having to come all the way in here. Tengrain presented them with two new E-20s, and they all lived happily ever after............ *Just to give some idea of just how unflappable TG was, and I was present when this happened. TG was manning the Accessories Counter serving a pair of tiny Catholic Nuns, you know the ones, sorta like Penguins, only vicious. They'd come in because we had a special on TDK cassettes and wanted to get some bulk packs for their school. In his jacket pocket, TG had a small antique black powder pistol, that was not only fully loaded, but also cocked. In the middle of his explanation of the benefits of the new SA series, Chrome V Ferrite Etc, He dumped the pocket with his elbow. KER-BANG!!!!! But TG just kept talking, no reaction, no pause, no acknowledgement of the huge cloud of white smoke billowing up around him. I haven't seen Nuns move that fast since the night the Vice Squad raided "Raheen" in the mid-sixties. Edited March 8, 2019 by Number 9 K'n Typo! 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proftournesol Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 Phew, my Empire didn't cost $169 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevoz Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 Never been to this store but.....another one bites the dust. Thanks developers......a**holes. https://themusic.com.au/article/M4UvJyYpKCs/exclusive-melbourne-to-lose-much-loved-record-store-to-apartment-development?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=YDS 290319&utm_content=YDS 290319 CID_3fd7755b523aa663382145e39705705e&utm_source=Daily SPA&utm_term=EXCLUSIVE Melb To Lose Much-loved Record Store To Developments 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number 9 Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 On 08/04/2009 at 8:32 PM, tonythompson said: Thanks Warwick I knew someone would remember. Mr Pinchewski was horrified when one of us went behind the counter uninvited to get a closer look. He guided us all out the door saying that we could come back with our parents if we wanted to buy anything. I bought my first speakers at Sound City. They were AR25's that were assembled in Sydney by Teledyne AR. I remember that the salesman was horrified when I chose the AR's over the Apex speakers he was desperately trying to sell me. TT Sound City had an exclusive deal on the Apex Speakers, which were made in Sydney by a guy named Ron Fabian, they were a well constructed "Bang Box" with three or four times the profit margin of a similarly priced AR. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian McP Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 On 07/03/2019 at 8:02 PM, oztayls said: I still have some ERA turntables (NOS) from the Recorded Music Salon. PM me if interested. ERA 6066, 5055, 3033. it's now a bar named after the "famous" Recorded Music Salon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian McP Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 52 minutes ago, stevoz said: Never been to this store but.....another one bites the dust. Thanks developers......a**holes. https://themusic.com.au/article/M4UvJyYpKCs/exclusive-melbourne-to-lose-much-loved-record-store-to-apartment-development?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=YDS 290319&utm_content=YDS 290319 CID_3fd7755b523aa663382145e39705705e&utm_source=Daily SPA&utm_term=EXCLUSIVE Melb To Lose Much-loved Record Store To Developments went there once, huge amount of stock! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevoz Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 5 minutes ago, Ian McP said: went there once, huge amount of stock! Hopefully they are able to set up somewhere else..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian McP Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 There are still many amazing vinyl shops in Melbourne, run by dedicated and some would think somewhat crazed owners. All for the better I reckon! https://digginmelbourne.com/ If you've not ventured into Round and Round Records, Dutch Vinyl, Greville Records, Northside Records, Plug Seven, to name just a few, do so now, you won't be disappointed! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Buchanan Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 (edited) On 25/05/2017 at 3:38 PM, mjs said: What about vinyl shopping back in the day. Dunno how much ECM stuff I got from Discurio in those days. Then there was a great little shop on Flinders St between Queen and Elizabeth, specialised in imports, of course at the time always considered superior to the local pressings. Another good vinyl joint on Toorak Rd near Chapel, the name of which escapes me. My local as I was living in Sth Yarra at the time. Didn't seem to go to Readings much then, although I was interested to see how much vinyl was in the window of their Lygon St store a couple of weeks ago. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk That would be Licorice Pizza, IIRC. Edited April 3, 2019 by John Buchanan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Buchanan Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 On 25/05/2017 at 4:47 PM, Anatoly Beaver-Hausen said: A few memories to offer. A cashed up visit to PENNY LANE with money to burn ($500) and the eager young space cadet slagging off every brand that they did not stock. No sale. Drooling over CassetteDecks I could not afford in Douglas Hifi. ( What happened to them, they weren't just a pigment of my imagination were they?) East Coast Audio in Port Melbourne with a young Peter Familari getting offended when I suggested his hand wound cartridge sounded like a fingernail down a blackboard. Tivoli Hifi where I went to audition some Duntech Viscounts and enjoyed a 'hipper than thou' salesclone who actually chewed his fingernails in ill disguised contempt at this long haired loser wasting his time. ( I went back a week later and closed the deal with another more polite person. Soundcraftsman turning me on to a choice LP12 - still have, never to part. Frankston Hifi where a lovely bloke called Neville moved heaven and earth to get a Vincent V60 into my hands - never to part. Southern Sound in Moorabbin where I went to hear some Bozak refrigerators ( awesome) but ended up with a pair of store made huge boxes based around Altec Lansing 15 " drivers. They were excellent. @unclemack- was that you????? Music wise: JB when it was out at Avondale Heights and imported the off cut vinyl from the U.S.- first pressings, cut corners, $5.00 PET SOUNDS, DISCURIO etc. The music shop that I remember most was set up by a refugee from DISCURIO. It was a tiny shop in a laneway on the river side of the CBD. This was the dawn of CD and the proprietor sure knew his music. I had heard one of the earliest plays of "Symphony of Sorrowful Song" on ABC in the wee small hours. I did not catch the name of the work, or the composer, but had that ascending figure stamped in my synapses. Over the next few weeks I hummed that figure in every music store in the CBD. This guy identified it immediately and handed me the very CD. Bliss. Good times. Billy. That would be Toad Hall. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Buchanan Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 On 29/06/2018 at 8:38 AM, Ian McP said: Who remembers Goesunder hippy flea market? There were two mad Germans who ran Pipe Import Records, stocking mostly undergound rock, prog and krautrock. One would always hand you the headphones and pronounce "You vill enjoy this!" Those fellows knocked back the distribution of Abba recordings in Australia. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Buchanan Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 Also Euphoria opposite Flinders St Station (in Flinders St, but about 100 metres East of the Flinders St/Swanston St intersection, on the South side of Flinders St. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wimbo Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 On 30/03/2019 at 12:17 PM, Number 9 said: Sound City had an exclusive deal on the Apex Speakers, which were made in Sydney by a guy named Ron Fabian, they were a well constructed "Bang Box" with three or four times the profit margin of a similarly priced AR. Don't blame us mate when you think of all the crap that was around back then. Apex were great bang for the Buck. I use to sell them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmanic Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 Good info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian McP Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 On 03/04/2019 at 6:41 PM, John Buchanan said: That would be Licorice Pizza, IIRC. Pop In was the name of the shop, Bryce went on to work at Discurio for a while. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauly99 Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Just now, Ian McP said: Pop In was the name of the shop, Bryce went on to work at Discurio for a while. Where is Bryce nowadays? Miss him. He was great. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian McP Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Just now, pauly99 said: Where is Bryce nowadays? Miss him. He was great. P. Bryce occasionally fills in on PBS shows, he's an expert of old timey and early blues. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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