Douglas Hi-Fi Melbourne?

[ray4410]

9 minutes ago, altecman said:

Those electrostatic panels were actually made by rtr using the tooling they bought from Janszen when they first sold up. You can tell the difference as the rtr panels were blue whilst the Janszens were black or dark grey. I still have a pair of Amcron ES26 which are still working perfectly. Love the stack you did, a pseudo ES224.

didn't  know that RTR took over and made the panels,one thing though all the panels in both sets of mine were Green,i ended up with another set later on they were also green panels?

[Assisi]

50 minutes ago, ray4410 said:

from Roger Price

I remember buying a pair of Jensen 2s from Roger at Douglas in the late 70s.  Then a pair of Jensen 6s  Those were the days.  I wonder where those speakers are now even if they still exist.

John

[ray4410]

15 minutes ago, Assisi said:

I remember buying a pair of Jensen 2s from Roger at Douglas in the late 70s.  Then a pair of Jensen 6s  Those were the days.  I wonder where those speakers are now even if they still exist.

John

yeah  i also ended up buying a pair of Jensen 6s from Roger also,theywerethe fully imported ones from the states before BJD started assembling here.

[altecman]

32 minutes ago, ray4410 said:

didn't  know that RTR took over and made the panels,one thing though all the panels in both sets of mine were Green,i ended up with another set later on they were also green panels?

That’s probably the case, the ES26 were blue, same size as the ES212 and 224 but a different part number. The 212’s I  l had were blue also I think but may look greenish. Who knows.

[ray4410]

11 hours ago, altecman said:

That’s probably the case, the ES26 were blue, same size as the ES212 and 224 but a different part number. The 212’s I  l had were blue also I think but may look greenish. Who knows.

strangely coincidental that a pair of Crown ES212  come up for sale in the classifieds 

[muon*]

Those look green to me, or an aqua colour.

[BLAH BLAH]

1 hour ago, muon* said:

Those look green to me, or an aqua colour.

Like Aquarian Blue perhaps?!? 

[muon*]

3 minutes ago, BLAH BLAH said:

Like Aquarian Blue perhaps?!? 

Yes a Green/Blue

[Porter]

On 01/01/2024 at 9:24 PM, muon* said:

Yes a Green/Blue

It's Tiffany blue to me ! 

[ray4410]

TIFFANY BLUEGREEN

Edited January 8, 2024 by ray4410

[altecman]

Does it really matter lol

[ray4410]

YES 
green is green blue is blue  

[playdough]

1 hour ago, ray4410 said:

TIFFANY BLUEGREEN

Most unusual speaker set. Not keen on the colour almost looks like something you would find in a switchyard, but I bet they would surprise how good they really sound. 

[altecman]

I was stating the difference between rtr and Janszen colours as I have both speaker types

[ray4410]

2 hours ago, playdough said:

Most unusual speaker set. Not keen on the colour almost looks like something you would find in a switchyard, but I bet they would surprise how good they really sound. 

this is what they look like with the enclosures fitted.

[altecman]

Nice

[playdough]

5 minutes ago, ray4410 said:

this is what they look like with the enclosures fitted.

 Much better with the covers. 

Quite like Electrostatic speakers for a number of reasons. Had a pair of ML Monoliths at one point, fun but a very narrow dispersion pattern.

 

[BLAH BLAH]

5 hours ago, ray4410 said:

TIFFANY BLUEGREEN

Teal perhaps!

[altecman]

I wish I never brought this up lol

[audiofeline]

Remember that approx. 8% of men and 0.5% of women have a red/green type of colour vision deficiency, which gives different perception in the blue/green spectrum (among other differences).  This could account for some of the variation in opinions above. 

 

To me the paint colour appears a darker and less saturated version of the Tiffany Blue (in the Teal/blue-green range).  And I've had a colour vision test, with no deficiencies found.  But in this context I don't think it really matters when the speakers are behind the grille cloth. 

[altecman]

I’m leaving now, it’s just too much.

[Lysander]

My friends and I would always pass and enter Douglas Hifi every Friday afternoon after school before heading home. I would enter and immediately look to the right side of the store near the front entrance and stare at the Teac (don't remember model number) and Nakamichi Dragon cassette decks and lust for them. I would always think will I ever own one. I for my 17th birthday ended up buying a Teak system there complete with those crappy 'Linear Design' in house rubbish speakers that the Store pushed. I really miss those days.

Edited January 10, 2024 by Lysander

[Lysander]

On 04/02/2020 at 12:36 PM, audiofeline said:

The "Melbourne Memories" topic has a discussion of past hifi stores in Melbourne, and there were quite a number on Douglas HiFi (including someone who worked there, if my memory serves me correctly).

 

 

 

 

 

 

You mean this place.

Recorded Music Salon at 1 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000

 

Edited January 10, 2024 by Lysander

[Robertoh]

On 07/02/2020 at 11:31 AM, Wayne Elliott said:

staring Wide-eyed at the massive Speakers in the window of the Douglas Hi-Fi Store in Bourke St. (They were obviously Boom Boxes).

This thread has sparked some fun memories for a lad who grew up in Melbourne in the late 1970s and early '80s, especially those big tape reels and reading Douglas HiFi's ads in The Age Green Guide each week in the hope that I could save enough pennies to buy something from there. It was perhaps just as well that I never did invest any of my pennies there!

My older brother bought a rather nice-looking Technics or Akai set-up from them about 1983, I think. With silver alloy faceplates and the dark-glass-doored cabinet on castors with dark vinyl "timber" trim, it was quite the object of envy from me. Unfortunately he fell for the salesman's line that a set of ginormous Melbourne-made boom box speakers was the perfect destination for his speaker budget because "bigger speakers are more efficient and don't have to work as hard to give you plenty of good sound, and these Aussie ones are great value ... "

I think my brother still has the Technics gear but somehow the boom box speakers ended up with me after our Dad had them for a few decades. Those speakers are buried in my garage but It must try to dig them out to share some pix for the amusement of readers here.

 

From hazy memory, each enclosure features TWO 12-inch woofers, a four or six inch mid-range and a tweeter, and a port tube that could double as a WRX exhaust... Thin-walled cabinets about 1200mm tall with dark-timber vinyl wrap, black fabric grilles complete the "classy" 1983 look. Needless to say they aren't very heavy and sound notably hollow when knuckle-rapped.

 

But he had lots of fun blasting Steve Miller Band and Pat Benatar through them!

[BLAH BLAH]

On 10/01/2024 at 2:04 PM, Lysander said:

 

 

 

 

You mean this place.

Recorded Music Salon at 1 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000

 

My eyes are drawn to the right...the curb...classy old cars! And their colours! And no parking meters! 

Obviously a Saddy Arvo...Melbourne has shut down for the weekend...you can tell by the clean street...no macdonald wrappers, coke cans/buckets...cigarette butts!

Plane tree recently planted...five year old?!?

Down the footpath...way ahead...obviously tourists...oblivious to the closed shops!

AHhhhh them were the days...one pm saddy arvo and you had the whole town to yourself...except for the pair of coppers walking their shift from Russell street!