# Official Old School Support/Accessory thread



## Chuck

As the Old School Showoff thread grows to epic proportions, I noticed that there really wasn't a proper thread to post up things like documentation, install pics, and supporting accessories from our old school past. I brought this up and I was challenged to start a new thread for these things, but at the time I really didn't have the motivation to do it. Right now, I say 'why not?', so I'd like to introduce the Official DIYMobileAudio Old School support thread.

In this thread I hope that we can get some insight into what it was actually like to be in an audio store back in the old days. There were lots of products that you could get by being an authorized dealer back then, but these things typically got given away or tossed out. Still, many people kept these items and I know theres more than a few guys here that have these items. This includes but ain't limited to the following:

- install/tech/owners manuals
- dealer only price sheets 
- dealer promotional materials (signs and banners, POS signs, giveaways)
- dealer tech equipment
- T-shirts, jackets, hats, etc
- magazine collections
- ads
- personal pics of soundboards and demo rooms
- brochures
- anything else that doesn't fall under the typical "HU/speakers/amps/EQ" category but still is part of the Old School memory

I've seen bits and pieces of this stuff in photos in the Old School thread, and I get the feeling that theres a lot of it out there waiting for a proper thread. Here it is, post up.


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## Chuck

To start off, my dealer plexi from Proton:











Its dirty from sitting around drywall dust, and it has a scratch or two, but cleaned up it looks incredible.


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## Chuck

Here's my Concord satin banner, probably c.1982:


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## Chuck

No self-respecting Concord dealer in 1984 would attempt an install without their trusty Suppressor Selector:


















It was most likely a repackaged Caltex tester, as they manufactured most of the noise suppression gear back in the day, even for Concord. Here's a complete collection of every NS piece listed on the front of that tester:


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## Chuck

When using those sensitive old Concord HU's, you also had to look for a good ground. Not easy to do in some of the body-on-frame cars of the 70s, but it got a whole lot easier when unibody construction became widespread later on. Until then, you needed the official Concord Ground Loop Detector, shown here next to an early 500-series brochure:


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## deeppinkdiver

Awesome Chuck! This one should have many surprises. 

Subscribed!


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## Chuck

Glad you guys like it. The next chance I get I'm going to go through my files and definitely pull out some surprises for everyone. Confidential dealer pricing, ads from old-school era wholesalers, and vintage product brochures that are in new condition. Thats just scratching the surface...


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## deeppinkdiver

Did you bury a old school car audio store and just dig it up? Haha

Old confidential pricing should stir some feathers.. actually, I'm curious what some of my old stuff was going for when dealers bought xyz quanity


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## Chuck

Actually you're not too far off the mark. 

I began with a hi end store in the early 80s. I was there for a couple of years, and I learned a lot about audio, both home and car. 

One day the store owner came in and announced he had decided to close down the car audio section because of low sales. They had a hard time convincing people to spend a lot of money on a car system. How things change...
They tore down the sound room and boxed everything up. I asked the owner what he was going to do with it all and he had no idea. So I asked him if I could take everything and try to sell it for him. I have no idea why, but he agreed. 

I packed my car with thousands of dollars of high end car stereo gear and brought it home. I also boxed up every bit of the support gear and all the documents and sales brochures. I cleaned out all the file cabinets and even took the 2nd-tier distributor catalogs. I took company newsletters, I took signs and banners. While other guys had pics of bands, cars and babes on their walls I had posters showing the guts of a Rockford Fosgate Power series amp, and signs proclaiming that I sold Concord, NEC, PolkAudio, and NAD. I ran a hifi shop out of a closet in my house and was moderately successful pushing Denon, KEF, Proton, Concord, and RF on the world. I had the ultra rare ThugBug alarms, the predecessor to the VSE Derringer. But I was a bit ahead of my time. There was no such thing as credit for 20 somethings who wanted to boom their Escalades, not yet. 
Eventually I sold most of the gear off, and threw out quite a bit of the documentation, mostly duplicates, but I kept the interesting stuff obviously. I wish I had kept everything now, but at the time I was tired of tripping over it and moving those boxes around. 

So I guess you could say I am digging up a buried store. I've been hanging on to this stuff forever out of sentimental value. At one point I was determined to build a replica of a functioning old school hifi store in my home. This isn't as insane as it sounds when you think of the people who have built computer museums and complete functioning arcades in their homes. I've since given up on the idea, as I would prefer to look forward to some new projects. But my memories of this stuff will last forever.


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## jtaudioacc

some keychains i've had in my tool box forever.


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## Chuck

I may have to do some kind of a trade for your Proton key chain. Thats one of the few things I don't have. Is that the black brushed metal tag or the plastic one?


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## jtaudioacc

Chuck said:


> I may have to do some kind of a trade for your Proton key chain. Thats one of the few things I don't have. Is that the black brushed metal tag or the plastic one?


plastic, kind of like the artwork is sandwiched between 2 layers of acrylic.


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## Chuck

Do a macro pic for me if its not too much trouble.


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## jtaudioacc

Chuck said:


> Do a macro pic for me if its not too much trouble.


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## bigdwiz

Great idea for a thread and proof DIYMA needs a section dedicated to Old School gear...I have a TON of lit, ads, etc. I posted a bunch in the Vintage RF forums, but since they will be discontinued on 12/31/11, I see no reason not to repost them here...


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## bigdwiz




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## bigdwiz




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## bigdwiz

I have a ton more...but this will do it for tonight...





















*This one is for Chuck*


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## Chuck

Most people don't know that this ad was no marketing BS, they actually had the guy whack the PC boards with a rubber mallet..



bigdwiz said:


>


After the 24 hour long burn in period, they would hook each board up to the diagnostics gear, and Bruce would wail on the test chassis with that very same mallet you see in the photo. If the meters moved - even a tiny hair - he would fail the board. Absolutely no BS.

What _was_ his last name? My rep told me the whole story and I just can't remember his name.


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## Chuck

bigdwiz said:


> *This one is for Chuck*


:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

Thanks! Now I wish I hadn't thrown out my Thug Bug display setup. A full working Thug Bug set in black plexi. I actually installed it in a car a couple years later.


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## bigdwiz

*Rockford Fosgate "Believe It" Promo Video with Wayne Harris *


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## bigdwiz

*Re: Old School Showoff Thread*

Found this one on YT and it was just worth posting here...those who attended 80's Competitions will feel right at home..

This video might fit better in Chuck's new thread, but I posted it here anyway..


*Rolling Thunder Crank-it-Up Car Stereo Contest by Wayne Harris (1987)*


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## deeppinkdiver

jtaudioacc said:


> some keychains i've had in my tool box forever.



Man, if your wanting to move these i got dibs on the white zapco!

Very cool ad's so far guys.. I do remember the RF guy beatin on the amps. Amzing durability back then! haha


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## bigdwiz

Ok, a couple more for the Cerwin-Vega fans...Circa 1989


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## bigdwiz

MTX Literature from 1990:


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## bigdwiz

*The original "The Crunch" circa 1989-1990*


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## adrenalinejunkie

BigDwiz, good stuff like usual.  - Subbinblazer


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## Chuck

As I promised BigD a few months back, as soon as I picked up a new scanner I would contribute some great materials from the epic days of Old School Audio. I recently bought a Canon MG6120, and its the coolest piece of gear I've bought in a long time. Under $90 at Office Depot too. 

To start off today's contribution, I'm going back to my all time favorite amp and EQ manufacturer, Proton. As I mentioned earlier, Proton was the USA branch of Fulet Electronics, a Taiwan contract manufacturer that built stuff for NAD. As such, they had access to all of the NAD design materials, and wasted no time in going after the mobile audio market with amps that were based on an NAD 50x2 home chassis. The amp that resulted - the P250 - was legendary. Using Soft Clipping technology from NAD, this amp had absolutely silken sound, and it will give any modern amp a run for your money. 

Also released at that time was an incredible pair of signal manipulation products, the P271 7 band graphic EQ/crossover, and the P270 Active crossover. I've mentioned in a couple of previous posts that the 271 had the uncanny ability to improve sound quality simply by plugging it into the chain and _leaving the sliders flat_. We had our theories on how this was possible, but however Proton did it every single person that worked at our store had one of these in their vehicle. 

I've also posted about the wonderful speakers Proton carried back then. They managed to take paper cones a lot farther than anyone else on the planet. Back when many companies were moving into poly speakers, Proton stayed with treated paper, along with a select few manufactuers like Polk Audio, and had the most natural sound as a result. 

Rounding out today's info deluge are promos for the ultra-rare early Proton head units, including the esoteric 207 head unit. This is the most sought-after of all the Proton HU's, as it preceded the 213 and later units that were available through companies like Crutchfield. I personally haven't seen one since our demo model stuck in the soundboard at the shop in 1984.
Also included are the 202A, the 204, and the 212. Capable little creatures with great FM performance.

Join me now as we tour the Proton lineup, circa 1984-1985... with a little surprise at the end.


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## Chuck

*The Proton 250 and 222 mobile amplifiers*


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## Chuck

*the Proton 271EQ and 270 Active Crossover*


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## Chuck

*The Proton 297/298/299 Subwoofers*


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## Chuck

*the Proton 293 and 298 Coaxial Speakers*


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## Chuck

*the Proton 207 AM/FM Cassette Deck*


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## Chuck

*The Proton 204 and 212 Cassette Receivers*


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## Chuck

*the Proton 202A AM/FM Cassette System*


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## Chuck

*Surprise... the actual Confidential Dealer Cost Schedule*


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## Chuck

Thats it for scans today folks. I hope you all enjoy that stuff. Derek I need you to PM your email to me so I can send you the master scan file like I promised. 

Still to come... some little known things from our friends in Tempe, Arizona....:surprised:


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## n_olympios

Yet another great thread! 

I'll have to find some time to scan some of my own stuff...


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## bigdwiz

Chuck, I sent you a PM....great Proton lit!


Here's some *Infinity Kappa Speaker literature from 1988*:


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## bigdwiz

*1989 Autotek Ads*....back in the "made by Zed" days...


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## bigdwiz

Does Jensen "kick" or "shatter"? 1988 Ads


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## bigdwiz

Since Chuck is on the subject of Proton, here are a couple Ads, first 1988, second 1990...


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## Chuck

bigdwiz said:


> Since Chuck is on the subject of Proton, here are a couple Ads, first 1988, second 1990...


The 203T and the concurrent 213/214 designs were beautiful, and came the closest to resembling NAD design I think. 

I was not a fan of the last Proton mobile audio components. I thought they were losing their design ethos by then. They seemed to be chasing Concord, and Concord was chasing its own tail.


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## bigdwiz

*1990 Rockford Fosgate Speaker Literature - Pro, Punch, Series 1*


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## Chuck

*While we're talking about Rockford...*

In the early-mid 1980s the stereo wars were just beginning. You had us hifi aficionados on one side of the chasm, and one the other side was the general population, which was divided into those people who bought whatever they found at KMart or Western Auto, and the other people who read the Pioneer and Kenwood ads in Popular Science and thought they knew what good audio was. 
From time to time we'd find people walking into the store that would ask outright dumb questions or try to bait us into talking specs vs other more mainstream manufacturers. They were trying to test our knowledge, or get us into arguments over their mass market favorites, so they could show us up. We called them "strokes". We all learned to spot them fairly quickly, and messing with strokes became a great source of entertainment. I also never failed to oblige them if they wanted to see what our systems could do. On a head to head showdown our cars always won, and the biggest component of a showdown was always the Rockford Fosgate amplifier. 

I know that in other threads BigD posted a few RF sheets from the time period that really defined Old School for the Tempe crowd, but I'd like to gather it all together under one roof. Here is what I believe to be the definitive collection of info from the Golden Age - no, make the Hyborean Age - of Rockford Fosgate. This wasn't just an amplifier company, this was Conan the Amp Builder, crushing its enemies and hearing the lamentations of their women....


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## Chuck

*In the beginning, there was the Punch 40...*

After some serious growing pains, quality control issues that no doubt resulted from the tumult of the Rockford investors taking over Jim Fosgate's market-originating amplifier company, they turned out this little gem as part of their new Punch line, the Punch 40:


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## Chuck

*Intermediate power from the capable Punch 75*

Moving up in the power levels, we get to the Punch 75. This was the go-to amp for multiple amp configurations in the early days, something we'll take a look at a little bit later...


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## Chuck

*The workhorse: Punch 150*

If the Punch 75 was the go-to for multiamp systems, the Punch150 was the older brother that the Punch 75 would have waiting around the corner to beat up lesser amps. Our star attraction was a Z/28 with three Punch150 amps, driving two Proton subs, a pair of B&W LM1 satellites, and I forget what front speakers. The HU was a Concord HPL532 into a Proton EQ. 

"Yeah that Delco/Bose in your '84 Vette is pretty awesome. Care to hear what I've got in my Camaro? You might like it..."


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## Chuck

*from out of left field.... the Punch 45 Mosfet*

This tiny amp was more capable than anything else on the market. One of the Punchmobiles that came out of Schmidt's shop back in the day was a Pontiac GrandAm with a Sony CDXR7 (I think), an OEQ-1, a Punch 45 Mosfet, and 26 separate speakers including a bunch of subs. It was done as a design exercise to see how much the amp could handle. They played all sorts of series and parallel games to get 13 speakers on each channel to provide a 2 ohm load to the amp. I have no idea how they did it, but maybe some of the old school guys here have the build sheet.


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## Chuck

*playing with Power... the Power 300 Mosfet*

Along comes the Power Mosfet series, and Rockford extended their lead over the other companies so much it was unsportsmanlike.


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## Chuck

*Power 650: don't go away mad, just go away..*

This is the amplifier that made a scene at Vegas CES back in 1986. The marketing staff hooked up a couple of Waring blenders, ran a 60hz tone through the amp, and made daiquiris for show guests. The Power 650 Mosfet:


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## Chuck

*crossovers and EQ*

The unsung heroes of the RF lineup, the OEQ-1 Octave Equalizer and the XV-1 crossover. The OEQ-1 in particular was absolutely necessary to flatten the interior response of most vehicles and was an essential component in every Punchmobile from the day of its introduction.


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## Chuck

*murky history*

Now I'd like to show you some stuff from the transitional period when Rockford Fosgate was trying to define its lineup into Punch and Power. When the Power series was first introduced, they didn't have a fan-chassis for it, though I'm sure it was on the drawing boards. Originally, the Power 300 was introduced in a heat sink shell similar to the sawtooth Punch series. Note the extremely rare heat sink logo strap attached.










On the back of the spec sheet you see not only the amp specs, but the soon to be released preamp and graphic EQ gear that was concurrent with the actual Power series:


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## Chuck

*It gets murkier...*

Here's where it gets even stranger...

Before they called it the Power 300, it was known as the Power VI. I imagine that they were going to go with a Roman number scheme for all the Power series but people higher up the food chain at RF saw the limitations of that and gave us the naming we're familiar with today.


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## bigdwiz

Chuck, do you know for sure if there was ever a "slider" Punch 150? I have Punch 40's and a 100 slider, but heard they may have produced a slider Punch 150, but I've never seen one (or any other info verifying it's existence).


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## bigdwiz

Don't forget the "slider" Punch 100, sold at the same time as the Punch 40


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## Chuck

I've never heard of it a slider 150. The slider-equipped 40/100 were an early design totally unrelated to the 45/75/150. They changed their power supply design when the later Punch amps came out and I think the slider was part of the original design. You can't rule it out though, because there is always the chance that they did a run for a few days to test the new amplifier stage and then added the later power supply on a new chassis. Things were kind of confusing back then.

Hmm I just realized that my Punch 100 sheet is missing.


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## bigdwiz

I like the way Chuck adds a story to each piece of lit...many of these amps came out before I got into car audio, so I can't add a story. Chuck, feel free if you know any specific details about the amps.

Here are some more RF amps from the early 1980's (approx. 1982-1983)

*FYI - These amps were "only" stable to 4 ohms in stereo and 8 ohms mono*


_(Big thanks to fingaz22, another RF collector for sharing his HUGE collection of literature with me, so I could pass it along for others to enjoy )_


*Punch Power 200*




















*Punch Power II*




















*Punch Power 360*


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## bigdwiz

Here is some literature for the Ultra-Rare Punch Power 650 "bipolar" amp which preceded the Power 650 Mosfet (approx. 1983-1984). Wayne Harris had these in his "Terminator" Hearse and said the emitter resistors would heat up and desolder themselves from the board, so he kept a bag of small parts to make repairs on location (at competitions) if necessary! He also mentioned trading in his bipolar 650 for a 650 Mosfet in late 1984 and they were much more reliable. There were approx. 50 bipolar 650's built, and finding one at all is rare, I've seen a handful for sale the past 5 years, but NONE with the original fan shroud.


*1983-1984 Rockford Fosgate Punch Power 650 (bipolar)*


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## bigdwiz

Don't forget the "Daddy" of the Power series...This Ad is from 1987


The *RF Power 1000 Mosfet*


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## Darth SQ

BigD and Chuck,
I'm really liking the direction you have taken this thread.
Please keep up the details!!!

On a personal note, I saw the 1st Fosgate's hit the market in the middle 1970's and was blown away.
I competed with them in the 80's and 90's so I saw everything they released at the sound off competitions in the show cars.
I've had seat time in most every top vehicle including the Terminator and Rockbird (remember that one?).
It was commonplace the find the Terminator in downtown Phoenix inside the Grand Prix garages most every saturday night at the weekly car show there sponsored by Phoenix Parks and Recreation.
I had at least two friends that owned their own shops back then with one of them helping me with tuning to compete.
I would walk into his shop and eventually the conversation would turn to, "Have you seen the latest from RF?" and then he would pull it out of the box or crank up the freshly installed beauty.
Many of my old friends to this day still have their old Fosgate equipment just sitting on their garage shelves gathering dust.
And as I have said before, Julie Fosgate was a classmate of mine.

With all this being said, you can imagine how much this is all a trip down memory lane for me.
I took those days for granted back then because it was commonplace for us to be around all this amazing stuff.

Funny thing is I always looked to SoCal as the place to be regarding the latest trends in the custom car and truck scene.
But the truth was when it came to cutting edge car audio, Phoenix was the epicenter for the world. 

Rockford Fosgate, Orion, MTX, Precision Power, and others were all making history in Phoenix back then.

Good times indeed.

Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


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## Chuck

PPI-ART COLLECTOR said:


> BigD and Chuck,
> I'm really liking the direction you have taken this thread.
> Please keep up the details!!!


D and me are on very personal campaigns to bring this stuff some much needed visibility. We'll probably end up screwing ourselves because it'll be harder for us to find good deals on buried treasure once everyone and their brother is looking for it, but just maybe we can convince some manufacturers to do some heritage editions based on their old designs. Actually, didn't Rockford do something like that recently?




PPI-ART COLLECTOR said:


> On a personal note, I saw the 1st Fosgate's hit the market in the middle 1970's and was blown away.


Jim Fosgate _created_ the market. Everyone else was a pretender back then. After he left the company (or was forced out, as some may claim) he continued to create incredible technology like the Fosgate Gavotte and of course, Dolby ProLogic II. The man was the Tesla of the mobile audio community. 

I miss the days of old school car audio. It was an undeniably American enterprise back then, as many of the car audio manufacturers designed and produced their components in the USA. Rockford Fosgate was designed in Arizona, hand built by cottage workers, and sold out of the car trunks of the traveling product reps in between the Vegas and Chicago CES shows. There were some brilliant foreign manufacturers - NAD and Nakamichi among them, but you could easily identify with people like David Hafler, Jim Fosgate, and Bob Carver. Most companies today are formed around a group of guys who want to move into a market segment and dominate it for profit, without ever having a personal interest in actually adding value to those segments. Those old school guys formed companies around ideas and actually created market segments that didn't exist until that moment.



PPI-ART COLLECTOR said:


> I had at least two friends that owned their own shops back then with one of them helping me with tuning to compete.
> I would walk into his shop and eventually the conversation would turn to, "Have you seen the latest from RF?" and then he would pull it out of the box or crank up the freshly installed beauty.
> Many of my old friends to this day still have their old Fosgate equipment just sitting on their garage shelves gathering dust.
> And as I have said before, Julie Fosgate was a classmate of mine.
> 
> With all this being said, you can imagine how much this is all a trip down memory lane for me.
> I took those days for granted back then because it was commonplace for us to be around all this amazing stuff.
> 
> Funny thing is I always looked to SoCal as the place to be regarding the latest trends in the custom car and truck scene.
> But the truth was when it came to cutting edge car audio, Phoenix was the epicenter for the world.
> 
> Rockford Fosgate, Orion, MTX, Precision Power, and others were all making history in Phoenix back then.
> 
> Good times indeed.


I'll have a surprise specifically for you at a later date, Bret... I met some great people associated with one of the companies you mentioned, and I'll have to post that info up. But I still have a mess of RF lit to add here and time is short today.


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## Chuck

bigdwiz said:


> I like the way Chuck adds a story to each piece of lit...many of these amps came out before I got into car audio, so I can't add a story. Chuck, feel free if you know any specific details about the amps.
> 
> Here are some more RF amps from the early 1980's (approx. 1982-1983)
> 
> *FYI - These amps were "only" stable to 4 ohms in stereo and 8 ohms mono*


Thanks very much for the props D. These amps and the memories associated with them hold a special place in my existence. I enjoyed installing, tuning, selling, trading, and promoting all this stuff. More than that, I absolutely treasure the friendships I made. I keep in touch with almost every single person from those days, and the older I get, the smaller the world seems to get. Recently I found out that a guy I've been working with for the past five years was actually the lead installer at the last shop I was affiliated with. He built up several versions of the store manager's show car. Since I was out of the north store and he was at the south store, I never knew his name and only saw him in passing. It was hilarious finding out that we had met years before, and I was awed when he showed me the stuff he had left in his garage. 

As for the amps you listed, those were the ultra rare transitional pieces from when they were beginning the Power lineup. RF was pushing bipolar as far as it could go at the time, and the mosfet designs were already being tested. I know you can find a Punch 100 from time to time, but a Punch 200? Good luck. And as you said, the Power 650 (non-mosfet) is hardtofindium. It shows up in price sheets but disappeared before you could open the literature package.


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## Chuck

*what happens when RF amps don't work...*

In an earlier post I mentioned a short period of time when Rockford Fosgate went through some quality control issues. This was right around the time when the venture capitalists who helped Jim Fosgate expand the company took control of it. I don't remember if the QC problems were part of the reason Jim was led out of his company, or if the QC problems resulted from the takeover. In either case, here's a pretty hilarious statement from the RF home office on what to do with the original Fosgate 250. Sorry I can't find the second page of this document, I have no idea what happened to it:


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## Chuck

*for audio sales and install pros only: the Rockfordphiles*

Rockford was among the small number of audio companies that had an internal newsletter available to its core dealers. I only have one "issue" of this newsletter, basically 4 pages stapled together, but it gives some valuable insight to Rockford's inner workings. For your reading pleasure, a copy of "the Rockfordphiles", circa 1982-1983:










On a contemplative note, the 2nd page mentions Wendell Wildman as the Eastern Region Sales Manager. Wendell left a couple of years after this and joined Steve Holderman at MAG Marketing. Wendell was my rep, and I was about 3 feet away from getting my own dealership before things fell apart for me. I was going to pursue a "boutique" format, doing personal installs for individual high end clients, starting with a local kit car builder. Wendell liked the idea, but I didn't get a lot of traction from potential backers. No one could see how I could talk someone into to dropping off a car and about $10-15k for a super install. Three years later, people like Rich Inferra were making magazine covers with that stuff. 
Wendell was the guy who demoed the original Punch Van to me. That was the rig that had 6 Power Mosfet 650 amps in the back, with a dedicated OEQ-1 and power rectifier for each amp. He died a few years ago. He will be missed by a lot of folks, I'm sure. 










This next page shows the beginning of the stereo competitions. I believe RF was first with this. We had a couple of them at our stores, and I'll post up a judge's score sheet a little later on. 










A company newsletter wouldn't be complete without some self-referential back patting, and the Rockford Philes doesn't disappoint us. Bret should have a real trip down memory lane with the last blurb on the page:


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## Chuck

*official Punch Mobile spec sheets*

Rockford Fosgate used to do custom vehicles at the factory or Arizona shops, and once in a while they would send us the spec sheets for these cars to offer a model for our customers. Here's some from 1983-1984. The companion parts are a memory lane trip on their own.

The first looks like it would have been a real awesome creature, based on my favorite Nakamichi, the TD-1200 HU:










I have no idea what they were thinking on this one. They decided to put two separate systems in an RX7, one for the front, one for the rear. I presume these systems were installed in the FC-chassis RX-7, but the car was still too small. I would have put this system in the Caddy and put the Caddy system in the RX-7, but RF believed in overkill I imagine.


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## Chuck

*SOUND OFF!*

At the beginning of the sound wars, a few stores started hosting Rockford Fosgate CrankItUp! competitions. These were the forerunner of both the dB Drags and the SoundOff of later years. 
We initially tested only for dB, using an AudioSource RTA. Eventually we had to show that a car system could be used for fidelity, since dB wars didn't fit in with the high end image of Rockford's dealer network. RF was nice enough to provide us with judging criteria, which you'll see below.

From the CrankItUP! we went to the SoundOff, which led to the IASCA and NACA competitions. I lost touch after that, so where it is now you guys probably know better than me.


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## Chuck

*Punch 150 warranty*

Here's what a Punch warranty looked like back before they grew up and were printed on card stock. Yes, this was a _typewritten_ warranty on plain paper, and its from the actual bronze sawtooth Punch 150 I showed you guys in the gear thread:


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## bigdwiz

Chuck, man, I'm SO GLAD you got a scanner. This is truly amazing history you have and THANK YOU for sharing!!


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## Chuck

I'm enjoying it as much as you are, D - but as they say on TV

*BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!*


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## Chuck

*official price sheet January 1983*

This was at the tail end of the "slider era". You'll notice that there isn't a single Mosfet on here, and the 45/75/150 were absent too. This is the earliest price sheet I have on hand:


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## Chuck

*official cost sheet January 1985*

Here we see the real Rockford taking shape, as the Punch amps we all remember now take the top spot on the price sheet. Still no Mosfet amps though...










For the first time, Rockford started offering parts so we didn't have to go to Radio Shack, Caltex, or Scoshe for our bits and pieces:


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## Chuck

*Rockford decides to become a driver manufacturer*

After a certain point, successful companies decide that they want to get into every other piece of their market segment. Sony was the most successful of them, as they got into everything - head units, EQ, crossovers, signal processors, speakers, amps, and changers. Concord was able to pull it off for a while, until Penril sold them to Harmon, who later pulled the plug on them. I imagine that those guys at Rockford marketing were looking at those Punch Mobile sheets and moaning about the free press they were giving to Concord, Stereolab, and Pioneer, and figured they would pursue the market end-to-end.

To start it off, they built the 250 preamp and the Z/ZX EQs. Then they wanted to get into raw drivers. They could have had a contract plant make them to spec, which is where they started, with Carbineaux. They could have also simply relabeled raw drivers from Peerless or Audax. But somehow, "Manufactured for Rockford Fosgate by Peerless" or "Designed in Tempe, AZ by Rockford - manufactured in Switzerland by Audax" doesn't quite sound as good as "Designed and built by Rockford Fosgate Tempe, Arizona", right?

So they pulled out their fat company checkbook and bought Carbineaux lock stock and barrel. A few months later, in February of 1985, they announced their own raw drivers:










By June of 1986, those few drivers morphed into an entire lineup of premium speakers for installers:


----------



## Chuck

*more accessories*

Along with the driver business, the ancillary gear blossomed. From 1986 here's the long list of goodies that were available to stocking retailers. Notice that the 250/Z/ZX were DIN parts, like the early PPI preamps:



















If that wasn't enough, Rockford got into clothing. Here's the original list of clothing. I wish I had picked up one of those jackets back then.


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## Prime mova

[/QUOTE]

This must be the banner In the above dealer price list for 35$.


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## jtaudioacc

some stickers i have laying around. i also have my folder from when i went to rtti (not what's in the pic). the one in the pic wasn't mine, but it is now. lol.


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## bigdwiz

^^ Love the stickers and if I could get you or ANYONE to scan some RTTI manuals, I'd be forever in debt....

I put some of my RF Amp stickers on the scanner a while back. After Steve Meade did a video about his "boneyard" Punch 150 and it needing a sticker, I sent him the only one I had. Keep the old school alive!


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## jtaudioacc

give me a bit, and i'll scan the 2 i have. the one i actually have is pretty basic, i think i may have gone in the late 80's. i can't remember. maybe i'll have some notes or something in the folder.

you can see the other in the pic, and i'll scan that one.


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## PPI_GUY

Chuck or Dereck, do either of you (or anyone else) have any copies of the original NACA or IASCA judging sheets? The competitors copies were yellow or gold I think. Would love to see one. Mine were all trashed with my hundred or so Car Audio, CSR and AS&S magazines. Arghhhh!


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## Chuck

I don't have any but one of my coworkers is a former installer and he has some awards under his belt I think. He just showed me a bunch of garage goodies he had left from his build days so its possible he has the paperwork too.


WAIT - your magazine collection was trashed? Didn't you post a pic of that monster collection a few months back? What happened?


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## bigdwiz

Chuck, I think you are thinking about imjustjason...he has nearly all of the CSR, CA&E, AS&S, and more mags from the beginning up until the last ones were produced.


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## Chuck

Yeah that was it. My jaw hit the floor when I saw what he had.


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## bigdwiz

I keep trying to have him leave me these in his will...I don't think he'll let them go otherwise :bigcry:


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## Chuck

bigdwiz said:


> I keep trying to have him leave me these in his will...I don't think he'll let them go otherwise :bigcry:


Careful, bro... you don't want to have anything that looks like a motive in case something should.. y'know... _happen_ to him.


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## bigdwiz

:shrug: C'mon now....the mags aren't THAT important!


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## Chuck

I'm just sayin' :laugh:


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## bigdwiz

Not much use for these accessories today...


*Pull Out Pouch*:











*Scosche Portable CD Player Mount*:












On second thought...maybe this one could still be useful:


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## PPI_GUY

Chuck, that wasn't me you were thinking of. I had a brain fart (one of many) during a period when I was completely out of car audio and just tossed everything including the magazines, competition score sheets, owners manuals, Orion Tech Briefs, etc into the trash. 
If your co-worker still has that paperwork, it would be great if you could get a scan. Thanks.


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## Chuck

I talked to him yesterday and unfortunately he doesn't have any paperwork, just gear. He's incredibly busy right now so I don't want to push him, but when his schedule eases up I'll see if he can dig up the old autosound manager's phone number and find out what that guy might have. I know he kept every piece of the RF system he had installed in the show car (and he still has the show car, for that matter), so maybe he has the sound check sheet.


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## bigdwiz

Hey Chuck, I bet you had some of these in your stash....


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## Chuck

You're right I do, and she's a damn good cook. Keeps the house nice too. 

Oh, you mean the _clothing_...


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## bigdwiz

Actually, I meant the literature...what you said :laugh::laugh::laugh:


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## bigdwiz

Here's an Orion Tech Brief from 1990 "An Advanced Civilization - Subwoofers from the Stars"


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## Prime mova

I thought this ad was coooool from R.a.D magazine in 1992.


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## bigdwiz

Here's a May 1979 Ad from Stereo Review for Fosgate Electronics (pre-Rockford). Gotta love those 6x9 woofers for "subs":


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## rodburner

Cool way to spark interest in "old" stuff. After my wife died,I kinda went a bit crazy and chucked all my old audio related hats and shirts. Earthquake of San Fransisco,AlumaPro,Memphis,Audiobahn and Crossfire all to the GoodWill. Still have some of the old gear though,an Alchemy 10, a couple Earthquake amps,lots of German Quart stuff,2 unused RF Power HX2 10's, EQT's,Matrix,24XS and a bag of homemade 1% pmf chips for running active should the mood strike. Wish I still had my Hifonics gold Titan amps.[sometimes]
Keep up the good work,
Steve


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## Chuck

bigdwiz said:


> Here's a May 1979 Ad from Stereo Review for Fosgate Electronics (pre-Rockford). Gotta love those 6x9 woofers for "subs"



If I can find my missing file of audio stuff, I have a single flyer for an old Altec Lansing (back when there was a real company by that name) 6x9 separate subwoofer with a 40 watt amp built in to it. I actually had one of those subs, but it was dead and I tossed it out way back in 1985. 
I have a feeling that flyer is gone, unfortunately, along with everything else in that folder. I had FAS, Becker, Altec, Marantz, and a few other 2nd string hifi company docs in there.


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## imjustjason

I ran a set of Alpine 6190 6x9 subs for a couple years around 85/86. They were just as good as the Yamaha 8's I switched to.


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## Prime mova

Link to Old School PPI amp and processor manuals:

PrecisionPower


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## Prime mova

Here's a brand no high end audiophiles would care to use but they knew their market and advertised heavily.


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## Q-Authority

Prime mova said:


> Here's a brand no high end audiophiles would care to use but they new their market and advertised heavily.


That's hilarious. I've never seen that before. Great post.


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## kilostoys

> So long and thanks for all the fish!


love the never-ending trilogy reference!


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## Q-Authority

kilostoys said:


> love the never-ending trilogy reference!


Thanks, it's one of my all time favorites. I often wonder if anyone gets it, but I guess that is part of the point of using it, lol.


----------



## rodburner

The Sparkomatic's rocked in the early 70's. Paired with an Emerson 8 track or a new fangled Craig cassette player,you were SURE to get laid,cruising the loop Saturday night..
Best of Bread baby..


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## ADCS-1

Prime mova said:


> Here's a brand no high end audiophiles would care to use but they knew their market and advertised heavily.


Funnily, my first car have a pair 6x9 Sparkomatic`s. Had them in car for 2 weeks before i trow them out. Guess i still have this pair somewhere....


----------



## Chuck

Time for me to open the archive once again. I'd like to take you guys back to the Hyborean Age of Mobile Audio once again, this time our subject will be Concord.

For those who remember the first half of the 80s, it was a great time for hifi in general, but it was a real awakening as maverick entrepreneur/engineers brought excellent tunes to us through radical amp designs. But an amp is only as good as its source, and back then the list of quality head units was a very short one. Among them were Alpine, Harman Kardon, Proton, and Concord.

Concord Electronics had decades of experience in audio, with the distinction of being the manufacturer of the worlds first portable stereo tape recorder/player. Based in Japan, they were purchased by Penril Corporation some time in the 1970s, and pushed into the mobile audio market towards the end of the decade. 

During their time in the Penril stable, Concord pioneered some great technology: the front loading tape transport, matched phase tape heads, the mobile DBX decoder, the Fletcher/Munson Loudness Contour stand out on the list. 

Concord collectors search for HPL-520 and 532 head units, and HPS263/271 speakers, but the rarest find of all are the HPST Electrostatic Car Speakers. This was a hybrid design with a conventional 6.5 inch woofer and an electrostatic tweeter on an articulating shaft mount. Yes, Concord had an electrostatic speaker, similar to Acoustat and Magnepan, in a mobile application. This is equivalent to Infinity putting a Walsh cone tweeter in a dash speaker... 

I've never actually seen one of these in person, and they may never have been released to the public. If I ever find a working pair I'll be amazed. For now all I have are the actual promo brochure pages, still in virgin shape after 26 years. Enjoy


----------



## Chuck




----------



## Chuck

From a 1984 brochure promoting the technological advances of the HPL101 and 122 head units. The 101 was the first piece of hifi that I ever owned; it was my gateway drug to the world of mobile audio.


----------



## kilostoys

Q-Authority said:


> Thanks, it's one of my all time favorites. I often wonder if anyone gets it, but I guess that is part of the point of using it, lol.


um, 42.


----------



## Bampity

Cool.


----------



## Q-Authority

kilostoys said:


> um, 42.


^^ :laugh:


----------



## Chuck

Q-Authority said:


> Thanks, it's one of my all time favorites. I often wonder if anyone gets it, but I guess that is part of the point of using it, lol.


"Curiously, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again."


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## PPI_GUY

Chuck said:


> "Curiously, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again."



"Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that, we would know a lot more about the nature of the Universe than we do now.”


----------



## n_olympios

Care to get back on topic please? And someone say "We apologize for the inconvenience".


----------



## Prime mova

Red is always faster...


----------



## Derekj

PPI_GUY said:


> Chuck or Dereck, do either of you (or anyone else) have any copies of the original NACA or IASCA judging sheets? The competitors copies were yellow or gold I think. Would love to see one. Mine were all trashed with my hundred or so Car Audio, CSR and AS&S magazines. Arghhhh!


Found mine just a few weeks ago,


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## robert_wrath

Derekj said:


> Found mine just a few weeks ago,


What year is this score sheet?


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## Derekj

That was from 1991 - one of my first shows.


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## bigdwiz

Derekj said:


> That was from 1991 - one of my first shows.


Very cool, thanks for sharing!


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## BumpaD_Z28

Old PPI pin / tie tac ...


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## Darth SQ

Thought this might be interesting to you PPI fans.
Here's the 1996 Precision Power product brochure.
Enjoy!

Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


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## ahardb0dy

*Some Brochures I just scanned*

Here are some brochures I just scanned:


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## ahardb0dy

Was going thru old receipts and equipment manuals and found these, my one and only competition, not very good but I tried:




























hard to read but equipment included:

Yamaha YCT-40 cassette tuner
Sony disc Jockey
JVC KS-E75 EQ (not sure of model number hard to read)
2 Nakamichi PA-300-2's
MB Quart separates in front doors
Kicker SS-12 in king cab

installed in my (at the time) 87 Nissan king cab 4x4


----------



## ahardb0dy

*Re: Some Brochures I just scanned*


----------



## ahardb0dy

*Re: Some Brochures I just scanned*


----------



## ahardb0dy

*Re: Some Brochures I just scanned*


----------



## ahardb0dy

*Re: Some Brochures I just scanned*

This next one was hard to scan as it is a single page front and back, so the products are not in the exact order they are in, in the brochure:


----------



## ahardb0dy

*Re: Some Brochures I just scanned*


----------



## ahardb0dy

*Re: Some Brochures I just scanned*

Ok, now for some single page ads:


----------



## ahardb0dy

*Re: Some Brochures I just scanned*


----------



## Old Skewl

*Re: Some Brochures I just scanned*

Awesome scans! Brings back oh soooooo many memories!!


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## ahardb0dy

Prime mova said:


> Red is always faster...


I have a few of these too, one is not Alpine but nice car anyway:



















Pirelli poster:










ok, back on topic (what ever it is and "sorry for the inconvenience" ), LOL


----------



## ahardb0dy

*Re: Some Brochures I just scanned*

Thanks, back in the day I had 2 of the Nakamichi PA-300-2's, the MB Quart Separates, still have my PPI 2200M and a PPI 5075DX with the RCM-1000 controller.


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## BakedCookies

ahardb0dy said:


> I have a few of these too, one is not Alpine but nice car anyway:


I have this one framed as well. Hung in my office at my old job for years. It is in my son's room now.


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## smgreen20

Got to sit in one once at a car show, back in ~90. 

Sorry for the crappy phone pics, but here's my Clarion CDC6500R.
This is a UK version I believe.




























A special wire harness, it's hardwired directly from the HU plug to the "factory" plug.









The serial number stamped into the cage.









Warranty card









Owners manual in 6 languages!!!!!










I will soon have some pics of a newly acquired Clarion 6770. It had a bad board in the face, so I had to buy a replacement face off of ebay which showed up yesterday and it works 100%. This was my first ever HU back in '92.


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## Darth SQ

Damn, and to think that I thought I had a treasure....

Great brochures.

Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


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## ahardb0dy

Thanks Bret, I have another PPI one like the last one I scanned, The last brochure had the PPI AM amplifiers the other brochure has the M amp's in it. But it was getting close to 4:30 in the morning so I figured I would quit for the night (day), lol


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## bigdwiz

*1992 Kicker Brochure*


----------



## smgreen20

As soon as I can get my printer/scanner OS updated to win7 I'll start scanning/posting brochures from Clarion, Phoenix Gold and LANZAR.


----------



## --Kei--

Alpine 3566 Brochure page









Also got a fair collection of alpine user manuals too.


----------



## bigdwiz

Gotta love the "Ear Candy"...Linear Power Ads


----------



## bigdwiz

A couple of Pyle Ads...back when they made quality gear


----------



## bigdwiz

Welcome to the 90s, we Own 'em (LOL)

Hollywood Sound Labs


----------



## bigdwiz

A few more PPI goodies....


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## bigdwiz

Classic 80's Orion here...gotta love the BIG hair!


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## Darth SQ

bigdwiz said:


> Classic 80's Orion here...gotta love the BIG hair!


And the spandex leggings. 

Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


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## n_olympios

PPI-ART COLLECTOR said:


> And the spandex leggings.
> 
> Bret
> PPI-ART COLLECTOR


I was ready to post the exact same thing!


----------



## Ampman

bigdwiz said:


> A couple of Pyle Ads...back when they made quality gear


Have you bench tested any Pyle digital demand amps, I've got 2 of the Pyle A200's and a A140/4. These things are really powerful.


----------



## bigdwiz

Ampman said:


> Have you bench tested any Pyle digital demand amps, I've got 2 of the Pyle A200's and a A140/4. These things are really powerful.


No, I don't have any of these Pyle amps


----------



## nickpsd

Lots of stuff in here bringing back memories


----------



## briansz

Hundreds more magazines to go............ someday.












__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content


----------



## briansz

And More...........


----------



## briansz

And a few more for tonight............


----------



## Darth SQ

briansz said:


> Hundreds more magazines to go............ someday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not much of a limit.
> What a circus wagon.....
> 
> Bret
> PPI-ART COLLECTOR


----------



## Chuck

Bret... is that a Pantera in your avatar??


----------



## Darth SQ

Chuck said:


> Bret... is that a Pantera in your avatar??


Yep, my old 74 Detomaso Pantera L.

Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


----------



## n_olympios

I never understood those Macrom ads.


----------



## briansz

Neither did the guy in the tightie whities. He's probably still in therapy.


----------



## Darth SQ

briansz said:


> Neither did the guy in the tightie whities. He's probably still in therapy.


What about the other guy in the same picture butt down on the floor in the bathroom with his pants below his knees while being pelted with bows?
He definitely does not look stable. 

Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


----------



## nickpsd

Anybody remeber these?








[/IMG]

Or this?









[/IMG]


----------



## bamelanc

TTT...


----------



## Chuck

Guys, I found my original Xtant introductory folder, handed to me at CES by one of the founders back in 1990 or 1991, iirc. The problem is, the folder is quite a bit larger than the typical 8x11 sheet of paper. How can I scan this and come up with something useful?


----------



## jtaudioacc

took these today.


----------



## Chuck

Nice Kenwood brochure. Was that circa 1986? The face is very similar to my Denon 7600 and some of the Proton displays of that era.


----------



## Darth SQ

jtaudioacc said:


> took these today.


That Kenwood HU was the first serious one I ever owned.
I also had the 200 watt Kenwood amp in that brochure.
Put them both in my 85 Chevy S-10.

Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


----------



## haromaster87

These old ads are the best!


----------



## jtaudioacc

Chuck said:


> Nice Kenwood brochure. Was that circa 1986? The face is very similar to my Denon 7600 and some of the Proton displays of that era.


these are posters.


----------



## Prime mova

Old school 1996-97 rf cable reels -








I likely in my shop fo sho...


----------



## Chuck

jtaudioacc said:


> these are posters.


I guess I'll pay better attention next time.  It looked like a handbook brochure from here. My question still stands though. Any chance theres a date on the poster?


----------



## jtaudioacc

just found this the other day. like brand new.


----------



## SaturnSL1

PPI-ART COLLECTOR said:


> What about the other guy in the same picture butt down on the floor in the bathroom with his pants below his knees while being pelted with bows?
> He definitely does not look stable.
> 
> Bret
> PPI-ART COLLECTOR


Thats a chick lol


----------



## Darth SQ

SaturnSL1 said:


> Thats a chick lol














Bret
PPI-ART COLLECTOR


----------



## Iron Maiden

Sparkomatic/ Mind Blower Speakers/ Power Booster= Insane distortion:laugh:


----------



## dsuperminime

Hi guys, I know is an old thread but,,,😅..I would like to find this brochure from the 90s. Just send a message
Best regards Luis


----------

