Trying to remember?

Trying to remember a receiver I bought from a friend in the early 70's that was quad. I always thought it was a olson but not sure, all I remember is that it had a joystick control on the left side for the 4 channels. Anyone remember anything like this,or a web site with pictures to jog my memory.

Russ

Probably a JVC, maybe a Panasonic.

I too am thinking JVC.

Justin

Didn't Fisher start out very early, before SQ was even introduced in 1971, with a quad receiver that had a joystick balance control?

I've never heard of the Olson brand. Was that in the USA or some other country?

The only brand in the USA that starts with O was Onkyo. The Onkyo did have something on it they called a 4-channel balance control.

It was a local store like radio shack in the cleveland area. Someone probably made it for them.
They sold receivers, speakers etc.

Found this link.
http://audiotools.com/dead_o.html

Sidney, Irving and Philip Olson started a radio repair business in Akron, Ohio, in their father's garage in the early 1930s. The project evolved into the Olson Radio Warehouse in Cleveland during the late 1940s and then became Olson Electronics -- a chain retailer of consumer electronics. Although they weren't in every city, there were Olson stores as far west as California. Like Allied, Olson sold everything from transistors and capacitors, as well as private label and national brands of hi-fi gear. Sadly, I couldn't find a list of Olson locations on line. I also found woefully little on Olson's history. This post is based on my memories, mainly my business relationships with Teledyne/Olson/Herald, as a customer in the '60's and a business partner in the '70's.

When Olson entered the Chicago market in the '60's, they opened their first IL store directly across Western Ave. from Allied Radio's flagship store and massive national headquarters and warehouse. A classic example of "me, too" marketing!

Sidney Olson and Charles Kellner of Herald Electronics were brothers-in-law. Herald was a company that marketed raw speakers, cables, pa amps, microphones and electronic accessories to electronics retailers. Most raw speakers were OEM'ed from US comanies like Heppner, Eminence and CTS of Paducah. Their 6x9 co-ax and triax car speakers (made by Heppner in Round Lake, IL), were much sought after in the late '70's. They had a massive magnet structure, larger than most 12" woofers. Blew the DOORS OFF Jensen! Most cables, pa amps, etc were sourced from Japan. The two companies often marketed the exact same products and made joint purchaes. I'm not referring to loose joints! lol!!

Until the mid-70's, Olson and Herald were seperate companies. At that time, Olson and Herald were both sold to Teledyne. Teledyne sold their line of semi-pro and pro microphones through both Olson and Herald. Teledyne had one of the first miniature clip mikes, which was quickly adopted by the broadcast indutry. Herald was then run as a subsidiary of Olson. Olson was headquartered in Akron, OH, while Herald continued to be run out of Lincolnwood, IL, a Chicago suburb. Olson and Herald sold many of the EXACT same products. Packaging was identical, except they had different part numbers, logos and colors. Graphics were even identical, except that Olson packaging had a blue background, and Herald packaing was red. Olson and Herald bit the dust in the early '80's. Charles Kellner and his Son Chip then created Universal Electronics, distributing many of the exact same products as were marketed by Olson/Herald.

I found very little on line regarding Herald or Charles Kellner, who expected EVERYONE to call him MISTER Kellner. He loathed being called Chuck or Charlie! If he knew you well, he might let you call him Charles!

Linda

cupboy said:

I've never heard of the Olson brand. Was that in the USA or some other country?

The only brand in the USA that starts with O was Onkyo. The Onkyo did have something on it they called a 4-channel balance control.

Click to expand...

Cover of an Olson catalog from '69: http://www.audiokarma.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=5534&size=big&cat= Dig the H/K compact with a reel-to-reel deck mounted where most would have a turntable! Cover of a '72 Olsoncatalog: http://www.daveswebshop.com/olson.shtml Note the $19.99 EV/Dynaco style Quad adapter.

Olson's propietary (house) brands were Olson and X-Air, not to be confused with E. J. Korvettes' XAM house brand.

Pix of Allied's HQ at 100 N. Western, and the former Olson store across the street: http://www.knightkit.com/allied.html This Olson store closed about 10 years before the others in Chicagoland. It became very difficult to draw customers into perhaps the highest crime neighborhood in the city. Plus, Radio shack had closed the Allied store/HQ/warehouse across the street.

As the Allied blurb says, we piled into the car and drove into the city. We didn't have a '64 Chevy, so we piled either into our '63 or '65 Chevys. That comment hit home!

For me, this is where a lifelong obsession and career began.

Linda

Quad Linda said:

Sidney, Irving and Philip Olson started a radio repair business in Akron, Ohio, in their father's garage in the early 1930s. The project evolved into the Olson Radio Warehouse in Cleveland during the late 1940s and then became Olson Electronics -- a chain retailer of consumer electronics. Although they weren't in every city, there were Olson stores as far west as California. Like Allied, Olson sold everything from transistors and capacitors, as well as private label and national brands of hi-fi gear. Sadly, I couldn't find a list of Olson locations on line. I also found woefully little on Olson's history. This post is based on my memories, mainly my business relationships with Teledyne/Olson/Herald, as a customer in the '60's and a business partner in the '70's.

When Olson entered the Chicago market in the '60's, they opened their first IL store directly across Western Ave. from Allied Radio's flagship store and massive national headquarters and warehouse. A classic example of "me, too" marketing!

Sidney Olson and Charles Kellner of Herald Electronics were brothers-in-law. Herald was a company that marketed raw speakers, cables, pa amps, microphones and electronic accessories to electronics retailers. Most raw speakers were OEM'ed from US comanies like Heppner, Eminence and CTS of Paducah. Their 6x9 co-ax and triax car speakers (made by Heppner in Round Lake, IL), were much sought after in the late '70's. They had a massive magnet structure, larger than most 12" woofers. Blew the DOORS OFF Jensen! Most cables, pa amps, etc were sourced from Japan. The two companies often marketed the exact same products and made joint purchaes. I'm not referring to loose joints! lol!!

Until the mid-70's, Olson and Herald were seperate companies. At that time, Olson and Herald were both sold to Teledyne. Teledyne sold their line of semi-pro and pro microphones through both Olson and Herald. Teledyne had one of the first miniature clip mikes, which was quickly adopted by the broadcast indutry. Herald was then run as a subsidiary of Olson. Olson was headquartered in Akron, OH, while Herald continued to be run out of Lincolnwood, IL, a Chicago suburb. Olson and Herald sold many of the EXACT same products. Packaging was identical, except they had different part numbers, logos and colors. Graphics were even identical, except that Olson packaging had a blue background, and Herald packaing was red. Olson and Herald bit the dust in the early '80's. Charles Kellner and his Son Chip then created Universal Electronics, distributing many of the exact same products as were marketed by Olson/Herald.

I found very little on line regarding Herald or Charles Kellner, who expected EVERYONE to call him MISTER Kellner. He loathed being called Chuck or Charlie! If he knew you well, he might let you call him Charles!

Linda

Click to expand...

I always love this kind of information - like when we've discussed SuperScope in the past - they started as two brothers Howard Hughes hired to make him a "CinemaScope" process but one that was different enough so he didn't have to pay royalties to 20th Century Fox. Then, in the 60's, SuperScope 'branched out' to importing Sony tape recorders and the small transistor radios. Then they bought the Marantz brand - so, in one of my 1974 Hi-Fi mags, there's a full page ad from Sony themselves for their SQ decoders, a 2 page ad from SuperScope for their Sony open reel & Compact Cassette recorders and mixers, plus an ad for a Marantz quad receiver by SuperScope and also an ad for a SuperScope branded stereo receiver! (I wonder who made SuperScope's own branded stuff?)

Then there was Aiwa, who manufactured most of Sony's consumer electronics meant for the American market in the 80's and early 90's, while Sony made Aiwa's stuff - at the same time, Sony Betamax units for consumers in America were made by Sanyo but in Japan a Sony Betamax for the Japanese consumer was made by Sony; thus, the same model sold in America and Japan could be VERY different inside and the Japanese versions were always made better and performed better, plus had features Sony didn't want American's to have - as an example, the first Betamax units sold in America didn't have a Pause button because Sony said that dumb Americans would use pause too much and wear out the video heads, but in Japan, the same model DID have a pause button - and all the circuitry for pause was there in the American Betamax, just disconnected! All the while the industrial Sony Betamax's were made by Sony themselves employing designs for tape threading, etc, that no consumer unit, even the final $3,500 'Prosumer' ED-Beta (Sony's answer to JVC's Super VHS) VCR's ever had... And Sony's American pricing for their final ED-Beta VCR was such that it was actually cheaper, by about $500, to fly to Japan, buy one there that was built for the American market, stay overnight and fly home the next day, then it was to buy the American version in America! Plus, often their industrial Betamax units, which always retained the Beta-I (X1) one-hour recording speed for best picture quality, would be cheaper to buy than the much poorer performing consumer units.

Ain't consumer electronics fun?

Wasn't ED Beta Sony's stepson? lol!

Linda

Disclord said:

I always love this kind of information - like when we've discussed SuperScope in the past - they started as two brothers Howard Hughes hired to make him a "CinemaScope" process but one that was different enough so he didn't have to pay royalties to 20th Century Fox. Then, in the 60's, SuperScope 'branched out' to importing Sony tape recorders and the small transistor radios. Then they bought the Marantz brand - so, in one of my 1974 Hi-Fi mags, there's a full page ad from Sony themselves for their SQ decoders, a 2 page ad from SuperScope for their Sony open reel & Compact Cassette recorders and mixers, plus an ad for a Marantz quad receiver by SuperScope and also an ad for a SuperScope branded stereo receiver! (I wonder who made SuperScope's own branded stuff?)

Then there was Aiwa, who manufactured most of Sony's consumer electronics meant for the American market in the 80's and early 90's, while Sony made Aiwa's stuff - at the same time, Sony Betamax units for consumers in America were made by Sanyo but in Japan a Sony Betamax for the Japanese consumer was made by Sony; thus, the same model sold in America and Japan could be VERY different inside and the Japanese versions were always made better and performed better, plus had features Sony didn't want American's to have - as an example, the first Betamax units sold in America didn't have a Pause button because Sony said that dumb Americans would use pause too much and wear out the video heads, but in Japan, the same model DID have a pause button - and all the circuitry for pause was there in the American Betamax, just disconnected! All the while the industrial Sony Betamax's were made by Sony themselves employing designs for tape threading, etc, that no consumer unit, even the final $3,500 'Prosumer' ED-Beta (Sony's answer to JVC's Super VHS) VCR's ever had... And Sony's American pricing for their final ED-Beta VCR was such that it was actually cheaper, by about $500, to fly to Japan, buy one there that was built for the American market, stay overnight and fly home the next day, then it was to buy the American version in America! Plus, often their industrial Betamax units, which always retained the Beta-I (X1) one-hour recording speed for best picture quality, would be cheaper to buy than the much poorer performing consumer units.

Ain't consumer electronics fun?

Click to expand...

Quad Linda said:

Wasn't ED Beta Sony's stepson? lol!

Linda

Click to expand...

Tony actually pronounces it as "Ed" Beta, like "Ed Asner" instead of it's proper pronunciation "E-D Beta" - it drives me crazy! And he pronounces "Cartrivision" as "Cardavision" - grrrrr. Sometimes I think he just does it to annoy me - so in 'revenge' I'll call his extensive and expensive model railroad collection his "toy trains".

"It's the little things you do together... that make perfect relationships."

I always called it Ed Beta, just like Tony. People would correct me all the time, not realizing I was just being the little clown. You may notice me using words like demogitator and capitator (as in decapitator), too. Just having fun and pissing off guys like you at the same time. A twofer!

I wish they had used the DAD (digital audio disc) moniker, which was planned for CD. Then, I'd be a Mom with thousands of DADs.

The best one was when I got a phone call from the buyer of a large computer MANUFACTURER looking for a pound of "soul-der." Coincidentally, my spouse worked in the same facility. I called my better half at work, laughing uncontrollably while mentioning the 'soul-der." He's new, I was told. Obviously.

I was tempted to tell him, "we have Keester 'soul-der."

Linda
almost burned myself with my "soul-dering" iron

BTW: I've trained pets, kids, employees, clients, high school, elementary and college students. How do you train toys?

Disclord said:

Tony actually pronounces it as "Ed" Beta, like "Ed Asner" instead of it's proper pronunciation "E-D Beta" - it drives me crazy! And he pronounces "Cartrivision" as "Cardavision" - grrrrr. Sometimes I think he just does it to annoy me - so in 'revenge' I'll call his extensive and expensive model railroad collection his "toy trains".

"It's the little things you do together... that make perfect relationships."

Click to expand...

Quad Linda said:

BTW: I've trained pets, kids, employees, clients, high school, elementary and college students. How do you train toys?

Click to expand...

The same way you tune a fish?

Didn't Harmon-Kardon have the joystick as well? I seem to remember having one of those.

You're right, Clark Novak, H/K Quad receivers DID have a joystick. https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...-RCVR-Harman-Kardon-900-Quadraphonic-Receiver

Linda

ClarkNovak said:

Didn't Harmon-Kardon have the joystick as well? I seem to remember having one of those.

Click to expand...

KLH also had one on their Model Fifty-Four.