'70s pacific stereo and jbl

[original jblguy]

anybody remember old pacific stereo they sold jbl gear and you could bring speakers in for recone? someone i know said they didn't sell jbl gear. but i know a guy who bought a new pair of l300's from the pacific stereo in san mateo ca. any input?:)

[Audiobeer]

Pacific Stereo absolutely sold JBL. I bought a pair of L-65s with orange grills and they were kind enough to let me trade back for blue. I purchased a Sansui AU919 & Tu 919 to mate with the JBL's. The had a pair of L-300s in the showroom at the time also. I loved that place!

[original jblguy]

Thanks, I thought i was going crazy.:blink:

[4313B]

I heard my first Paragon at Pacific Stereo.

[lgvenable]

I'd have to find all my receipts, but I got my L100A's, my 4312's and a Kenwood Basic C1 and M2A amp at Pacific Stereo in Dallas, along with other assorted stuff.

[sba2]

Some nostalgia from the web---

"…Ted Bennett was born in Canada, and in 1950 moved to California to establish residency in order to attend the chemistry department at the University of California at Berkeley. After receiving a business degree in 1960, he co-founded Pacific Stereo which was sold to CBS in 1970... In 1971 Ted Bennett and Deborah Cahn began seeking a location in California to grow Gewürztraminer and Pinot Noir. In 1973, Deborah and Ted purchased a 900-acre sheep ranch in the Anderson Valley in Mendocino county [ Navarro Vineyards ]…"

"[Under CBS--] …Pacific Stereo had a number of house brands. TransAudio was considered an entry level line and Quadraflex was more or less mid-market. They later launched the Concept line of receivers. They also owned Spectrasonic? Pacific stereo was owned by CBS from 1972 to 1983. In 1983 Pacific Stereo was purchased by Burk Mathes. By 1986 the number of stores was reduced to 64 and on May 15th Pacific Stereo files for Chapter 11. On Sept 25, 1986, Pacific Stereo reorganization plans fall through and on Oct 1, 1986. Liquidation begins. CBS owned both Stereo Review and Pacific Stereo: For reasons related to perceived credibility and conflicts of interest, this was one of the main reasons why the Concept products, and possibly along with the other PS house brands, were never submitted to SR for full review…."

[Doc Mark]

Greetings,

Like a few others of our LH Mates, I used to hang out at the Pacific Stereo stores in San Diego, drooling over the JBL's that they used to offer!! I did have a few qualms about some of their sales folks, however, as some of them tended to overdrive some of the JBL's. I remember hearing a pair of L65's being mistreated to the point that the woofers were jumping out of their VC gaps, and popping, horribly!! The salesman thought that was funny, but I wanted to ring his neck!! :banghead:

In any case, between Pacific Stereo, Dow Sound Company, and a few other San Diego stereo stores, I got my "JBL fix" on a regular basis. Our bands were already using JBL and Altec stuff in our PA and monitor systems, and loved it!! But, I didn't get JBL stereo speakers until much later.....

Many years after that, I worked for Schaak Electronics, up in Minneapolis, and they had bought out all the stock from Pacific Stereo, when that store went under. Schaak later succumbed to the same troubles and all their stores went belly up, too. Poor management, and poor business practices, in my opinion..... Take care, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

[AmericanPie]

In 1973 when JBL's were still considered "fair traded" items I bought (and paid full price for) my first pair of L100's from a high-end store in Joliet, IL. I believe it was 1975 when I got my second pair from a Pacific Stereo, in a different Chicago suburb. Some of their stores seemed better managed than others, with equipment compellingly displayed in well laid-out sound rooms and knowledgeable salespeople, while other stores' showrooms were thrown together as if they were selling-bargain basement stuff and the staff acted like part-time order takers.

[Harold]

Pacific Stereo, you bet I remember, between them and University Stereo I ran two credit cards to their limit and learned some valuable lessons regarding consumer credit and over speding. In hind sight every dime was
well spent.

Harold

p.s

thanks sba2 for the info. great stufff.

[omni]

Worked for Pacific in Oak Lawn (Chicago burb) in the early '80's. We didn't have any JBL's that I can recall. AR's, Bose, Infinity were the big sellers. The Transaudio line was garbage. I still have and use a 75w Concept receiver that was the first with digital FM readout!!!!! Still had a giant tuner knob and no presets. It does have pre-outs. I was there for the downfall of the company. VHS and video in general was one of the main reasons for failure.

[Mr. Widget]

Worked for Pacific in Oak Lawn... VHS and video in general was one of the main reasons for failure.Isn't hindsight grand. :)

I am sure you are right. Back when Pacific Stereo was a dominant force in HiFi, the sight of a TV in an electronics store told you they were not serious about audio... years later, if a store didn't carry some form of video they went the way of the dinosaurs.

I certainly have my nostalgic memories of Pacific Stereo. I bought many of my earliest components from them, soon though I discovered the higher end shops that were not primarily filled with receivers and "bookshelf" speakers. Back then the SF Bay Area had so many to choose from, you could audition virtually everything that was then available.


Widget

[TonyM]

Worked for Pacific in Oak Lawn (Chicago burb) in the early '80's. We didn't have any JBL's that I can recall. AR's, Bose, Infinity were the big sellers. The Transaudio line was garbage. I still have and use a 75w Concept receiver that was the first with digital FM readout!!!!! Still had a giant tuner knob and no presets. It does have pre-outs. I was there for the downfall of the company. VHS and video in general was one of the main reasons for failure.

And I was so proud of the Transaudio speakers I bought from the Pacific Stereo in Berkely. Come a long way now.

I did buy a pair of L44s from Recycled Stereo down the street.

[jcrobso]

Worked for Pacific in Oak Lawn (Chicago burb) in the early '80's. We didn't have any JBL's that I can recall. AR's, Bose, Infinity were the big sellers. The Transaudio line was garbage. I still have and use a 75w Concept receiver that was the first with digital FM readout!!!!! Still had a giant tuner knob and no presets. It does have pre-outs. I was there for the downfall of the company. VHS and video in general was one of the main reasons for failure.

It depends on when you were at the store, when they first opened they had JBL. The thing that did them in was too many house brands and very little of the good brands.:blink:
I later bought a PL amp at the La Grange store. A friend of mine worked at that store and got me passes to go to the CES show.

[tom1pdx]

Way back.....1972. Pacific Stereo in Mountain View, CA. We sold lot's of L-100s and 99s. Then we brought in a pair of oak S8Rs. We set up a great system with them in the large listening room and let loose with the latest Doobie Brothers and Chicago albums. Sold 3 pairs of those beauties in short order. Soon thereafter JBL introduced the L-200 (only $600 each instead of $1012 each), and those moved out the door into homes really well. Most all consumers at the time were only used to bookshelf speakers or "polite" sounding floor speakers from infinity and rectilinear and others. They had never heard the "big" JBL stuff outside a live concert. They loved them.

[Little Nipper]

Pacific Stereo in Niles, IL (a northwest Chicago suburb) retailed JBL Paragon, L100 & derivatives, L200, L300, L65, + JBL studio monitors and more during the 1970s. Pacific Stereo Niles was located on Milwaukee Ave (IL 21) and Golf Road. Three sound rooms plus creative displays offered audio everywhere in the store!

Sony SQ & RCA discrete quadrophonic systems from Sony, Marantz & Harmon-Kardon ... SAE & Marantz high end electronics, DBX noise reduction, Sony & TEAC multi-track recorders plus Altec Lansing, Infinity, BOSE, Klipsch, Advent, KLH, Acoustic Research & other loudspeaker companies were represented. Garrard, Sony, Philips and other turntables were offered at all levels and price points. Even Shure & Sony microphones could be purchased at Pacific Stereo.

One of the posts was correct ... you could "trade", full purchase credit with original packaging during a 30 day window, was allowed plus price matching!

Pacific Stereo also offered a state of the art 4 Phase networked POS wide area WAN cash register system that could instantly look up inventory at all Chicago area, and for that matter, all Pacific Stereo stores nationwide.

This computer feature was specifically important for the JBL customer as JBL consumer loudspeakers were offered with several foam grille color combinations.

In order to compete in what was then the 2nd largest consumer marketplace in the US Pacific Stereo offered financing, low advertised prices with full page color ads, 30 day price matching, in-store factory authorized service, and excellent stocking inventory.

CBS was the market maker! The CBS Pacific Stereo business model was way ahead of their time in the 1970s! The introduction of retail personal computer systems plus home video recording shifted the consumer interest beginning in the late 1970s.

[jcrobso]

But I was told that is was one their flagship stores in Chicago at that time.
They had all the good stuff at one point in time.
But they started to change, buy outs of last years models and selling them as this years model, the introduction of house brands and the reduction of name brands, all of this and business started to dwindle and then went away.:(
The last time I went into the LA Grange store most everything was house brands, very few name brands to be seen.

[frank23]

Here Zilch said that Pacific Stereo made a Olympus "knock off" in plywood, called the Colossus:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=118593

Would anyone have some more information about this speaker? I have bought a pair of plywood non-JBL Olympus that are slightly different from standard JBL cabinets, but are very well built:
http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?33475-acquired-a-pair-of-JBL-Olympus-with-S8R-kit&p=338612#post338612

Maybe they are from Pacific Stereo. But since they have been in Europe since the mid 70's, they might have also been built in Europe.

[Radley]

I used to buy quarter inch tape there every week- I think the 1200', 7" reel tape was 99 cents.