Our recent Home Cinema Week celebrations got me thinking about a fairly regular complaint, or at least irritation, that we get from a particular (small, thank goodness) tranche of What Hi-Fi? readers.
Now, most visitors to this site are, of course, generous and only too happy to let the world go by without too much aggressive criticism – live and let live and all that.
Every now and then, though, we get a comment, beneath a piece of news about or a review of a TV or a soundbar and the like, telling us to “stick with the hi-fi”. By which they mean the two-channel, music stuff.
Audio visual equipment – home cinema – they say has no place in a brand with our name. Then they add that we never used to cover this sort of product.
Now I know, of course, that that is at the very least short-sighted; but it is also flat wrong.
So, in my regular delve into issues past of What Hi-Fi? magazine, I went back close to the dawn of time for the title – less than four years from the launch, in fact.
The cover of the September 1980 edition is a fairly hardcore two-channel effort: pictures of loudspeakers dominate, featuring products from industry legends such as Acoustic Research, Mission, Monitor Audio, Mordaunt-Short, and Wharfedale. So far, so traditional.
All very early ’80s – and two-channel
A glance at the content page reveals a similar theme. Images of hi-fi systems, record decks, cartridges and the like; all is as it should be. The era we find ourselves in is clear: and turning to that cover test, things are reassuringly familiar. A six-way test of standmount speakers from the cream of UK manufacturers, all in the “around £200” bracket.
Following the speakers is a head-to-head of two hi-fi systems – from Eagle and Akai.
The start of some needle
And then, to nail us beautifully at the start of the ’80s, there is another two-way comparison, this time of cartridges costing around (wait for it…) £15.
Reviewing legend Alvin Gold didn’t mince his words here: he wasn’t particularly happy with either the Shure or the Nagaoka offering, saying that the cartridge he used for comparison with these two was significantly better. And that was the £12 Grado FTE +1.
From the cartridges we go past a Thorens turntable test, a Panasonic music centre (now that takes me back), and an amplifier or two. As I say, all very ’70s and early ’80s.
And then, finally: the but…
But then, what’s this? A double-page spread on the second generation of a Mitsubishi VHS videocassette recorder. One with a wired remote control supplied and the option of a thoroughly new-fangled infra-red remote control as well – for an extra £40.
The final sentence of Anthony Clair’s introduction to the piece raised a smile when I read it too: “It all goes to show how we take things for granted – it’s not that long ago that the very idea of domestic video seemed like a miracle.” How many products do we say the same about nowadays, eh? ’Twas ever thus.
Where the Buying Guide began
A turn of the page from the Mitsubishi VHS recorder brought more surprises – one particularly pleasant and unexpected.
For what is this? A review of a positively enormous Philips “domestic video camera” sits right next door to a feature on the future possibilities of Citizens Band radio. Which, of course, despite the efforts of late ’70s films such as Convoy and Smokey and the Bandit, turned out to be rather short-lived.
What was particularly lovely about this spread – quite apart from it comprehensively putting all those complaints along the lines of “it ain’t what it used to be” to bed – was the model in the middle of the Philips video camera review.
It is none other than the greatly missed Caroline Osborn, the doyenne of the What Hi-Fi? Buying Guide – such an innovation that it had its own line on the cover: “Plus: computerised Buying Guide facts on 2000 current units”.
Caroline maintained the database that kept the industry-standard list of products, specifications and prices for more than 30 years – and became a hugely respected figure in the industry. That her talents spread to modelling for magazine pictures was a new one on me, but it’s no surprise; she was always a wonderful team player.
What a joy, then! To have rekindled memories of wonderful former colleagues, and to have at the same time found the necessary ammunition to gently refute the mistaken historians – and all at the turn of a page.
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