By Richard Sarbin
FLEXIBILITY, ease of access, and elegance of craftsmanship headed the list of priori ties in the building of the highly efficient home audio installation designed and constructed by Hoffman's House of Stereo in Cleveland for Dr. M. Meshginpoosh of Madison, Ohio.
The handsome walnut cabinet is composed of three separate pieces-the center and two side sections-which, although bolted together, can easily be removed independently and transported to another location if need be.
Housed in the center portion are Crown SX-700 and Teac 7010SL tape decks and a Switchcraft multiple-source selector. Each of the side sections contains six sub-panels covered in black vinyl which can be cut to accommodate components of varying size. The walnut facing of each of these sections swings open to facilitate the removal or replacement of equipment.
The display of well-chosen, high-performance stereo apparatus positioned within the compartments on the left side of the console includes a Sansui QS-1 four-channel decoder/ synthesizer, Marantz 10-B FM tuner, Marantz 15 power amplifier, SAE Mark IIIA power amplifier, Marantz 7T preamplifier, and an Advent 100A Dolby unit. At the right half of the complex are an SAE Mark 1M stereo preamp, the electronic section of the Teac tape deck, a Lafayette SQ-W four-channel decoder, SAE 2700-B half-octave graphic equalizer, and Crown DC-300 power amp.
The two platforms occupying the mid-section of the installation support an Empire 398 turn table equipped with an SME tonearm (left), Luxman D121 turntable with a Formula-4 tone arm (right), Southwest Technical Prod ucts CD-4 demodulator, and a Nakamichi 1000 cassette deck. Phono cartridges include the Shure V15411, Sonus Blue, and Ortofon SL1 5 .
Forming the base of the complete structure are several cabinets and slide-out storage areas that provide ample space for records, tapes, and such useful items as KMAL and Rabco tone arms (they go on the Lux turnta ble), ElectroVoice microphones, and Koss Pro-4AA headphones. The music, 99 percent of which is classical, according to Dr. Meshginpoosh, is heard through a pair of Bozak Concert Grand Classics and Dalquist DQ10's.
An elaborate switching system permits the use of each component in combination with any others.
Dr. Meshginpoosh, a native of Iran, is an M.D. specializing in internal medicine and cardiology. He enjoys spending much of his time in his home audio workshop performing equipment checkouts and troubleshooting with test gear assembled from Heathkits. A perfectionist like many serious audiophiles, Dr. Meshginpoosh appreciates the superior quality of his system but asserts that "there is still room for improvement." As the letters column indicates, we are pretty much in touch with how our readers are thinking these days, but we'd also like to know how they're looking. If you think your audio installation contains a wrinkle or two that might inspire or solve a problem for some others of our readers, drop us a line indicating what your system consists of, include a photo of the setup, and we'll get back to you. Ad dress Richard Sarbin, Installation of the Month, Stereo Review, 1 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016, including return postage.
Also see:
BEST RECORDINGS OF THE MONTH: Opera: Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle Vocal: Joan Baez's "Gulf Winds" and Frederica von Stade's French-aria recital Instrumental: the Tokyo Quartet in Haydn's Op. 50 and the ELO in "A New World Record" Jazz: Bucky Pizzarelli and Bud Freeman
FIEDLER OF BOSTON: A profile of the builder of America's musical bridges, by IRVING KOLODIN
Source: Stereo Review (USA magazine)