HERC Loves DAK, Part Three

The year 1987 was huge one for HERC, probably the biggest year he will ever have:  He got married to his best friend and they will celebrate their twenty-eighth anniversary later this month.  Then the happy couple had their first child later in 1987.  And then just before Christmas 1987, HERC's wife, the mother of his infant child and the woman who would graduate with double majors on time despite being pregnant for most of the year, approved his purchase, from a DAK catalog natch, of a pair of speakers exactly like the one above.  HERC had not so secretly lusted after the speakers for nearly a year before his wife made yet another one of his dreams a reality.  DAK ads and catalogs had offered a variety of speakers through the years - enjoy the gallery of speakers that follows ending with more pictures and details of the speakers HERC purchased and the story of where they are now.

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HERC's "Endangered Colossus" BSR speakers were paired with the open box Yamaha high-power receiver he picked up for 80% off at Silo or Federated.  The system literally rattled the Fifties style windows HERC had in his first house - giant panes of glass, set in their frames with putty.  While he never broke any of the windows outright, he did shake a lot of the dry putty loose.  The speakers were loud with a thundering low end and a decant midrange but no high end to speak of.  HERC found a pair of sweet sounding Infinity bookshelf speakers in the clearance section of an upscale department store (Broadway? Levy's?) a few months into 1988 and together the four speaker system rocked HERC and his young and growing family (sons arrived in 1990 and 1993) in their little house until 2000 when they had a new, larger home built and moved.  HERC acquired a new rear-projection TV and a surround system with subwoofer that got more and more use until he found himself disconnecting both the Infinity and the BSR speakers.  When his turntable broke, HERC then decommissioned his Yamaha receiver which the insomniac HERC was still enjoying through headphones while everyone slept.  By then, his stereo system consisted of a Philips dual tray CD-Recorder, his Pioneer tape-creating amplifier and the trio of Sony products pictured below (five disc carousel CD changer, dual dubbing deck and MiniDisc player/recorder) all of which were enjoyed via headphones only.  Within 18 months, HERC's first CD-R drive in his PC would render the entire system moot and gathering dust in a custom steel cabinet that matches his Can-Am CD storage system, which is where they remain to this day.

The speakers sat there, huddled together in a dark corner of family room, gathering dust until his brother-in-law happened to come by and mention he had a new house and he was thinking about getting an old-fashioned stereo system - not a trendy home theater in a box (HTIB) set up.  Knowing they would be loved and appreciated, HERC helped load the speakers and receiver into the guy's small car - one speaker took up the back seat on its side while the other was buckled into the passenger seat.  He still has them and says they still work though he rarely uses them because they scare all the cats he has accumulated over the past decade.  HERC is highly allergic to cats but one time he entered the home to use the facilities after a long road trip and saw the speakers covered in cat hair.  Some of the tears he cried that day were for the sad state the speakers were now in but most of the tears were a result of the previously stated allergy.

Next time out, HERC covers many of the tricked-out cassette decks that have been featured in DAK ads and catalogs through the years.

HERC Loves DAK, Part One - The Walkman Knockoff

HERC Loves DAK, Part Two - Equalizer Explosion

Thanks to Cabel Sasser and his 2012 post for reminding HERC how much he loved those old DAK catalogs.  Downloading the vintage catalogs Mr. Sasser has lovingly scanned and uploaded to the Internet Archive and then browsing through them on the iPad thrills HERC to no end.

The DAK pages above are from Sasser's scans and Google Books, specifically back issues of Popular Science, Run and Skiing.  All copyrights respected.  The images of Sony components are from the excellent Audio Heritage site.