Dave Mundy
One of my mates at TC was a VO called John Brown and he had built Heathkit amplifiers etc. He lived near me near Hounslow in the early 1970s and we went to his wedding. He left the Beeb to run a sweet shop on the IOW!
Malcolm Strutt, one of my SA1s, lived in a commune in Ealing and sat cross-legged on the boom platform doing Yoga, and also escorted American tourists to Kathmandu for loads of money!
Derek Saunders, another SA1 left to run a tearoom in Devon, I think,
Dave Ball, one of my best mates on Crew 1, as with Dave Hawthorn, we all came from Nottingham. Dave Ball left and went to the Rolls-Royce noise measuring labs. Firstly at Hucknall Aerodrome and then in Derby. He had the most amazing hi-fi set-up!
Dave Newbitt
I remember us joking re Dave Ball that he was happier with an oscilloscope at the end of each stereo channel rather than speakers!
Dave Mundy
Yes, Dave was a perfectionist! He built one of the famous Williamson amplifiers, with specially wound transformers, which was flat to 120Khz!
His speaker array, behind floor to ceiling net curtains, consisted of IMF transmission-line speakers for the bass end (after having visited the factory, met the designer, John Wright, and bought specially made bass units with extra-long voice coils!), Lowther Acoustas for the mid-range, and GEC metal-cone speakers for the top end! Radford 22 pre-amp, Radford main amp., Garrard 401 turntable and an SME 12″ arm with a Shure v15 cartridge plus a Ferrograph, completed the set up.
Working in the Rolls-Royce Noise Measuring labs he had access to specially modified Nagras which were flat to 30Khz! He often borrowed one and recorded an A4 Pacific pulling into Grantham station! I swear you could smell the smoke!
Dave Newbitt
I never knew exactly what Dave Ball’s set up comprised but it makes fascinating reading. As you know I shared his enthusiasm for Radford, have a clear memory of the Lowther Acoustas and like most was familiar with the 401/SME/v15 trio, also the Ferrograph of course. I don’t believe I ever actually saw or heard a Williamson nor the IMF and GEC speakers.
Re the Acoustas (the Chief Barker there being of course Donald Chave). From the time I spent in the retail Hi-Fi game I got to know Tannoy’s chief sales rep – one Jack Bunt, an enormously entertaining character with an endless string of anecdotes. There was of course great rivalry and no small amount of banter between him on the Tannoy side and Donald Chave for Lowther.
Attending a lecture given by the goodly Donald, Jack waited until the end before standing at the rear, loudly and mischievously announcing “the trouble with you Chave is you know f… all about loudspeakers”! In the days of the Russell Hotel annual Hi-Fi bashes he once went to the room adjoining the Tannoy room which was occupied by one of the (then considered upstart) Japanese manufacturers and said, ” Would you mind turning your distortion down – we’re trying to listen to music next door”.
Dave Buckley
The comment about having an oscilloscope instead of a speaker, reminds of the late Tony Youngman (who had been a TM – his name appears on the list of credits on an episode of “A for Andromeda”). Tony was the technical instructor for various courses when I joined TV Training in 1969.
He used to say that an engineer could look at an oscilloscope and laugh at the joke!
Alan Taylor
I’ve worked on a few comedy shows which might actually have been funnier on an oscilloscope.
Your joke is a bit like the one about having a sports car with suspension so firm that if you run over a penny, you can tell if it was heads or tails.
Dave Plowman
My father used to say, “Suspension by Harland and Wolff”.
[Ed: Harland and Wolff built ships]
