Philips 1040: my monster hi-fi set-up
Check out this monster set-up! Envious? This baby - all genuine Philips gear - kicks out er, several watts of power through ... both speakers. It's an all-plastic "crate" and the stylus works even when clogged up with a sizeable ball of fluff. I've checked a few of the specialist sites (well, eBay), and it seems you can't pick up one of these beasts for any less than ... £40. Yeah, man!
Well, OK, I'm having my little joke (ha ha). This is actually a common or garden Philips 1040, a cheap and cheerful piece of mass-produced hi-fi that would have occupied a space in thousands of teenage bedrooms back in the 1980s (in my partner's case, growing up in small-town Italy, this was how she listened to her Deutsche Grammophon classical records, Bach, Beethoven, Bartok and other bleeding boring composers beginning with "B"). The point is the non-rarity, the non-exclusivity. Ubiquity, not collectability. If you ask me, affordable (relatively), mass-produced music equipment like the Philips 1040 is an antidote to the disease-like mania of high-end hi-fi connoisseurship. As I was saying recently, all the stylus heads lusting after expensive equipment is a self-indulgent bore. Collectors getting excited by the latest product on their acquisition radar is really just niche consumerism with extra knowledge of tone arm balance ratios. Even worse is the use of vintage stuff to lend instant "atmosphere" to cafes or clothing shops; or - in the very worst example - to adorn the lobbies or even bedrooms of supposedly "cool" (read: overpriced) "boutique" hotels, places retro-fitted in every way except in terms of their not-at-all-old-fashioned overnight tariffs. Hmm. No, the great thing about cheapo hi-fis like the Philips 1040 is that they were basically functional players (as opposed to "postmodern" collectibles) for people who er, just wanted to be able to play some music in their rooms. At no great expense, and with no serious technical expertise/knowledge. Which is what it's all about ...
In the same way that the famous Blue Spot (Blaupunkt) radiograms brought R&B and ska into the 1950/60s living rooms of the UK's Jamaican immigrants (a refuge from the racism of British pubs and dance halls), I like to think the Philips 1040 brought stuff like Kate Bush and Roxy Music to the eighties masses in Milan, Middlesbrough and Marseilles (and also some other places that didn't start with "M"). So no, don't sneer at the fabulous Philips 1040. It's a great bit of kit. And it's currently blasting out some Chopin in the other room. It's sounding a little quiet though. I'm gonna have to go through and turn the dial up to 11. *Run DMC voice*: Hit it!
I have one too! Although apreciate high-end equipment I really enjoy this system. So simple and user friendly. I suppose you are using the original speaker. If so, so do I. The lack of bass it's one thing I really enjoy. They don't occupie too much my head!
ReplyDeleteCheers!