CharlDurand
New member
I'm early sixties, have been living on the idyllic Eastern Cape coast for four years after a lifetime in Joburg.
My introduction to audio started at a very young age. My dad and the venerable Daan Jacobs were best mates from school. Oom Daan, as I knew him, was my godfather. You can see where this is going.
Family used to say, Charl could handle a soldering iron before he could write. Which was literally true. The old man was an electronics engineer and taught me all the basics of that world at a super-young age.
Oom Daan was a maverick, egotistic, opinionated, but kind. He only made Standard Eight, then went to work for a shop in downtown Joburg called Hamrad, some of you may recall it, on Plein Street I think. It was basically an enthusiast electronics shop that started out as a place stocking things for radio amateurs. At some stage Oom Daan left and started his own shop. I remember me and the old man going over to Oom Daan's house in Kempton Park for home movies on a 16mm projector. I was about four or so. Other times he'd come over and entertain us with stories of his souped-up Anglia, motorbikes and a famous Jaguar S-type 3.8 he drove.
I can't remember where his first shop was - might have been Commissioner street - but I got to know him well at his shop upstairs in the Ansteys building. He had a listening room where he demoed his famous amplifiers and speakers. He had a habit of kneeling behind the couch on which the customers sat. At that stage he was going overseas a few times a year to buy components for his shop, which was kind of unheard of in those days. He was a hero to my young eyes.
When I was around fourteen I went to his shop and asked to work there during holidays. He asked,"How much to you want to get paid?" I said I didn't know. "You never, ever say that," his shouted at me. "You ask what you want." It's a lesson I've always remembered and passed on to youngsters today.
He ended up paying me ten Rand a day, which was a small fortune for me. But the knowledge I gained about building amps and putting kits together was worth much, much more.
The first amplifiers I built were Heath Robinson tube jobs using old army surplus triodes. I must'be gotten shocked a dozen times by 600V transformers while working on my bedroom floor. After that I built three or four amplifiers using info from Elektor magazine. For the last one, a grand Class C design, I made the fascias, the racks and the speaker cabinets myself. It was a smart setup, sounded fantastic. I went back to the shop several times when I had problems while building it. Oom Daan sold me my first proper turntable, a Dual 505, and the folks gave me a smart Technics double tape player for Christmas.
Then my parents had a major house robbery, and my precious hi-fi disappeared. I went to Oom Daan with the meagre insurance money I got, and he sat me down in his listening room. I walked out with a pair of Reference One speakers, a NAD 3020, and a replacement for the Dual turntable. Then we sat and talked for a long time, about stuff I can only describe as life lessons.
I still have those Reference Ones.
In my late twenties I went to Oom Daan with the idea of opening a CD player shop. CDs had just taken off, and I reckoned there was room for a high end shop in that line. He was dismissive and very critical, he didn't even have a CD player in his listening room. But he was spending more time at his son's car place anyway.
At one stage my Dad did some work for Oom Daan, and as payment he gave the old man a pair of Reference Fours, Annihilator amps, a Thorens turntable, and a fancy Kenwood tuner. My dad, who did woodwork, manufactured the speaker stands and the most beautiful, custom hi-fi cabinet, which now stands in my living room.
The last time I saw Oom Daan was at my old man's funeral in 1996, held at his home out in Walkerville. Oom Daan looked at the Reference Fours in the living room and said, "Insure those well, they're worth R25 000."
Oom Daan died of Alzheimers, and I still wish I'd seen him before he passed away.
I don't have the space anymore to justify those speakers and amps. That's what brought me to this forum, I thought I'd flog them and invest in something a bit more appropriate, I'm looking at the KEF LSX range. But I see the References are worth a pittance today. Even so, I don't think I could part with them anyway if push came to shove.
I'm no longer an audio fundi, being more interested in music itself. I love the ECM label for its music choices and reliable production quality. My music life is a story in itself LOL. I've dabbled in DSDs a bit. Playing those over the References was, well, you have to hear it. Unbelievable.
There you go. That's me. I'm following the threads on new equipment but don't have much meaningful to add, I'm afraid.
My introduction to audio started at a very young age. My dad and the venerable Daan Jacobs were best mates from school. Oom Daan, as I knew him, was my godfather. You can see where this is going.
Family used to say, Charl could handle a soldering iron before he could write. Which was literally true. The old man was an electronics engineer and taught me all the basics of that world at a super-young age.
Oom Daan was a maverick, egotistic, opinionated, but kind. He only made Standard Eight, then went to work for a shop in downtown Joburg called Hamrad, some of you may recall it, on Plein Street I think. It was basically an enthusiast electronics shop that started out as a place stocking things for radio amateurs. At some stage Oom Daan left and started his own shop. I remember me and the old man going over to Oom Daan's house in Kempton Park for home movies on a 16mm projector. I was about four or so. Other times he'd come over and entertain us with stories of his souped-up Anglia, motorbikes and a famous Jaguar S-type 3.8 he drove.
I can't remember where his first shop was - might have been Commissioner street - but I got to know him well at his shop upstairs in the Ansteys building. He had a listening room where he demoed his famous amplifiers and speakers. He had a habit of kneeling behind the couch on which the customers sat. At that stage he was going overseas a few times a year to buy components for his shop, which was kind of unheard of in those days. He was a hero to my young eyes.
When I was around fourteen I went to his shop and asked to work there during holidays. He asked,"How much to you want to get paid?" I said I didn't know. "You never, ever say that," his shouted at me. "You ask what you want." It's a lesson I've always remembered and passed on to youngsters today.
He ended up paying me ten Rand a day, which was a small fortune for me. But the knowledge I gained about building amps and putting kits together was worth much, much more.
The first amplifiers I built were Heath Robinson tube jobs using old army surplus triodes. I must'be gotten shocked a dozen times by 600V transformers while working on my bedroom floor. After that I built three or four amplifiers using info from Elektor magazine. For the last one, a grand Class C design, I made the fascias, the racks and the speaker cabinets myself. It was a smart setup, sounded fantastic. I went back to the shop several times when I had problems while building it. Oom Daan sold me my first proper turntable, a Dual 505, and the folks gave me a smart Technics double tape player for Christmas.
Then my parents had a major house robbery, and my precious hi-fi disappeared. I went to Oom Daan with the meagre insurance money I got, and he sat me down in his listening room. I walked out with a pair of Reference One speakers, a NAD 3020, and a replacement for the Dual turntable. Then we sat and talked for a long time, about stuff I can only describe as life lessons.
I still have those Reference Ones.
In my late twenties I went to Oom Daan with the idea of opening a CD player shop. CDs had just taken off, and I reckoned there was room for a high end shop in that line. He was dismissive and very critical, he didn't even have a CD player in his listening room. But he was spending more time at his son's car place anyway.
At one stage my Dad did some work for Oom Daan, and as payment he gave the old man a pair of Reference Fours, Annihilator amps, a Thorens turntable, and a fancy Kenwood tuner. My dad, who did woodwork, manufactured the speaker stands and the most beautiful, custom hi-fi cabinet, which now stands in my living room.
The last time I saw Oom Daan was at my old man's funeral in 1996, held at his home out in Walkerville. Oom Daan looked at the Reference Fours in the living room and said, "Insure those well, they're worth R25 000."
Oom Daan died of Alzheimers, and I still wish I'd seen him before he passed away.
I don't have the space anymore to justify those speakers and amps. That's what brought me to this forum, I thought I'd flog them and invest in something a bit more appropriate, I'm looking at the KEF LSX range. But I see the References are worth a pittance today. Even so, I don't think I could part with them anyway if push came to shove.
I'm no longer an audio fundi, being more interested in music itself. I love the ECM label for its music choices and reliable production quality. My music life is a story in itself LOL. I've dabbled in DSDs a bit. Playing those over the References was, well, you have to hear it. Unbelievable.
There you go. That's me. I'm following the threads on new equipment but don't have much meaningful to add, I'm afraid.
