Console Magic

"Calling occupants of interplanetary craft!" Actually, we have no idea what these guys are doing, but it looks intense. From Audio Engineering, July 1950.

This is why we love going to garage sales. Purchased from the original owner on June 9, 2024, this 1970s Panasonic RE-7259 FM/AM radio looks great, still plays and lights up, and sounds pretty good thanks to its 6-inch speaker.

It might look like a matching earbud and lighter set, but it's actually a Lafayette Model TR-7 (F-480) set of hearing aids, made in Japan around 1959. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Joe Haupt.

Here are a variety of circa-1980s hi-fi-related fluids from my collection of random drawers of stuff. While the Stylast and Kontakt came into play back then, I don't remember if I had the nerve to try the Digital Touch CD fluid. Perhaps the apostrophe catastrophe in the labeling didn't inspire confidence.

This might be the coolest postcard ever...well, if you're an audio geek, that is. It's from Western Electric in 1949, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/public domain.