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Can you ID stereo from 1974 movie "The Conversation"?

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Posted on July 2, 2014 at 17:31:50
mjcmt
Audiophile

Posts: 1450
Location: NC
Joined: November 29, 2004



I just finished watching "The Conversation" 1974 where Gene Hackman plays sax to Jazz played on a very cool stereo (or mono), which includes a tube integrated amp, manual TT, tape deck, and at least one speaker behind him. Attached is a screen shot from the movie.



 

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RE: Can you ID stereo from 1974 movie "The Conversation"?, posted on July 2, 2014 at 17:38:56
Mr. Dick Hertz
 The amp looks like a Sherwood S-5500.

 

RE: Can you ID stereo from 1974 movie "The Conversation"?, posted on July 2, 2014 at 17:45:39
mjcmt
Audiophile

Posts: 1450
Location: NC
Joined: November 29, 2004
 I thought the face and knobs looked like a Sherwood, but the 2 large tubes towering upward looks different. I believe it is mono too, because another scene he uses the amp to break open a small figurine reveals only 2 transformers.


 

Looks like a Bell 2200 amp, RekOkut table and poorly mounted Shure 232 arm..., posted on July 2, 2014 at 17:58:49
Interstage Tranny
Audiophile

Posts: 3063
Location: Eastern
Joined: October 4, 2006
 Nice mono system even though 1974 was during the "stereo" era...

Speaker looks like a home brew bass reflex with a 12" woof and small horn tweet...cool stuff...

 

Favorite movie ever, posted on July 3, 2014 at 08:19:25
Awe-d-o-file
Dealer

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Location: 50 miles west of DC
Joined: January 10, 2004
 a great Coppola pic with superior actors. The bonus for electronics nerds is off the charts. I saw it first at age 14. Did you see the Harry Caul picture in Hackman's "bunker" in "Enemy of the State"? Nice homage.



ET
ET

"If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do suck seed" - Curly Howard 1936

 

RE: Favorite movie ever, posted on July 3, 2014 at 08:26:22
mjcmt
Audiophile

Posts: 1450
Location: NC
Joined: November 29, 2004
 Sure does have a young all star cast.


 

RE: Can you ID stereo from 1974 movie "The Conversation"?, posted on July 3, 2014 at 08:48:56
airtime
Audiophile

Posts: 11336
Location: Arizona
Joined: February 4, 2003
 Are those KT-88's?

 

RE: Looks like a Bell 2200 amp, RekOkut table and poorly mounted Shure 232 arm..., posted on July 3, 2014 at 09:52:46
mjcmt
Audiophile

Posts: 1450
Location: NC
Joined: November 29, 2004
 Speakers look to be sealed like Heresy's, unless port is in the back. Another forum thought they may be a homebrew EV with a T35 tweeter.


 

And, if I may, geek out a little more..., posted on July 3, 2014 at 10:03:01
caffeinator
Audiophile

Posts: 1741
Location: Pacific Northwest
Joined: August 22, 2003
Contributor
  Since: January 6, 2017
 Coppola said the movie "Blow Up" helped inspire "The Conversation."

"Blow Up" is a great movie in its own right. In addition to its (at the time) novelty, quality, and perspective of Swinging London, it included some great cameos (The Yardbird; Keith Relf, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Chris Dreja), as well as some scenes and shots that have been aped, homage'ed, and even parodied countless times since.

"Blow Up" was also later remade, by Brian DePalma, as "Blow Out", to transpose the antagonist's media from photography to sound, thus bringing near to full circle (Blow Up, The Conversation, Blow Out) something of an Art imitating Art imitating Art trilogy.

I suppose one could suggest that "Enemy of the State" brings the circle to a close (or to a square?) since it unites image and sound - in video - as the medium at the heart of the conflict that propels the story forward, and, of course, the story provides a suggested coda to Harry Caul's career.

Though they're not all great films, the first two unquestionably are, and the others provide some entertaining counterpoints. All four assay very similar territory - the vanishing boundary of privacy against the advances of technology, the perils of voyeurism; whether intended or inadvertent, and the fact that data isn't necessarily information, much less understanding.

If the weather is rainy where you are this weekend, a mini-marathon of all four might be a welcome respite from the noisy revelry outside...but leave your tape recorder running - you might unwittingly tape some foul play in between the bottle rockets ;)

 

RE: Can you ID stereo from 1974 movie "The Conversation"?, posted on July 3, 2014 at 10:30:50
elektron
Audiophile

Posts: 952
Location: midwest
Joined: February 18, 2004
 Hi, mjcmt. Turntable appears to be an Empire Troubadour 598 with
an Empire 990 arm. (1969) The amp appears to be Push-Pull KT-66.
That would possibly make it close to the D.T.N. Williamson classic
circuit. All Octal tubes. I want to say it is a kit. It looks awfully
familiar. The tape deck appears Japanese possibly made for Radio
Shack as Realistic brand. It would have been more cool to have a
Viking of Minneapolis tape deck - perhaps the precursor to the
model 88 compact which was a stereo 1/4 track machine. The one
shown appears mono. Speaker: home made 2-way. Appears acoustic
suspension. Can't see any reflex port. Tweeter looks like one
of the Electrovoice units of the period. "The Conversation" is
superb from every point of view. I love his lab/workshop with
attendant audio goodies abounding.

 

RE: Can you ID stereo from 1974 movie "The Conversation"?, posted on July 3, 2014 at 10:58:20
steal2B
Audiophile

Posts: 245
Location: Hudson Valley, NY
Joined: October 8, 2004
 I think Interstage Tranny is right about the Turntable. It sure looks like a Rek-O-Kut Rodine Jr. (I am looking at both this ROK and the Empire you mentioned in my workshop as I type so I really think Interstage is correct) A quick google search found several forum threads discussing the equipment in this scene that come to the same ROK conclusion, and even name the current owner of the turntable.

 

RE: Can you ID stereo from 1974 movie "The Conversation"?, posted on July 3, 2014 at 12:37:33
elektron
Audiophile

Posts: 952
Location: midwest
Joined: February 18, 2004
 steaj2B, hi. I think you are right on the TT.

 

RE: Can you ID stereo from 1974 movie "The Conversation"?, posted on July 4, 2014 at 08:13:37
Brian Levy
Audiophile

Posts: 2438
Location: Toronto
Joined: June 5, 2000
 Sherwood made mono amps but AFAIK nothing like that. Even the S1000 had the classic Sherwood design.
Don Brian Levy, J.D.
Toronto ON Canada

 

RE: Can you ID stereo from 1974 movie "The Conversation"?, posted on July 4, 2014 at 08:26:07
Brian Levy
Audiophile

Posts: 2438
Location: Toronto
Joined: June 5, 2000
 Not an Empire. I agree with a RoK as there is a known in front of the arm that RoK had. The back of the arm makes it the Shure 232.

The amp appears to be a Grommes from the face and layout. I can not get sufficient detail on my tablet to guess on the tape deck. I can not make out a meter or eye and think it maybe a playback unit. These were popular when decks first came out and the tape head plugged into the tape head input of the amp. At the time record/playback units were very expensive and it was not unusual in the very beginning for persons to buy playback decks to save money or who thought of them as they did the record player.
Don Brian Levy, J.D.
Toronto ON Canada

 

RE: Can you ID stereo from 1974 movie "The Conversation"?, posted on July 4, 2014 at 10:58:25
BillH
Audiophile

Posts: 3913
Location: Baton Rouge
Joined: December 23, 1999
 Yeah, I vote Rek-o-Kut. If you enlarge the photo, you can tell by the selector knob on the right front of the deck.
The amp does indeed look like a Grommes, like the one given to professor Tuttle by his family in the Sinatra musical "Young at Heart"(1954). That was a mono.

 

I can't add anything ..., posted on July 4, 2014 at 17:58:27
Scottson
Audiophile

Posts: 706
Location: New York
Joined: July 13, 2004
 ... to the educated guesses already made. But, despite being something of a film buff, I've never watched this movie. Soon to be rectified, it's downloading as I write. Thanks for the nudge!

 

RE: I can't add anything ..., posted on July 8, 2014 at 10:27:12
Crazy Dave
Audiophile

Posts: 14381
Location: East Coast
Joined: October 4, 2001
 It is actually a very good film, IMO.

Dave

 

RE: Can you ID stereo from 1974 movie "The Conversation"?, posted on July 9, 2014 at 07:07:36
Lee of Omaha
Dealer

Posts: 1800
Location: Omaha NE
Joined: September 8, 2006
 Remember, this is a movie. So there's a good chance that the stereo didn't play, and that the props were modified to make better film. That tonearm is ridiculous; the vertical tracking angle would be way off. And the output tubes could have been replaced with something physically larger so they would be more visible.

Still, that's a huge power transformer, so maybe the tubes are correct.

 

RE: Can you ID stereo from 1974 movie "The Conversation"?, posted on July 11, 2014 at 07:47:24
Crazy Dave
Audiophile

Posts: 14381
Location: East Coast
Joined: October 4, 2001
 Plus the stereo was a mono! With a conical stylus, it would work, but would not, IMO, be optimal.

Dave

 

RE: Can you ID stereo from 1974 movie "The Conversation"?, posted on July 13, 2014 at 10:36:59
mikeval
 this movie also has one of the last shots of the City of Paris department store. (It was replaced by another one of Phillip Johnson's money sucking nightmare's, a 6 story granite slabbed Niemam Marcus.) Also, Shields and Yarnell make a cameo Union Square appearence.


 

RE: Can you ID stereo from 1974 movie "The Conversation"?, posted on March 7, 2015 at 12:59:57
Abacus Music
Audiophile

Posts: 97
Joined: February 13, 2012
 Excellent movie. There is a scene at the end of it where Gene Hackman is hacking that amp at the statue of Marie, looking for "bugs". The shot shows the amp without tubes (thankfully), but I was cringing anyway.

Everything audio related in that movie looks realistic, unlike fantasy equipment shown in most other films.

 

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