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The first high-end stereo salesperson I ever encountered (1976) flat-out asked if I was gay...

I can''t remember his name but the outfit was the "Atlanta Audio Project."

Note well, the guy did not fit any Southern stereotypes--he had a Yankee accent, and what most people would call a "cultured" manner of speaking.

Dunno, he could have been a pathological liar. He claimed to have been a former Roman Catholic priest. He also claimed to have "taught the 'Haydn & Mozart' course at Yale." Which I took to mean he had been a teaching assistant/grad student.

This was a telephone transaction; I answered a "small ad" in the back of Stereo Review or perhaps Audio.

Anyway, I had been shopping around Nashville, and the guy asked me what I was interested in. I told him that no loudspeakers within my price range really appealed to me which is why I called him--he advertised "I.M.F." (Irving Fried) loudspeakers.

He asked me if I had a turntable. I said no, but I thought that the least-expensive B&O turntable was cool. He then asked,

"John, are you a 'family man'?"

I guffawed and replied, "No, I am a law student and I have no time for anything else."

He then let loose with the opinion that B&O turntables were all style and no performance, and that the only reason they were still in business is that gay guys bought them.

In the event, I got a package deal from him including Fried Q2s, an Onkyo receiver, and a Marantz belt-drive TT.

Later, in Nashville, I heard Chartwell LS3/5As for the first time... but they cost more per pair than my entire system had.

ciao,

john


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