33 minutes ago33 min Let's talk about Frankie, baby!In the early 1960s, Frank Sinatra commissioned a home hi fi that was an impressive mix of studio gear and high end consumer kit. The heart of it was a modified McIntosh C-22 preamp. It had one input that was three channel, made specifically for an Ampex open reel tape deck (visible behind Frank.) Studio recordings in those days were primarily three channel, with the center being for the lead vocals. Final mixes were almost always mono, of course. Sinatra liked to take home the day's recordings from the studio and see what he thought of them that evening. An artist taking home the actual multitrack masters might sound insane, but it was Old Blue Eyes in the 60s. Though visibly impressive, the three units below the Ampex are just VU meters. The tuner below the C22 is a Fisher. At the bottom below it are a trio of tape head preamps made specifically for the Ampex. Of course the tape transport, VU meters and preamps are all studio gear, not generally used by (or available to) the public.There were three power amps for the speakers (presumably Mac tube monoblocks, but there is basically no info out there.) They were in another room entirely. There was also a huge, broadcast grade turntable that its own closet. It had zero sex appeal, but what physically impressive.Even a stock C22 has complex mono/stereo routing. (I oughta know, I've owned two of them since 1999 ...for reasons I cannot entirely explain.) Based on my research there is conjecture that the television output was wired into the C22. Frank was an early pioneer in the world of home theater.In the bedroom, Frank had a high end Grundig all-in-one system.I can neither confirm nor deny if Nancy Reagan ever got to hear a tune or two on that Grundig. Thank you for coming to my TED talk, now help yourself to a pack of smokes on the way out.
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