Laskys and Tandy

[plasticpenguin]

Did any of you buy from these companies?

Never purchased anything from Tandy as the only hi-fi they did was receivers (Realistic IIRC). I did, however, purchase a couple of items from Laskys: Hitachi Cassette player and Wharfedale Linton XP2 speakers.

Always lusted after AR speakers but they were way off my budget back then.

 

[moo-fi]

Quite a few components when Maplins was mail order only. Usually because I needed a resistor in a hurry. Always overpriced, but was close to the uni I was attending.

 

[mayebaza]

Quite a few components when Maplins was mail order only. Usually because I needed a resistor in a hurry. Always overpriced, but was close to the uni I was attending.

Me too

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[jkbmusic]

I bought a great pair of boxy floorstanders from Tandy Shield Road Newcastle. My first CD player, a Technics, was negotiated with Laskys at the bottom of Northumberland Street, Newcastle. I say negotiated, as I persuaded then to include 3 CDs with the purchase. Eric Clapton’s August was one of them. Laskys were huge in the 70’s, and one of the most competitive priced, with huge stocks.

 

[chebby]

I walked past Lasky in Tottenham Court Road once. On my way to a hotel I was booked into for an IBM course.

I bought all my components from RS. (Still do occasionally.)

There was a time when our Maplin had a counter where they’d solder spades and 4mm bananas to speaker cables (for a reasonable charge) but that stopped a long time ago. 

Never set foot in our Tandy. Big old ‘tat’ shop.

Back then we had three good hi-fi shops in town and even our local Granada TV place sold a small range of decent budget hi-fi. (I bought my Sansui SR222Mk2, Grado cart and AR18s’ from them. Not bad for a TV rental shop!) Now we only have an Audio-T.

 

[Bazzer]

Laskys took over from Ace Audio in Chester , I don't know whether Ace were a nationwide store or just local , I bought stuff from Laskys , they had records downstairs and Hi-Fi upstairs . An Aiwa cassette  player and an Aiwa under dash car cassette player plus a few records . Tandy I went in occasionally and maybe bought some accessories .

 

[plasticpenguin]

I walked past Lasky in Tottenham Court Road once. On my way to a hotel I was booked into for an IBM course.

I bought all my components from RS. (Still do occasionally.)

There was a time when our Maplin had a counter where they’d solder spades and 4mm bananas to speaker cables (for a reasonable charge) but that stopped a long time ago. 

Never set foot in our Tandy. Big old ‘tat’ shop.

Back then we had three decent hi-fi shops in town and even our local Granada TV place sold a small range of decent budget hi-fi. (I bought my Sansui SR222Mk2, Grado cart and AR18s’ from them. Not bad for a TV rental shop!) Now we only have an Audio-T.

Tandy were targeting a certain age group. Remember our Sutton branch always had these coloured flashing spot lights and music booming out the door. I was never tempted but I knew a few people who were... odds and sods, such as cables and DIN plugs and suchlike. 

 

[Old Git]

Did any of you buy from these companies?

Never purchased anything from Tandy as the only hi-fi they did was receivers (Realistic IIRC). I did, however, purchase a couple of items from Laskys: Hitachi Cassette player and Wharfedale Linton XP2 speakers.

Always lusted after AR speakers but they were way off my budget back then.

Pretty sure they did turntables too (Tandy - Realistic) Oh, and CDP’s.

Edit : And amps and speakers and cassette decks, pretty much everything really

 

[Kubs]

Laskys - wow! That's a blast from the past. I think I was around 9 when my dad purchased a commadore Amiga 500 for me.
I only got into hifi when I was around 14 - no purchasing just reading what hi fi at the local library and by that point Laskys hasd gone bust ...

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[Beobloke]

My dad bought his Yamaha A-09 and T-09 and Mission 707s from Lasky’s many years ago.

As a hi-fi obsessed nerdy child I always used to love wandering round there on a Saturday, often with a Tandy visit afterwards, as it was just down the road in Southampton!

 

[Sam Vimes]

I don't remember Laskys at all. Whether that's down to location, age, or a terrible memory, I'm not sure.

Tandy I do know. However, I don't recall buying anything in there. For the bulk of my working life, I was a multi-discipline electronics tech. Setting foot in Tandy was invariably an act of desperation.

 

[legzr1]

I bought a great pair of boxy floorstanders from Tandy Shield Road Newcastle. My first CD player, a Technics, was negotiated with Laskys at the bottom of Northumberland Street, Newcastle. I say negotiated, as I persuaded then to include 3 CDs with the purchase. Eric Clapton’s August was one of them. Laskys were huge in the 70’s, and one of the most competitive priced, with huge stocks.

My first decent system came from that store using my first wage from my first ‘proper’ job as a deposit.

AR pre and power, big Technics CD player and Mission 737R on target stands. The speakers I really wanted were totally out of budget - Kef 107s.

The store closed some months later and I think the lad who served me left to set up Newcastle HIFI.

I remember Tandy not too far away selling speakers - Realistic boxes with 15” bass drivers that were priced ‘each’ to appear a bargain. Even back then they sounded terrible but seemed to sell well.

 

[Ian]

Goodness, yes, Laskys in Nottingham. An Audiotronic amp, Later a Yamaha CA510, Celestion Ditton 15xr (tweeters kept blowing !), Garrard 86SB TT, a pioneer tuner and a cassette deck I can't recall the make of. To think of all the unloved valve amplification I could have bought at the time !

 

[JD68]

I bought loads from Tandys in the 80s. I've still got a reverb unit I bought from there and bits for when I had a go at building my own speakers. It was great for just browsing around at stuff.

Incidentally does anyone know a good online place for getting electronic starter kits for novices? I fancy having a go at learning a bit about electronics for the fun of it so would like to try some simple projects.

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[dave]

Genexxa lx5's from Tandy's in Letchworth, still got them, the best speakers with a bit of tweaking, and there was a franchise in Hitchin, called Kotecha giftronics..... 

 

[locheeboy]

Lasky's, Aiwa cassette deck, lasted many years.  Never Tandy, stuff really did fall apart... :dunno:

 

[plasticpenguin]

Pretty sure they did turntables too (Tandy - Realistic) Oh, and CDP’s.

Edit : And amps and speakers and cassette decks, pretty much everything really

I'm sure they did, although can't remember which ones.

The only speakers I can recall from Tandy and that was Jamo.

 

[tkimages]

I don't remember buying any items of hifi from either, but I'm sure I've bits and bobs from them.  I always enjoyed the Lasky catalogue.

 

[norliss]

I remember Laskys. I think we may have bought something like a TV or VCR from there and I remember they seemed to advertise quite a bit?

I remember Tandy more clearly as it survived much longer although aside from buying the odd cable there, I never had much affinity for the place. Seemed to be full of cheap-looking "Realistic" brand stuff. The latter-day Maplin reminded me of what Tandy was like back in the day. In fact, the practice they both had of asking you for your name and address when buying anything used to irritate me.

My brother used to enjoy how, when going in there with his school friend (in the days before post-code driven databases) his friend's father used to give "1 Knox Road" as his address. This is basically the site of HMP Cardiff! Not that the hapless sales assistants ever seemed to twig