Thought I would share the foggy memories of a system I encountered 25 years ago when I was living in Needles CA. Alot of my buddies then were railroaders. We were "partying" at this retired RR's place. Single guy, place not really tidy if you get my drift. Anyway back then I was no expert but into stereo gear. When you came in the front door there was what appeared to be a wall on the left with the opening in the middle and then into the listening-living room. If you went straight in the front door to the hall, there was an opening in that wall with a tube pre-amp, RtR, and turntable. Turn to the left was a bedroom with two huge single channel tube amps. No idea on brand nor specs. Just remember they were sitting in the middle of the room, precisely spaced and sitting on low racks. They were huge! The guy joked he could heat his house in the winter them. That "wall" going into the living room was actually a pair of homemade speakers. Again I cant remember any details other than they were around 2' thick, ceiling high and 6'wide each. He had fabric covering the drivers so you could not see them. Could have been four pairs of Altec A7's on each side. I do remember him playing Nillson Schmillson, Derek and the Dominos and Pink Floyd DSOM. Blew me away! Left an impression to say the least. Cant Live by Nillson and Great Gig in the Sky by Floyd were incredible!!! The vocals just emanated right through me. Almost a religious experience.

Would have expected you to note "Jump into the Fire".
I just listened to Nilsson Schmilsson on the latest incarnation
of my stereo the other day, and played that song three times,
just to listen to that grinding bass.
Very loud, at 3:30 a.m.
What a great story--thanks for sharing it.

Thats my kind of guy, someone who knew about what it took to blow you away at a time when alot of us were listening to those huge boomboxes or car stereos.When i was in the army in Germany(81-82) alot of us had pretty decent home stereos but i don't think we got the most out of them.The thing i remember most was eight guys to a room and at least four stereos in the room in each corner seperated by wall lockers and everyone playing them at the same time.Not the best scenario to achieve sonic bliss.I had Sansui seperates ,don't remember the model number.Bought it from this guy that was getting drummed out of the army for constantly smoking hash.When i got out of the army I drove home with it in the back seat and trunk.Got home at about six in the morning, went inside for about an hour came out and it was gone.some m@#*f%*# ripped me off and killed my plan to listen to it at home where I could achieve better listening results.Anyway it took be a number of years to attain that level of stereo again.

what a great place there to hang out.... growing up my buddy's friend had a 4 channel Fisher Studio Standard that played really loud.. can't remember the model number but it was a rocking system. whenever his parents were gone we'd go over and play rock and roll incredibly loud...