About 35 years ago I placed a "Large Loudspeakers Wanted" advert in a local newspaper and received a reply offering a pair of what turned out to be Westrex 2326A studio speakers. I paid £20 for the pair not knowing anything about Westrex. A bargain I thought.
The seller asked if I was interested in the rest of the system stored in his garage. It turned out to be just about the best equipment available when he bought it in the early 60s. It consisted of a period "hifi cabinet" from Imhofs containing Garrard 301 turntable with Shure M212 pickup arm, Ferrograph high speed tape recorder (?Model 420), Acoustical Quad 22 control unit, 2 x Quad II amps and Quad FM tuner. I thought the aking price of £25 was reasonable so bought the lot. An expensive day parting with £45 - several week's salary at the time!
Most of this stuff is still well known but the Shure arm seems a bit of a rare beast so I was wondering if anyone has any first-hand knowledge of it. It was the only item not manufacturered here in the UK and it cost twice the price of the next best arm at the time - the SME 2012. The arm was fixed vertically so the stylus was mounted in a small "snake head" that was raised by pressing the button on the arm. A fiddly job but this quirky mechanism seemed to work OK. When not in use the arm was kept against the upright post by a small magnet.
Peter
Last edited:
