Wos
 

I was fortunate to see and hear the WOS at the Hollywood Bowl. The sound was so incredibly clear , totally unlike any other concert. Never heard anything that clear until the Stones VooDoo Lounge tour 20 years later.

WOS was a sign of things to come. The line array in particular is what I am referring to. It was not new then either, just an extension of column speakers. There was no fancy processors to steer the output direction of the speakers or to provide ultra sophisticated voicing. Just artistic genius. It was a great time.

Dan, thanks for starting this threat on the Dead's legendary WOS. Here's a couple of links for more info, photos and a video on the WOS:

An Insider's Look at the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound [audiojunkies]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PODPgBaiFI4

Roger

Thanks for the great video

Years ago (98?), I posted a WTB ad on the Dead's website for the MC2300s used in the WOS. Although I didn't find any, a very nice guy named Bear emailed me back explaining they were all sold off or given away to other bands long ago. We had a great email convo that lasted for several weeks about the WOS, etc - sure wish I had archived that.

Probably the most interesting thing Bear told me was about a guy poking around at a local show and eyeballing the wiring used to connect the amps to the speakers. According to Bear, that was finely stranded 4 AWG copper cable. Bear stated, "Shortly after, he began selling 12 AWG speaker wire ... but he missed the point entirely."

You might have been conversing with Owsley himself.

Indeed I was. At the time, I had no idea who he was nor his significance with live sound. It was quite educational to say the least. He told me he that he could actually see the music coming from the speakers with the right acid!

Obviously, the guy Bear spoke of who was poking about was Noel Lee.

Outstanding....brings back memories, thank you for posting!

We just had John Curl interviewed by David Gans of The Grateful Dead Hour speak at our monthly meeting today of the San Francisco Audio Society. He's been attending our meetings and now we're having him back to speak again in November. This is from our website:

David Gans is the Nationally syndicated host of the weekly radio show, The Grateful Dead Hour; author of 8 books (and counting); musical recording artist with more than a dozen releases; touring musician with live performances weekly around the country; and highly sought-after lecturer on a multitude of Rock & Roll subjects. There’s more, but you can go to his website (http://www.dgans.com/) to find the rest, or just ask David when he interviews John Curl on October 20th.


John Curl is one of the most highly praised audio circuit designers, with a history of creating timeless classics like the JC 2 preamplifier with Mark Levinson; the SOTA Industries Head Amplifier; and his own Vendetta Research Phono Stage. But before he began designing consumer audio equipment he had worked building amplification for the Jefferson Airplane. Later he would build the Wall of Sound for the Grateful Dead’s 1974 live performances. Owsley “Bear” Stanley conceived the Wall of Sound as the largest concert system ever built. The Wall could project high-fidelity music six-hundred feet from the stage, with acceptable audio quality for a full quarter mile before noticeable degradation of sound could be heard. Stanley claimed quality sound was available for up to half a mile, but perhaps your personal mileage count varied depending upon whether you as the listener employed any of Owsley’s pharmaceutical enhancements?
Since 1989, John has been teamed up with Richard Schram as the creative genius behind Parasound’s high-end audio amplifiers and preamplifiers. Parasound’s equipment receives continual accolades year after year from the audio press for Parasound’s innovative designs that perform high above their price points in the audiophile marketplace.

https://sanfranciscoaudiophilesociety.com/events/