As told by co-founders, Kevin Morrish, aged 91 (pictured in header image with his DIY speakers), and the late Graham Cobb.
The night wind blew down Bridge Road as the municipal clock near the hi-fi shop struck 10 p.m. The shop had closed an hour ago and the street was empty but for a gaggle of men huddled together in the doorway, talking intently in their winter coats. They were unknown to each other but they would soon become good friends. The alluring sound of tube amps, lighting the window, was a call from the odyssey drawing them together. They had an idea for a club.
The strangers exchanged names and addresses before vanishing in various directions, determined to meet again soon. Shop owner Alex Encel of the hi-fi store that bears his name suggested they meet regularly at someplace nearby. This turned out to be good for business, which he later boosted by mentioning the club in his audio classifieds in The Age newspaper.
A co-founder that wintry night, Kevin Morrish, had previous experience in community club management and mailouts using his typewriter and phone contacts, and would provide the impetus for the comradeship via a newsletter.
Alex Encel pictured in front of the Encel HiFi store.
"Our early president, Bob Toll, had a garden tool shed that we worked in. I used to type the newsletter there myself. We'd drink wine and get the magazine [newsletter] out. We even collated and stapled the pages ourselves and licked the stamps. Members were enthusiasts, and then when we had enough good copy, I'd send the hand-typed copy to a small suburban printer around the corner. It was a team effort from everyone, not just me, putting it together."
Kevin said the club meetings moved about from place to place until they found a home at an empty nunnery hall in Camberwell, "the proto of the Willis Room club room," where the club meetings are held today.
The spark had been lit; The Melbourne Audio Club was officially formed with his group of new Australian friends, including Graeme Cobb and Bob Toll, who'd sheltered in the doorway that night.
Fellow enthusiasts came from all over Melbourne to MAC meetings, "to listen, discuss, learn and share their enthusiasm for audio at the club," says Kevin – which, unknown to them, in April 1974, would become one of the longest continuously running audio clubs in the world.
Kevin Morrish, now aged 91, is still as sharp as a fine razor (or stylus!) and remembers the earliest days well. His daughter Lynne winks as he talks, confirming his recollections. He has an analytical mind, she says.
Kevin Morrish was a physics and math teacher at various secondary schools before becoming the principal of Warrandyte Secondary School. He met his first wife, Florence, a home economics teacher, while she was hanging his lab coat on the school's wash line. The students noticed them flirting and would pin the arm of his lab coat over the shoulder of her washed apron. They soon got married and she became his close hi-fi companion for many years.
It was a pity the club didn't attract many women, he says. But he and his first wife made many close friends. People like the eccentric Bernard Roler, the schooled Frenchman with an encyclopedic knowledge of music. Another friend, Laurie Cohen, was an aural/hearing expert, who developed groundbreaking hearing aids, later patented worldwide. These friendships are a reason Kevin approves of the GASS nights (dedicated to the late Gerald E., an enthusiast past member), in which the evening meeting format is expanded into a longer day, allowing members to bond in a less-formal setting.
I interviewed Kevin Morrish about the history and current status of the Melbourne Audio Club.
A meeting of the Melbourne Audio Club.
Peter Xeni: What has been the primary purpose of the club?
Kevin Morrish: It was a place where we could compare and listen to equipment that was similar or dissimilar, and make comparisons. Some of the gear was built by the members using [plans from] hobbyist magazines, and some were store-bought audio [components], often modified…most were from our own small membership. They would bring their gear for comparisons. In fact, we founded the club on [the] basis [of making comparisons between audio components]…listening for differences and making value judgements for ourselves. Opinions varied as members were from all walks of life.
Xeni notes that some MAC members were impressed enough to ask members who were adept at DIY (do it yourself) audio to build them amplifiers and speakers. Morrish’s own uniquely-designed speakers sit proudly in the living room of his daughter Lynne's home.
Morrish said most members bought Australian Hi-Fi magazine to follow overseas products, and purchased overseas hobby magazines to aid them in building their own equipment. Keen members followed European trends – particularly England's burgeoning industry. Of particular interest was gear like the BBC’s LS3/5a speakers, Rogers and Mission speakers, and Linn Sondek and Thorens turntables. CD players didn't exist back then, but reel-to-reel tapes did, as were cassettes, which were considered an inferior sound source, an opinion lately being debunked by some.
PX: Aside from reading Australian Hi-Fi, how did you learn of these trends?
KM: Encel, Alex Encel's shop, was a focal point. He would import his own gear and showcase other products, arguably making Encel the premier hi-fi shop in Australia. He was a pioneer. Later, he made quality amplifiers and speakers and sold them commercially. That was unheard of on that scale at the time. That's where we all first met. It was a hangout.
PX: Legend has it he was an astute young man, who first wore beatific kaftans and beads, before abandoning the garb when he saw a business opportunity.
KM: We're all forever grateful to Alex. Alex advertised in the Green Guide in The Age and promoted the club, especially when he had a hi-fi column in the paper. It inspired the mouthpiece of our club, The Melbourne Audio News. Together with others, I used my experience at Apex [a community service organization] to produce it regularly. And the club grew exponentially, through keeping in touch [with one another].
Attendees at the Melbourne Audio Club's 50th anniversary celebration.
PZ: How did the club operate?
KM: Initially, before formalising the membership, we charged a modest fee to pay for the hall, and that was it. In the earliest days they used to have irregular dinner meetings at various homes. I and others in our group pushed the idea of a regular venue. By this time, the not-for-profit registration legalities and charter of the club membership were established. Committee members introduced a basic membership fee to cover operating costs, plus tea and biscuits. [Today,] volunteers do the kitchen and set up the chairs and display tables – everyone pitches in to foster a welcoming vibe.
Xeni points out that Lynne Morrish had a ringside seat watching the audio community grow: As the daughter of one of the co-founders, Lynne was bemused by the “fashions” of the audio world. She noted, “One particular one I found amusing was the belief in cables. How a particular one would spectacularly enhance the sound – but I couldn't really hear much difference. I saw huge wreaths of cables made from esoteric metal, sealed in some protective fabric, snaked over the floor. I'm not sure if some ideas were snake oil.”
Kevin dismisses this as experimentation and says the club was always in search of interesting innovations, as were retailers, who always had something different to display. These cutting-edge importers and retailers, like Douglas HiFi, Brashs, Allans Music, Tivoli Hi-Fi, Encel, and others (some now defunct), would bring their music and equipment to various locations in the early days, before the club moved to its permanent home at the Willis Room at the Whitehorse Council in Maroondah Hwy, Nunawading, in the 1980s.
Kevin continued: "Some would praise the benefits of their cables [and] interconnects, and others would [then] try [them] for themselves – all of it was part of the hobby. In my speakers I used plastic drinking straws, which channel friction resulting from the movement of the drivers, thereby reducing cabinet resonances. They work; you can hear the difference."
One of Kevin's ideas involved putting the turntable and the amplifiers on a sturdy piece of furniture supported by poles drilled through the suspended wooden floor into the soil below the house, with the poles mounted in concrete.
Lynne was bemused by this: “Dad says it notably reduces interfering sound vibrations. The turntable was totally isolated from the wooden floor; you could even pivot a glass of water on the turntable lid and nothing would be disturbed as people walked around.”
I mentioned to Kevin that one renowned MAC member, Gerald, famously built his speakers into brick enclaves in the concrete corners of his large music room. It remains the most remarkable sound this writer has ever experienced.
PX: What were your early impressions of these halcyon days of audio in the 1970s?
KM: It was an educative experience when comparisons were really the fundamental part of the club. You could hear the same record, in the same room, at the same volume – [through different audio components] – comparison is a central part of it. It was more than [just] exhibiting products. We could compare “this” to “that.”
PZ: How do you judge an audio system?
KM: You can only judge it against live music. Live music is the ultimate reference, and you should be asking yourself, “how close is this to a similar performance of that music by a live performing group in a hall with good acoustics?” All changes to improve your equipment [should be] to get as close as you can to that live performance. That's the purpose of audio, to me. Live music is the ultimate reference; that's the thing you're approximating to.
I've been a live music fan from my earliest days. I would go to the city to visit my mother's sister in Burnley and then go to record shops. I loved Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong. Audio was secondary to my interest in live music. I would see (pianist and bandleader) Graham Bell in Melbourne, one of my favourites. I'm a long-time subscriber to the MSO (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra).
PZ: What of the future of audio?
KM: I don't have any interest in Spotify or Tidal, and I'm only interested in “real” audio in a good system. I certainly don't seriously listen to music on my computer. Never! People are being dumbed down with earbuds and sound bars.
PZ: It's said the club's core purpose is to impart audio wisdom.
KM: (smiles) I've done my best to educate…it's been my life.
Postscript:
Kevin was a luminary at the Melbourne Audio Club’s sold-out 50th year celebration. The club is now booming under the auspices of businessman David Chambers, programmer David Polansk, University of Melbourne professor Paul Boon, ad man Tony Fisher, Jonathon Lew in accounts, and a cohort of new bloods like Aurora Audio’s Damian Ware. Australian audio website StereoNET has also lent its support. The Melbourne Audio Club’s greatest backer, together with Alex Encel, is Australian Hi-Fi magazine. Along with MAC’s members and others, they continue to spread the good word about hi-end audio in Australia.
MAC's ad person Tony Fisher enjoys some time (and Grado headphones) in New York.
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