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Join Our Community Subscribe to Paul's PostsThere was a time in PS Audio’s history where we only made little boxes.
Our first product, the phono preamplifier, was about half the size of a pack of English muffins. We followed that with something closer to the traditional 19″ rack mount stereo equipment of yore, only ours were half sized.
Our very first full size 19″ rack mount product was a preamplifier called the PS IV. It heralded a major departure from small and cute boxes. It was an immediate best seller and before we knew it, we’d built our first 1,000 of them (a new landmark for the company at that time).
On the day we rolled out the first of the PS IVs, sometime in 1979, we decided to celebrate with a pizza party for the crew.
As lovers of new we didn’t want just any pizza, but only the latest in pies. That meant Chuck E. Cheese.
The pizza chain Chuck E. Cheese was started in 1977 by video game company Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Atari was famous for Pong, among others, and Bushnell was an innovator. For all I know he might have been an audiophile.
We greased a few palms and guess who showed up at our door to launch the PS IV preamplifier.
Just a bit of history I thought you’d enjoy.
Hey! There’s my Great-uncle Chuck E.
Another Fat Rat 🙂
I wonder how someone got to a place in life that they were up dressed as a rodent holding a piece of consumer electronics. Someone told me this weekend that there is such a thing as a Disney cruise ship. Holiday on water with Micky and Minnie? My wife wondered what stone I’d crawled out from underneath. We’ve booked on our first ever cruise and sincerely hope there is no fancy dress.
Every time I pick up a component… 🙁
If by chance there will be fancy dress just remember, you’re on a ship; there’s no escape!
LOL on this. I’m with your wife on this one! I know so many adults that have taken this Disney cruise and are beyond excited telling everyone about it. In my running circles the Disney marathon is a highly coveted run, you go through the park (before opening hours) amongst all the characters and pay a $500 or so entry fee for the “honor”. The Goofy medal is the most sought after, to get it you run a half marathon one day and the next day a full marathon. If you complete both the medal is yours! I get the whole Disney allure, Susanne in my household does not!
Now, there are rock and roll cruises which can be taken as well, do you know of them? Stages set up at various points on the ship and live music being played. Cayamo is the one most known to me, here is this year’s lineup. I am sure there are more of this type of thing.
https://www.cayamo.com/lineup/
My wife took the kids to EuroDisney and I had the good sense to spend some time in hospital having a kidney stone removed. Even when that went wrong and they had to keep me in a few more days, I still think it was the better option.
I like boats about as much as I like tube amplifiers, but I heard some fabulous Trilogy 995R hybrid valve mono blocks this weekend.
The last boat I went on was from Arran, the Brodick ferry terminal on Arran caught fire whilst I was waiting and the boat broke, so we had to wait 3 hours in the cold rain. Before that was the Sandbanks Ferry, a chain ferry trip of less than a mile but the thing almost sank, the weather was so bad. Me and boats …
I hang out on a restored wooden lobster boat in Maine during the summer. No tubes, but I do try for live music. My favorite was hosting Sweet Joe Russell of the Persuasions years ago singing Buffalo Soldier in the middle of the bay. Best day the local lobstermen ever had.
I’ve seen the cruise ships in Bar Harbor. Bigger than apartment buildings in Manhattan. Endless amounts of food, liquor, noise, and very unattractive people. Amusing to observe; horrifying to contemplate being onboard.
Disney cruises are amazing, you’re going to love it. When we went to Alaska years ago, the level of service was truly next level. The ratio of crew to guests is 2:1, which means one crew member per couple! There is someone at the ready to give you whatever you want before you even know you want it. There are 3 pools/spa: kids only, family, and adults only. Great shows, excellent food, and no, you don’t have to dress up if you don’t want to. Some do, but Disney knows it’s a vacation (and an expensive one at that) so dress however you’re most comfortable. If you get a chance, the first day you’re on board, make reservations at Palo, which is their premiere restaurant. You won’t be disappointed. Have fun, I’m actually quite jealous as I’m sure the ship is going to be decorated beautifully!
I wish more components were the traditional rack mount size. I don’t like small components.
Great piece of nostalgic fact but were you able to get the grease needed for the palms back once the pizza arrived?
This brought back memories. Our family spent many an afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese with our two kids, and attended half a dozen birthday parties there. The pizza was appalling — discs of frozen dough run on a conveyor belt through a convection oven, coming out as hot, cheesy cardboard. If you’re a fan of good pizza crust, Chuck E. Cheese ain’t the place. But the play area and the arcade was always a trip. This was about 15 years ago. I’m sure the pizza was different in 1979 before the chain got outrageously big.
There was a rumor spreading this year — many videos, pictures and memes — that Chuck E. Cheese recycled its pizza. That is, when plates came back to the kitchen with uneaten slices, they would be reheated and served again. This theory started because when you order a whole pie, you might get one with slices put together from several pies. The slices don’t line up and are clearly cooked inconsistently. Rather than recycling, it’s more likely that the kitchen cranks out a steady stream of pies with various toppings, then keeps them warm for a fair amount of time while serving some as whole pies and some as individual slices. If a customer orders a pepperoni pizza, there might be several pepperoni pies sitting around with slices missing, so the server will cobble together a whole pie from several partial ones. Ain’t fast food grand? https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vbw7j4/youtuber-stirs-up-conspiracy-theory-about-why-chuck-e-cheeses-pizza-looks-so-weird
I made a cruise twice and LOVED it.
I remember that every time I was about to get on the boat I hoped reliability was the primary goal of the shipping company when they had the ship built.
I naturally assumed Chuck E Cheese died long before the PS IV pre-amp, but – horror of horrors – it still exists.
https://www.chuckecheese.com/coupons-deals
The rodent still exists, but it’s lost the hat and slimmed down a lot. Still poisoning the kids of America. Go rodents!!!
For someone who hates boats, I realise I’ve been on quite a few. I also went on the RoRo car ferry from Flam to Gudvangen in Norway last year. Thousands do that trip in the summer on the tourist boats, trust me to go in the winter and 20 of us piled onto this decrepit old boat. The had coffee and it was very beautiful, if a little cold. No pizza or rodents.
I have my own cruise ship, a solo canoe that can traverse waters no power boat dare to attempt. My wife has one, too. Kind of like monoblocks, so we can each paddle to our own favorite tune. Works out well, until the beaver try to climb into the boat.
I miss my 4.6 and upgraded power supply. I loved that preamp in Straightwire; dead silent and excellent transparency. The action of the switch gear was very satisfying as well. In the days before remote controls, the precision and feel of the way a volume know moved through it’s arc was a nice indicator of the inherent quality with the rest of the component.
All this chat about cruises. Meh. Went on one, never again.
A used Model IV preamp was my first after moving from integrated amps. I recall wanting to re-listen to my album collection because everything sounded much improved compared with what I had before. Eventually sold that piece on to a friend; the finish was starting to suffer last I saw it. Still working though as of a couple years ago. Only issue I had with it was the gain button needed replacing at one point. Nice piece of kit.