The New Sound HQ on Valencia Street
Just got a new car audio/radio device installed over at New Sound car stereos on Valencia Street in San Francisco. New Sound is an awesome place: great selection; fast service; I love my new system. But on top of that, it has a wonderful secret: a magnificent basement crypt of ancient car stereo/radios.
We’re almost there . . .
To get there, New Sound proprietor Eduardo “Ed” Sosa led me to the back of the shop, where a small sampling of deceased stereos can be found. “That’s nothing,” Ed noted. We descended down a rickety stairwell into the basement, past a vestibule, through a room, and into another room, and there it was in all its glorious darkness: The Vault.
. . . welcome to The Vault.
Full disclosure: we at Radio Survivor love big piles of old radio/audio technology. Check out Jennifer Waits’ exploration of the radio exhibit at the San Francisco History Museum. Here’s another basement room at New Sound:
. . . more goodies.
No surprise that New Sound has this treasure trove. The hallowed shop is over four decades old. Looking at these machines, one is struck by how comparatively big some of them were, which makes sense if they had some of those long gone components—eight-track consoles and such. I was proud to give my old machine to the collection. Thanks to Ed at New Sound for showing me all that buried treasure.
