48 Australian Hi-Fi http://www.avhub.com.auSOUND TRAVELS
PX: You are a founding member of the club. You were there on
the very first night the club was formed in 1974?
GC: I certainly was. I put my hand up immediately at Alex’s
shop and attended that inaugural meeting at the Camberwell
Civic Centre where I eventually became a convener and then a
committee member...and I am still active in the club today.
PX: Do you have a first memory, a first unforgettable musical
experience that left an impression?
GC: When I was not much more than a toddler I clearly
remember my father playing his 78s of Benny Goodman and
Artie Shaw. Also, we often went to see my uncle who was a
professional jazz pianist. Music was central to our lives. My dad
often took me to see concerts such as the one Louis Armstrong
performed in the 1940s at Festival Hall. I recall saying to dad dur-
ing Arvell Shaw’s bass solo, ‘When will he finish tuning up, dad?’
[laughter]. I’ve seen so many great musicians over my life... Louis,
Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, Don Burrows... so many greats.
PX: Your dad had a fine audio system for the day?
GC: He sure did! My mates would come to our place to play
their records and hear dad’s recordings on his Stromberg-Carlson.
I watched him build his own speakers as a little child and was im-
pressed with the local Orpheus Sylex turntable. Nat Cole sounded
great to us on it.
PX: What can you tell us about your first choice of compo-
nents?
GC: Good audio costs money. I was a young engineer at
Dampier where they dug iron ore on the Western Australian
coast. I saved and then made enough money to buy my first hi-fi
system later on, when I returned to Melbourne. In the interim I
played guitar with a band at local halls every Saturday—we had
no audio system there, so we improvised.
PX: What were your first components?
GC: ‘Orpheus’ was my first turntable; they were made in
Melbourne. I built my first speakers, they were a recommended
KEF kit... a three-way design, and my amplifier was built for me
by a friend of my dad’s. I also had a Kenwood KA 4000; I was
impressed when I heard it so I bought it. A club member met Linn
Sondek designer Ivor Tiefenbrun, who explained to him why his
turntable was the best and a few of us at the club agreed and
went out and bought some of the original Sondeks. I still have
mine. It’s numbered 088 and still has the original Decca tonearm.
PX: As a classical music fan, why didn’t you buy Quads or
some other electrostatic design?
GC: I didn’t have the money. Quads were frightfully expensive.
PX: How would you describe your current set-up?
GC: My speakers are a Chris Rogers transmission kit design
that a fellow club member, Kevin Morrish—the first president of
the club and a most knowledgeable man—discovered in a British
magazine. Rogers published the plans and specifications for the
speakers and, being a civil engineer, I built them precisely to his
specs. I built them entirely myself, in fact, no help. They comprise
the renowned KEF B139 bass driver, the midrange is a KEF 660,
and the tweeter I have is a KEF T27. It’s a critical component that
Colin Whatmough incorporated in my system. It goes to 45,000
cycles. I made quite a few important structural grade changes
so that when you tap on the sides of the speakers, there are no
resonances at all.
I was a close personal friend of Colin Whatmough, we’d
see each other about once a week. Once, after comparing the
sound of Kevin’s speakers with my own and not being able toThe Melbourne Audio Club is one of
world’s oldest audio clubs and its elders
welcome a newer generation who will one
day take over the mantel, says 73-year-
old Graham Cobb who, along with Alex
Encel, Colin Whatmough and the original
board, provided the launching pad for
Melbourne’s strong hi-fi scene that still
exists today. Here Graham offers his
thoughts on a hi-fi journey spanning more
than 70 years of musical appreciation.SOUND
TRAVELS