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If there are naked women, I remember them

Dynaudio with their raccoon.

The "Is it live, or is it Memorex?" ad, where the taped voice of a woman singing breaks the wineglass, sticks out in the mind. Of course, the Maxell ad is the enduring classic, one that even some average Joes on the street could recognize. Energy ran some ads that would be best described as "Naked people with speakers," and those would be hard to forget. Other than that, not much remains in the little memory engrams. In our little-known world the ad budgets are not terribly grandiose, and so they tend to stick with the simple stuff. High concept is left to the beer companies and internet ISPs, and perhaps that's not a bad thing.

This is a stupid question.

NHT's "Knows a Pure Note When He Hears It" ad, featuring different people every time and without actually showing any speakers in the ad. Sony's brand-new ad for the 10HT LCD projector, "Actual Result May Vary," showing "The Last Picture Show" on a big screen, and more.

Cute little dog hearing his master's voice.

Remember that exciting Krell amplifier spot during the last Super Bowl? Me neither!

That Jensen ad with the naked girlies, who have road maps superimposed on their delightful bods. Makes the ganglia twitch!

Is it live, or is it Memorex?

Innersound Eros ads in Stereophile. I have been a subscriber for less than a year. Have any of their products been reviewed by Stereophile?

I liked the commercial of Ella breaking a drinking glass with her voice vs. a Memorex tape recording breaking the glass too. I have been trying to break my windows since I first saw the commercial! Is it live? Or is it Memorex?

The Bose adds for the clock radio that morphs into a . . . whatever it morphs into. Ad dollars spent to make that kind of impression are why Bose is so well known outside the audio circles, while better products are completely unrecognized. Why companies like Krell or Mark Levinson or Adcom, or others with enough revenue to pursue that kind of advertising campaign, don't do SOMETHING at least, is beyond me. Not that I'm suggesting they should divert as much of their revenue to advertising/marketing as Bose does, but geez, do SOMETHING.

MIT's graphs illustrate a near short at 60Hz when an audio signal is sent through "zipcord." The message sent is that I am no longer safe turning on my toaster. I mean, my toaster draws more continuous AC than my speaker wire will probably ever see. I'm going to miss my warmed bagels.

Pioneer's ad campaign for its HPM-series speakers and headphones back in the late '70s. I remember how they advocated how technically advanced they were "in theory" when compared to competitors' offerings, and used their heavier cabinet weight, "superior" cone material, and polymer technology as attributes. "In reality," these speakers sucked!

When I was in college I had a poster for Koss headphones that I picked up free in some hi-fi store. It was just a closeup shot of this cute model in a halter top with the phones on over this HUGE hair. She looked great. I even bought a pair of the phones, but I never met the girl in the picture.

They weren't exactly ads, but I never lusted over anything like I did over the pages in the annual catalogs from Lafayette Radio and Allied. I'd memorize every spec for the impossibly expensive ($69!) V15 Shure phono cartridge, or drool over the latest Fisher FM tuner kit. Even in black and white, these images burned themselves indelibly into my memory.

Is it live . . . or is it Memorex?

I really liked the ads for the Pipedreams . . . it's simple but effective in the way the tower just ascends beyond the frame of the picture, presumably, where? To the heavens? It made me want a pair.

Ads with information and links to reviews interest me. Ads with scantily clad women get me to look, but hardly to listen. But ads don't matter. Ears matter.

Harman/Kardon Signature Series ads with Yo-Yo Ma featured. He is lounging around in a beautiful loft with the Signature Series equipment elegantly sitting on top of a chest. Dumb me, I actually went out and bought the stuff, but I won't go there. Also liked the Sunfire True Sub ad with the glass of wine sitting on top of the sub. Although, I wouldn't recommend that tactic at home.

I still remember a full-page Stereophile ad about a speaker system. The ad was very good and had me wanting those speakers bad. The only problem was, nowhere in the ad was there a speaker name, company name, phone number, .com, nothing! I bet they're still wondering why they didn't get any calls.

Bose Audio ads are always intriguing and beautifully photographed. The messages are powerful and to the point, whether you like their products or not. I bet most of your reeaders look at their ads.

NAD's picture of a preamp with one bell and one whistle: a volume dial and a selector switch.

Mark Levinson's Cello speaker with the apple atop it and the gorgeous nude female backside next to it. I remember it caused quite a stir with the anti-art/human brigade, and Levinson never actually clarified what he was trying to convey. But it was an eye-catching and amusing ad for a three-way, wasn't it?

McIntosh's free US FM radio directory of the 1960s and 1970s.

For my money, the best print ad ever was one Parasound ran in Stereophile about four years ago. It was a soft-focus shot of the interior of a Gothic cathedral, over which ran the words: "Music is the universal religion. Build a proper altar." That ad said everything about why this hobby exists.

Cello's "half-assed" ad with Mark Levinson himself and the naked woman and the speaker.

High-end audio ads are the least imaginative and artistic in the advertising industry. I guess all the top talent is pulled away by Sony to work on the campain for their latest home-theater LCD display or MP3 player.

The RCA Dog.

I like the folksy ads from HeadRoom.