Audio Erotica: Hi-Fi brochures 1950s-1980s

From austere post-war Britain to poppy pre-millennium Japan, Audio Erotica presents a nostalgic nirvana of the strangest and most significant period hi-fi brochures. Alphabetically listed, from Aiwa to Zenith, with Braun, JVC Nivico, Nakamichi, Sony and everything in between, this book will resonate with any music fan.  

Setting the tempo are the pipe-smoking, high-end separates (amplifiers, speakers, turntables) of the 1950s, followed by the swinging Dansette record players of the 1960s, the prog-brushed-metal music centres of the 1970s, and the sleek capitalist cabinet stack systems of the 1980s – not forgetting the aerobic stereo sound portability facilitated by the boom-box, and that final high-fidelity, hardware hurrah: the compact disc. All accompanied by questionable fashion decisions and acres of shag-pile carpet. 

The evocative brochures in Audio Erotica track the technological development of audio equipment before the digital download, while simultaneously revealing the way hi-fi was marketed to the listening public. With knobs on.

"Graphic designers will find both books [Auto Erotica] as a treasure trove for art direction from bygone eras, as well as unique typefaces that, similar to the renewed interest in high end amps and turntables, is rearing its head into the style guides of emerging designers and corporate rebrands." - Hypebeast

"Densely packed colour images on every page defy expectations set by the black, white, and grey cover. Breaking the conventions of book cover design, the title is camouflaged as a cassette label in the lower right corner, making this catalogue-of-catalogues present itself as a designer’s object or artist’s book." - The Brooklyn Rail