Consumer demand for private personal listening did not begin with the Smart Phone. Looking in the rearview mirror we see the iPod, the portable CD player, the Walkman portable cassette player, and the transistor radio with a single earphone. There was also the Shure Solo-Phone family of products.
In 1966, we introduced the Model SA-1 Solo-Phone amplifier. Priced at $45 U.S. retail ($450 in 2025 currency), the SA-1 was a small, all-transistor preamplifier/amplifier that will deliver the depth and presence of high fidelity stereo – in private – from whichever sound source you choose to connect to it: record player, tape recorder, or AM-FM tuner. Musically, you’re an island unto yourself. The SA-1 was specifically designed for private headphone listening.
Soon after the SA-1 debut, the SA-1F panel mount version was announced – designed for permanent installation in libraries and classrooms.
In 1968, we offered the SA-10 Solo-Phone system with a list price of $99.95 ($1,000 in 2025 currency.) This unique product consisted of a Solo-Phone packaged with a Garrard automatic record changer turntable sporting our M44C stereo phono cartridge. There also was the SA-10M with a Garrard manual turntable.
The back cover of the sales flyer educated end users and resellers of nine uses for the Solo-Phone.
The final year for the Solo-Phone was 1977, just twenty-four months before the first Sony Walkman, the Model TPS-L2, was released.
In the 1960s, the concept of private personal listening was new; the Shure Solo-Phone product line filled that market niche for a decade.
Related information: History of the portable transistor radio
Arcana – mysterious or specialized knowledge
Shure Solo-Phone units were installed at numerous listening libraries. Below is a story about the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle Campus facility.
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This is Tech Tip #579, so let’s examine the omnidirectional Shure Model 579SB moving coil microphone. Introduced in 1969 with a U.S. list price of $75 ($670 in 2025 currency), the Vocal Sphere Model 579SB [S = Switch; B = Low Impedance] was a superb sounding omnidirectional microphone that delivers natural, lifelike voice reproduction for vocalists or speakers. Available only in chrome, the Model 579SB remained in the product line for twenty-four years. When discontinued in 1993, its U.S. retail price was $108.
