D Peter Maus wrote:

When I was a kid I used to hook up a high fidelity amplifier and
speakers to a crystal set. With no limit on the bandwidth local
stations sounded great.

I tried that, as well. I didn't have a standalone stereo, or high
fidelity mono, system. But I did have a portable phonograph by Travler.
I put the headphone output of the crystal set into the top of the volume
pot on the phonograph. The impedances were close enough that it worked
pretty well.

Of course that was when stations were required to maintain a pretty
high standard of performance, and bandwith was 50-15k. That made a huge
difference.


Now THAT was some fine listening.

I discovered the same thing when I was restoring a loose coupler crystal
set from the early teens.

Even using some hi-Z magnetic headphones, I was startled by how
"transparent" the sound was.

I guess this is why Heathkit offered a "hi-fi" AM tuner that was a
crystal set (albeit a crystal set with a bit of selectivity).