Times were very different , 50 years ago stereo was brand new. Most Americans owned monaural consoles. The LP was just coming into it's on. Record turntables were not very good and few audio companies had stereo amps. Most audiophiles had one speaker.
Tape recorders were generally noisy and expensive.
Believe it or not there was no Japanese audio equipment. All audio gear was either American are European.

There was audio shows sponsored by the audio equipment manufactures., It was not usual
to meet the owners and engineers of audio companies such as Marantz , Fisher , Scott,
Bozak , Jensen , etc, at the audio shows. These men loved their work and enjoyed talking about
it with people who attended the shows.
They would even visit some homes of audiophiles.

Most of us built our amps and speaker cabinets , and installed the raw speakers. There were few speakers that could not be purchased in kit form.
Space will not allow me to list the names of all the pioneering audio companies. Most no longer exist. I have a 1962 Annual Stereo Review , there was less than 5 Japanese audio companies, 10 years later most of the audio companies were Japanese.

Things have changed the audio industry has grown , most audio equipment companies are owned by large corporations are Japanese.
At one time one could call an audio company and you might talk to the owner , Avery Fisher, not today , you are lucky to speak to a person.

We live in an impersonal society today , technology has replaced face to face communication. The gape between the haves and the have nots is growing. At one time a Major League baseball player might live down the street. Not today with $200,000,000
salaries.

Many of the people of that generation is passing on. The younger generation will never have those experiences. It is very difficult today to talk to the younger generation.
We don't dialogue as much as we did at one time. For that I am sorry.