Everybody's Welcome............list your very first system

[Clive]

Can you remember? What was your very, VERY first system? Don't be ashamed to tell us if you named it Sheila or something too :lol:

Go ahead I dare you!

[jimmyp58]

It was a Panasonic system. AM/FM receiver plus turntable. We're talking 35 years ago!

[Patt]

Yes,

A SoundDesign am/fm reciever with four speakers purchased from
S.S. Kresge, a local five and dime store. The cost was $99.00 and it had the neatest brightly lit faceplate. Now, it would make a great set-up for a garage or hobby room for casual listening.

[Bent]

20 years ago.
Mine was ghetto blaster, a JVC mini-component unit with a handle.
I can't remember the model but I remember the serial number - and if I ever catch the SOB from Beausejour, MB who stole it from my car parked in the hospital's emergency parking lot as I carried in a nearly frozen and unconsious hitchhiker whom I found at an overpass - I'm gonna flatten both of his testicles (if he even has two) with a meat tenderizing mallet.

[Glen B]

36 years ago, DIY 10-watt mono tube amps, DIY speakers, reconditioned Collaro turntable.

[David Meek]

Oh where'd I post that? Gotta go find and earlier post. . . . found it.




Equipment-wise, my start was with an excellent (I thought) old Pioneer stereo receiver (SX-880) around 1979. I ran the audio out to the beast from any TV handy which in turn output to two Pioneer HPM-100 4-way speakers and had what I thought was home theater. Once VHS made the scene I was lost. :T On the music side, I had a Pioneer CTF-1250 cassette deck and a direct-drive turntable - don't remember the model now.

Okay, now you've done it. I've been looking for images of my old equipment and found some of them. Talk about some fond memories and maybe a little sense of loss. . . .







To give you a sense of the size of the HPM-100's, that's a 12" woofer.

source of speaker image is StereoManuals.com

[DeanP]

A good ole' Luxman L-235 and a pair of Cerwin-Vegas D-7. Still have them and I am using them for good ole' bass thumping music. The CWs have a ~97db though are not a "clear" as speakers now a days but they sure wake up the neighbors! I call them party speakers.
But in all honesty, I would have been about 8, my very first stereo was a tube amp(sure wish I had it still) and a pair of very small bookshelves.

[Fishy]

I had an Amstrad system where the record deck came out on a tray, some 25 years ago.

[GSamF]

About 20 years ago I got this really cool ghetto blaster from Beausejour, MB from a car parked at a hospital.



Kidding :W , mine was a JC Penny unit where the bottom half was a record player that when you pushed a button, the record player part would slide out about half way so you could slip in a record. Really neat at the time.

[RenoReno2]

Denon Receiver <forgot model number>from Sears, think it cost me 250.00. Bose 301's, and a 12" velodyne sub. Then went with a refurbished Harmon Kardon receiver off ebay <forgot model number> Onkyo Integra txsr-838 <favorite receiver> gave that up cause it was a lemon. 4 Klipsh quintets and a bose center. Replaced with a Onkyo txds 701 under warranty. Now have B&K Ref 50 S2 and 125.7 S2 amp with Paradigm all around. Except I still have my origional sub.

[Snap]

20 years ago.
Mine was ghetto blaster, a JVC mini-component unit with a handle.
I can't remember the model but I remember the serial number - and if I ever catch the SOB from Beausejour, MB who stole it from my car parked in the hospital's emergency parking lot as I carried in a nearly frozen and unconsious hitchhiker whom I found at an overpass - I'm gonna flatten both of his testicles (if he even has two) with a meat tenderizing mallet.

:rofl: wait...... :rofl: Mine was a tascam and a whole bunch of Radio Shack Stereo amps hooked together so that I could have lots of speakers! It only worked for a few days but I had 4 pars of speakers going! :rofl: Guess I had no idea about OHMS and amp loads! :rofl: Heck I was in 8th Grade!

Still laughing at the quote from Bent :rofl:

That is going to keep me rolling for the rest of the night! Oh time to give the baby a bath. 8)

[Clive]

20 years ago.
Mine was ghetto blaster, a JVC mini-component unit with a handle.
I can't remember the model but I remember the serial number - and if I ever catch the SOB from Beausejour, MB who stole it from my car parked in the hospital's emergency parking lot as I carried in a nearly frozen and unconsious hitchhiker whom I found at an overpass - I'm gonna flatten both of his testicles (if he even has two) with a meat tenderizing mallet.

Wow Bent After 20 years I can feel your pain Man Oh man. Hope the hitchiker lived.

GSamF/Grant You are asking for it :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: So Funny!!

DeanP That Luxman was a hit in the 80s my brother had one and was the envy for a long while. Must made you proud. Nice sound.

[DeanP]

That Luxman was a hit in the 80s my brother had one and was the envy for a long while. Must made you proud. Nice sound.

Definitely! As I stated, I still use it. I haven't found a reciever yet that has the bottom end bass thing produces! :T

[Jack Keck]

In 1974, I got a Pioneer SX-525 receiver, XAM 10" 3 ways (E. J. Korvette house brand), and BSR record changer as a college graduation present. I added a JVC cassette deck.

My first upgrade was a BIC 960 TT.

[Clive]

Looks like you're walking in the right direction Jack, as a side note what are you using now for HT or 2 channel?

[Nick M]

I was 10yrs old.

19" Black & White TV from a tagsale.
Nintendo.
VCR from a tagsale.

[Jack Keck]

Looks like you're walking in the right direction Jack, as a side note what are you using now for HT or 2 channel?

The HT is a Pioneer VSX 709 receiver, Samsung DVD player (forgot model #), Sony carousel CD player, Polk RTi 38 l & r speakers, CSi 30 center, some small KLH speakers in the rear. Home Depot 12 gauge speaker wire, DIY sub with a Dayton Quatro 15 and 500 watt amp in a 5.5 (or so) proted cabinet. I use this for most of my 2 channel listening, too.

My other 2 channel system: NAD 3045 integrated amp, Rega P2 Turntable with Grado cartridge, Nakamichi BX 2 cassette deck, and some RTR speakers I got on Ubid for $5.00 each. This is all plugged into my trusty E Machines computer. I use it mainly for transferring vinyl and tape to CD.

The NAD and Rega were purchased in 1979 with a pair of Polk Monitor 7s, which I kept until I bought the new Polks. I wanted something that I could match a center channel with. I still used a Phillips GA 312 TT as a second TT after I got the Rega for making tapes so I could cue up th enext song while one was being recorded. There were several cassette decks involved, too.

[Stoney]

My first system was made from 2 mono record players acquired from Goodwill. Took the tube amp out of one and installed it in the other. Replaced the cartrige with a decent stereo cartrige. Balanced the tonearm with quarters. Speakers were cobbled and built the same. My best sounding speakers were RS 4" full range with magnets as big as the speakers mounted in round Quaker Oatmeal boxes. Zepplin never sounded better!

[Patt]

Hi Jack, :later:

I just recently loaned/gave my brother 2- RT55i's and 2- RT5's . He's pretty happy with them and has a 5.1 setup going. I'm on the lookout for something different for a 2 channel.....maybe Klipsch or whatever is available.

[Clive]

My first system was made from 2 mono record players acquired from Goodwill. Took the tube amp out of one and installed it in the other. Replaced the cartrige with a decent stereo cartrige. Balanced the tonearm with quarters. Speakers were cobbled and built the same. My best sounding speakers were RS 4" full range with magnets as big as the speakers mounted in round Quaker Oatmeal boxes. Zepplin never sounded better!

Now that's what I'm talking about :rofl: I forgot all about the good 'ole pennies on the tone arm thing. I remember taping so many on there that the the record was spinning sloooowww. Try the Quaker oatmeal box thing in DIY. Good post :T

Thanks Jack :T

Nicholas.........you were allowed to have your own TV at 10 yrs old? I most be really OLD :

[ThomasW]

Early in high school, a 'state-of-the-art' GE suitcase system.

Unhook the top latch and the turntable drops down. Unlook a latch on each side and the speakers rotate forward. If one had the space, the speakers lifted off the hinges and could be spread apart for 'real' stereo.

Image not available

I upgraded the speakers with a 4" fullrange 'acoustic-suspension' drivers from RS mounted on stained plywood boxes. The design was featured in a DIY speaker article in Popular Mechanics ....... :B

The next upgrade was to 15" coaxial Altec Lansing drivers in folded horn enclosures driven by a Heathkit amp...... :wink:

[Paul H]

... The design was featured in a DIY speaker article in Popular Mechanics ....... :B

I had no idea you were famous


Paul

[ThomasW]

Yep I was able to read the article they published and built 2 boxes. It was first of a never ending series of DIY projects ...:wink:

[NeutralMAN]

Well....hmmmmm...

The first one I used was a hot red little ghetto blaster... DANG! :rofl: Don't remember the brand.

The second one I used was a phillips model pre 1975, component system. Turntable, tape deck, amp, tuner. The components were housed in wooden boxes with a aluminium face plate. Looked like the ply wood sides were then painted with black paint. ops: Kept blowing fuses, so substituted aluminium foil, and blew the amp :T DANG the founations rattled :T

The first one I actually bought was a Marantz Home theatre (sr-82), with one of the first sony cd players, and a laserdisc player. The speakers were home made 3.5 speakers, using 4 drivers. I remember they were scan speak 9300 tweeter, seas 4" midrange and seas two 6.5" woofers. Very sweet sound, and killed most store speakers in the time.

Then one New Years Eve, filled the street with music.. First the treble went, second the midrange disappeared. Basically blew the tweeter and midrange. Till about 3 years ago the speakers were used as an "why not" out door setting, with sticky tape covering the tweeter and mid holes (I needed to take them apart and see what was in them :roll: ).

NeutralMAN

[Andrew Pratt]

My first "real" system (as in not a boombox) was a component stereo from the basement of Sears in Polo Park where they sold off scratch and dents etc. This unit had a turn table, dual cassette and and EQ with two tower speakers. I added a Genexxa single disc CD player that following christmas (1990) and often connected my parents VCR (Beta then VHS) to it along with a 13" B&W TV for movies. I then dumped the speakers and bought some new larger towers from Woolco (which was later bought out by Wal-Mart) and then replaced those drivers with some better ones from Radio Shack...I kept the same cross over though which if I recall was a single cap on the tweeter!...hardly audiophile by any means and looking back its embarassing to think I did that but a friend of mine still uses those to this day and enjoys them.

[Patt]

(Woolco)....I havent heard that name mentioned in years.

[purplepeople]

When I was around 9 years old, I was given a non-descript RCA record player with hollow plastic speakers. Thank goodness I didn't actually pay for it. This would now be known as a bookshelf system and a bad one at that.

When I was 11, I got a Sanyo Walkman clone. Paid with my paper route money. I can still remember listening to Pat Benatar on that thing.

During uni I had a Sanyo boombox that's still with me today as the PC speakers here at work. Yes... a boombox with Line In!

Then for a few years, just the Blaupunkt stereo in my Civic.

In 1996, I inherited what would become the start of my current system and the beginning of my true addiction - a Marantz 1530.

ensen.

[Clive]

Well....hmmmmm...

The first one I used was a hot red little ghetto blaster... DANG! :rofl: Don't remember the brand.

The second one I used was a phillips model pre 1975, component system. Turntable, tape deck, amp, tuner. The components were housed in wooden boxes with a aluminium face plate. Looked like the ply wood sides were then painted with black paint. ops: Kept blowing fuses, so substituted aluminium foil, and blew the amp :T DANG the founations rattled :T

The first one I actually bought was a Marantz Home theatre (sr-82), with one of the first sony cd players, and a laserdisc player. The speakers were home made 3.5 speakers, using 4 drivers. I remember they were scan speak 9300 tweeter, seas 4" midrange and seas two 6.5" woofers. Very sweet sound, and killed most store speakers in the time.

Then one New Years Eve, filled the street with music.. First the treble went, second the midrange disappeared. Basically blew the tweeter and midrange. Till about 3 years ago the speakers were used as an "why not" out door setting, with sticky tape covering the tweeter and mid holes (I needed to take them apart and see what was in them :roll: ).

NeutralMAN

My Gosh, I don't think I could remember that far back with such details. Killa Marantz Eh?

[Patt]

Image not available

I remember seeing many of these in peoples homes throughout the years, my sisters had one and the speaker was under the turntable and faced the front.

Some of them were made very well and weighed a ton.

[NeutralMAN]

Uncle clive,

I tend to remember things I am passionate about. The marantz has been sold to a good friend that is happy, and enjoying the sound out of the amp. It's got alot of current, and is still going strong. I wish it will give him many years of listening pleasure.

I dream to have enough money to spend on a killa system. Dedicated room, top components, etc, etc, etc. I reckon I can easily spend $1 million, and still be craving upgrades.

This hobby is making me broke!!! :T (that sounds like a good signature)

I can stress about spending $500 on fixing the car, but have no problems buying a $5000 CD player.

Just got me thinking.....Hmmmm..... tubed output buffer.... stop it, whack!, stop it Whack!!! Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! wheres my credit card!! ops:

NeutralMAN

[David Meek]

I can stress about spending $500 on fixing the car, but have no problems buying a $5000 CD player.

We understand. Trust me. :B

[Clive]

:agree: :yeah: :yeah:

[Patt]

I can stress about spending $500 on fixing the car, but have no problems buying a $5000 CD player.

The above sentence is like a photograph.............worth a thousand words.

[NeutralMAN]

At least there are others that understand my insanity.

[David Meek]

What insanity? :scratchhead:

[Chris D]

No worries, we're all so insane in this hobby that we not only can't recognize it in ourselves, most of the time we can't even identify it in others like us.

"Dude, you sold your wife's car and bought a $15,000 set of speakers? You know, if you can stretch your budget just a little bit, I think you'd really like the $20,000 XYZ speakers about to come out later this year."

[Clive]

Chris, you're not helping. Someone is gonna take this seriously. :rofl:

[NeutralMAN]

Ha Ha haaaaaaaa, I understand!! :T

[NeutralMAN]

An addition,

Not sure where I read this (some online forum), but there was a "team Ramen" created. Basically they saved money and lost weight by just eating Ramen cup of noodle soup. They used the money saved to buy more audio equipment. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Chris D]

I think I'd end up gaining more weight if I just ate Raamen noodles. Overload on starch. But hey... I love pasta, even Raamen, so maybe it's worth a shot.

[Patt]

If I was living by myself saving money like that would be tempting to put $ towards stereo gear, now my better half would brow beat me to death.

[DrJRapp]

The date was March 1959 and there was this hot new multichannel format called...of all things...stereo! I was a teenager and I had my Dad take me to Lafayette Radio in Newark, NJ where I purchased a 15wpc Harman Kardon integrated amp, (without the wood case I couldn't afford ), two House brand bookshelf speakers with 8" woofers with whizzer cones and a store demo Garrard record changer with a Shure cartridge. Later that year I got a Lafayette brand FM tuner and sometime about 1962 built a home brew multiplex adapter from a magazine article so that I could listen to WTFM, the first station to broadcast in FM stereo in the NYC area. When I reached the ripe old age of 15, I got a job and was able to afford a speaker upgrade to AR 2a's. Soon after, when I was in college I upgraded to HK's first SS receiver and Rotel's first turntable to escape the rumble of the Garrard, keeping my Shure cartridge. Everyone always wanted to party in my room cause I had the best sounds.

[Claude D D]

Here's a pic of my first "real" system vintage about 1980 or 81.Akai AM-2950 120watt per channel integrated amp,Technics programobile linear tracking turntable(that I still have today sporting a Grado P-mount cartridge and running fine),Sony soft touch cassette deck(now sitting in my garage with no output from one channel),My old RCA Colortrak 18" TV(paid $649 for it,nice black screen hey!)Akai sealed enclosure speakers with 12"woofers,4"mids and a 2"paper tweeters with Vega Linear VL10D's sitting on top of them(10"woofers,4"mids,3/4"piezo electric tweeters,ported enclosure).The other speaker stack was to the left of my TV,just out of the picture.All this in my 10'x9' bedroom.I didn't know about imaging or soundstage back then.But it sure was loud. :-y

[JonMarsh]

My first stereo was put together at age 19, and what was in it was influenced by my activities at the time (quite a bit) as a musician. A Dynaco PAT4 solid state preamp kit, a pair of Dynaco MkIV 6550 based mono vacuum tube amplifiers (kits also), a pair of folded horn bass cabs using JBL D140's (bass guitar speakers, basically), and a pair of Altec 511B horns in custom cabinets I built, with stock Altec crossovers for 800 Hz, not 500 Hz (the FR of the horns gets a bit "wavey" down near cutoff, and crossing them higher, they sounded better). An Akai reel to reel, but I don't remember the model. This system was put together in Dallas, before I moved back to Colorado. Not exactly portable, but it would play a LOT louder than any of my friend's KLH's. :B

[stantheman2]

Ah, memories...

1974: Sherwood S-7200 receiver (a massive 30 watts per channel!), Philips GA-212 turntable (anyone remember the cool green-lit buttons?), and original Large Advent speakers. Upgradeitis didn't set in for about 2 years, but no matter how much "Medicine" (new gear) I take, it won't go away.

As an aside, this thread makes me want to pay homage to Henry Kloss. He started a lot of us on the audiophile path. He was the "K" of KLH when KLH was a high-fidelity company. He designed the Acoustic Research AR-3, one of the first good acoustic-suspension speakers. He founded Advent, and Advent speakers put many of us on the audiophile path. He diverted to video in the early 70s, and designed the first consumer front-projection video system (and won a technical Emmy for it!). In the 80s, he founded Cambridge Soundworks, and designed the first really successful subwoofer-satelite system.

Let's sum up - reasonably-priced, high quality speakers, home theater projectors, and sub-sat systems. Where would we be today without him?