What was Your First Stereo?

[drtrey3]

My first music delivery device was a boom box sized "portable" radio that had short wave and a flesh colored ear phone that looked like a 1967 hearing aid.

Next was a Sears multi-play turntable with built in speakers.

In college I got the entry level Rega turntable, I forget which cartridge, a fairly nice Sony integrated amp, and a couple of EPI speakers. That rocked and served my well for some time!

Trey

[Cory Cooper]

My first stereo was...wait for it...

Panasonic RA-6600 Receiver w/8-track
Panasonic RD-3600 Turntable
Technics RS-616 Cassette Deck
Panasonic SB-1600 Thrusters Speakers

Man was I the cool kid in the neighborhood with that!

After that system, I went through numerous configurations which included:

Carver: C-1, Digital Time Lens, M1.5t
Cerwin Vega: SW-12B
Denon: AVR-5800, DVD-2800, DVD-2910
JBL: Radiance 702VX
Nikko: Alpha 450, EQ-1
Ohm: L2, Walsh 2
Onkyo: CP-1055F
Radio Shack: APM-200, 40-1310
SAE Two: A7, T6
Sony: CDP-101, CDP-315, DVP-S550D
Velodyne: HGS-15
Yamaha: CD-2, K-540, RX-V850

What a trip down memory lane. I never realized how much equipment I have gone through until I ended up with the system in my sig!

C

[bigwoofer]

bought first setup ca 1975 at Lafayette Electronics -  Sherwood 7110 receiver, Criterion 333 speakers which were actually pretty decent and a cheap Garrard turntable

[ludi]

My first stereo set looked more or less like these. It took me a while to earn the money to buy all the stuff.







All the images I found on the internet, I don't own any of the stuff anymore.

[mgbpuff]

1964 - Dual 1019 TT, Dynaco Pas-3x preamp, Marantz 8B amp, Dynaco FM3 tuner, AR4x speakers.

[garbulky]

My first stereo set was this:

Followed it up with
hooking the sub to a set of old mitsubishi towers kind of like this (they looked much worse ).


A really bad match but I loved that setup so much.

[frenchyfranky]

Here is my first serious stereo in 1985:

Musical Fidelity A1:


SystemDek IIX:


Snell Acoustics Type J:


Before that in 1984, a Yamaha receiver and a pair of cerwin vega speakers.

[garym]

* Fisher integrated amplifier kit (forgot model #). This was in the days before IC circuits. Every resistor, coil, capacitor, etc., had to be separately soldered to the board. Thing probably had 500 parts.

* Ampex 1250 tape recorder.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ampex1250.JPG

* Acoustic Research AR-2a speakers.

[kse]

This was my first. Mom and dad would buy me kids records, but I wanted nothing to do with those. I steal (take without asking) my older brother's records. Artists that I distinctly remember; KISS, The Who, Rick Derringer, The Kinks, Deep Purple......man I loved listening to those. I was probably all of 5 years old rocking out.

Haha.... Simpler times.....

[cwmcobra]

First system I built while in college was a Heathkit stereo amp (don't remember the model) with a really small Crown tuner and an inexpensive Dual TT. The speakers I built using drivers purchased from Allied Radio. Bought some closeout mahogany at the local lumberyard. Sold the whole setup to buy an engagement ring for my fiance (now wife of 42 years). Then, just out of college and with my first job, built a Heathkit AR1500 receiver and Heath-branded JBL 14" 2-way speakers. With Dual 1212 turntable. Later upgraded to used Dynaco Stereo 400, Dynaco preamp and Kenwood tuner. I still have the Heath/JBL speakers (although not in use :-(). The rest is long gone......

Thanks Chuck for the amazing trip down memory lane. I haven't thought of this history in years!

Cheers!

Chuck

[xki]

This WAS my first stereo. (Turn off the sound. Please!)

It was 1967 and my brother would either crank the Beatles "Good Morning" or Frankie Valley to get me up on Saturday morning.

I had a unit just like this for quite a while. And it sounded pretty darn good to an 11 year old!!!

[Axis]

An upright Telefunken tube console. Up top under a lid was a record changer. In the middle was a AM,FM,SW1,SW2 & LW tuner. It had this cool scope that lit up depending on the signal strength you got. Above the tuner were five buttons that let you select a different combination of speaker output from ten speakers that were on the front, bottom and sides.

With just the internal antenna I could pick up radio station KMOX, St. Louis, Missouri from Georgia clear as a bell. Loved to listen to Jim White's talk show. Anyone ever heard his show? He was a trip.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_C._White

[stangman]

Dynaco SCA80Q Integrated Amp
Technics Turntable
JBL L26 Decade Speakers

Later on I added:
Sony Tuner
Nakamichi 500 Cassette Deck

[typea]

Pioneer SX-737 receiver, Kenwood KX-770W dual cassette deck and GE-35 7-band graphic EQ. Speakers were a pair of Bose 301 Series 1. It was 1984 and I was around 13 years old. I eventually smoked the speakers playing Queen's Another One Bites The Dust, man the memories...

[DYohn]

As I recall, the first all-new stereo I bought for myself was in 1973: a Pioneer Quad receiver, BIC turntable, Craig cassette recorder and a set of four JBL Decades - all of which I had just gotten hired to sell. Before that was a weird assortment of hand-me-downs and repaired things.

[AudioHTIT]

My dad gave me his first 'stereo' when I was in 6th grade, I think it was a Decca. It had a turntable, a tube amp, and one speaker in the main unit, the lid had a second speaker you would take off and string it across the room for the other channel. I loved it and immediately went out and bought my first album "Little Deuce Coup" (still have it), and my first 45 "Wipeout" (may have it).

I loved that set and soon my collection grew, but I learned a lot from it too. I noticed when I tapped on the tone arm it made noise through the speakers, if I touched the wires on the back of the cartridge it created a loud hum. Not long after I got my first electric guitar, but couldn't afford an amp. The hum intrigued me and I removed the wires from the cartridge and hooked them to my guitar cable. Wow! I had an amp! It was a pain to move the wires back and forth, but we must suffer for our art.

Eventually I started breaking wires and had to learn how to solder, fortunately my mom got remarried and my step dad had a big stereo console. He was very good about letting me use it and blast my music, but when I turned the bass up too high he'd yell from downstairs "Turn down the boom booms!"

[hemster]

Teac reel-to-reel player, Wharfedale speakers (low-end, nothing fancy), old Luxman stereo amp (can't remember the model), also rocked a Aiwa cassette player (boombox footprint). We're talking late 70s. Didn't get into vinyl until the early 80s.

At the time I really thought my gear was the cat's meow...

[Chuck Elliot]

Oct 12, 2013 1:02:37 GMT -5 stangman said:

Dynaco SCA80Q Integrated Amp
Technics Turntable
JBL L26 Decade Speakers

Later on I added:
Sony Tuner
Nakamichi 500 Cassette Deck

I loved the JBL L25-L26 speaker. I far preferred it to the Large Advent, its main competition. Both the L25/L26 had the exact same drivers.

The L25, which was very short lived and I think sounded better, was made in an extruded plastic enclosure and discontinued, I believe due to mfg costs.

L26


L25

[DYohn]

Mine were the L-26 with orange grills. I upgraded them (and the electronics) a few years later with 4315's.

[Deleted]

I had a Technics stereo receiver, Advent 3 bookshelf speakers, and a Dual record player.

I think the Technics was an SA-5370. It was originally a system put together by a brother for one of my sisters. Eventually the speakers were used by my parents for TV, and the receiver and speakers eventually went back to my sister who had them first. I really liked those old Advent/3 speakers.