What was Your First Stereo?

[26gary26]

Bought my first stereo in 1972 (had the pleasure of working in a stereo store)
Pioneer QM-800 Quadraphonic Amp
Pioneer QC-800 Quadraphonic Pre-Amp
Pioneer TX-1000 Tuner
Pioneer CS-99 Speakers
Pioneer CDX-63 Speakers
Pioneer PL-41 Turntable W Stanton 681 EEE Cartridge
Sony TC-440 Reel to Reel Tape Deck
Still have everything except for the Pioneer speakers, Sony TC-440 tape Deck recently died
This setup started my love for music.

[Timster]

Around 1979/1980 I saved up enough to buy the following :
NAD Model 120 Receiver
Harksound (CEC) HS210 Turntable
Toshiba Cassette Deck (Can't recall the model, but it had new fangled solenoid controls, and LED meters and "Metal" tape EQ)
...and I built the speakers based on Magnavox 8-30 Woofers, 6" mid-range and 3TC tweeters.

Sadly no pictures... but it was mine, and I could finally play my music on my system, not my Dad's :-)

I am trying to make a list of everything I have since, will be interesting

[burninator]

A handmedown Nakamichi Receiver 2, Beogram 1700, and a five disc Sony CD changer from my dad. I don’t remember what speakers I had, but they were nothing special.

I still have the Beogram and I think my younger brother still has the Nakamichi.

[vcautokid]

Realistic Integrated amp and tuner, and a Rek-o-Cut turntable with some kind of Shure M something Cartridge, and a Nakamichi LX-5 Cassette Deck, and Teac A-4300s Reel to Reel and some home made JBL look alikes I made in the day.

[woodpecker]

my first ever sound system was a Fisher stereo system Fisher speakers and all

[405x5]

Geez, I wish I had pictures when I was busy being Dennis the Menace (at maybe age 9 or 10…) I wanted big speakers so great. I made them out of cardboard boxes. My dad had these old television sets all over the place that were starting to collect in the basement, they had those big 10 inch or 12 inch “full range” speakers in them or whatever range they were ha ha ha all I needed was a sharp knife and that roll of fiberglass on the basement floor someplace and some tweeters that I think I got from RadioShack with some help from mom taking me there in her car.
…… Some black spray paint so that cardboard boxes wouldn’t look like cardboard boxes anymore and Voilà I had giant speakers. There’s no doubt in my mind that they rose above the most expensive B&W loudspeakers that have ever been built I mean they must Have been! The only problem is when it got humid. They started to sag a little in the front, but they still sounded great.

[PaulBe]

1968.  Allied 395 Receiver.  Garrard Turntable.  Stanton Cartridge(681EEE?).   Koss Pro4AA Headphones. Some cheap 10" guitar speakers I built in my bedroom wall.  All bought from Allied Electronics.

[Deleted]

First system I bought was Polk Audio 5JR bookshelf speakers and a Onkyo reciever/CD player. Forget the model numbers on the Onkyo.

[405x5]

Mar 12, 2024 14:01:39 GMT -5 PaulBe said:

1968.  Allied 395 Receiver. Dual Turntable.  Empire Cartridge(681EEE?).   Koss Pro4AA Headphones. Some cheap 10" guitar speakers I built in my bedroom wall.  All bought from Allied Electronics.

Stanton had the 681 EEE (I had that one with the shitaba Stylus.

Empire had the 999 VE… Wonder if this provides some clarification?

[PaulBe]

Mar 12, 2024 15:34:54 GMT -5 405x5 said:

Mar 12, 2024 14:01:39 GMT -5 PaulBe said:

1968.  Allied 395 Receiver. Dual Turntable.  Empire Cartridge(681EEE?).   Koss Pro4AA Headphones. Some cheap 10" guitar speakers I built in my bedroom wall.  All bought from Allied Electronics.

Stanton had the 681 EEE (I had that one with the shitaba Stylus.

Empire had the 999 VE… Wonder if this provides some clarification?

Thanks. It was the 681 so it was the Stanton. Just remembered the turntable was a Garrard, not a Dual. Looong time ago. Picking memories out of the cobwebs.

[405x5]

Mar 12, 2024 15:51:53 GMT -5 PaulBe said:

Mar 12, 2024 15:34:54 GMT -5 405x5 said:

Stanton had the 681 EEE (I had that one with the shitaba Stylus.

Empire had the 999 VE… Wonder if this provides some clarification?

Thanks. It was the 681 so it was the Stanton. Just remembered the turntable was a Garrard, not a Dual. Looong time ago. Picking memories out of the cobwebs.

I actually had both of those cartridges the first being the empire 999VE…… Somehow in my turntable it was a bomb and went to the Stanton that was a good match, live and learn

[stumpypete]

I bought a Nikko integrated amp and matching tuner, a Hitachi straight arm turntable, an awesome Technics cassette deck with the coolest level meters and a wired remote control! And some AAL 3 way speakers! I soon upgraded to 3 way Cerwin Vega's! I thought I had it made! LOL

[LCSeminole]

I entered the hifi-realm back in the early 80’s starting with a JVC receiver RK-22



JVC cassette deck KD-V6(which I still have in its original box)

Technics SL-D2


and a set of Realistic bookshelf speakers(model number escapes me at the moment).

[cawgijoe]

Had a "stereo in a suitcase" with detachable speakers when I was a kid....my first real stereo came in 1982 or so.

Infinity RS5b speakers
Yamaha integrated amp...don't recall the model number, about 100w channel.
Pioneer PL-300 turntable which I still own and use today.
Onkyo cassette deck.

Added a Kyocera DA-710cx cd player about 4 years later.

[wolfebatio]

Circa 1986: Harman Kardon Receiver, Genesis Speakers, and a Bang & Olufsen Turntable.

[bitsandbytes]

Purchased my first real system when stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni Japan in 1977:

JBL L65 Jubal Speakers $614
Sansui AU20000 Integrated Amp $470
TEAC A-650 Cassette Deck $290
Technics SL23 Turntable $140
Shure V15 Type 3 Cartridge $80
JVC SEA-10 Control System $75
Pioneer RG-1 Dynamic Processor $75

Total spent $1744. With inflation, that would be $9038.55 in today's money. Eek! 

[405x5]

Mar 14, 2024 9:53:23 GMT -5 cawgijoe said:

Had a "stereo in a suitcase" with detachable speakers when I was a kid....my first real stereo came in 1982 or so.

Infinity RS5b speakers
Yamaha integrated amp...don't recall the model number, about 100w channel.
Pioneer PL-300 turntable which I still own and use today.
Onkyo cassette deck.

Added a Kyocera DA-710cx cd player about 4 years later.

A nice memory jog from my childhood lol……

When I was a kid in the 60s, my grandmother got each of us three kids at the time our own battery operated singer record players.

My older brother, I was so jealous. Got the big one which was the stereo and a suitcase with detachable speakers And I think If memory serves, it had an AC adapter too.

My sister and myself were not as lucky and got the little personal record players all the singer that ran on 4D batteries each. It was fun when you put the LP on it the record was bigger than the record player itself.

[Boomzilla]

A Radio Shack receiver, turntable, & speakers. Although the speakers had only one "full-range" driver, their phase coherency surprised with a lot of music.

[Zombie]

My first stereo was a birthday present around 1976. Pioneer Centrex TH-323 AM/FM/8 track with matching Pioneer speakers. Can still hear a song fade out, track click, song fade back in on the 8 track player. But the 8 track could continuously play which was state-of-the-art before cassettes showed up.

[KeithL]

Not counting a portable cassette player - which doesn't count because it wasn't stereo...

My first stereo was a small stereo amplifier made by Lafayette Radio Electronics (that's what they were called back then).
It went with a pair of 8" one-way speakers (which were about as horrible as you might think)...
(The only source it was connected to was the headphone output on a 25" Sony Trinitron CRT TV.)