Some great pics in this thread!
I'll have to dig through my 'archives' to see if I can find any of the photos I took of my earliest stereo systems from the '90s. Pretty sure most of them are still in Polaroid form..........
First off, a little non-photo history. I started off fairly simply circa late 1993, when I became heavily interested in vinyl (ironically, around the time the format was dying out commercially). For Christmas that year, I received, an Optimus STA-300 receiver, along with a pair of Optimus XTS-23 (IIRC) full-range bookshelf speakers. They were paired with a Garrard 730m record changer and Sony TC-127 cassette deck, both of which were hand-me-downs from my father.
The STA-300 was a POS (tended to blank its presets when turned on, and lacked a true tape monitor loop), but it was a start. It was eventually replaced with a Sony STR-VX5 receiver which was a hand-me-down from a relative. That served as the heart of my stereo for a few years until I inherited the remainder of my father's stereo system, which included a Sansui AU-999 integrated amplifier, a Kenwood KT-2001 tuner, and a pair of Kenwood KL-5080 speakers.
The next step, well, was into the realm of tubes. I built a
60FX5 monoblock amplifier from a Popular Electronics article to be used as part of a science fair project. Once the science fair was over, I added the tube amp to my system, but had no real concept of a power amplifier. I didn't know I could drive the tube amp from the PRE OUTs of the AU-999, so I pressed a BSR EQ-3000 equalizer into service in order to serve as a rudimentary preamplifier (which, again, I had little real concept of at the time). Here's a picture of the 60FX5 amp as I had it set up during the science fair, with an Aiwa portable CD player (stolen during said fair) used as a source, and a single Optimus XTS-23 speaker which had to compete with a pair of giant speakers serving as another group's project:
From there, I continued on with tubes. After the 60FX5 amp developed some issues, I swapped it out for a Heathkit AA-151 integrated amp which was given to me by one of the teachers at school, and replaced the Garrard with a Bang & Olufsen Beogram 3000, which itself was replaced by a Beogram RX2 some time later. I also replaced the Sony cassette deck with an Akai GX-F31, and later a Nakamichi BX-100 which would be my main cassette deck for several years.
Late in 2001, an online friend of mine tipped me off to a Dynaco ST-70 which was available for sale in his area. After miraculously surviving UPS shipping with the tubes installed(!), I replaced the capacitors and bias supply parts (which led to me writing
this article), put in a set of JJ E34Ls, and it worked like a charm. Here's a picture of the ST-70 once that was done, being powered by the Sansui AU-999 after I'd learned about how the PRE OUTs worked:
I soon built a full tube system around the ST-70, starting a run with separates which continues to this day. I bought a Dynaco PAS-2 on eBay, traded a Zenith table radio for a Fisher FM-50B tube tuner, and bought a pair of KLH 17 speakers at a swapmeet for $35. Around the same time, I replaced the Beogram with my first 'real' turntable, a Pioneer PL-518 which I bought at a swapmeet for $20. Here is a picture of the resulting system, circa 2005 or so:
In early 2007, I ended up taking a swing back towards solid-state by way of a McIntosh MC2120 which I got a good deal on. Enjoying the sound it made, I decided to build a solid-state system around it, first buying a Dynaco PAT-4 on eBay, then a Superphon Revelation which I found at a local audio store, then a Marantz 3600 I borrowed from a friend. For a tuner, I went with a Kenwood KT-7500, which I used for several years afterwards. In terms of turntables, this was another period of change, as I swapped out the Pioneer for an
AR XB, then a
Technics SL-1301, then back to AR with an
ES-1 (borrowed from the same friend as the 3600). For speakers, I swapped out the KLH 17s in favor of a pair of Scott 197B IIs given to me by a relative. Here's a picture of that setup:
More later..........
-Adam