When did you start collecting audio gear?

[camerakid]

How old were you when you started collecting gear? I had my first full-on stereo at 11 yrs old.

 

[sKiZo]

Point of order.

We talking years collecting, or years old when you started collecting?

 

[camerakid]

Point of order.

We talking years collecting, or years old when you started collecting?

How old you were when you started collecting. Should've stated that when I made the thread...

 

[Nightwisher]

I started between age 11 and 16. It's really ramped up the past 2-3 years (I'm 22).

 

[wlhd1610]

I started when I was 8.
After delivering the morning edition of The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper I would fill up my Radio Flyer wagon with all the old tube radio gear that people had set out by their curb and bring it home .
Needless to say my mom was not happy but I had a ball taking it apart!

Bob

 

[s-petersen]

I started collecting in 1974 when I was 14,I mostly started with old radios and switched to stereo at 18

 

[GearHead454]

I got my first stereo (Sony receiver with integrated TT stuck on top) at about age 12 but at age 19 I bought a Toshiba System 15 (separates) and EPI 100v speakers. Those and every thing I have bought since then I still have so I started buying at 12 but I started "Collecting" at age 19.

 

[MaxxVolume]

I was about 10 when I got my first transistor radio....it was a red & white Motorola, about the size of a cigar box (Bobby Darin`s "Mack The Knife" was No. 1 on the radio charts for that entire summer). About a year or two later, I got a GE suitcase-type record player, it had a fold-down (stereo) turntable (3-speed changer), with detachable speakers, allowing for a 7 or 8-foot wide soundstage. Early album choices: The Ventures, the Everly Brothers, Beach Boys, Duane Eddy, Chubby Checker, Little Stevie Wonder. A few years later, The British Invasion, Motown, and Dylan changed music forever.

A stint in the military REALLY opened my eyes to the possibilities of serious stereo gear. A lot of the GIs returning from Viet Nam had some awesome gear....all those Sansui, Pioneer, Teac, Akai units spun my head and made me drool. While in country, I ordered from the PX, a Sansui 5000 receiver, a Teac 4010S R2R deck, and Pioneer CS-99 speakers. IIRC, it cost me right around $500....such a deal

 

[pdm4606]

I started collecting in 1957 when I was 14. Been making a mess out of closets since.
Also the start of the stereo conversion. At the time many folks laughed at stereo. "It'll never work."
"You mean I have to buy 2 speakers to get true sound?, NO WAY."
"Just another fad."
"Multiplex for FM. What about crosstalk with storecasting?" There were 3 systems proposed to the FCC. The final one was the worst as it was an AM sideband stuck inside the FM signal. First receivers/tuners could pickup static, I was told.
LP stereo was fought also. "too much noise for me".
The only approved method was 2 channel tape.

 

[blhagstrom]

Got my first stereo back in the 70s, upgraded quickly to a Marantz 2275, BIC 960 and a set of BIC Formula 4 Venturi.
Added a Pioneer SX-6000 when my uncle got killed.
Bought out a friend who went to college, Pioneer SL-1300, RG-2, SG-9600, SR-202, RT-707.

Took a break for 30 years, Picked up a Marantz 2230B at work, a 2230 at the thrift store, a POS something that I traded for a Pioneer SL-1400 at my yard sale (score!), a Pioneer SX-650 that started to act up.
Came here, learned to fix from MTF and others and fell right over the cliff into vintage audio HELL!

Truck loads! IN, OUT, EVERYWHERE.

I KNOW there will be people at my estate sale that will be thinking WTF!?!?!?!

 

[harman/kardon]

I love music since I was a kid. But I started to collect high quality vintage gear in 2005.

 

[sobolan]

I started collecting when I was 20, meaning around 2008. Since then I keep bringing home receivers, tuners etc., working or not. It started taking room form my typewriter collection

 

[hippiedude]

Got my first proper stereo at 11,(mid-late 70's) a ferguson record player. (Prior to this I had a Dansette mono valve record player from about the age of 6) Closely followed by waltham and philips cassette recorders which were duely taken apart, adapted (lol) and somehow re-assembled. Been buying and selling ever since ;-)

 

[ScramMan2]

46+ years ago. I started with a used Heath receiver, Dual TT, 8-track player, and Magnavox speakers with 15 inch woofers.

I'm a USMC Vietnam veteran but I never bought any audio or camera gear for myself when I was over there.

 

[KDAC]

...in 1985 at the age of 12 and continue to do so 31 years later.

 

[tubed]

May 31st, 2008, just around the time I joined AK.
My first post, I asked if anybody had an extra HPM-200 tweeter available.
It didn't go over too well for a first post

While waiting for an answer I perused the site and couldn't help but notice dudes getting ridiculous deals on vintage stuff and quickly got in on the act.

 

[Harvey/ Ga]

How old were you when you started collecting gear? I had my first full-on stereo at 11 yrs old.

I was 22 when I started with a Bogen R-660 tuner, DB-115 amp and the DIY corner labyrinth with 8 inch Wharfedale. Hooked me on Wharfies from then on...

 

[bonzoro]

Started collecting when I was old enough to hear, now 60 years later, I'm near deef.

 

[2526]

What about 22 - 27? I feel that I'm being left out.

 

[OnTheBlitz]

When I was 12 years old. Had a full on real HiFi by 14 years old in 1978:

Onkyo A7 Integrated Amplifier

Onkyo Tuner T4090

Speakerlab S6WA's


Technics TT W/Shure MKIV Cartridge