Tried to look it up...couldn't find it:dunno:...unremarkable ones never get noticed. A lot like people, I guess?


It was a Lloyd's receiver. Couldn't have been no more than three and half inches in depth, about maybe a foot or so wide, and maybe a foot and a half in depth. Enclosed in some sort of wood, mind you, real wood. They used real wood back then. Only could pick up two local stations, and that was on a good night. No separate treble/bass knobs. Just the one. The sound sorta got clearer using it, but there was little in the way of lower sounds.

But it was a power house of at least 7 watts per channel, but I suspect they were meaning "radio" watts, not RMS. It did come with a two page manual, with details I wouldn't have understood at the time anyways...that appreciation came later. The volume knob always got at least a 3/4 twist. Anymore than that and the speakers would fuzz out... lack of get and go? I suspected this as the speakers (Realistic) were much superior to this receiver...for won't of a better word. As far as weight went, there wasn't any! You had to press down on the top if you turned the knobs or to turn it on to keep it in place.

It did look kinda neat being so skinny and all, but the thing probably never needed a heat sink due to the low power of the unit. It read "stereo" on the face plate, but you really had to listen to hear any separation of sound. Not too much later, I got into a separate Sony amp/tuner and was now on my way to being a descriminating user/buyer. After listening to the new set up, I decided that Mickey M had not put out all those tunes I heard on the Lloyds. But hey, that's all I could afford at the time.

Sorry for the details , but thought to share some these memories to the many of having had a starter sound machine and all that came with it.:lurk:

Q
This is actually the most interesting "my first amp" story so far. What does the receiver look like?
 
As mentioned, a Lloyds with a really skinny profile. Little in the way of silver knobs and the same could have been about the performance,..thin!

It had a clear front plate with red printing on it. Encased in some kind of wood, low powered, and light as a feather. At the low output it had, there was little need for a heat sink.

Wish I could remember the model number, but it would have been the late 60's/early 70's and Edison probably owned one as well.:D

Take care and thanks for the pos feedback,

Q
 
Pioneer Spec 1 pre-amp and a Pioneer Spec 4 power amp.

Purchased these amps from the military AAFES catalog while stationed in Korea back in 1977

zitPaKa.jpg
 
My first amp was an integrated amp purchased from Readers Digest. This was about 1976 or 1977 IIRC. The whole set consisted of the amp, tuner, BSR turntable and speakers. The amp was 15W per channel. I remember being so excited to get it delivered in the mail that I could hardly sleep. About 10 months after I got it, one channel quit and I purchased a Pioneer SA-6500 II to replace it. I still have the Pioneer Amp and the Readers Digest tuner (though not currently in use). Looking this up years later, it appears that there were some contract manufactures in Japan making this stuff. It was pretty good and looked a lot like Sony equipment at the time. This was my introduction to HiFi and I will never forget the feeling when I first listened to it. Great memories.
s-l300.jpg
 
Some little Sound Design receiver - and boy did I demand a lot of that little amp! I loved it though. It felt powerful enough to me in my bedroom at 15, playing my first album that was bought for me: Carole King's Tapestry. I felt the earth move, under my feet...
 
Mine was an Eico ST70 (I think that was the model number) integrated amplifier. Big and heavy, sounded great, and got pretty warm during its workouts. I wish I knew what happened to it but that as nearly 50 years ago.
 
First amplifier was really a low-powered receiver, a Sansui R-30 (25/channel).

4 or 5 years later, I graduated to separates and got myself a Hafler DH120. When I purchased it, I was told I could buy it complete, or as a kit. The kit was $100 or so cheaper, but the salesman told me the complete unit came with a 3 year warranty, the kit only 90 days (I learned later that it was actually one year).
 
I built an Eico HF12 kit during the summer of 1959. Ran it till the late 60's when some dirtbag stole it from my New York City apartment.
 
Mullard Unilex module kit, simply wired together; no case. And some dual-cone 8" speakers, likewise, no case, just resting in their cardboard boxes. It was 'borrowed' from my Dad, who had bought it but never got around to doing anything with it. I don't remember the boxes, so he may have bought it secondhand; we didn't have a lot of money in those days.

He did build some speakers from a Kefkit (B200, T27 & crossover). He still has those.

I used it whilst at university. I may still have the bits in my attic somewhere...

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1971-mullard-unilex-stereo-kit-unused-246452431

Then replaced in my final year by a Bi-Pak 20W kit amp (again, 'borrowed' from my Dad...). I built it onto a salvaged chassis at least, with a toroidal xformer for the PSU. Went out of service for many years after I bought my first 'real system', but then used it in the bedroom for a few years having finally bought my own house, then replaced with a little Sony mini system, now with a Denon streaming receiver (both 2nd hand and cheap).

First 'real system' bought a couple of years after graduating was an Arcam Delta90.2 and Arcam 2 speakers, which I still have.
 
Nikko Alpha II , late 1978 from Tech HiFi when I lived in Michigan. Still own it and use it regularly.
 
My first Amplifier was the Sony TA-F500ES Integrated Amp. 85 watts per channel and an excellent piece of equipment. 30 years later she still runs with some minor problems, hey which one of us cannot say the same thing. Prior to this amp I had been using a Harman Kardon 330B receiver which my nephew now has and that has been in use since 1974. Here is the glamour shot:

sony_ta-f500es_amplifier.jpg
 
It seems Eicos were mentioned quite many times here; great amp for the money, I suppose?

I would agree. They were old school price / performance design values. There were others of course, but Eico pushed hard at keeping the cost down and it gave them good market share. It is a shame that they did not survive. I miss them.

Shelly_D
 
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