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Your first system

Sedge

Sedge

Member
Thinking back on my first system (not the family console)...paid $100 for it used in 1970. Integrated amp (probably ~15W), Garrard record changer (but I only used the single play mode), David Clark headphones, and two small bookshelf speakers. Don't recall amp or speaker brand. The amp had wood grain vinyl case with a black front, and a little red rocker-type on-off switch (don't know why I remember that little detail). Cheap-o little system, but it was mine and and trouble free for about 5 years. Many happy hours of listening. Wish I had a photo ;-(
Would like to hear of others', especially dating from late '60s-early '70s era.
Hear's to ya! (pun intended)
 
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First system - Lloyd's all-in-one with tuner, turntable and eight track (1971)
First decent system (1974) - Marantz 1060, Pioneer PL-12D, Shure M75, Linear Dynamics Speakers (still have the 1060 and turntable, both fully restored, and still have the receipts)
 
I still own parts of my first system I personally owned. I bought it during college years in the mid-80's. I have asterisked the ones I still own and use.

Denon DRA-750 *
Yamaha CD player (not sure the model, dead now)
Nakamichi BX-1
Technics SL-B350 * (will get replaced in this system by a SL-1600, and go to work for spinning an occasional album at work.)
Dahlquist DQM-5's * . (still love these things, finally got them re-foamed, and they still sound great.

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I purchased my first system way back in 1972 and it consisted of a Pioneer QX 4000 quad receiver with 4 "matching" Pioneer speakers. I don't recall which turntable I bought with it but I think it was a Pioneer PL12D.
 
First halfway decent system I had was in maybe 82. It was a Yamaha CR-800, with a pair of Fisher ST-830's and a Panasonic RD-720 turntable.
Before that I had one of those all in one receiver 8 track turntable things where the speakers came with it. It may have been an Emerson if I remember correctly.
 
My 1st system was a mish mash of stuff. I had a dual amp with a built in 1016 tt ontop. Dual speakers. for a cassette player I used my yorx ghetto blaster and one of the 1st Samsung cd players all connected thru the dual. The cd player lasted a year and broke down.
 
Mine didn't happen all at once. It was the late 1960's and I was in high school.

Start was a Chrysler branded tube receiver (which I now think was a Pioneer) that was a trade in at a repair shop. No FM, no Mag Phono but it had short wave, dual AM tuning dials for AM stereo and a Magic Eye tube.

Then a Dual 1015 factory equipped with a CDS-630 ceramic cartridge. I bought the $10 base but could not afford the $12 dust cover.

I had to make my own speakers. EV Wolverine LS-12's, an off the shelf crossover and some Philips 3" cone tweeters.

LP's were a luxury so most records were 45's. Steppenwolf and CCR never sounded so good.
 
Yamaha NS-1000 --- Macassar Ebony
Yamaha M-4 power amplifier
Yamaha C-6 control amplifier
Yamaha T-1 tuner
Yamaha P-750 turntable with a Shure V15 type IV cartridge.
Nakamichi 480 cassette deck
Sansui AT-15L audio timer -----> First unit to crap out

Purchased from BX in 1980-82 at Bitburg airbase in Bitburg Germany.
 
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I had a little bookshelf stereo at first, but it didn't produce much in the way of music. I used to stash my bags of weed in the back of the speakers when I was selling.
The first music system I bot was some used Mac gear from a dealer. (Audio dealer, that is). I made good money working at a swimming pool as a kid, so I saved up and got an MC2105 and an MX113 in 1974 when I was about 18. We accidentally blew a tweeter in one of the Advent speakers in the sound room while we were testing it.
I bot a Connoiseur BD1 TT with an ADC XLM mk2 cart, and a pair of Jenzen ER139 hybrid ESLs to go with it, and the system sounded very, very good; especially for the time.

Dave
 
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I was probably 14. Lloyds cassette receiver with crappy Lloyds speakers and a turntable.

Rob
 
Being a broke high school kid my first system was a Realistic system. SA-1000 amp, Tm-1000 tuner, Gerrard turntable with an ADC cartridge, Optimus 1B and 2B speakers and a Realistic cassette deck and Realistic branded Koss headphones. I still have a SA-1000 amp, TM-1000 tuner and Optimus 2B speakers in use in the garrage.
 
This guy with a pair of Nova 6s.

http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/html/1977/hr014.html

Very pleasant at reasonable volume levels. Obviously not for high SPL work at only 3.5 watts into not super efficient speakers but as my first real hi-fi it had a magic out of proportion to its actual performance.

I still remember the feeling of the late night listening sessions with the lights off basking in that calming green back lighting.
 
First system: 1974, age 17 -- Electrophonic all-in-one receiver, 8-track and record changer; purchased at K-Mart

First real system: 1977, age 20 -- Kenwood KA-3500 integrated amp (40 watts RMS), Technics ST-7600 tuner, Pioneer PL-12D turntable with Shure V15 Type III cart, Sony TC-377 reel to reel, Pioneer SE-305 headphones; purchased amp and tuner at Tech HiFi in East Lansing, Michigan. Still have the turntable and headphones.
 
Mine was a Sansui 2000, Dual 10xx turntable w/ an Empire cart and a pair of AR 4x. This was about 1967. Had a buddy who sent me the receiver from Saigon. When it came I ran down to the local stereo shop and bought the rest. I picked the AR's over Dynaco A-25's and a pair of bookshelf Wharfdales. I still have the AR's, but they need work.

Enjoy the music,
-Mark
 
fleetwood at a bout 12yrs
it had 2 volume controls, inside was 2 small amp boards.

at about 15yrs pioneer sa-6500 dynaco a-25 and a pioneer turntable
it was a gift from an uncle who was buying a new system
 
My first one was an all in one (maybe Panasonic?) with a BSR TT on top, purchased used from a guy I knew who lived on the local commune.

The first good system was Smaller Advents that I had to drive 90 miles one-way to get (I lived in a rural area). Electronics were a Marantz 1060 with Pioneer PL10 turntable I got via mail order from Warehouse Sound in San Luis Obispo, CA.
 
Late 1960s. Eico ST70, Garrard turntable with a nickel on the headshell to keep the needle in the groove, and KLH Model Sixes. The Eico also heated my little apartment on those cold winter nights
 
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