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Your very first amp? What was the first amplifier you had?

Quadman2 said:
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
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drummergrl said:
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...
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My first stereo was also a Lloyd's, an eight-track receiver combo. Had some kind of wimpy amp in it, driving wimpy speakers, and was a pretty cheap and horrific piece of gear which I bought with yard-cuttin' money (rates two to three bucks for whole yard) and which I loved dearly. I think I paid just under forty bucks for it, a princely sum at the time. I was about twelve. A few summers later I bought a new KLH receiver, ADC speakers and a Thorens TD-165 TT - my step up into the bigtime.

My first integrated amp was a Pioneer SA-5500, which I used in my office at work, in about '78. Mom has it now. By this time, I had replaced the KLH with a Kenwood KR-6030 receiver in my home system, and it was a major upgrade. The HPM-60s I bought at the same time proved in the end not to be an upgrade over the ADC to my ear. The Pioneer gave way to Heresies, which I thought a huge upgrade, and still do, though I no longer have either. Mom has the HPMs. Sis has the ADC, which need TLC.

My first power amp... pretty sure that was an NAD 2155, which I used for awhile from the pre-outs of a 7140. Not much difference, but the 2155 had been a used model I bought cheap and subsequently sold.

It's all pretty much a blur after that because I was selling audio for a living, both new and used, and tons of stuff rotated through.
 
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musichal said:
My first stereo was also a Lloyd's, an eight-track receiver combo. Had some kind of wimpy amp in it, driving wimpy speakers, and was a pretty cheap and horrific piece of gear which I bought with yard-cuttin' money (rates two to three bucks for whole yard) and which I loved dearly. I think I paid just under forty bucks for it, a princely sum at the time. I was about twelve. A few summers later I bought a new KLH receiver, ADC speakers and a Thorens TD-165 TT - my step up into the bigtime.

My first integrated amp was a Pioneer SA-5500, which I used in my office at work, in about '78. Mom has it now. By this time, I had replaced the KLH with a Kenwood KR-6030 receiver in my home system, and it was a major upgrade. The HPM-60s I bought at the same time proved in the end not to be an upgrade over the ADC to my ear. The Pioneer gave way to Heresies, which I thought a huge upgrade, and still do, though I no longer have either. Mom has the HPMs.

My first power amp... pretty sure that was an NAD 2155, which I used for awhile from the pre-outs of a 7140. Not much difference, but the 2155 had been a used model I bought cheap and subsequently sold.

It's all pretty much a blur after that because I was selling audio for a living, both new and used, and tons of stuff rotated through.
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Ya, M...in those days "wimpy" pretty described what we could afford at the time. One was lucky to get past the half way point on the volume knob before the fuzz would hit. I scrapped the pathetic speakers that came with the receiver, and added some black metal encased realistic speakers from Radio Shack that were the thickest link in the system. :biggrin: They had a good weight to them, and were bookcase state of the art speakers for that time period.

I stepped up to a Brit Quad...303? amp at the time, that caught hell in university life, after I knew it could drive those aforementioned realistics pretty good for their size. Only later did I go with the Wharfedales in my DIY enclosure.

Even later, I picked up the Quad 405 after the 303 gave up the ghost...but it did serve me well!

Take care and have great listening,:music:


Q
 
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noogies said:
Do you recall which model ADC? Just curious as I am a fan.
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They may have been 303a or ax, but I'd thought the model # was 202, however, I don't see any info on such a model. I offered to trade a new pair of Klipsch R-15 for them, but never heard back. She and hubby are happy with their Bose Wave. Yet the ADCs remain in their den, unused. They have so little interest in speakers that the trouble just doesn't seem worth it to them, and I would have to pay shipping, so I'm not that highly motivated myself. They do look like the 303a and 303ax I see on ebay, but didn't find info about size.
 
My first power amp was a Fisher SA-1000 I purchased used around 1970 for $90. Long gone because of its thirst for proprietary (and expensive) tubes, replacing it with a new Crown D150 I still have, but I kept the Mac C20 I purchased at the same time.

Just saw this ad today for a Fisher SA-1000 for $4999. I'm not sure it was that good!

 
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My parents had something in a console that sorta sounded like music. The TT part would stay on track as long as the penny stayed taped to the headshell. lol. No ... but really!
So, I saved my pennies, and then got a small bank loan to boot, and bought a used MC-2105 & MX-113 from the local Mac dealer. I blew a tweeter in an Advent speaker while I was testing it in the showroom. On 105 Watts? Hmm ... it wasn't even clipping.
But anyway, it sounded fantastic. Tube pre, and SS amp work well together.

Dave
 
In my teen years, a 1966 Lafayette KT-630 6BM8 push-pull kit. Next came a Dynaco Stereo 35 & PAS-3x. These powered (2) AR4Xs. Started with Garrard Model 50 turntable and a Shure M721nd cartridge. Graduated to an AR XA turntable. What a difference! No more acoustic feedback. All of this from part-time jobs over several years.
 
1990 in high school a friend came across 2 dynaco st-70 amps. He sold me one of them for $35. Found an old junkie radio shack SS preamp that had a phono stage and that was my intro to high end stereo. I eventually moved up to a Rotel preamp two years later in college.

I really miss that dynaco. Lovely sound with a new input section using FETs instead of the 7199.
 
My first ever receiver was a Noresco NR-265. I think it was a rebadged Rotel in Canada. It was so great, cool and heavy. It wasn't working too well, so I traded it for a Realistic STA-77A that I am still using as a main unit. I got screwed. I could have just asked someone to repair it. It was so cool.
 
sansui.jpg My first receiver was a Sansui 661. I was fourteen years old and had saved money for quite a long time to buy it. At some point, I gave it away but always remembered the cool design. Three months ago I found one on ebay and bought it. Works fine :)
 
back in the late 80's, '88 maybe I bought my own setup for my bedroom it was a Midi system from Technics

The amp was a great little thing, only sold it about 7 years ago.

SU-X101

I still have the speakers and CD player from that little setup.
 
superscope_qa-420_four_channel_amplifier.jpg
 
First amp: Kenwood KA-3500 integrated amp.
First separate power amp: Spectro Acoustics (200 wpc).

Rick “a few more since then” Denney
 
my first was a sony receiver of 40wpc, the str 6055 (i think). the first REAL amp was a Spectro Acoustics P 202. 100wpc that was dynamically accurate. a really good one.
 
Adcom 545mkII. Replaced by a pair of h/k 2200s strapped mono. Stereo 70, Mark IIIs, another pair I can't remember, Audio Analogue Donizetti monos, Audio Prism Debut II, Bryston 4B ST. Oops, Arcam Alpha 9 in there as well.
 
hifitommy said:
my first was a sony receiver of 40wpc, the str 6055 (i think). the first REAL amp was a Spectro Acoustics P 202. 100wpc that was dynamically accurate. a really good one.
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The only problem I ever had with that Spectro Acoustics amp was its unreliability. I replaced (and enlarged) the power supply caps a couple of times. The last failure hit when I was focused on other things in my life, and I got rid of it. I wish I still had it.

I replaced it with a Carver PM-300, 110 wpc. It was a unique buying opportunity at the time. But it lacked the dynamics of the SA, which I attributed to lower power output. I replaced the Carver with a cheapie Samson PA amp. That restored the dynamics but was not as good in most other dimensions. But I lived with it until a couple of years ago, when I switched to B&K.

Rick “Adcom 535 on that second system” Denney
 
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