Where did you start?

[jetblack]

The year was 1979. I started with (excluding the cheap unit in the 60's):

Technics 8077
Dual 606
RtR 300D's

I'm still using the Dual & RtR's in my main system.

[80B]

My first system took 10 years to put together.

Bought the Infinity RS4 speakers in 1983 while an audio salesman during college, which my dad used in his system with B&O electronics. At college at some point I got a pair of Bose roommate speakers, which were good for a dorm room & a portable CD player (yes, Bose - one speaker had the amp). For 11 years I was moving quite a bit, back at grad school and/or overseas with not much in the way of money or living space. When we bought our first house in '94 I retrieved the Infinities (Dad took it like a man ), bought a Yammie receiver & CD changer, and retired the Bose (which sounded lost in the high-ceilinged family room). A cramped space meant no bona-fide stereo system (receiver, etc.) for me. The flat I had in Hong Kong was so noisy that anything good would have been a waste anyhow. A high-end system was an eventuality, it just took some time.

[two dot]

Started with a NEW pair of Klipsch Heresies, an NAD reciever,
JVC- QL-50 DD TT (with ADC Black Widow Arm)...

Pretty sweet sounding set up for the time.

Still have the Heresies and the TT.

[Jerome W]

First decent system was bought in 1995:
a small Nad receiver ( 710 I think ), a Marantz CD63 cd player and JMlab Symbol II bookshelf speakers. After that I had Audiolab, Linn, Rega and so on....
First Mc was bought in 2005: MC275. It took me 10 years !!!!!!

[Gregory]

I started with a cheap receiver.. Concord was the brand, but that doesn't count. First system was a McIntosh C26 preamp, a Mitsubishi dual-monaural DA-A10, 100w/100w amplifier and a CT-800 tuner.

My primary speakers for many many years were the venerable Scott S-71 Controlled Impedance Loudspeakers. It was the sound I "grew up" with. They could handle the McIntosh amps without a problem, except the midranges finally gave up. Here are some views:

Scott S-71 on shipping carton:




For a long time, they were mounted on swiveling chair pedestals:


That door is upstairs in pop's house leading to the attic.


They are still here, downstairs in their original cartons but need some work, as the midrange drivers are literally falling out of the baffle plate due to the screw holes breaking-through to the inner edge. I intend to rebuild them someday with in-line geometry (for obvious reasons) and the same internal volume. Here is the proposed NEW vertical arrangement.



Those woofer cones and surrounds have held up well for 35 years!!


-Gregory

[Sproink]

The first, the VERY first was a crystal radio that I built myself from parts, copper wire, and a pine board. First stereo was a Realistic STR-something-or-other (actually a nice rig with a mahogany cabinet), a top-loaded Craig cassette deck and a Garrard TT...many, MANY years ago.

[Rilands]

Sansui 771 Receiver - Bought at the BX on Soesterberg A.F.B. in The Netherlands. I was an Air Force Brat going to high school in 1975-77.

[Mighty Favog]

Wish I had a picture of it but I started out with a couple hand-me-downs mom, dad and grandma.

About 1981 my first one was a Magnavox console that was a TT only. Not tubed but it did include the orginal sales receipt from 1962 (and they're still in business!!).

After that is was a Hitachi all-in-one hand-me-down from mom & dad with tuner, TT and cassette. A couple months later I bought a pair of Pioneer Centrex speakers from a friend. For my high school graduation I gathered all the $$ given to me and bought a close-out Teac V-33 cassette deck once the Hitachi's drive belt was unobtainable.

The Hitachi would send this very high pitched squeal through the speekers and the only way to get rid of it was to either turn the unit off and then on again OR pick it up and SLAM IT on the table it was sitting on (that worked more than the power thing did).

But looooooong before that I was given a $5 tip from being an altar boy at my church from a wedding service. I went to the local mom and pop record store called "Saturn Music Shop" and bought a cheap no name hand held 9v. battery A.M. radio.

[OneMalt]

I found a slightly better picture than I used in my OP. Man, I still miss that Pioneer cassette deck! I rue the day I got rid of it.

[bob2591]

Fresh out of college in 1976 I started with a Pioneer SX-1050, a 120 watt receiver which I still have. Then a pair of Bose 501's and a BIC turntable with a Shure V-15 type III cartridge followed. The Allman Bros. at Fillmore East got a lot of play...........those were the days.