Your First Pair of Speakers?

RamZet

Well post the model of your first pair of speakers with an image.

Mine were a pair of 1999 JBL D38 (decade series). I was 10 and my father surprised me with them for a birthday gift with a Technics SA-EX110 receiver and a Technics SH-8017 Stereo Graphic Equalizer. Not bad for a nine-ten year old.

My audio source was a PS1 for a CD player followed by a PS2 then a Xbox then my PC.

http://www.jbl.com/resources/Brands/jbl/Products/ProductRelatedDocuments/en-US/technicalsheet/D38%20ts.pdf

Nightfall

Acoustic Research, I was about 16. Saved a lot of Subway paychecks and bought them brand new. I had either a Pioneer SX-650 or 850, can't recall exactly. Source was something similar to Yamaha CDX-1060 and was my dads.

BlueFox

My first good speakers were Pioneer CS-A700 that I bought around 1974 or 1975. I forgot what they cost, but from my perspective they were expensive. I was living at home rent free after getting out of the Navy, working at Dart Drug in Rockville MD, and making $1.80/hour. They seemed to work pretty good, and out performed the next size up, which used a 15" woofer. A friend was impressed with them and bought the next step up thinking bigger is better, and was irritated mine sounded better.

Mikey081057

For me it was Ohm L's mid 70's



With this Onkyo Receiver:



And a Phillips GA212 TT



That was some hot snot man

nooshinjohn

Polk Audio SDA2b's for me, though I did buy my mom a pair of baby advents I wish I could have back.

VR3

Polk Audio RT35i - Actually had that pair of speakers off and on for over 10-11 years until I raffled them for the githens center at Polkfest last year!

blehmbo

I believe Acoustic Research AR-102 were my first set of speakers. My parents gave me and my brother our own speakers, JVC receivers, and cd-players for Christmas. I can't remember when or how old I was, but it had to be at least 18 years ago. I blame my parents for my addiction in this hobby. :cheesygrin:

http://img.canuckaudiomart.com/uploads/large/247768-acoustic_research_ar102_bookshelf_speakers.jpg

WLDock

In college I had an old Fisher phono/tape deck system and a single speaker. Then around 1987 I got my first full rack system[tuner, phono, tape, CD] a JC Penny's MCS system The CD player was my FIRST and looked a little like this:


The system was on clearance and had no speakers. So I went to my local Fretter Appliance and bought some afforable Marantz speakers. I don't remember the model as they were just entry speakers...they look something like these with a 12" woofer":
Marantz SP-1200


My first CD came from a used CD store on Grand River Ave right of the campus of Mich State Univ.
Chick Corea Elektric Band - Light Years - 1987


Those were good times, It was the first year I had my own apartment so whenever i got a little money i would go buy another used disc.

A couple of years later, a little set of speakers that a friend had really opened up my ear. He played some classic jazz...We were listening to records by Coltrain, Miles, Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, Monk, Brubeck, and we both loved Claude Bolling - Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio. His system was so much more clinical and detailed than my system and sounded wonderful! I got a set...but they ended up in the back on my Pontiac T1000 powered by my Kenwood deck.

JBL Control 1's

mhardy6647

My first 'pair' of speakers was a mismatched pair of Electrovoice Wolverine full-range drivers in equally mismatched cabinets one LS-12 and one LS-15... used with a mono integrated amplifier (EICO HF-82 PP EL34 for 50 watts) and a used Philips 308 tt with a Sonus Silver label cartridge - not bad sound for a college freshman :-)

My second speakers were a pair of Polk Audio Monitor Series Model 7A. Still have those :-)
(actually, I still have the EV drivers, too... not the cabinets,though)


Polkmonitor7Asn4900 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

s/n 4900 -- well, according to the photo title :-)

cnh

db Plus 440 bookshelves. I was in Grad School in NYC and finally saved enough money for a cassette tapedeck (AIWA) and a set of less than $200 dollar bookshelves. I had an old low power Pioneer integrated (early '70s) that a friend had given me as the amp.

Before that, as an undergrad, all my expenses went into books, gas, etc. Nothing left over for equipment, the "poor student" syndrome. I did manage to eventually purchase a nice AIWA boombox that had an excellent tape section (metal bias switch, 30-16Khz response). I used a $15 dollar set of headphones with that as my primary system. Used to type my papers to 97.9 FM (NYC)--Salsa rhythms matched the movement of my fingers across the Smith Corona keys. lol

Went to one of the consumer stereo shops in Manhattan and listened to several brands including, your favorite BOSE and Cerwin Vega, etc. The Canadian dbs were just better sounding in that price range. A little later I helped a friend buy a larger pair of db Plus 880s, and another buy some, "hot at the time" Pinnacle bookshelves at J&R! Still have the 440s today in a sitting room--woofers need to be refoamed.

I know I "owe" someone here a scan of the db Plus brochure which I still have. I haven't forgotten, but my daughter has not scanned it yet.

cnh

sgtmick63

While serving with the US Army in Vietnam in 1968 I purchased a sansui receiver and some unknown speakers. Got the stereo bug from that and I never looked back.

gudnoyez

Pretty much my first stereo when I was 17. I really had some times with this one those Vegas were easy to drive. I cant remember how I waited for my parents to leave the house to crank them babies. Not pictured was a Marantz 5030 cassette deck.

found a pic of it.

gumbay13

No pics to show but my first "real" speakers were purchased about 15 years ago from a white van and i thought they were the bomb

gumbay13

WLDock wrote: »

In college I had an old Fisher phono/tape deck system and a single speaker. Then around 1987 I got my first full rack system[tuner, phono, tape, CD] a JC Penny's MCS system The CD player was my FIRST and looked a little like this:


The system was on clearance and had no speakers. So I went to my local Fretter Appliance and bought some afforable Marantz speakers. I don't remember the model as they were just entry speakers...they look something like these with a 12" woofer":
Marantz SP-1200


My first CD came from a used CD store on Grand River Ave right of the campus of Mich State Univ.
Chick Corea Elektric Band - Light Years - 1987


Those were good times, It was the first year I had my own apartment so whenever i got a little money i would go buy another used disc.

A couple of years later, a little set of speakers that a friend had really opened up my ear. He played some classic jazz...We were listening to records by Coltrain, Miles, Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, Monk, Brubeck, and we both loved Claude Bolling - Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio. His system was so much more clinical and detailed than my system and sounded wonderful! I got a set...but they ended up in the back on my Pontiac T1000 powered by my Kenwood deck.

JBL Control 1's

Chick Corea..Light Years ..jugs my memory ! Got it as a gift from a buddy back then and do not know how i lost it.
Will be looking to buy it again. Thanks for jugging my memory.

Upstatemax

Parents picked up a Sony MHC-NX1 system for me when I was like 14...

Was a great little system!

This one is not mine... Kind of wish I still had it! It was a work horse of a system. I brought mine into one of the labs that I used to run so everyone could listen to music. It was run nearly 12-13hrs a day. When I left that lab I left it behind so they would not loose their music!

deronb1

Bose 301s

treitz3

Hand me downs from my Mom after hearing my uncle Tommy's system. A pair of Scott something or others....this is what they looked like. Well, Mom's were mint because she never really used them but this pair is the only pair I could find online that looked like the 2 way speakers Mom gave me. Not a very good speaker. I used to sneak Dad's Klipsh Heresey speakers down to my rig while he was at work. Thank you know who from up above that he never found out about that little bit of trivial ****. My butt and his belt sure do appreciate it.

Tom

leftwinger57

My 1st was a drop down ZENITH turntable deal that packed up and locked like a travel case. The speakers unhinged and gave you like 15' of seperation.If you can find this thing I would astounded, astonished and blown away at the same time.I haven't the slightest idea of model name or #........
My 2nd pair where Lafayete Criterion 100s.Something like these

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Vtg-Criterion-100B-40-Watt-5-8-Wood-Cabinet-Floor-Standing-Loudspeaker-/140913665417?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item20cf1be589#ht_3446wt_817

Msabot1

First speaks were from a Canadian company named Royal....a 12in 3 way that my dad helped me pick out! Pretty sure they no longer exist as a company...solid maple cabinets too. I think they were model twelves. I remember I spent all my money from summer jobs on em....pretty good sounding for the time,if I can remember.

WLDock

gumbay13 wrote: »

Chick Corea..Light Years ..jugs my memory ! Got it as a gift from a buddy back then and do not know how i lost it. Will be looking to buy it again. Thanks for jugging my memory.

Hey, glad I could help! That group really exposed me to one of my favorite drummers of all time Dave Weckl....who was influenced by another great that I like Steve Gadd that played with Corea also.

Ocezam

First serious speakers:
JBL L150.
1982.
Nurnburg W. Germany

Those dudes rocked!

Driven by a Soundraftsmen Amp:

And a Yamaha C70 preamp:

nikolas812

Bose 201's




Nik

Polkie2009

Mikey081057 wrote: »

For me it was Ohm L's mid 70's



With this Onkyo Receiver:



And a Phillips GA212 TT



That was some hot snot man

Nice set Mike, I remember those Philips turntables, they sold millions_ of those, had numerous friends with them. Ohm speakers were hot too, back in the day Ohm had quite a following and were sold(and Philips) at the same shop where I got my Polks.

chumlie

E P I 150's. Wish I still had them.

RamZet

Rick88 wrote: »

I can't recall the model number, but my first pair of "real" speakers were from Radio Shack in the late 70's. In fact, my first several pair came from the shack. They used to have those buy one get one free sales all the time, and as a poor young music lover I really appreciated those deals. I had a few pair until I was finally able to reach the pinnacle of Radio Shack speakers, the Mach IIs...

Radioshack would rebrand RCA with their name or another name.

tonyb

Rick,

Some how I want to believe your first "pair" had nothing to do with speakers.

mhardy6647

Rick88 wrote: »

In recent years that is correct, but I don't believe it was true in the 70s-80's?

You're correct about that - Tandy/Radio Shack used a variety of Asian OEMs including (probably) Standard Radio and Foster (Fostex) for their "Realistic" branded hifi products. Many of their cassette decks (and possibly their better 8 tracks to, if you can even conceive of "better 8 tracks"!) were made by Hitachi. Their last reel to reel deck was a rebadged TEAC.

Late in the game, many Optimus branded components were rebadged Pioneers, and even later R/S started using the "RCA" brand name on components that would previously have been branded Optimus.

www.radioshackcatalogs.com is a great resource for the halcyon days of R/S (such as they were).

Speaking of "Realistic"... the original brand name R/S used for hifi components was "Realist", but in the 1950s there was a camera brand of the same name. They were able to get R/S to change their brand name to "Realistic".

George Grand

Around 1969 I had a pair of HH Scott single-driver, wide range jobs. They looked like what Treitz posted but smaller. Maybe a 6" wide range driver in a not bad little sealed cabinet. I wouldn't be surprised if they came from a HH Scott compact system with the turntable on top of the receiver or something like that. Lafayette Radio Electronics 7 or 10wpc integrated amp, AR-XA/Shure V-15. My first rig. Around 1974 I got a pair of brand new KLH Model 6. Big time.

Inthefade

Bose 301's. The sound was great in my bedroom living at home with the parents. They don't cut it in my living room.

Studio 2b's opened my ears to quality speakers.

RamZet

mhardy6647 wrote: »

You're correct about that - Tandy/Radio Shack used a variety of Asian OEMs including (probably) Standard Radio and Foster (Fostex) for their "Realistic" branded hifi products. Many of their cassette decks (and possibly their better 8 tracks to, if you can even conceive of "better 8 tracks"!) were made by Hitachi. Their last reel to reel deck was a rebadged TEAC.

Late in the game, many Optimus branded components were rebadged Pioneers, and even later R/S started using the "RCA" brand name on components that would previously have been branded Optimus.

www.radioshackcatalogs.com is a great resource for the halcyon days of R/S (such as they were).

Speaking of "Realistic"... the original brand name R/S used for hifi components was "Realist", but in the 1950s there was a camera brand of the same name. They were able to get R/S to change their brand name to "Realistic".

Crazy info there on RadioShack. I managed a Radioshack 8 years ago and I didnt even know all that. I have some great RadioShack speakers my self. I hate that they are in storage but I dont have any purpose for them currently.
They are Accurian AMP-5052. Sound great for HT with a strong sub. Drivers have a cool copper look if you remove the grills.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SET-2-ACCURIAN-model-AMP-5052-120-watts-8-Ohms-LOUD-BOOKSHELF-SPEAKER-/331004387171

RamZet

Took the Radioshack speakers out of storage. Going to play around with them for a bit. Here they are.