Where did you start at and where are you now??

VR3

I was thinking back to when I first started in this hobby and where I have ended up and it is pretty interesting chain...

Mains: Polk RT35i > RTi70 > RT5 > Def Tech BP6b > DT BP10B > Tyler 7u > Tyler Super Towers

Amplifier: Adcom GFA-545 > Soundcraftsmen PCR800 > B&K ST 125.2 > Odyssey Khartago > Odyssey Stratos Extremes > Odyssey Stratos/Kismet Extremes

Preamp: Pioneer Elite VSX-41 > NAD 917 > B&K PT5 > Odyssey Candela

CD Players: Yamaha CDC-585 > Denon DCM-280 > Onix XCD-88 > Shanling CDT-100a > Symphonic Line Klarheit II

Subwoofer: M&K MX125 > SVS PCi 25-31 > VMPS Larger Subs x2 > Tyler Acoustics Linbrook Stereo Subs > Epik Legend (Technically)

Cables: Home Depot > Signal Cable > MIT Shotgun S2

Just thought it was interesting to think about the changes....

dorokusai

I've pondered my travels and don't find it interesting enough to post.

SolidSqual

I started with a Yamaha HTR 5890, a pair of RTi6 speakers with Monster Cable and an Xbox Original as a source.

Today, I will soon have my custom made Hawthorne Audio Sterling Trio Open Baffle speakers to go along with my Quicksilver Mid Monos, Audio Space Reference 3.1 300B Integrated (for a different flavor when the Qucikies aren't hooked up) and Spatial HD Pure Vinyl Music Server with TC Konnekt DAC and MacMini. I have a mixture of MAC speaker cables and interconnects with Signal Power cords tying this gear all together.

There has been a ton of equipment in between, but the system above reflects everything I have learned so far.

nooshinjohn

What happened to the Emerald Physics Mike?

AudioGenics

for me
start....
my dad, older brother would hand me down
their gear. My son now gets them

currently......
rebuilding.
I would like to get some tubes 2 channel
but these HT systems are also very interesting.
and recently someone posted about a Class T design...hmmm

SolidSqual

nooshinjohn wrote: »

What happened to the Emerald Physics Mike?

They're still here running on my W4S amps and Spatial HD front end, but I'm not sure they will be here much longer. I'm embracing my tube instincts. Underwood HiFi is taking them back for about what I paid in return for some tasty tube gear. I'm fairly certain the Hawthorne Speakers are going to stomp the Emmys. I ordered upgraded caps in the crossovers and a special compression driver. The custom Trio is basically a CS2.3 on steroids and protein shakes.

steveinaz

Way too many to list (not to mention remember) abbreviated:

1974-->Fisher receiver/turntable w/speakers-->2010-->See my sig. What I can remember:

Carver: C1, DTL CD Player, Tuner (the BIG one)
Harmon Kardon: (preamp 1984'ish)
Pioneer: SX-780, A-9, HPM-40, HPM-500, HPM1100, PL-512, some linear tracking TT, CTF-500, CTF-750, etc, etc
AR: AR58's, AR98's, AR9Lsi
Soundcraftsmen: A5002, PM-840 (2ea)
Polk Audio: Monitor 12??, Monitor 5jr+, SDA-CRS+
Sumo Athena
Bose: 901 series VI
Yamaha: C65, C85, PF-800, PX-2, TX-1000, CDX-1100?..maybe 910??
Sony: CDP-101 (the FIRST one, 14bits and 700 bucks!), numerous other players/changers
Cambridge Audio
Infinity RSIIIb
Teac: Z6000R cassette, X2000R r-to-r
Denon: turntable and tuner
Nakamichi: CD player (OMS-1??) and R202? tape deck that spun the tape around.
Cables: Monster, AR, Audio Techica (yeah they made IC's), Kimber, AQ, etc, etc
Pinnacle
Athena
Energy
SVS

...any many, many more.....

mhardy6647

beginning:
EICO HF-52 mono integrated PP EL34 amp
VM soiled state AM-FM stereo tuner (a foundling)
Philips GA-308 manual tt with Sonus Silver cartridge
Electrovoice LS-12 fullrange speaker in DIY BR enclosure

middle (college through 2nd midlife crisis):
Yamaha CA-610II
Yamaha T-550 AM-FM tuner
Philips AF-877 tt with Grado F1+ cartridge
Polk Audio Monitor Series Model 7A speakers
Yamaha TC-511S cassette deck
(later, a Sony dual cassette deck and a Sony 5-disc CD changer)
... this system is still in our family room and used regularly (since 1978)...

now:
Bottlehead Paramour SE 2A3 monoblock amps
Marantz TT-15S1 (tweaked Clearaudio Emotion) turntable, arm, and Clearaudio Virtuoso MM cartridge - currently on hiatus
Sony SL-Q2 tt with Denon DL-103 LOMC
DIY SUT (Triad transformers) from Gary Kaufman
Bottlehead Seduction phono preamp (with passive volume control)
Marantz CDP (forget the model number)
Zhaolu DAC (extensively modified by Kevin Kennedy)
TASCAM 24 4-track R2R
Pioneer RT-909 R2R
Revox A77 "high speed" two-track R2R
Sherwood S-2000 mono AM-FM tuner
Altec 604E "super Duplex" speakers, Mastering Labs XOs, in DIY (Mike Berg) Baltic Birch 9ft^3 vented corner cabinets designed by Bill Fortier

no preamp! :-)

Lietuvis91

I have a **** friend who gave me his 10 year old sony receiver as a gift for christmas a few years back, then off loaded his bose bookshelves for a good price to me, so he could go buy some polk floorstanders. I thought I was going to buy his "good" sounding speakers and be done with it for good! That's all I'll ever need right?!

right...

then the my brother blows the bose bookshelves, the sony receiver dies, I end up with 2 m60s and an onkyo sr608 in my living room (Atrium 5s in the rear came free with the receiver) , the m70's go on sale... those also end up in my living room... and now just look in my sig!

What sucks is that future plans are much grander then the path already walked... I see lsi's and a 7ch amp and... oh it never ends...

(disclaimer: I am honestly completely content with what I have built now. I love my 2 setups enough to where I see no reason to change, other then to try something different)

rubin

receiver>receiver>integrated>seperates
3 cd players
6 pairs of main speakers
4 subs

mhardy6647

appropos of nothing - the Yamaha TC-511S...

madmax

I started out with a lafayette LR9090 90wpc receiver and a pair of 3way AAL floorstanders with a Pioneer semi-auto turntable, I was maybe 13.

35 or so years later I won't go into a laundry list of what I have now other than horns, turntable and a group of differently tubed amps. I am as happy with what I have today as I was with the stuff I had then.

dorokusai

mhardy6647 wrote: »

appropos of nothing - the Yamaha TC-511S...

Beautiful.

doctorcilantro

My uncle kicked this down....

BottomFeeder

Wow. . .

Quadraflex receiver w/Lafayette speakers & Technics turntable

Denon receiver w/Phillips then Sony then Denon cdp w/Klipsch Fortes.

NAD C320bee integrated w/NAD C520bee cdp & Klipsh Fortes, then Polk Audio RTA 12C's.

Adcom 5500 amp w/Adcom 710 pre, NAD C520bee cdp & Polk audio RTA 12C's

Marsh amp & pre w/Rega Apollo cdp & Aerial Acoustics model 6 speakers

Bel Canto Evo2i integrated w/Rega Apollo cdp & Totem Arro speakers

Now? One of those ipod tube amp thingys!

concealer404

Pioneer Elite EX-500 combo driving a pair of Polk VS-25s.

Then Adcom GTP-400 and GFA5200 driving the VS-25s.

Then the same driving R50s. Then the same driving Monitor 7s + a Mirage S8.

Then the GTP-400 and Oinker M5150 driving Paradigm Esprits.

Then to what's in my sig. There were iterations in between, but those were the big jumps.

danger boy

iphone is all I do anymore with Pandora.

i've decided and have shelved most of my stereo gear for now. Just not pleased with it.. and don't have the time or funds to revamp the system.

George Grand

San Francisco
Jersey

messiah

George Grand wrote: »

San Francisco
Jersey

LOL I was going to do it, but I wanted to wait and see how long it took :biggrin:

I started with a clock radio back in 77 or so :eek:

LuSh

This is fun:

Speakers - PSB Alphas (made 15mins away from me back in the day) PSB 300's (also made locally) Paradigm Monitor 7's (made locally again), Polk Audio LSi9's with Sanus Foundation stands (great stands for the money!), had LSi15's in the same listening room at one point, Totem Sttaf (frown face), Aerial Acoustic 5's (only 1-2 months, to this day the best mid-range), Dynaudio 52SE's (on nifty Skylan stands, thanks Noel!). Had Tannoy DC6 at my place as well, but very short period one week trial.

Receiver/Integrated - Yamaha RX3 something (OK sound..but very reliable...many highschool and college parties)...NAD 320BEE (full time job), Simaudio i-5080, Krell 400xi, Magnum Dynlab MD280, SimAudio i-5.

Sources - Yamaha 585 (Yah baby, PSB and Yamaha combo for the win back in the day, kicked the s#@t out of my friends Sony Ghetto blasters!!!) NAD541i, Museatex Bitstream (wow), then upgraded the transport too Museatex, Benchmark DAC1 (mistake!), Yamaha CDS1000 (underrated!), back to the good ole Museatex Bitstream plus new mods (better bass then a Levinson No. 512!! in an all Levinson system at least) Logitech Sqeezebox touch (cool, but I like my iTunes) and finally 'Back to the Future' Pioneer CLD-703 Laserdisc player. (Amazing transport, LD kicks the living S%^T out of DVD DD and DTS soundtracks)

Cables - Generic 12 gauge (impressed my friends in the teenage years), white and red interconnects, Acoustic Research all around (thick), Cardas 300 TwinB, Kimber PBJ, Kimber 8TC, Van Den Hul interconnects, Harmonic Technology Prosilway MK II, Moray James digital, Audience Maestro speaker cables, Harmonic Technology Pro-9 speaker cables, 'Upgraded Kimber 8TC with WBT connectors, currently having my Harmonic Tech Pro-9's upgraded with WBT bananas.

jinjuku

1987 (I was 15) bugged the crap out of Denny at Plazatronics (local repair shop) he turned me on to my Crown DC300a/150a/IC 150. Speakers were AR7's. My AM/FM source was Phillips with these capacitive touch buttons, Sansui tape deck.

It's amazing that the 300a and 150a can still command $300-50 and $200 respectively.

My current setup is in my sig and all my speakers are based on DIY designs.

wingzam

I haven't been here for awhile...when I finally figured out what was wrong with my SDA-1B's.

Started off with a Pioneer SA-9500II and a cheapo CD player...well,now added two sets of Klipsch's and an Adcom GFA-5800 amp.Replaced the Pioneer with a Sony ES and now have a Luxman R-117 receiver.The CD players and tape decks are good but nothing worth crowing about.

The best upgrade I can make now is move into a bigger place so I can place my speakers correctly.

But this mania all started right on this forum when I heard Monitor 7's would be a good match for the Pioneer,then I heard about the 10's,then I got the SDA's.Now i'm buying and selling equipment and having a good ol time!

lakesailor

For me….

70’s Marantz and JBL > SAE and ESS
80’s – Carver and Polk > Denon and Polk>Nakamichi and Polk > Adcom and Polk
90’s- Pioneer Elite and Tannoy. Left 2 channel and went strictly HT
2000’s- added 2 channel again and went back to Adcom and Polk > Rotel and Polk
2010- Mark Levinson and Eminent Technology in one system Roksan and Paradigm Studio in another.

Erik Tracy

Hmmm....let's see....

First Rig (c. 1976 - the formative teens)
Lafayette low powered receiver and compact speakers with a cheap Radio Shack stereo cassette player.

Second Rig (c. 1977 high school/college)
Sansui 6060 receiver, Infinity Quantum Jr speakers, vintage Girard TT (hand me down from my dad), still had the RS cassette player.

Third Rig (c. 1980 -the on-campus college years)
Kenwood KA-9100 Int Amp (I miss the meters!), Koss CM1030 Speakers, Sony PSX-55 Turntable w/ Shure Cart.

Forth Rig (c. 1984-2008 the married yrs)
Adcom GFP-555, Carver M1.0t amp, Yamah CT-600 tuner, Koss CM1030 Speakers, BSR EQ3000 graphic eq, Sony PSX-55 Turntable w/ Grado Gold cart, and NAD CD-5425 CDP, Nakamichi BX-125 cassette player, Sony 32" Color CRT, Sony DVD/CD player.

Fifth Rig (c 2008 to the present - the HT/Music yrs)
#1: Yamaha RX-V1800 AVR, Carver M1.0-t amp, Polk RTI4s (fronts and surrounds), Polk CSi3 center, Polk PSW303 sub
#2: upgraded to Oppo BDP-83 Bluray
#3: upgraded to RTIA3 fronts, Epik Valor sub
#4: upgraded to Cambridge Audo 640c V2 CDP
#5: upgraded to B&W CDM 1NT fronts
#6: upgraded to Musical Fidelity A5 Int Amp w/ HT bypass
#7: upgraded to Technics SL1200mkII w/ Denon DL-160 cart
#8: upgraded to Marantz SA-KI Pearl SACD/CD player

I blame/thank CP for all the upgrades!

The rabbit hole keeps getting deeper and deeper!

organ

Wow Sid. I haven't seen you around the 2ch forum in a long time. Good to have you back. I've gone through too much gear for me to remember. But I started with a pair of old Kenwood towers and a technics receiver when I was about 12 or 13. My current system is in my sig.

leftwinger57

Trying to remember-1. Zenith fold down turntable w/ unhookable speakers
2.Lafeyette amp w/ Critieron 100 speakers w/ Dual 1229 turn tbl
3Sharp htib w 3cd and surround spks
4Yamaha rx-v665 w/ Klipsch 500 w/ 8in sub Denon 1940ci cdp ysd-11dock
5Adcom gfa555 amp>Onkyo p301 pre>Denon 1940ci cdp>Infinity sm112s>Dual1229 turn
w/14g wire no connectors

ward91

started with a rotel rx402 and mission 707 loudspeakers with a phillips cd610. (hand me downs)
now i have ;
linn wakonda pre amp, linn av5105 power amp, arcam cd93, tdl rtl3'se speakers.

skipf

Started with one of those newfangled made in Japan transistor radios. Now I'm running a 600 WPC Carver system, and yes Doro; I know you think I traded down.

smglbrth

Gee, I started on a Panasonic "all in one" radio/turntable/8 track "big" box (with the turntable built into the top) with two Panasonic speakers which looked wicked back then. Boy was I proud of that! Back then that was really high tech I suppose. It sure seemed like it was anyway...

dorokusai

skipf wrote: »

Started with one of those newfangled made in Japan transistor radios. Now I'm running a 600 WPC Carver system, and yes Doro; I know you think I traded down.

It's ok Skip, at least you KNOW you did. Hey, as long as it sounds good....and I'm sure that it does, I'm fine by it all.

Joe08867

I also Started out with a Panasonic all in one receiver, 8-track, turntable stereo with Speakers that looked better than they sounded. They were Panasonic Thrusters but really just a single speaker with a passive. Nothing to write home about.

Speakers.


Similar Stereo without 8-track


Along with the stereo was the boombox (GoldStar TSR800)