Technics Sa-500 Rcv - Mint - Karma

dorokusai

This Christmas, or "Holiday" Karma offering is for a vintage Technics SA-500 Receiver(1978). Vintage as in NO 5.1+ type garbage, 100% RCV not AVR. This unit has been in my holding pen for a long time as my test rig. I am going to miss this piece of gear, seriously. This RCV series is simply kick-**** and often overlooked as a resale or pickup on the used market. The coolest feature to me has always been the sliding top. I would expound....but you'll have to win it to find out what I mean.

It is M I N T, as in showroom floor condition. If you find a better model example, please let me know....and I will crush you like a grape.

As is standard with ANY doro sale or giveaway...connections have been treated with CAIG Pro-Gold and shipping is included.

Includes: SA-500 Service Manual and Schematics.

If you would like some specifications, please go here. It's basically 55x2....real world wattage FYI. I've run SDA2A and RTA12 on this RCV with ZERO issues.

www.vintagetechnics.com is a great website, drop by and let them know.

***Qualifications for Karma?***

No newbies, sorry. If you're new and contribute, or have contributed on a regular basis...fair game. I'll make that decision.

The MAIN requirement to ALL is as follows.....

Let ME know, AND of course the forum....what your first rig was and/or what turned you onto audio in the first place.

Be honest, be candid, be real.

Everyone who responds, will be added, but I think it would be really cool if you would expound upon why you even care about audio. You don't have to be extremely in-depth, but simple, one sentence comments will get you thrown into the trash.

I want to know what influenced you to choose audio as a hobby or just an interest.

KARMA WILL END ON 12/25/05

I'll anounce the winner when I freaking feel like it. Merry F'n Christmas...or Happy Holidays....Kwanzaa....Chanukkaa....blah blah....whatever.

Tour2ma

You forgot "Festivis".

That is freakin' gorgeous... and I swear even if I ever see a better one, I'll never tell a soul...

Why am I into audio? That, I have not really thought about...

Probably "Sgt. Pepper's"... One of my early stereo albums. I'd split the speakers off of my Sears Silvertone Stereophonic Record Player, set them on the floor, lay my head between them and float away for 20 minutes, flip over the record and repeat as necessary. Had to escape the pressures of puberty... (actually that timing is about right).

The first real rig was my Heathkit AA-15 integrated, Lafayette Radio Electronics Criterion 80 speakers (5-ways baby...) and a Garrard SL-72B "SyncroLab" turntable with a Pickering cartridge. It played pretty loud, but not very long as the speakers' VC's tended to overheat, drop the impedance and tank the Heathkit.

If I was a tad more judicious with the volume control, it'd hang in there and sound pretty good. All in all it wasn't a bad 1st system, but left plenty of room for improvement.

billbillw

Mark,
This is a truely amazing Karma! Count me in for sure!

What turned me on to audio (and the first system I used) was really my Father's system that I listened to all through my teen years. It was a late 70's/early 80's RadioShack system. Its long gone now, so I don't know the model numbers, but it was one of their top of the line at the time with plenty of power. (Edit: I asked my brother and it was an STA-2080 receiver and LAB-420 TT w/unknown speakers)
Through my teen years, I was usually at home alone on Friday nights and I listened to countless hours of vinyl on that system. That is where I fell in love with Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, the Police, and many other groups. I blew the tweeters at least once that I can remember. The speakers were the weak link in that system and when he finally upgraded to a pair of Advent Heritage towers in the late 80's, it was a sonic breakthrough. He still has the Advents and they still sound great (after a refoam).

The first home sytem I actually paid for was just after college. There wasn't much in the way of high end audio stores in Port Huron, Michigan, so I was limited in my choices and ended up getting a Sony ES 2-channel receiver, a Sony 5-disc changer, and a pair of Infinity SM-112, which was the best I could afford at the time. I was mostly into heavy metal, and grunge at the time, so the Infinity's with their 98db sensitivity really rocked. In hindsight, the system was really harsh and boomy. Jazz and other detailed music was no fun on that system.

What has really kept me into audio is the joy of hearing new details while enjoying the familiar passages in the music that I love.

My ear has really changed over the years and although I wouldn't say I have a "golden ear", I have really become intollerant of harsh sounding or distorted systems. With my current system, I find new joy in old music every time I listen. (except for the 80's glam rock. I find less joy everytime I listen to that crap and I'm not sure why I still own the CDs)

Cheers and Happy Holidays

tryrrthg

Mark, GREAT karma! count me in. THANKS!

I've been into audio and all things electronic for as long as I can remember. When I was younger it was more about the "cool" electronics than it was about the music and movies, but now it's more about having good sound and enjoying some time to sit and listen to good tunes. I've come a long way since my early teens when I would go to Best Buy and DREAM about owning some Bose cubes, because they sounded so "good" - boy am I glad for the internet. I almost bought some Bose cubes when I got out of college, but I found some online reviews that showed me the light and showed me there were actually stereo shops that weren't called Best Buy and Circuit City. After making a stop in at Progressive Audio in Columbus there was no going back. I've been ill ever since. :eek:

My stereo progression:

Sharp BOOM box, oh yeah!
Aiwa shelf system - can't believe I spent $400 on this thing

After college:
Yamaha receiver, Polk RM6600 & Polk PSW450 - thanks to CC's upgrade policy I went to:
Polk RT1000i, CS400i, and R15's
Sold my polks to fund my Dynaudio purchase, bought the rest of my rig in my signature, and then went back to my roots for some Polk HT.

McLoki

Heck of a karma - would make a great bedroom rig with my, soon to be unemployed, LSi7's.

My first real rig ended up being a kenwood reciever paired with a yamha tape deck and set of Cerwin Vega D-7 speakers. (you would never guess I was in college at the time right? D-7's are truely ultimate party speakers but I digress)

I don't remember what I started with, but I wanted great sound and a system that could be used for parties in my frat. (I actually thought the guy with the equipment would get laid more (kind of like being in a band) turns out I was woefully mistaken )

I went through about 5 sets of speakers and 3 recievers before I settled on what I had. (at the time Kenwood was close to on par with Yamaha) The system sounded great and I loved it to death. It was sold to finance my first car. My next setup after that was SDA 1b's, a Yamaha M-85 amp and C-85 pre-amp. It was more than awesome and I still have most of the pieces. (the M-85 had an untimely death at the hands of a 5 gallon salt-water fishtank that broke above it....)

I first got interested in audio when I was in high school and walked into a stereo store. they had a pair of vandersteen 2c (may have been 2b's at the time) hooked up to a PS-Audio amp. (no idea on the pre-amp) with one chair in front of them. I sat down and I kid you not, my skin tingled at the sound those things produced. I have never owned a set of vandersteens, but if I get a 2 channel rig at some point, those will be my top choice just for that first experience with them.

Karma - IN

Michael

faster100

I like audio cause it's cool oh that's right no one liners

criverajr

Doro,

In please.

I got into audio because (Don't Kill Me) I went to a cousins house and heard a BOSE system and said I have to get something like that. I tried it with an Aiwa hookup and then found Polk. I have gone on the Rotel, Paradigm, B&K, Acurus, and a host of others but stayed constant with my Polks. When I move on I want to go to something way better or a different sound, but for right now I think Polk fits my bill. I will be getting a Sound Bar in the next few weeks for my bedroom.

CRj

hoosier21

Dad worked at CBS records, he got free records each month or each quarter so we always had the latest releases. Mom had something on the stereo all the time. I had some kind of crap all in one, you know the one where you piled quarters on the TT arm to keep the needle in the groove.

When I was 10 or 11, I asked for a stereo for Christmas, Mom got me a used Amperex receiver from my oldest sister's boyfriend, a new Teac cassett deck, a new Yamaha TT and with my money and added Christmas cash I walked in the Service Merchandise and bought a pair of Technics speakers, complete with circuit breakers on the tweeters, SWEET.

In please.

Russ

Jstas

My first rig consisted of a pair of Polk Audio EX402's on a Kenwood cassette deck with a 10 disc changer and a pair of 8 inch Kenwood subs. Worked like a champ! It was car audio though. The bug bit hard though. I went from about $800 worth of stuff to almost $5K in equipment currently installed in my vehicle.

My first home rig though, that was a pair of KLH 17's hooked up to a tube amp I built myself and used a Sony Car Discman as the source and plugged it into a Carver C-1 pre-amp. I had a BSR equalizer because my source was a tad lacking in certain aspects. It sounded incredible though, especially since the whole deal cost me about $380. I picked up a broken CD player from a friend, made it work and replaced the Sony with great results. High fidelity? Not in most people's eyes but I was and still am proud because I built them amp myself! WOOHOO!

What got me into audio though? My dad had shown me an old Heathkit integrated that he built when he was young. I thought it was the coolest thing and said to myself "I want to do that!" Meaning that I wanted to build my own amplifier and such. Granted, my dad was just an electronics junkie in general, he wasn't really into audio, but that was where the first spark came from. I got way into it when I put together that first stereo above. I had been playing with electronics and it was neat to see stuff get put together but mostly, all it did was blink, beep, buzz or calculate stuff. Audio provided a very discernable result for my work. It ended up being a natural progression because evey itty bitty bit of what I learned from my dad about electronics and circuits applied.

Now, it's really about sound and not so much the electronics. They are still a factor but now it's how well can I assemble the electronics, repair the electronics or tweak the electronics to get better results? The fun is in finding the issue, fixing it and ending up with something really whiz-bang for the efforts and the pride one feels for a job well done.

Things like that Technics unit are great examples of what one can do and find if they look a little farther than thier nose or in a place where others see junk. It's not necessarily the best out there but it will probably surprise quite a few people with the performance it can attain.

So uhhh...in please!

shack

I bought both these LP albums new with my birthday money in 1967. One because of the cover and the other because it was the Beatles. Played them on a green, fold-up box phonograph of my parents. I still have the Albums. The phono is long gone.






First real stereo was a Concord Receiver, a Benjamin-Miracord TT (Elac), and some AR 4ax speakers in the summer of 71. After that came a Marantz reciever, Akai reel to reel and Realistic 8-track recorder. Then came the Pioneer receiver, Pioneer cassette recorder and New Advents. First CD player was a run of the mill Sony. And on...and on...and on. Almost 40 years of this stuff.....I must be getting old!

I will still stay up all night from time to time listening to one CD after another as something on one reminds me of another I want to listen to...and before I realize, it is time to go to work. Sometimes music sends cold chills up my spine...and I think...now that is GREAT music. I have nice gear/rigs...but the equipment is not more important than the music. I hate the term "critical listening". I actually perfer music in my room over live for much the same reasons many prefer HT to theaters. I don't do "background" music. My daughter's friends wonder why I sit down and "just listen" to music...and of course my daughter replies "because my dad is just weird that way". I guess I am.

TroyD

My first real stereo rig.....My brother and I saved up in 1985 and bought a pair of BA A100's, Onk CD player (a FORTUNE in those days) and a Denon receiver. Funny, I kicked in half but when he left, the stereo did too. Well, I pretty much dropped out of audio for the next decade due to lack of funds and other more pressing interests like shelter and food.

Anywhoo, after TLW and I married we bought a Technics rack system which served us for a few years. Long about 1998, a friend gave me a pair of Polk RT7's. They sounded FANTASTIC and I was HOOKED. I built an HT rig around those and a Denon AVR....and the rest, as they say, is history. As a footnote, RuSsMaN now has the RT7's and BlueMDPicker has the Denon AVR.

BDT

Early B.

Kinda tough to top this karma. Count me in, please. Thanks.

I got into audio through the back door -- I started by building an HT system. My wife got a Best Buy coupon for Christmas about 7 years ago, so we went in search of something to buy. Walked out with a POS Yamaha HTIB. Started upgrading from there. Eventually bought some Polk RTi28's, then I joined this forum and all hell broke loose (****!!). I started learning about 2-channel audio, so I set up a separate system. Then I learned about tube gear, and all hell broke loose once again (**** 2x !!). In the meantime, I gained an appreciation for contemporary jazz. Never liked it before, but it sounds so good on a nice system.

Spent a lot of money, wasted a lot of it, too, but learned a helluva lot in the process. Even started building my own stuff. What's next?

thehaens@cox.net

In........

First Rig - When I was about 5 years old I got two things for christmas that I can remember, an NFL football and a suitcase style turntable. I can't remember the brand but the turntable opened up, and the speakers could be pulled apart. I played the hell out of some Cliff Richards LP's :eek:

The first Rig I was impressed with, and what really got me in the hobby, was when my father was stationed in Alaska and he brought home his first "Hi-Fi"

It consisted of a Bose Receiver, with a trick power button that I used to slide my finger across just to see the lights come on.... and some Bose 901's. I really wish he would of kept all that stuff, it has been a long time, but I remembet that thing sounding really good.

When I was able to afford my own stuff, I got to be honest and I stuck with the Bose brand for many years, going from the 501's 601's, AM5, 7 and lastly the 10.1's, I ended up selling almost all of the Bose stuff when I started getting into Polk Gear :cool:

I was really impressed with the RT series of speakers and ended up replacing the AM5, AM7 set up in my HT with RT16's, CS350, (2) PWS-150's and LS/FX Surrounds. I was extremely happy with that set up for many years, then I fell into this forum.

Then the SRS's, of which I now own 3 SDA's series speakers, and will own at least one pair probably till I drop.

What can I say, I love music, all kinds, from Classic Rock, Metal, 80's Glam, Classical, and Smooth Jazz.......(notice I didn't say country), although Shania is easy on the eyes.

Searching for the perfect sound is what keeps me in the hobby, albeat on a budget. So with that, I'll be searching for a long time...

Scott

Ron-P

That is a most impressive Doro and one hell-of-a fine karma. I'm in.

Funny as I made my very first vintage audio purchase several months ago. You may remember the thread about it. I am really diggin' this old gear, it has so much character to it. Here's the thread...http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33687&highlight=pioneer

I got my start back in the early 80's with a 2-channel Sony rack system. It had a turntable, EQ, receiver, duel tape deck and two large tower speakers, it was awesome. I actually still have that receiver in my tool shed powering a pair of Polk RT25's. Anyway, when I moved out I built a pair of small surrounds from some car speakers and wired them to receiver and ran the rig through a VCR for my first ever HT experience. I was hooked and it's only gotten worse. eventually the towers failed from age and I went to CC to find some new speakers and happened upon Polk and it's all history from there.

BlueMDPicker

Hi Mark,

First of all, what a wonderful thing to do (your Grinch mask is slipping)! Secondly, there are probably many others on the forum more deserving of consideration for this great piece -- but, I'm fascinated with how it may meld with my recently acquired Toshiba R2R -- so, here goes.

Television wasn't a common household item when I was small, unless you were fairly affluent. We got our first set when I was six. So, my formative years were spent in a home full of lots of live music (my Mom was a pianist and Dad was a fantastic baritone) supplemented with radio and some recorded music in 78 RPM format. I still have vivid memories, from age 3, of Mom spinning Frankie Lane 78s while she did ironing and I played on the floor of our dining room.

My Grandfather was an amateur radio operator and got me interested in building things electronic at the age of 7. My uncle Ray, a Tech. Sgt. in the Air Force, was always bringing electronic gadgets home from his tours of duty in Japan in the late '50s and early '60s. We, of course, immediately tore into them to see what magic was in these revolutionary transistorized circuits.

After building several kit shortwave radio receivers (from Allied and Heath), I built my first "hi-fi" in 1964, at age 15, a pair of Heathkit W-5Ms (purchased with earnings from flipping burgers all summer long.) There was this new fangled technology emerging called "stereo". My uncle Ray was so impressed with what I'd done that he bought me an AA-11 preamp kit for Christmas that year. And, my Dad (a carpenter by trade) built me a pair of cabinets with Altec single drivers as a surprise present. I don't remember being that excited at Christmas any time since -- well, until this year seeing the wonder of the season through the eyes of a 3 and 5 year old!

At 16, I began playing bass in a high school garage band. I wasn't much good at it, but I was the "equipment guy" and could always jerry-rig something together to keep us annoying. I got better with a few years experience, but my real interest was keyboards (thanks Mom!) and I finally acquired a chopped Hammond B-3 and Leslie 122 combo from a friend. By age 19, I was playing professionally in a small jazz combo. The bass player happened to work at a high-end hifi dealer and a few years later we ended-up running a pair of Magnepan Tempanis for sound reinforcement. That drew me back into hifi in spades.

At 24, I traded my precious W-5M rig to my brother and began saving money for my dream hifi (acquired less than a year later) -- Stax preamp, Nakamichi 620 power amp, Technics TT with Mayware Formula IV arm and ADC XLM cartridge, and Magneplanar MG Is. I still have all that gear, except the Nak (RIP), today.

Family and job considerations took precedence over musical aspirations at 25. I became very interested in production (my brother has a professional recording studio) and honed that skill for a couple of decades, with the occasional bit of session work on keys. During that time, I also amassed a substantial media library -- mostly vinyl.

The acquisition of my SDA 2Bs, combined with you crazy **** here, revitalized my gear building/acquisition interests. My passion for music, live and recorded, is life-long. I've had numerous hobbies. None is as satisfying.

Peace, love, and understanding to all for this season and the New Year!

MSkeezer

Please count me in. That's a fine piece of equipment.

I remember the first time I exerienced home theater was at an a/v expo that my dad took me to. It was really an accident, as he thought it was the gun show that was actually there the weekend before. My dad's an idiot... Anyway. We didn't stay too long, but I did get to see an excellent home theate demo of Terminator 2. It was on a 50+ inch monitor, and with GASP...Bose speakers. Hey. I was just a kid and I didn't know any better lol. That was '95, I think. After that, my mom got me a subscribtion to Video magazine. It wasn't until 5 years later that I actually started trying to put together a good system. I've gone through a lot of stuff, wasted a ton of money, and have been threatened with divorce countless times. Of all the speakers I've listened to, none have sounded as good as Polk. I just keep coming back to them. I'm getting rid of my Athenas for the RTi6's, RTi4's as surrounds, and the CSi5 center. I can't wait...:)

Skynut

Nice karma.
You are to kind to poor people like us.
I however have no imediate use for this nor do I even remember my first system other than it was a POS I believe.
I hope this finds a good home and thank you for putting it up.

Merry hollidays and a happy next time frame.

steveinaz

Mark, don't put me in the hat, let someone else have it...great karma.

It's always been about music for me, reproduced faithfully. The equipment was just a means to an end. What got me hooked occurred around 1974 when a new friend invited me over and I saw my first "real" component stereo system. I had one of those 8-track players with volume and tone controls; his system was a Harmon/Kardon receiver, 35 watts; Pioneer flat-lay studio type cassette deck (don't remember the model); and a pair of "Quadrophonic" (that's the brand name) 2-way speakers. They had an 8" woofer and 1" paper-coned tweeter.

The song? REO Speedwagon "Riding the Storm Out" live. I had never heard this song on a good system and I was in awe. I couldn't believe all the details I had missed, listening to it through cheaper stuff, and how loud he could play it. I was hooked. I hadn't even seen a seperate cassette deck before, it all looked very professional back then.

What a cool time...my friends name, John Strattman. In 1976 John moved to Washington, DC; haven't heard from him since. John planted the "bug" in me, and I'm forever greatful for that.

George Grand

I had a Lafayette Radio Electronics integrated amp, AR-XA turntable w/ Shure cart, and a pair of H.H. Scott speakers, and I got all that **** cause I kept on seeing Hef in Playboy surrounded by cool hi-fi stuff and BABES. I'm still trying to connect those dots.

I don't want the Technics amp.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grands)

dkg999

Mark - extremely generous karma! I don't want to be put in the hat either, as I have a surplus of audio stuff. I just wanted to say thank you for being a great supporter of this forum and always giving myself and others good informed advice!

If I think back to my true first audio experience, it was when a friend of the family who was a professional and hobbiest electronics technician gave me a couple of Radio Shack (I think they were Tandy back then) crystal radio kits. The old ones with the red plastic printed circuit board and plastic cover with the parts inside. He helped me build one, and then I built the other. What do you do with two of them ............ put one earpiece in each ear and listen to stereo AM radio!!!! From there I moved on to some Lafayette kits and then eventually bought the "real-deal" in the early 70's, a Marantz receiver and a Garrard turntable! There wasn't a lot to do in rural IA when I was a kid, so my parents were pretty tolerant of my audio interest. It's been a good ride since then!

madmax

Very nice Karma! That would rock with my new 78RPM system.

OK, you said "first rig" so I'm not sure if we are talking first stereo or first audio device. Anyway, my very first exposure was one of those kid type record players. You know, the red and white plastic ones. I was maybe five years old. I played with it continuously trying to figure out how it made sounds. By the time I was six I had already torn it apart to find out if there really were little people inside as my cousins told me. If there were they escaped somehow. So, at six years old and no record player I started looking for people who smoked cigars. After all, to build another record player I needed a box. I started out by finding a flat plate, a pencil and a ruler. I figured I could tape the cartridge left over from the old player I had to the ruler and just had to figure out how to get a motor to spin the plate. OK, so I was six. The project went nowhere but I remember months of thinking about it. Future record players ended up living short lives because I always had to cut the speaker wires and play around. At about nine I figured how to splice the output to the speaker into another old tube radio that was laying around. Man was it loud when you used an amp to power another amp. At ten I got my first real stereo. A lafayette RK-850 8 track/amplifier with 10wpc and a pair of criterion 2x acoustic suspension speakers. The next year I got a garrard turntable to go with it. This is when I started drooling through the lafayette catalog pretty much every day. From there it just kept escalating and... here I am...
madmax

polkatese

Great karma, Mark - I'll let someone else owning the masterpiece..

My first rig was in 1977, my dad knew I was always big on electronics, so one day, he took me and my younger brother, and mom to a stereo store. I was 14 at the time. It was back in the Sansui heyday, so, we ended up with Sansui AU-5900, Tamon 3 ways speaker (it looked awesome back then), Sony TC-XXKD top loading cassette deck, and one of those Sansui reverberation amplifier, with a small display windows, showing a rainbow colors hologram (which changes as the amount of reverb was increased). I thought it was the coolest thing back then. Of course, interconnects were whatever came in the box, and speaker cables were zipcords.

Yep, it was a great time..

*get all misty*

Mazeroth

Count me in, Doro! And MANY MANY thanks for being so generous. It really says a lot about you.

Well…after being fired from Burger King (yes, you read that correctly) I decided it was time I got a better job. Being the computer nerd I was I decided I’d try to get a job at the new Circuit City they just opened, which I did. One thing I learned quickly working there was they had a very generous employee discount, which was cost on everything in the store! I quickly learned how much home audio was marked up and decided to spend one of my first paychecks on a surround sound system. In one day I took home an Onkyo TXDS777B receiver ($1000 THX cert one), a pair of RT1000s, a pair of LS/fx (I think that was the model), a single CS400 and a Velodyne CHT120 subwoofer. I think the total came out to around $2000 with tax for everything, which included some *gulp* Monster Cable. After setting that puppy up at home with the help of my Dad, I, well I should say WE, were HOOKED!

I kept that system for about 4 years and sold it to my now brother in-law for $1000, which was more than generous of me. My next setup included a pair of Polk LSi15s, a Polk LSiC, and a pair of RT600s I picked up for $100 open box at Circuit City. The plan was to get some LSi surrounds when I got more money but I ended up selling the LSis before that happened. Why, you may ask? Well, I really wasn’t happy with the cherry finish on the LSis so I sold them to a buddy that also worked at CC after seeing the new LSis in cherry. Problem is, I bought the LSis with our Circuit City accommodation pricing and once the new ones came out, Polk pulled all LSi accommodations! I tried calling Polk and convincing them to let me purchase the new LSis with the discount but they wouldn’t budge.

Anywho…in the last year and a half I’ve really been into building my own speakers. My current main speakers are a pair of line arrays I designed/built that stand 6’2” tall. I’m working on a pair of dipole speakers right now and hope to have them completed in the next month or so. I will post pictures of those when they’re done. I still have my Polk RT600s as my mains in my theater, and my brother in-law actually gave me the LS/fx speakers back after dropping one! I still need to pick up a Polk center channel as I’m using a cheapy Yamaha for the time being.

Oh, and my last car was a 93 Grand Am that was decked out in Polk EX series fronts, rears, and subs. I had an old MTX amp running the subs and my Pioneer DEH2300 ran the speakers.

ledhed

I guess my first fig would be the one I hopefully will have back soon. Polk RT5s and a Pioneer SX-1280 coupled to an OLD Hitatchi CD player that was my dad's, as was the Pioneer.

Here is how I got into audio:
I had the previously mention rig hooked up. The RCV mysteriously stopped working so I was forced to hok up our old Kenwood that was replaced by the Yamaha we bought for our home theater. I noticed diminished sound quality instantly and Ta-Da! I suddenly cared about audio.

VR3

I dont really need the Technics... but I feel like adding a post to my count...

My fasination with audio dates back to day 1, my Dad has always been heavy into audio - always has had big speakers and amps and such around. Ive always had that influence around me...

I never was really into music, probally because the only exposure I had was to BSB and such (Sister) and I just didnt like that kind of music. Well when I started liking my own kind of music - I wanted a radio of sorts so I picked up a 50 dollar boombox from Walmart. Wasnt long until I blew all the speakers in it and me and my friend took it outside and kicked it around (Literally)...

So After that, I though Id kick it up a notch, so I purchased a JVC MX G-50, this was the shiznit. It lasted 2 months I think? So then I worked and worked and finally picked up a Sony receiver and a pair of Polk RT35i. The Sony lasted about 2 weeks (really)... so after I sold that...I moved on to more Polks, some M&K, some Yamaha... eventually moved on to Bigger Polks, Adcoms, Pioneer Elite...

Fast Forward through alot of swapping and I am at where I am today...

The fasination with hearing good quality sound to the music I enjoy has brought me to this place... what can I say?

masanz1

My first rig was a sousaphone in 5th grade. I then started playing tuba in 8th grade and have played ever since. This is what sparked my interest in music and audio. I have played in many orchestras. I cannot remember my first rig but I do remember my first album. Peter Frampton Comes Alive. I was first interested in car systems and had a nice Orion extreme with a couple of Pyle Driver Pro 15's in the trunk, after that got ripped off I went to a better sounding system in the car with a Clarion amp and Kef speakers. However again ripped off I decided to get more into home systems. After a couple of stereo setups I go into Home Theatre. My first setup was a Pioneer Suround sound system with 2 Mission bookshelfs and 2 Design Acoustic so I guess I will say that is my "first setup" BTW very nice Karma, somebody will be lucky.

amulford

Story to follow...

amulford

Very nice.

Well I guess it started for me back in the early seventies. We were a big family, I am the second youngest of 9. I had siblings in high school at the time, yet I was only around 5 or 6 years old. All of the boys shared a big room, and my brothers were into music. I remember many of night jamming to the likes of Uriah Heep, CSN&Y, Earth Wind and Fire, Steely Dan, Jimmy, Etc. Etc. Etc. We had a component rig back then the older boys had worked and saved for. If I remember right it was a Pioneer receiver, with a Garrard(?) TT, and a Pioneer 8-track, with some Utah Heritage speakers. It was jamming, and we got yelled at all the time to turn it down. I got to keep some it through the years. It's all gone now, but I still have some of the old vinyl in Mom's attic...

Fast forward a few years. I'm living the good life (Yeah Right). I have this very lucrative cash type side business going and I decide to get myself a new stereo. So I pick up a Yamaha pre, a Nakamichi amp (100 WPC, I think), a Pioneer tuner, a Technics DD TT w/ a Stanton cart., an Aiwa cassette , a Nikko Equalizer, all driving these frigging HUGE pioneer 3 ways. Man, that thing was JAMMIN'!!! Shake the house kind of ****. My sister over drove the NAK at one of her parties while I was, ahem, away (one of the consequences of the "side" business). Fried the amp and DESTROYED the speakers. I still have most of it, in the rack. Sentimental I guess...

About 3 years ago, I started to get back into it with a dearly departed friend. He was into HT and turned me onto his rig. I got my first Polks and found this place. Well, the rest is still unfolding...

BTW, In Please.

disneyjoe7

Mark Count me in Nice Karma

Ok what got me into Audio in the first place.....

Tower speakers from Radio Shack early 80's version rock them with a Akia Stereo models unknown those speakers ROCKED own them for 6 months before my neighbors stole them.

What got me into Polks where RT800i towers, using a Pioneer SX-939 reciever that ROCKED the house....

Other then that meeting all you nice people at PolkFest's, Thank you.

dorokusai

Excellent participation, excellent stories....keep 'em coming folks.

I find a common thread here....barely any females involved in the quest for audio. I thought a cool stereo system was supposed to get you laid....oh nm, that's a CAR. No wonder I was shunned by everyone.....DAMNIT!

Ricardo

Wow Mark, this is an outstanding and very generous offering from you...

Don't count me in...would not have a place to put it or gear to connect it to...so would need to start buying.....no...

I've always loved music; My first rig would be a mono portable radio that I slept with (literally..); I was probably 10 or 11, and I got it for my birthday; I put it every night under my pillow, so I would sleep to the music. Then I added speakers (from another portable radio) and had a bunch of wires around my bed and a speaker on my desk; didn't last much...
Since then I've had nothing fancy; the most spent money would always go to the car stereo in my 20's, and at home I always had something, a Sony or Aiwa all-in-one.

My first real 2 channel is what I am building now.