Walk down memory lane - early audio system stories?

Erik Tracy

Share some of your early system setups.

I fondly remember one early setup I used to have:
Yamaha CT-600 Tuner:
http://erikt.cts.com/Pictures/hometheater/CT-600.jpg

Kenwood KA-9100 Integrated amp (look at the analog meters!!):
http://erikt.cts.com/Pictures/hometheater/kenwood_ka-9100.jpg

Infinity Quantum Jr Speakers:
http://erikt.cts.com/Pictures/hometheater/quantum-jr.jpg

Old wood base Girard Turntable with Sure V-15 I cartridge
(sorry - couldn't find a picture!)

Not too bad for a poor beginner...

What were some of your modest beginning rigs?

Erik

zombie boy 2000

A Fisher monoblock stereo when I was twelve. My parents eventually got fed up with me sneaking into their room and messing around with their "rig". I still remember it as the best Christmas present I've ever received.

Face

Kenwood KRX-792

Yamaha CDC-655

Yamaha NS-A835

I still have everything. But they aren't hooked up for obvious reasons.

Erik Tracy

zombie boy 2000 wrote: »

I still remember it as the best Christmas present I've ever received.

And you didn't shoot your eye out!

gwh

An all in one 8-track, turntable, tuner in a large cabinet.

Had to mow this old lady's yard all summer to call it mine.

Looking back I think I got screwed, but at the time I was stoked!



G

skipf

AR XA w/ Shure M91ED
Marantz 1060 integrated
AR 2ax speakers.

Wish I still had it, it was a great lil system.

Ron Temple

In the mid 70s, I was able to get hooked into a deal for these Sonabs, along with some Nak and Kenwood gear. The speakers went with the with in a divorce in 93, (she dumped them ). Pretty interesting speaker that was a bit thin in the midrange, but the directional tweeters certainly opened the soundstage and they imaged extremely well (IIRC - I was stoned most of the time)...pretty damned bassy too.

http://www.carlssonplanet.com/forum_old/album_cat.php?cat_id=20

Erik Tracy

Ron Temple wrote: »

In the mid 70s, I was able to get hooked into a deal for these Sonabs, along with some Nak and Kenwood gear. The speakers went with the with in a divorce in 93, (she dumped them ). Pretty interesting speaker that was a bit thin in the midrange, but the directional tweeters certainly opened the soundstage and they imaged extremely well (IIRC - I was stoned most of the time)...pretty damned bassy too.

http://www.carlssonplanet.com/forum_old/album_cat.php?cat_id=20

I remember seeing one of those once....can't remember where...must have been stoned...:cool:

Looks like a radar dish array...

Serendipity

Aiwa NSX-MA545. Still have it to this day

Fongolio

Kenwood KA-9100 Integrated amp (look at the analog meters!!):
http://erikt.cts.com/Pictures/hometheater/kenwood_ka-9100.jpg

I just picked up one of those two weeks ago. Fantastic sounding amp with 90 under rated rms/channel. Very nice even 20 + years old.

seeclear

I had a friend in college who was a year ahead of me, who had a really nice stereo setup; all I really remember was a Nakamichi cassette deck. He got me started wanting the nice stereo stuff. That summer most of my earnings went to Radio Shack for an "all Realistic" system== Integrated amp, separate tuner, speakers, and direct drive turntable. I wish I still had that gear. I don't remember any of the model numbers at all, but it could crank!

joeparaski

Ahhh Nakamichi.....my first "real" system was the Nakamichi "rack". It consisted of tuner, amp, and cassette deck all rack mounted (hence my penchant for rack mount gear). Those were the units that sat at 45 degrees when laying on a table.

Joe

Dennis Gardner

Marantz 1060 integrated with JBL L-100 century speakers, Fisher Studio Standard TT. Circa 1975.

danger boy

although mine wasn't this nice.. this is really close to my very first foray into stereo (mono) music listening.. i think I was about 7 or 8 yrs old.

It was a painful time I don't wish to relive.. i've tried all these years to block it out of my mind.. then suddenly this thread appears.. and now I'm having nightmares again. :eek:

heiney9

Fisher Receiver (25 wpc)
Panasonic TT
ATL Award 333 speaker system (2 way 8" bookshelf) still have 'em; they are horrible
Pioneer CTF 500 cassette deck (wore out the tape head)

I hooked up (2) pairs of speakers eventually and fried the output tranny because the receiver only had terminals for 1 set of speakers.

H9

P.s. My very first stereo was a Magnavox all in one record player/tuner with the speakers in the front of the unit. You know the type; record changer with the lid that closed and a handle in front. Ugly tourqoiuse in color; semi transparent yellowish knobs. I was 8 years old.

heiney9

danger boy wrote: »

although mine wasn't this nice.. this is really close to my very first foray into stereo (mono) music listening.. i think I was about 7 or 8 yrs old.

It was a painful time I don't wish to relive.. i've tried all these years to block it out of my mind.. then suddenly this thread appears.. and now I'm having nightmares again. :eek:

Damn DB, that's my exact first music unit. I ruined my Dad's Beatles records on that unit. You know the first (2) Beatles records on Capitol that would be worth some money today if I hadn't ruined not only the records but the sleeves as well. Used to jump up and down on my bed playing my Pancho Gonzales wooden tennis racquet to "Roll Over Beethoven" from the Beatles 2nd album--LOL

H9

P.s. it was mono unit and was before the Magnavox

Face

I'm waiting for the old timers to chime in and show off their Victrolas.

Erik Tracy

Dennis Gardner wrote: »

Marantz 1060 integrated with JBL L-100 century speakers, Fisher Studio Standard TT. Circa 1975.

Before I had money to spend I would collect the product brochures... I guess as a kind of 'audio ****'

That Marantz was a real cutey! Ah, the fond memories

Erik

Erik Tracy

Fongolio wrote: »

Kenwood KA-9100 Integrated amp (look at the analog meters!!):
http://erikt.cts.com/Pictures/hometheater/kenwood_ka-9100.jpg

I just picked up one of those two weeks ago. Fantastic sounding amp with 90 under rated rms/channel. Very nice even 20 + years old.

I loved my Kenwood - but I was young and craved more power!

Alas...I sold it...

You've got a classic there - enjoy the warm snuggly sonic warmth!

Erik

Fongolio

My mom and dad had a big console stereo in a beautiful mohagany cabinet. Fleetwood was the the name on the amp/tuner section. It was tube amp with 10" woofers and seperate tweeters in ported boxes built into the cabinet. A Gerrard turntable spun the records. Seperate bass and treble controls. It sounded awesome compared to anything else anyone had. Went loud and still sounded great. They bought it around 1961. I took it with me when I left home in the early eighties. Wish I still had it. A fine example of early hi-fi meets stylish furniture.

danger boy

Fongolio wrote: »

My mom and dad had a big console stereo in a beautiful mohagany cabinet. Fleetwood was the the name on the amp/tuner section. It was tube amp with 10" woofers and seperate tweeters in ported boxes built into the cabinet. A Gerrard turntable spun the records. Seperate bass and treble controls. It sounded awesome compared to anything else anyone had. Went loud and still sounded great. They bought it around 1961. I took it with me when I left home in the early eighties. Wish I still had it. A fine example of early hi-fi meets stylish furniture.

why did those all in one units disappear from the world anyways? and wasn't it some time in the 70's when they stopped making them? big behemouth units. I think my parents still have one somewhere that was handed down. I should pull the amp out of it and see if it's tube or ss

doctor r

I was 16 years old and my Dad bought Dynaco kits for each of us. Dynaco was going "out of business" and a local store was clearing stock for them. He built his SC80Q Integrated and I built a PAT4 and Stereo 80. Found some "Synergistic" demo speakers with blown drivers at a local stereo store that I bought along with a Rotel Direct Drive TT. The speaker company honored the warranty on the speakers and traded me for new tweeters and woofers. I was set. (Entire system was stolen from a house I lived in at college:mad:). The real interesting thing is that my father also bought a second PAT4 kit and second Stereo 80 kit that I did not know about. He recently gave them to me now 30+ years later still in their sealed boxes :cool:.

polktiger

danger boy wrote: »

although mine wasn't this nice.. this is really close to my very first foray into stereo (mono) music listening.. i think I was about 7 or 8 yrs old.

It was a painful time I don't wish to relive.. i've tried all these years to block it out of my mind.. then suddenly this thread appears.. and now I'm having nightmares again. :eek:

Danger Boy - that was my first. At about the same age, maybe 6 - 7 years old. Listened to "record books" on the thing.

My first system was a Sony rack system (with turn table) from Circuit City. Kenwood CD changer came a couple years later. Brother still uses the Sony system, and the CD changer is actually still in use in the home gym.

JohnLocke88

I wonder if I'll look back to now like you dudes do for twenty years ago. I'm just starting out (well technically, started out at age 14, six years ago with my trusty Aiwa AV-D98 with a pair of Bose 141?161?. Still have the Aiwa which l have powering RTi10s).

I wonder where all this stuff is going in another twenty years. Should be very interesting.

jbarbier

JohnLocke88 wrote: »

I wonder if I'll look back to now like you dudes do for twenty years ago. I'm just starting out (well technically, started out at age 14, six years ago with my trusty Aiwa AV-D98 with a pair of Bose 141?161?. Still have the Aiwa which l have powering RTi10s).

I wonder where all this stuff is going in another twenty years. Should be very interesting.

Me too! I'm 23 and just started out seriously about 2 years ago. I got a NAD 3020 handed down to me with some Bose Series I 301s. First real piece of equipment that I bought was a Pro-ject Debut III TT. Next, I bought some nice speaker stands and rack for my components.

Then, TONS of vinyl from this local guy who has a shop selling thousands of classic albums from the 60s and 70s for about $1.50 a piece. I easily amassed a collection of hundreds of records, real classics too. Beatles, Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, The Stones, The Who, Moody Blues, I could go on for hours.

Then I needed a new stylus, so I decided to upgrade my stylus (Ortofon OM5E) to a OM 30 and realllllly start to "worship my vinyl." I started buying everything that I could new, in vinyl. Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sigor Ros, Mars Volta, My Morning Jacket... then a lot of Jazz and Classical music. Pretty soon, I forgot about a CD player altogether. I finally bought one a few days ago--Harmon Kardon.

Latest piece of equipment led me to Polk and this forum: Monitor 5s!!! Although, in transit, one of the magnets fell off of my MW6502s, but the ONE speaker sounds VERY nice. I just have to hunt down a spare MW6502 so I can start rockin' these Polks. Well, I listen to mostly jazz so maybe "rockin'" isn't the right term!

joeparaski

I recall some very early A.M. radio listening sessions I had on my parents rig (some big wood console thingy). I don't remember how young I was, but one day I was determined to listen to ALL the music there was. So I sat in front of the thing all day and listened. After a few hours of listening, one song repeated, and I thought to myself "that's it, I've heard all the music there is". At the time I couldn't figure out why some songs repeated.

Joe