What did you start with? AKA... Your first legit stereo rig

Tour2ma · January 2003

I did a couple searches and could not find list like this, so...

Me... in the beginning... circa 1971...

Amp (kit) - Heathkit AA-15 integrated
Turntable - Garrard SL-72B (w/ dust cover)*
Cartridge - Pickering Model ???*
Speakers - Lafayette Radio Electronics 5-way crappo's

Tuner (kit) - Dynaco FM5*
Cassette Deck - Sony TC-134SD (early Dolby

*

* - all from Dixie Hi-Fi, an old mail order outfit...

"What a long, strange trip it's been"...
...can't wait to see how it ends...;)

Systems · January 2003

early 80's models, technics rcvr & turntable, can't remember name of spkrs, probably a good thing i can't
not sure if that's legit hifi, but was better than soundesign minisystem or whatever the hell i had before that

abmarsh · January 2003

Technics receiver - 30 watts/channel
BIC turntable
Pioneer HPM-40 speakers

I still think the Pioneer HPM line were very under-appreciated speakers.

shack · January 2003

Around 1970-71:

Concord Receiver- I can't even find any info on this now but Concord Electronics made some gear in the 60s and early 70s. It drove my speakers pretty loud.

AR-4X speakers (not AR's top of the line speakers but not too bad)

Benjamin-Miracord 50HII turntable (probably the best peice of gear I owned at that time)

8 Track player/recorder (RCA or Realistic - I can't remember) - not hifi but I had to have tunes for the car. I made a lot of copies off of vinyl.

wlrandall · January 2003

Vector Research recvr
Cerwin Vega AT-10s
Polk M4IIs for "surround"
M/vox (Philips) CD player
Realistic HX Pro dual cassette deck

13 years later and they're all still in service but have new "jobs"

Wally

danger boy · January 2003

it's 2003 and i'm still waiting for my first real legit stereo.

hoosier21 · January 2003

Ampex receiver
Teac tape deck
BSR turntable
Technics 3-way speakers

Oh man I was rocking the house

joe logston · January 2003

med 70s

kenwood receiver
kenwood cassett deck
garrard turn table
a pair of no-name speakers

jltrdavis · January 2003

Sony Reciever / CD Player
Advent Baby II's
and
Polk S-7's

burdette · January 2003

1978, I got my first compact stereo; turntable, cassette, **8-track**, tuner.

1980, built a pair of speakers (12" woofers, 1" domes). Connected the compact stereo through an old tube amp borrowed from a friend to drive the speakers. Used the speakers from the compact set for my first "surround" sound by connecting them to both + terminals on the amp (simple matrix).

1981: first real stereo
Sansui 3900Z receiver
Sony TC-FX5C cassette.. one of the first with Dolby C
Technics turntable with Shure cartridge

1983 I swapped the Sony deck for a 3-head Aiwa and swapped the turntable for a linear tracking p-mount. Next, bought some Cerwin Vega 8" 2-ways. That was my college rig, sold the entire thing kit'n'kabootle in 1989 just before graduation and sank every dollar into an Onkyo receiver (great deal, I worked at BB video rental and got employee discount). That receiver died last year.

1990: bought my first Polks.. Monitor 7Cs that are still my main speakers.

MxStYlEpOlKmAn · January 2003

hehe.....in the beginning (a year or so ago)
$50 dollar boombox from wally world - blew the speakers
then the jvc MX-g50 - sold it to dad
Now - My current rig....

izafar · January 2003

in 85
Sony cassete reciver (35 watts*2) with Sony speakers faturing 6.5" woofer and 7" passive radiators along with 1.25" cone tweeter. Sounded pretty sweet then.

George Grand · January 2003

1968

Acoustic Research XA turntable w/Shure V15 Cartridge

Lafayette Radio Electronics LA-224 Int. Amp (7 or 12 wpc) with built in Hafler Dynaquad circuit (surround sound).

Vivitar Stereo Cassette Deck

H.H. Scott Loudspeakers

Sennheiser Headphones HD-414's

George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)

tryrrthg · January 2003

December 2000:
RM6600 PSW 450
Yamaha 5240 Receiver

April 2001,
Ditched the RM6600 got the RT1000i, CS400i
bought NAD 521 CD player

December 2002,
Sold the RT1000i and CS400i,
bought Dynaudio 1.3mkII's
LIFE IS GOOD!!

Now if I could only afford an amp!

TonyPTX · January 2003

In a Polk forum without any Polk speakers?

Systems · January 2003

May have registered when he had Polk spkrs & therefore had the Polk serial numbers that I think you have to have to join. I don't think the Polk police are devoted to making sure everyone currently owns a Polk product. They have enuff problems to deal w/already!:p

tryrrthg · January 2003

I still have some Polk R10's lying around... and I would definitely buy them again. no offense to polk, I really like Polk, they just can't compare to my dyns!

George Grand · January 2003

If I lose these computer speakers, I will be Polk- free.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)

madmax · January 2003

My first system was a Lafayette RK-850 8-track/amplifier with a Pioneer turntable and Pickering cartridge. Lafayette Critererian speakers. Very fine starter system at the time! The next system was the Lafayette LR9090 AM/FM receiver and some decent large speakers. I forget the name of them. After that it was a large set of separate amps with enough power to light up a stadium but I've backed away from that and am more interested in tubes at this time.
madmax

Zen Dragon · January 2003

Mid 80's. Yamaha R-7 rcvr, and polk 5jr's, the ones with the open port bass. I no longer have the original 5jr's, but I have the 10B's I replaced them with, and use the Yamaha R-7 to drive 2 channel audio out of the TV in my Rec room with the polk 10B's

jmasterj · January 2003

Sansui QRX3500 Quadrasonic Receiver
KLH Model 5 Speakers
Akai Cassette Deck
Dual Turntable w/ stanton cart.

GZ · January 2003

1972

Sansui 4000 Receiver
Garrard turntable (I forget the model#)
Shure Cartridge
Panasonic 8 track player/recorder so I could record my fav cuts for road trips
Jensen 3 way speakers

I look back now and

Ceruleance · January 2003

Dad's '76 Kenwood KA-3500 and a set of RT55i's for my birthday..

Yeah, I'm that young..

Gary Robertson · January 2003

My very first monster stereo was bought new in 1978.i bought it from lafayette
When i was 22--there was nothing like black sabbath and a joint on a huge stereo (remember this was the 70's.)
My first one was a Kenwood KR-4070-(40 watts per channel receiver.with a Sharp RT-1157 Cassette deck (the first one with an automatic peogram search system--APSS) and a Kenwood turntable with a limestone and concrete cabinet with direct drive and a negatron cartrige..The speakers were the pioneer HPM-100's (with the 12 inch woofers) backed up by a set of BIC VENTURI's (12inch)--The pioneers had good bass but those BIC's were an exceptionel set of speakers and i truly wish they would come out with an updated set of those..
I can remember playing Fleetwood Mac's Say You Love Me" and the bass literally knocking the pictures off the neighbors wall in the duplex next door---oh what fun... Boy did i thinki rally had something but it wasn't s___ compaired to what i have now...:-)

Gary Robertson · January 2003

My very first monster stereo was bought new in 1978.i bought it from lafayette
When i was 22--there was nothing like black sabbath and a joint on a huge stereo (remember this was the 70's.)
My first one was a Kenwood KR-4070-(40 watts per channel receiver.with a Sharp RT-1157 Cassette deck (the first one with an automatic peogram search system--APSS) and a Kenwood turntable with a limestone and concrete cabinet with direct drive and a negatron cartrige..The speakers were the pioneer HPM-100's (with the 12 inch woofers) backed up by a set of BIC VENTURI's (12inch)--The pioneers had good bass but those BIC's were an exceptionel set of speakers and i truly wish they would come out with an updated set of those..
I can remember playing Fleetwood Mac's Say You Love Me" and the bass literally knocking the pictures off the neighbors wall in the duplex next door---oh what fun... Boy did i think i really had something but it wasn't s___ compaired to what i have now...:-)

DarqueKnight · January 2003

Circa 1985:

Nikko NR-850 Receiver
Akai GX-9 Cassette Deck
Sony CDP-302 Mk II CD Player
Yamaha P-320 Turntable
Shure V-15 Cartridge
Polk Audio Monitor 10B Speakers

Circa 1986:

Yamaha T-80 Tuner
Akai GX-9 Cassette Deck
Sony CDP-910 CD Player
Yamaha C-80 Preamp
Adcom GFA-555 Power Amp
Polk Audio SDA 1B Speakers

Circa 1989:

Yamaha T-85 Tuner
Yamaha C-85 Preamp
Yamaha PF-800 Turntable
Grado 8MR Cartridge
Adcom GFA-555 Power Amp
Onkyo TA-2800 Cassette Deck
Onkyo DX-7500 CD Player
Polk Audio SDA 1C Speakers

I basically like the same things today that I liked when I got into audio 18 years ago: Polk speakers, Sony CD players, Adcom amps, and Yamaha amps, turntables, CD players, and tuners.:D

P.S. I still have the SDA speakers, Yamaha tuners and preamps, Yamaha PF-800 turntable, and the Onkyo cassette decks. Everything else went bye-bye on Ebay.:cool:

tonyv1 · January 2003

1978
Marantz 2226 receiver (still have and refurbishing, needs new lamps); Garrard GT-15 turntable w/ Shure M95ED; AR-7 speakers and a Sharp cassette deck. Oh yeah, Sennheiser HD 414 headphones!

RuSsMaN · January 2003

Circa 1973, Fisher-Price 45rpm record player, stock mono cartridge, plastic tonearm, 3 inch fr driver.

Nothing like story time with the 'Pokey Little Puppy', or perhaps a very distorted 'Camptown Races'.

Doo Dahh, Doo Dahh

Cheers,
Russ

Systems · January 2003

Russ, the new surround SACD rerelease of those records is very good, or so I hear. The Stereophile review says you can hear vast amounts of sonic detail lacking in the vinyl originals. They made sure to use the master tapes, which were discovered in mint condition in an abandoned warehouse.:p

Tour2ma · January 2003

nadams · January 2003

Originally posted by RuSsMaN
Circa 1973, Fisher-Price 45rpm record player, stock mono cartridge, plastic tonearm, 3 inch fr driver.

Nothing like story time with the 'Pokey Little Puppy', or perhaps a very distorted 'Camptown Races'.

Doo Dahh, Doo Dahh

Cheers,
Russ

I hate to point this out, but that's not stereo.... unless, of course, you had the rare dual voice coil 3 inch driver... still, you said you had the mono cartridge (not much more than a bent pin scratching on the groove, no?)

nadams

What did you start with? AKA... Your first legit stereo rig

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