Your First Proper Hi-Fi System

[walpurgis]

Have any of you got photos of your first system? I thought a thread on this might be fun. If you've got no photos, just tell us about it.


Here's mine:

I found an old (very grainy) photo of my first proper Hi Fi setup. This was circa 1971.

The pickup arm was an Audio Developments AD309K, housing a Shure of some sort. All mounted on a Connoisseur BD1, assembled from a kit and mounted on a very basic plinth. The amp is a Ferrograph F307 (which I never got on with). The speakers are Tannoy IIILZ.



Soon afterwards, I changed the TT for a Thorens TD150 with a Decca International arm and Decca London Blue cartridge. The Ferrograph amp went and a lovely Rotel RA-611 replaced it. The Tannoys stayed. Now we're talking, it sounded in a different league!

[Barry]

Sorry no photos, but my first system was mono:

Shure M3D in a Garrard SP25 Mk. II (?) into a home-built Mullard 5-10 valve amp using a Sugden C-51 preamp. The speaker was a home-built 1.5cu ft distributed port Wharfedale design using a Wharfedale Super 8/RS/DD drive unit.

Stereo followed with a second Mullard 5-10 and a second identical speaker. Front end was then changed to a Shure M55E in an SME arm on a Collaro 2020 turntable. Now that was my "first proper hi-fi system"!

[Roy S]

Another chance to see this glorious wallpaper



Akai AP003 belt drive turntable (have recently got another of these off ebay for £7 and realised it really wasn't very good), JVC & Amstrad(!) cassette decks, Fidelity tuner, Dynatron Transpower 90 amp & Dynatron speakers (taping stuff off the radio by the looks on things).

[walpurgis]

Yes. I ran various 'oddments' prior to the system in my photo. I had the ubiquitous SP25 III with a Shure, a Japanese Olson amp (from Tandy) that sounded OK really and a pair of awful EMI 450 drivers in chipboard boxes. The EMIs were replaced by a pair of Eagle FR65 drive units that sounded damn good. But I didn't really regard this lot as Hi-Fi.

[struth]

Another chance to see this glorious wallpaper



Akai AP003 belt drive turntable (have recently got another of these off ebay for £7 and realised it really wasn't very good), JVC & Amstrad(!) cassette decks, Fidelity tuner, Dynatron Transpower 90 amp & Dynatron speakers (taping stuff off the radio by the looks on things).

and even busier curtains nice system though!

[walpurgis]

Roy. I bet you were wearing velvet flares, paisley shirt and cuban heeled 'western' boots when you took that photo.

[Roy S]

velvet flares, paisley shirt and cuban heeled 'western' boots

(Not far off, don't know what was on my feet, I'm guessing platforms)

[struth]

used to have a pair of twotone purple platforms myself to my everlasting shame... loved them at the time too

[Barry]

used to have a pair of twotone purple platforms myself to my everlasting shame... loved them at the time too

Now that's an admission that should not be publicised!

[walpurgis]

Being a short bloke I thought the trend for platforms and cuban heels was good, then I realised all the big blokes wore them too, so I was back to square one!