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Thread: What kit did you aspire to own when you were young and poor?

  1. #61
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Essex

    Posts: 31,853
    I'm openingabottleofwine.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Joe View Post
    Quad 44 and 405. I had the booklet about them but they were way beyond my means. Quad ESLs; ditto. Sony reel-to-reel tape deck. i used to go to the Sony shop on Regent Street in my lunch break and wonder if I'd ever be able to afford one.
    A Quad system became an aspiration for me around 1970 as an upgrade to the Mullard valve electronics I was using at the time. Couldn't afford any Quad gear then (though I did have the brochures) and I side-tracked into building a 'clone' of the Sugden A21 Class A amplifier (having been interested in Class A designs since building a Nelson Jones 10W design, published in Wireless World). When I acquired a pair of Quad ESLs in 1974, I found the power output of the Sugden to be insufficient, but it wasn't until 1977 that I obtained a Quad 405.
    Barry

  2. #62
    montesquieu Guest

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    My maths teacher had a pair of Quad ESLs (57s) a 33/303/FM3 setup, a Garrard 401, and a top-end (for the time) Sony tape deck. He recorded a lot of stuff off Radio 3 and had a massive collection of cassette tapes, all beautifully carded and indexed (his record collection was smaller but well-chosen). Serious introduction to proper hifi.

    Me and a mate spent a lot of time at his place listening to stuff, got as much of an education in classical music as we got in maths (and more useful to me long-term) - funnily enough I did later come to own all of this kit at one point, barring the tape deck, though not necessarily all at the same time. (I was never a big cassette user, only really used one to record stuff for the car).

    Many, many years later (I think about 7-8 years ago), my wife ordered some s/h CDs from Amazon, and I thought I recognised the seller name. I emailed and sure enough, it was him, now in his late 70s, long retired, flogging off his (perfectly kept) CDs, as he'd ripped the whole lot and gone to streaming - I can just imagine him fussing over the metadata to get it all just so. Was nice to get in touch with him, though I heard he died a few years after that. Lovely bloke.

  3. #63
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Essex

    Posts: 31,853
    I'm openingabottleofwine.

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    Lovely anecdote Tom. So not only did he educate in mathematics, but music as well and the means to enjoy it.
    Barry

  4. #64
    Join Date: Apr 2015

    Location: Central Virginia

    Posts: 1,736
    I'm Russell.

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    It is nice to have had someone who influenced you to enjoy music and hi-fi. I personally have no influences. Most of my friends and family thought I was crazy for spending real money for hi-fi gear, and my musical education was from late night radio.

    But I do try to share it with my daughter and her husband. I’ve fully corrupted him now, he’s really into hi-fi these days and has amassed a reasonable collection of music, and takes great pride in his system. Even my brother in law has assembled himself a stereo system, not wanting anything as expensive as mine, but it seems that the stereo has not died in the wake of Surround Sound?

    Russell

  5. #65
    Join Date: Apr 2016

    Location: Gravesend and France

    Posts: 1,498
    I'm paul.

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    Was too busy playing live with my Marshall stack to lay about on my arse listening. That and later racing 250 super karts. As my name got back into this madness in 2007 and made up for lost time by swapping kit until now.
    Bakoon 13r Denon DP80 Stax UA-70 Shure Ultra 500 in a Martin Bastin body with jico stylus, project ds2 digital Rullit aero 8 field coils in tqwt speakers

    Office system, DIY CSS fullrange speakers with aurum cantus G2 ribbons yulong dac Sony STR6055 receiver Jvc QL-A51 direct drive turntable, Leema sub. JVC Z4S cart is in the house

    Garage system another Sony receiver, cassette deck


    System components are subject to change without warning and at the discretion of the owner.

  6. #66
    Join Date: Apr 2018

    Location: South East Cornwall

    Posts: 322
    I'm Dominic.

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    Quote Originally Posted by alphaGT View Post
    It is nice to have had someone who influenced you to enjoy music and hi-fi. I personally have no influences. Most of my friends and family thought I was crazy for spending real money for hi-fi gear, and my musical education was from late night radio.

    But I do try to share it with my daughter and her husband. I’ve fully corrupted him now, he’s really into hi-fi these days and has amassed a reasonable collection of music, and takes great pride in his system. Even my brother in law has assembled himself a stereo system, not wanting anything as expensive as mine, but it seems that the stereo has not died in the wake of Surround Sound?

    Russell
    The indicators are that surround sound is heavily in decline now. The Bistol Hi-fi and Vision Show in the UK every February has dropped the "and Vision" from their name for the 2019 event.
    CD player = Marantz CD6006
    DAC/pre = Rotel RC 1572
    Power amp = ADA PF201
    Speaks = Quadral Chromium Style 6

  7. #67
    Join Date: Jul 2009

    Location: Hampshire, UK

    Posts: 3,662
    I'm Adam.

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    It was on my second visit to a Hifi show when I was 13, when I encountered the Yamaha Centennial system and vowed to own it one day.

    Thirty one years on, I have the preamp but the rest of it is proving somewhat elusive!

    Other than that, I’ve managed to acquire and live with most of the other things I fancied back in the day for a while. The only exceptions I can think of offhand that are still on the list of things I’d like to try (apart from those Yamaha bits, obviously!) are Pentachord Pentacolumn and Mission 767 loudspeakers, and a Nakamichi RX-505.
    Engineers: fixing problems you didn't know you had in ways you don't understand.

  8. #68
    Join Date: Apr 2009

    Location: Near Saffron Walden, Essex

    Posts: 7,087
    I'm Dave.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony View Post
    Wow, that is some list. You could open a shop!
    Funny you should say that..

  9. #69
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,779
    I'm Martin.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Beobloke View Post
    are Pentachord Pentacolumn .
    I remember those, what's your fascination with them?
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  10. #70
    Join Date: Jul 2009

    Location: Hampshire, UK

    Posts: 3,662
    I'm Adam.

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    Simply, I think they’re still some of the best speakers I’ve ever heard.
    Engineers: fixing problems you didn't know you had in ways you don't understand.

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