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[The Barbarian]

Tbh i gave up on Hi-Fi a long time ago. These days i thought id get together the first propar Hi-Fi system i had back in the early 80's, managed to complete this except from the Technics Casstte Deck & Sony 'TC399' Open Reel i used to have.. Extremely suprised at the outcome tbh, so much i well & truly threw the towel in altogether, Quite crazy really all those years i spent living with an obsession & mostly upsetting is the many many thousands of pounds ive gone thru in the past.

My Everyday stereo then:

A&R Cambridge 'A60' Amp/'T21' FM Tuner
J.A.Michell 'Focus One' Turntable/SME '3009,S2 Imp' Pick-Up Arm/Shure 'V15.III' Cartridge
Castle Acoustics 'Richmond' Speakerz

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w425/ELPFAN1968/FocusOne.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/ELPFAN1968/media/FocusOne.jpg.html)

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w425/ELPFAN1968/A60T21.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/ELPFAN1968/media/A60T21.jpg.html)

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w425/ELPFAN1968/RichmondMkII.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/ELPFAN1968/media/RichmondMkII.jpg.html)

[Barry]

Nice one André! :)

It would be interesting for me to hear my first 'propar' system: Collaro 2020 TT/SME 3009/Shure M3D into Sugden C51 preamp and home built Sugden A21 power amp section and Wharfdale RS8DD drive units in a 1.5 cu ft distributed port enclosure (Wharfdale design).

But there again, I might find that my current system is no better; so would anguish over the thousands of pounds I have spent! In the words of Bob Dylan: "don't look back". ;)

[The Barbarian]

Thanks Barry
In the spare Room lives a B&O 'Beogram 1500' with 'Beocord 1500 De-Luxe' Open Reel & ofc another pair of Castles. I do need a 'SP-9' styli for the 'Beogram' but these are very costly..

[istari_knight]

Nice one... I recognise those Castles :eyebrows:

[The Barbarian]

:eyebrows: yeh got three pair of them now

[istari_knight]

Particularly good for jazz I recall. They didn't like rock much... Not in my system anyway.

[The Barbarian]

Yeh great on Jazz. They do sound great at low level with the 'A60' in this small room with Progwok. This system really does sound good together, i think the key to the Synergy is actually that Shure cart..

[The Barbarian]

The moral of the story is only a Genius can get it right in the first place

:eyebrows:

[Marco]

Or a sex god! :yesbruv:

Marco.

[jandl100]

.... i thought id get together the first proper Hi-Fi system i had back in the early 80's ... Extremely suprised at the outcome tbh

Yes, I know exactly what you mean.

I've been on a retro kick recently.

Technics SL-P1200 CDP from the late 80s.
Marantz 4230 receiver from the 70s (as a headphone amp!)
Technics SU-MA10 amp from the 90s
AI Alto amp from the 90s

Any of them can stand up to what's made today, and will probably show most of it a clean pair of heels. :thumbsup:

[The Barbarian]

Next system to put together will be my first proper Vintage System..I did not seriously get into vintage till the early 90's..

So my first propar vintage un was:
Thorens 'TD125'/SME '3009,S2 Imp/Shure 'M95ED' (Thorens was soon swapped out for Garrard '401')
Ferrograph 'F307'
Ferrograph 'Series Seven: 702' Open Reel
Castle Acoustic Ltd 'Howard Mk.1'

Got all apart from the Thorens but nowhere to put them :D

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w425/ELPFAN1968/F307.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/ELPFAN1968/media/F307.jpg.html)

{This is old pickkie prior to re-build + new sleeve}

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w425/ELPFAN1968/S7RR.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/ELPFAN1968/media/S7RR.jpg.html)

Never ever part with the Ferro stuff beautiful British design & engineering