View Full Version : Your First Proper Hi-Fi System
walpurgis
09-07-2015, 09:50
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.
http://i57.tinypic.com/28cj3i8.jpg
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!
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"!
Another chance to see this glorious wallpaper
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss68/Lodger56/70shifis_zps679c3b8a.jpg
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
09-07-2015, 10:14
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.
Another chance to see this glorious wallpaper
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss68/Lodger56/70shifis_zps679c3b8a.jpg
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:eek: nice system though!
walpurgis
09-07-2015, 10:20
Roy. I bet you were wearing velvet flares, paisley shirt and cuban heeled 'western' boots when you took that photo. ;)
velvet flares, paisley shirt and cuban heeled 'western' boots
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss68/Lodger56/roy%2070s_zps0vefokei.jpg
(Not far off, don't know what was on my feet, I'm guessing platforms)
used to have a pair of twotone purple platforms myself to my everlasting shame...:doh: loved them at the time too:mental:
used to have a pair of twotone purple platforms myself to my everlasting shame...:doh: loved them at the time too:mental:
Now that's an admission that should not be publicised!
walpurgis
09-07-2015, 10:44
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! :eek:
once played golf in them:eek: now there was a handicap:ner:
Rotel RA 312 Amp, Rotel RP1500 Turntable and a pair of solovox speakers. (Still have the amp and turntable) plus a pair of yellow/brown platforms, very handy for watching football. :lol:
Did anyone have platforms with the built-in fish tanks like Disco Stu off of the Simpsons?
Nike made a bespoke pair of fishtank trainers in 1978
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/09/51801315a9509084f221b098b199b257.jpg
Wakefield Turntables
09-07-2015, 13:16
No pics but I did have a complete Quad 77 system including x2 power amps, cd, preamp & Quad 22L speakers.
Great memories. :eek:
Gordon Steadman
09-07-2015, 15:43
Alba amp, BD1 kit - can't remember the arm or cart and KEF Kit 1. My second amp was a Rotel 611 as well. There was a mint one for sale on French eBay last month and I very nearly gave in to temptation.
Dual CS505-3 turntable, Cyrus One amplifier, Castle Durham speakers. I've still got the amp and speakers, though they are boxed up and in storage.
My brother went for a Sansui SR-222 turntable, NAD 3020 amp and Wharfdale speakers - though I can't remember exactly which model of Wharfdale he had.
southall-1998
11-07-2015, 00:12
Nike made a bespoke pair of fishtank trainers in 1978
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/09/51801315a9509084f221b098b199b257.jpg
Holy Shit! Now that is cool.
S.
Nike made a bespoke pair of fishtank trainers in 1978
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/09/51801315a9509084f221b098b199b257.jpg
If only Jockey could make the matching undies.
Was probably about 18 here. Amp is an Eagle TSA149 (I think) Garrard SP25 Mk1V, Speakers Sykes & Hirsch spherical thingys. I bought the amp and TT when I was about 15, and got the speakers from a school mate whose family were loaded and his dad was always buying him the latest gear. There were 2 sizes, one the size of a football and these which were much bigger. Pretty crap sound wise, but it was the "swinging70's" and the "hifi" shops in the Kings Road would have these in their window together with the latest B&O stuff. I paid £25 for them, which I suppose was quite a bit back then. There was a pair on ebay recently for £500!. I sold mine around 1980 for.........yup £25. Not sure what the box on top of the amp is. It could be an old Pye tuner. My dad bought a Pye valve amp and possibly a tuner together with some coffin sized speakers. When they moved I had the speakers which I didn't think were too bad, a bit dull for me. Some years later I had a look inside them and saw that they were Goodmans Axiom (not sure which model) and they were sold for........yup you guessed it.....£25.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i239/saxonsex/DSCF2584_zpsxibshrlw.jpg
HackneyRF
11-07-2015, 10:12
My first 'Hi-Fi' bought with my own cash in 1985 was a horrendous Sony stack thing coupled with some actually quite nice Celestion Ditton 130's. Which I should mention are still in use at my brothers place as I type. Bought from Richer Sounds in 1988 my first 'proper' Hi-Fi if I can say that, was a NAD 3130 amp and a pair of AR 12 or 112 bookshelf speakers. I can't remember if they were 12 or 112? I can't remember either what CD player I had back them. No photographs I'm sad to say, but lots of fond memories!
I wish I had a picture of it. I wouldn't call it proper either, but I loved it.
I had a huge Panasonic all in one that I gutted, and filled with parts I tore out of consoles. It had a Fisher tuner/preamp, and Garrard RC 88/4 on the top. A couple of rusty 6F6G based mono blocks on either side. I think they were both made by RCA, but they came out of different consoles so they didn't match. Finalized with some monster 3way Pioneer speakers with 15s that were probably early 80's models. I was probably 9 or 10.
Fisher amp, from the 'Studio Sound' range. They called it that because it wasn't. Fisher speakers and a Tensai belt drive TT.
No pictures, I could barely afford to eat back then let alone own a camera, buy film for it and pay for it to be developed.
I sold the TT to one of my brothers and the amp and speakers to someone else. Replaced the TT with a Kenwood linear tracker and the speakers with some enormous Studio Power 4 ways with metal cones. Little did I know it but this was to be the first of many, many, piss-poor hi-fi buying decisions.
It occurred to me a few years back to recreate the original system and I occasionally check eBay, but whilst Fisher amps come up quite often it is never the exact one I used to have. My brother might still have the turntable. The speakers I've probably got bob hope but they were arguably the worst bit of the system anyway.
Amstrad Reciever (lots of dials...even had a rumble filter felt dead important....)
Solavox speakers from Comet
QED 79 strand (after thinking I was all audiophile and not using that bell-wire rubbish)
My Dads Bush cassette boombox I spliced an old phono cable from its 5pin din output (clever at the time) to the Amstrads inputs...
how did it work, no idea, just tried it and saw if it worked!
The folks had an Amstrad 'Tower of Power' in the living room with seperate speakers, remember them going on holiday and me moving the speakers further apart thinking Hmnnn, that sounds better. :)
Early I didn't have a system as such. I had a reel to reel. Can't remember for sure the make but may have been philips or grundig. Had built in speakers. And I had an old multi band valve radio. Huge old thing picked up the world I loved both
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No pictures but first system was a mono valve amp built by my elder brother and an SP25 deck.
First stereo amp was one sold by RTVC on Tottenham Court Road
First proper system
Pioneer SA-7500, Pioneer PL-12 Deck and small Warfedale speakers (possibly diamonds IIRC)
That Pioneer amp is the one thing I regret getting rid of.
rigger67
06-03-2017, 09:38
Solavox speakers from Comet
QED 79 strand (after thinking I was all audiophile and not using that bell-wire rubbish)
Wow :eek:
That's freaky.
I had Solavox and I bought them from Comet and I also bought some QED79 and thought exactly the same thing !
Add a Pioneer PL-12D and a beefy Technics receiver with a groovy flywheel and you're there :eyebrows:
walpurgis
06-03-2017, 09:58
First stereo amp was one sold by RTVC on Tottenham Court Road.
I remember RTVC. They moved from Edgware Road to Uxbridge Road Acton for a few years and then back to Edgware Road on the opposite side. I knew Lesley who ran the place quite well and bought an awful lot of stuff from him. Mainly speaker drive units.
Spectral Morn
06-03-2017, 11:04
A Panasonic music center. Tape, LW, MW, FM radio, turntable. All silver and lovely. I added a CD player to it. Then the slippery slope happened :doh:
No pictures, I binned it a few years back.
After that Ariston Q Deck, Goldring 1022, Rotel 820A, Rotel 850AL tuner, Kenwood tapedeck, Celestion Ditton (can't remember the model, small bookshelf type) and a few rubbish CD players ending up with a Marantz 273se. Speaker cable was bell wire:doh: until I replaced it with Audio Spec Latitude.
I then ended up working as a Saturday boy in a HiFi shop.... then I fell off the cliff ;)
I was a Saturday boy in Gateway stacking the dog food isle. Never made me want to buy dogs, though.
Not sure I can count my first system as a 'proper' hi fi system. That was a few years later when I had traded up to Systemdeck IIX/ Nagaoka MP30/ Denon PMA250 (the first one, the later versions were undistinguished mug-punter fodder) and Wharfedale CRS3 on sand filled Apollo stands.
That was a good system, owned and heard a lot worse since then at ten times the money and more.
Never used bell-wire.
Remember Gateway.. turned into Summerfield, who in turn went into Coop i think. Green logos i think
First system when I was a student was a godawful stereo system, Rank by both name and nature. The first 'proper' system, once I'd moved to London with a proper job and a place of my own, was a BSR turntable left over from the Rank system, with an Empire cartridge, a Goodman's Module 90 tuner/amp, and a pair of Goodman's RB35 speakers. i've got photos of odd bits of the system; the Module 90 here, a corner of the RB35s there, but nothing of the whole system.
Not many students had a hi-fi where I was. One bloke had Goodmans, another Toshiba. The fanciest system anyone had was a Mission/Cyrus with the Mission CD player. He moved to Manchester and immediately got robbed. They took the lot. I thought they'd done him a favour as it was even worse than the Toshiba set up but I never said anything to him.
Not many students had a hi-fi where I was. One bloke had Goodmans, another Toshiba. The fanciest system anyone had was a Mission/Cyrus with the Mission CD player. He moved to Manchester and immediately got robbed. They took the lot. I thought they'd done him a favour as it was even worse than the Toshiba set up but I never said anything to him.
I vaguely knew someone at university who had an LP12 and Quad electrostatic speakers, but he was a friend of a friend, so I only heard the system a couple of times. I bought my own system with the proceeds of a holiday job with Merseyside Fire Brigade. Not putting out fires, of course.
[QUOTE=Joe;841790]I. I bought my own system with the proceeds of a holiday job with Merseyside Fire Brigade. [QUOTE]
I fiddled the dole, which was the other way of making money on Merseyside at the time. Unlike the government I made sure the taxpayers got value for their money though. :)
Ah forgot there were two blokes whose dads were into hi fi so they had their cast offs. Wharfedale and KEF speakers from the 'Seventies. One of them reckoned he had an LP12 but wouldn't bring it with him to college in case it got pinched. They did have pretty good-sounding systems. They were postgrads though so wasn't counting them.
Ha! :)
Wow :eek:
That's freaky.
I had Solavox and I bought them from Comet and I also bought some QED79 and thought exactly the same thing !
Add a Pioneer PL-12D and a beefy Technics receiver with a groovy flywheel and you're there :eyebrows:
Remember Gateway.. turned into Summerfield, who in turn went into Coop i think. Green logos i think
Think it was Fine Fare before that Grant?
Hard to forget the naff yellow packaging!
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/f3/5b/97/f35b9769e2f0f15b26e1ca0166813efc.jpg
rigger67
06-03-2017, 13:03
Think it was Fine Fare before that Grant?
Hard to forget the naff yellow packaging!
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/f3/5b/97/f35b9769e2f0f15b26e1ca0166813efc.jpg
I loved that first aisle in FineFare : you needed sunglasses just to get through it.
It was a great idea and the forerunner to Tesco's Value range .. plus it appealed to my inner communist ;)
Think it was Fine Fare before that Grant?
Hard to forget the naff yellow packaging!
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/f3/5b/97/f35b9769e2f0f15b26e1ca0166813efc.jpg
Yes, Dee bought it. Finefare was big in its day. Safeway sainsbury tesco etc muscled it( summerfield) out. Coop picked up the pieces, as they do lol. Liptons and Templetons were rebranded as Presto. Presto was owned by Argyll, who bought Safeway uk. Safeway then went too. Think morrisons took them over.
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss68/Lodger56/70shifis_zps679c3b8a.jpg
Before this set up I (very briefly) had a Finesound Quadraphonic system I bought with my first months salary from Laskys. It had a Garrard 86SB turntable set into a large plinth which also housed the amp, it was the size of a music centre without having the convenience of a tape deck & tuner. Sounded dreadful so got swiftly moved on.
And before that I had this -
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss68/Lodger56/IMG_01691_zpsyehxdzhi.jpg
No Piccys but my 1st system in 1979 was :
Hitachi DD turntable with shure 55ed (?) cartridge
Rotel RA1412 (loved this amp, grab handles / VU metres looked the dog's, still used by my cousin)
Wharfedale E50 speakers
JVC analogue tuner
JVC cassette deck
JVC 7 slider graphic equaliser
Bog standard IC's & 42 strand speaker cables
Had lots of fun tweaking the sound to my tastes, and playing very loud with no close neighbours to annoy :D
Not many students had a hi-fi where I was. One bloke had Goodmans, another Toshiba. The fanciest system anyone had was a Mission/Cyrus with the Mission CD player. He moved to Manchester and immediately got robbed. They took the lot. I thought they'd done him a favour as it was even worse than the Toshiba set up but I never said anything to him.
I was pretty set up by the time I went to college. I had a Marantz 2270, CD-63, 6300 table, and one of the ugly gold cassette decks that I don't remember the model # of. Klipsch Heresy speakers. It took up half of the dorm room.
Everyone was ditching that stuff for all in one surround systems in the late 90's. I got most of it for free for wiring those up for people. It wasn't exactly audiophile grade but the cops showed up quite a few times.
Think it was Fine Fare before that Grant?
Hard to forget the naff yellow packaging!
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/f3/5b/97/f35b9769e2f0f15b26e1ca0166813efc.jpg
rigger67
06-03-2017, 14:27
I had one of these in my early teens and it sounded great :)
https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTc2WDEwMjQ=/z/8McAAOSwGtRX1n7T/$_86.JPGhttps://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTAyNFg4ODE=/z/Q7cAAOSwQM9UZKgm/$_86.JPG
walpurgis
06-03-2017, 17:42
My very first stereo came off the back of a dustcart. Literally! It had just been slung out and I scrounged it. It was an 'all in one' record player unit with a lift off second speaker, it worked OK too. Can't remember the make. That must have been about 1967.
HackneyRF
06-03-2017, 19:32
Had a street find myself in the 80's. A very good pair of Kef Coda III speakers found in amongst the rubbish outside The Screen On The Green in Islington. Who knows, maybe they belonged to an AoS member!
Vinyl turner
13-03-2017, 17:04
My very first 'hifi' wasn't exactly serious but I was the only one in the sixth form that had anything other than a music centre/record player !
Pretty sure this was late 1977 or early 1978
It comprised (ahem, from Comet) an Amstrad amplifier and separate turntable all attached to Wharfedale Linton speakers. Unfortunately no photos as far as I know, but I still have the Lintons (in the garage).
Shortly afterwards I bought a top loading cassette deck from somebody I knew which later progressed to a Hitachi front loader. I can't even remember what make the toploader was. I don't have either of these but strangely I do have the box that the Hitachi came in: even more strange is the fact that my system now isn't much better than that :D
My first amp was an Eagle TSA(70) I think. A small wooden cased thing. I thought it was ok (15w per ch) but with hindsight what I thought was a problem with any speakers I had distorting, I realise now that it was probably the amp which must have been gutless. When you see what a 15w per channel Class D amp can do it is mind blowing. I had some spherical white globe speakers that I got off a mate for a song. They used to sell them in the Kings Road to go with B&O systems at silly prices, and of course the pinnacle of vinyl spinning excellence......a Garrard SP25MkII.
Dual 505 TT, Naim NAC12S Pre, Quad 303 Power, Mission 780 Argonauts.
The 'Pie In Ear' Tower System I had before this doesn't count..!!..
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Dual 505 TT, Naim NAC12S Pre, Quad 303 Power, Mission 780 Argonauts.
The 'Pie In Ear' Tower System I had before this doesn't count..!!..
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Bit of an off the wall combo that.
walpurgis
13-03-2017, 22:18
Bit of an off the wall combo that.
Not kidding!
I have a funny feeling the Naim might work rather well with the 303.
It sounded fantastic. I'm sure it was pure fluke, the mellow Quad fronted by the bright Naim making a sweet duo!
I later changed the Argonauts (which were too bassy) for some Infinity RS2000s - they were lovely little speakers...
Stay Away From the Guard Rails!
It sounded fantastic. I'm sure it was pure fluke, the mellow Quad fronted by the bright Naim making a sweet duo!
I later changed the Argonauts (which were too bassy) for some Infinity RS2000s - they were lovely little speakers...
Stay Away From the Guard Rails!
How was the Naim preamp powered? I thought it took DC power from a NAP power amplifier.
How was the Naim preamp powered? I thought it took DC power from a NAP power amplifier.
D'ya know, I'm buggered if I remember!
But, likely I built a DC PSU for it...
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Parkie37
02-04-2017, 06:59
My first 'hifi' was an all in one Lloyds turntable and amplifier. Got it for Christmas when I was 13.
When I was 16 - 18 years old and working in a restaurant, I bought a lovely Luxman system with rosewood panels on it from the very late 70s into the early 80s. The integrated amplifier was an L-480 Luxman, the tuner was a T-117 with Acculock! The turntable was a Luxman PD 289, the cassette deck was a Luxman K-something two or three head deck. I was on the way to the store to buy some Marge 750 speakers and my best friend talked me into buying Cerwin Vega HED speakers. What rubbish they were! Boom, boom, boom.
I loved that system and eventually replaced the Cerwin Vegas with KEF Reference 102.1s with Cube. Much more musically enjoyable!
Parkie37
02-04-2017, 17:42
My first 'hifi' was an all in one Lloyds turntable and amplifier. Got it for Christmas when I was 13.
When I was 16 - 18 years old and working in a restaurant, I bought a lovely Luxman system with rosewood panels on it from the very late 70s into the early 80s. The integrated amplifier was an L-480 Luxman, the tuner was a T-117 with Acculock! The turntable was a Luxman PD 289, the cassette deck was a Luxman K-something two or three head deck. I was on the way to the store to buy some Marge 750 speakers and my best friend talked me into buying Cerwin Vega HED speakers. What rubbish they were! Boom, boom, boom.
I loved that system and eventually replaced the Cerwin Vegas with KEF Reference 102.1s with Cube. Much more musically enjoyable!
I found some pics on the web that are of the pieces that I owned, as I can't find any photos of my system..
19887198881988919890
Parkie37
02-04-2017, 17:46
1989119892198931989419895Couple more pics....
Parkie37
02-04-2017, 17:59
19896198971989819899
Those Cerwin Vegas had adjustments for treble and midrange level. Best of all was the reset button for the 16 year olds out there that play their rock music too loud! Wait a moment, press the reset button and bam! You have music again :lol:
Pretty fancy for a first system Don.
Parkie37
02-04-2017, 18:37
Pretty fancy for a first system Don.
My first turntable was a very basic 'all in one' turntable made by Lloyd's. Pretty much crap, but at 13 I loved it!
19900
The Luxman setup came after that, when I had been working at a local restaurant all through high school. Massive step up from the Lloyd's. Funny thing was that I was bound and determined to go in and buy a McIntosh system, one step at a time, but the sales guy talked me out of it and told me that the Luxman was better sound and better value. Fortunately it was terrific, but I would love to hear a Luxman versus McIntosh setup side by side, from that era.
walpurgis
02-04-2017, 18:53
This was my first Hi-Fi system. I moved on ages ago. :lol:
http://i63.tinypic.com/ejzv40.jpg
Parkie37
02-04-2017, 19:23
This was my first Hi-Fi system. I moved on ages ago. :lol:
http://i63.tinypic.com/ejzv40.jpg
That system makes me think of the Back To The Future movie!
Mine was back in 1979 from Comet. Pioneer PL514 TT/Ortofon Cartridge/Armstrong 625 tuner amplifier/Celestion Ditton 15XR speakers. A Sansui cassette deck was soon added. Brings back memories. Sounded brilliant, compared with the previous music centre.
Frazeur1
03-04-2017, 09:43
Don, that was some really nice Luxman gear. I grew up around that time as well, and pretty much lusted after those nice rosewood cheeked pieces of gear! I also recall a "friend" of mine trying to get me to purchase a pair of the Cerwin Vega pink-ringed speakers of terror, or as I called them, the "Thunder-Boomers". Well, they certainly could rock, but to me, that was about it. Glad I didn't bite, although back then, it was a bit of a different ballgame it seems.
Parkie37
03-04-2017, 19:04
Don, that was some really nice Luxman gear. I grew up around that time as well, and pretty much lusted after those nice rosewood cheeked pieces of gear! I also recall a "friend" of mine trying to get me to purchase a pair of the Cerwin Vega pink-ringed speakers of terror, or as I called them, the "Thunder-Boomers". Well, they certainly could rock, but to me, that was about it. Glad I didn't bite, although back then, it was a bit of a different ballgame it seems.
Good for you Tim! I wish I had been as smart as you. But, I trusted my friend and presumed that he knew better than me. I should have known better as the buying experience was as crappy as you would expect! Pushy salesmen on the busy street shop and they didn't seem to know a thing about what they were selling.
When I went back to Sound Gallery in Burnaby (suburb of Vancouver), it was back to being a most pleasant experience. It took me a while at high school wages to save up for each piece, but it was worth it. I later sold that system to a close friend when I bought my Classe Audio separates in 1989. He is still using that setup as far as I know.
Frazeur1
04-04-2017, 13:40
Oh don't worry Don, believe me, I made quite a few diversions and errors not long afterwards, some may say I still am on the wrong path! Somehow around the same time frame as the Cerwins, I ended up with a pair of Bose 301 Series 1's. Long story....Ugh.
My main start into a setup was the good old MCS series, the JC Penney branded gear. I had a receiver, cassette deck and turntable, with AT cartridge and pair of small bookshelves. Some of it actually wasn't bad, typical entry level Pioneer of the days, but not a patch on the real thing. It was all down hill after that. Or should that be uphill?
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