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Thread: How lo-fi was your first "hi fi"?

  1. #1
    Join Date: Jun 2014

    Location: Chorley Lancs

    Posts: 14,590
    I'm Steve.

    Default How lo-fi was your first "hi fi"?

    Christmas 1971, Ernie was riding high in the charts on his milk cart, and I got a secondhand portable Philips reel to reel from Santa.

    I used it to record "Top OF The Pops" by hanging the microphone over the back of a chair in front of the telly. The resultant recordings were littered with extra sounds, like doors opening and closing, my mums's voice shouting "Don't answer the door, it's the rent man", "who's ate all the lard?" and "do you have to do that in here?"

    Songs like Chicory Tip's "Son of My Father" with added budgie chirps became the norm, and sounded bare without them.

    I would love to still have those recordings, more for the sound of my parents' and Arthur's voices superimposed on Middle Of The Road's "Soley Soley". Arthur was the budgie.

  2. #2
    Join Date: Jun 2010

    Location: Adelaide, South Australia

    Posts: 520
    I'm Steve.

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    674404-amstrad_tp12d_turntable.jpgMy first HiFi was DIY, As an apprentice in the Army we made a Receiver, it was 2.5 watts RMS into 15 ohms.
    When I say made I mean we built the case during sheet metalwork class, etched the PCBs in fact we even made the tuning indicator out of string and a cocktail stick.
    The speakers were single driver full range affairs. All pretty basic. I added a Amstrad TP12D TT (rega copy) with a shure M55e cart and later a Goldring G800 then Nagaoka MP11.
    That was great for me for about 5 years.
    Last edited by Batty; 20-12-2017 at 21:51. Reason: Inserted picture of TT
    Steve.

    Kit I have:
    CD player, TTs, Phono stages, Pre amps, Power amps, Integrated amps, DACs, Streamers, Speakers and a bunch of cables.

  3. #3
    Join Date: May 2013

    Location: Rotherham

    Posts: 693
    I'm steve.

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    My first setup was circa 1973, all purchased from Comet who at that time was just a sales counter you queued up to with the newspaper like price list of all they stocked.
    I bought a BSR MP60 turntable complete with an ADC cartridge for £17, an Amstrad IC2000 amp for £29 and a pair of Celestion County speakers which cost £33 so I got £1 change out of £80, at the time I probably thought it sounded great, first LP I played on it was 6 Wives of Henry VIII by Rick Wakeman, those were the days


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  4. #4
    Join Date: Jun 2010

    Location: Essex, United Kingdom

    Posts: 899
    I'm givingyouaprettygoodclue.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony View Post
    Christmas 1971, Ernie was riding high in the charts on his milk cart, and I got a secondhand portable Philips reel to reel from Santa.

    I used it to record "Top OF The Pops" by hanging the microphone over the back of a chair in front of the telly. The resultant recordings were littered with extra sounds, like doors opening and closing, my mums's voice shouting "Don't answer the door, it's the rent man", "who's ate all the lard?" and "do you have to do that in here?"

    Songs like Chicory Tip's "Son of My Father" with added budgie chirps became the norm, and sounded bare without them.

    I would love to still have those recordings, more for the sound of my parents' and Arthur's voices superimposed on Middle Of The Road's "Soley Soley". Arthur was the budgie.
    I recorded the Christmas 1975 TOTP on a portable cassette recorder / player. The mike fell off the TV stand during David Essex's "Hold Me Close" and the sound became somewhat ambient after that, I still have the cassette somewhere.

    My first "lo-fi" was an Eagle D7500 turntable with a Glanz cartridge, Bryan 9000 amp and Pioneer car speakers (using their cardboard packaging as cabinets with holes cut out for the drivers). I stil have them all somewhere too.

    Our loft is full of sh1te.

    Pete

  5. #5
    Join Date: Feb 2013

    Location: W Lothian

    Posts: 99,005
    I'm Grant.

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    one of these was my pride and joy at time

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  6. #6
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

    Posts: 51,624
    I'm Geoff.

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    About 1971.







    It was bloody awful.

  7. #7
    montesquieu Guest

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    Pye record player/amplifier, pretty much the same as this (lifted from ebay), though with some better speakers (elliptical single drive units about a foot tall), and an old Sony tape deck connected by DIN lead:



    Around 1973, my first year at secondary school (though because I was boarding I didn't get to listen to it much).

    My first record was Beatles Abbey Road, followed by the Classics for Pleasure Beethoven Symphony No6 conducted by Andre Clutyens, and some Bach Brandenburgs from the Woolies 50p section.

  8. #8
    Join Date: Feb 2014

    Location: Huntingdonshire

    Posts: 1,413
    I'm Andrew.

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    1989. A pair of Pioneer CT959 cassette decks into a n other amp (I honestly can't remember, probably very high at the time) which fed Fender double 12" pa cabs.

  9. #9
    Audio Al is offline Pishanto Specialist & Super-Daftee
    Join Date: May 2012

    Location: Dagenham Essex

    Posts: 11,215
    I'm Allen.

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    My first venture must have been around 1972 I think it was a Fidelity Record Player with a lift up lid , It came from my mums Freemans catalogue paid for weekly

    When I had paid that off I purchased another front part only with a speaker in it ( Matching fronts ) and it became stereo with a din lead connecting the two units

    Boy did that unit get some stick , I could not work out why the arm sometimes skated across the record
    I sorted it by putting a penny on the end for some more weight , How nieve was I back in the day . I still have all my LP's from that time and my abuse does not show as they still play very well

    Happy Days

    [

  10. #10
    Join Date: Mar 2012

    Location: london

    Posts: 246
    I'm bernard.

    Default Boots special

    Christmas 1971
    my Mum and Dad bought me a record player with a built in amp and matching speakers.
    at 13 years old I thought it was the dogs B****ks.




    Turntable Michell Gyro se, origin live onyx arm, Sumiko Evo 3 cartridge
    Amp Modwright KWI 200
    CD player Esoteric X03 se
    speakers DIY project using Volt and Vifia drive units

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