The first stereo you personally owned?

Is there a reason you're not telling us what song it was?

 

1966 when I had my first teaching job > I believe it was a Sylvania "suitcase" style system of 2 wired speakers that could be separated by a few feet and the turntable/amp combined into one with the controls over to the far right. It was built of a very cheap material covered with paper that looked liked wood.

 

Well, it's by a Danish band called Gasolin'. The song is Pilli Villi:

 

I got the hand-me-down compact stereo system, a Radio Shack/Realistic Clarinette 85, when my parent bought a large Zenith console stereo. It looked similar to the photo posted earlier by wowandflutter. It had the same features of 8-track recorder and BSR rim-drive turntable but the 85 also had a quadraphonic audio circuit, tape monitor loop and a second phono input. Never used the 8-track but I got a Sharp RT-10 cassette deck, pair of Realistic Nova-10 loudspeakers and another low-cost Realistic turntable with a magnetic cartridge. It all worked reasonably well for 3 years until the Clarinette 85 stopped working.

 

KLH Model 11

 

My first was a white plastic record player with a pair of white plastic speakers that my parents got me for Christmas (from the Sears catalog).

The first I bought with my own money was an Aiwa CA-100 boombox (1983?). It was awesome... until the guitarist in my band plugged his guitar into one of the mic inputs and fried the thing.

 

An old console stereo with huge 12" inch woofers that I found somewhere. I used to turn this thing around and listen with my head stuck in the back of the cabinet, you know, to get all of that good bass. I would have to tape quarters together and use them as a counter weight on the back of the tonearm so it didn't destroy my records. And it had a smell-I can't describe it but it was sort of like burning electronics, probably from the tubes.

 

In elementary school, I had a yellow plastic turntable with two yellow plastic speaker that I could hang on the wall. Spun lots of stuff on it, but I now realize I have zero memory of whatever happened to it. In high school, I got a Sony am/fm stereo cassette player with detachable speakers that lasted me for a good while. I got my first turntable, a Technics belt drive with a P-mount cart, in the late 80s. Just used that in my parents' system, to which I also later added a Pioneer CD player, and later still, a Sony laserdisc player.

Once I was graduating college and had a job, I could finally get an "all mine" component stereo, and it was:

a Pioneer DVD player
Rotel integrated amp and phono pre
Sound Dynamics 300ti speakers, which are now in a secondary system
A Linn Basik table with an Akito arm and Sumiko Blue Point Special cart
a Sony cassette deck

 

This is similar to the first stereo I personally owned at a time when cassettes were just beginning to become a major musical format.

 

Hmmmmm...I bet we had the same thing! I have so many great memories of that machine.

 

This is a web pic of my first stereo. Does anyone remember the model number?
The superscope and a dual 1019 was great sounding. I can't remember the speakers.

 

This Silvertone (from Sears I think) was given to me by my aunt after I looted all of her Beatle albums . Must have been somewhere around the late 60's. This is a generic pic as mine is loooooong gone.

The first stereo I bought for myself (used) was this Realistic Concertmaster. Picked it up from a coworker around 1973?
This is not the exact one. I found this in a garage sale this summer and just had to have it.

 

I've got a SX-6 and it was a great piece for the money. Much of the plastic has not aged so well as it's changed it's color slightly, but the amp is sound. I'm not sure about the SX-4 but the SX-6 used a variation of a Nelson Pass design which dynamically altered the bias current enabling the amp to drive in a quasi Class A mode much of the time without the big current draw normally associated with Class A designs.

IIRC this circuit was licensed to several manufacturers including Nakamichi. All the implementations were different but all of them were noted for their sonics.

 

A Sony "all in one" stereo AM/FM with cassette (1973?) Recorded a lot of music off the FM on that cassette, especially when I got to San Francisco (KSAN).

 

Sanyo 2050 receiver, Pioneer PL2 turntable with Shure M97ED cartridge and Advent 1W speakers.

 

People came from all around to hear it...now you can't find anyone who even cares enough to *talk* about audio, except in specialist venues like this forum.

Pardon me while I go weep for a time now passed....

 

First STEREO one was a Philips N2400, 1973 or 74. Found this video on Youtube, some folks still restore units and listen to them....

 

Onkyo TX-6500 Receiver, Technics TT, Akai cassette deck, Sound Dynamics 12S speakers.

 

Hey, I recognize that hifi! I had the exact one given to me for Christmas in 1976:


And....I also live in the greater Vancouver area.....

 

I have one of these somewhere,that's missing one of the speakers.

 

I got one of these for Christmas when I was 7 or 8 years old:



The speakers would fit into the top of the unit that made the whole thing portable. Also, my parents (Santa Claus) brought me a cart to set it on with 2 wire wings to set the speakers on. I was absolutely thrilled to have my own stereo and still one of the most memorable Christmas gifts that I ever got.

 

Putting to one side the Philips Music Centre Pioneer a 512D tt, Pioneer Amp and Wharfedale speakers from Lasky's in London - 1978.

 

Probably summer of 67' my dad brought home an Eico integrated amp and Garrard turntable he picked up at a yard sale for my brother and me. No idea what the model numbers were, but they were old.
One of the speakers was a GE speaker meant for outdoor use and the other was an 8 inch speaker I mounted in a box I built.
Had to tweak the balance control and never sure if there was something wrong with amp or different speakers. I was 14 and it went plenty loud...all that mattered.

 

In 1976 I acquired a Thorens TD-160 w/ ortofon cart, a Sony STR-7055 Receiver, and a pair of Dynaco A-25 speakers. The phono preamp was built in to the receiver and the interconnects were built into the turntable. Lampcord for speaker wire. Beer stains and cigarette burns accumulated slowly but surely.

 

Not exactly the model, but pretty much the same thing - a Superscope Compact system: