Audiophiles, what quality HiFi did your parents have when you were young?

Please elaborate... Describe the HiFI. How did it influence you to become an audiophile?

 

I don't consider myself an audiophile, but I grew up listening to an early 70's Sugden A21, class A integrated amp, which 45 years later is still going strong and still sounds wonderful.

 

I remember my mum insisting on going to the technics outlet shop to upgrade the house stereo but she was just following fashion (it was the '80s) but my dad always preferred to get decent second hand audio gear. I remember various silver fronted rotel, pioneer and marantz stuff being around. Once mum's technics stuff packed up, it got replaced by more silver fronted stuff again. You could pick up really good separates dirt cheap as everyone wanted modern black systems. I guess it must be in my blood as I'm running a pioneer sa-9500 mk2 and a Phillips cd304

 

We had a
- Technics SA 200 receiver
- Sony CDP-M35 cd player
- Akai AP1000 record player
- A Technics cassette deck which broke down, replaced by another one (can't find them on the internet anymore)
- Akai bookshelf speakers

More than good enough back then. I didn't become an audiophile long after this had all been replaced, back then it was all about the music for me.

 

We had a Dancette mono multi-change record player, and a Yacht Boy radio, but that was more than enough for me at the time. My Dad only had a small collection of vinyl, and that was mainly classical. I used to listen to Radio 1 all the time, especially in its infancy, and there was also a pirate station called Seagull, which my ears were glued to late at night when I should have been asleep. That was where it all began for me.

 

Big all in one 70s nightmare. I had a dancette and a shiga (curry's electrical own brand) portable cassette player.

As far as audiophile behaviour, I've always looked after my records which is why I still have my LPs and singles from when I was a kid (the ones I wanted to keep) and still in good condition. I wasn't in a position to buy decent equipment until about 15 years ago and that's the stuff I've still got. I can't say their choices of equipment influenced mine but I am grateful for the Elvis 40 Greatest Hits double LP (still got it).

 

Technics SL-23 Turntable, Technics 5360 Receiver, JBL L-26 Speakers

Good mid-fi system from the 70's. Listened to a lot of Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Elton John and Grateful Dead on this rig. It helped establish the love of music and from there my collection continued to grow in size and expand in scope. It wasn't until I was 30 that I started down the path towards better gear.

 

Linear Design HiFi system 1977 vintage

I own the original speakers now but had them fully updated & reconed & wired

 

The first bit of kit I owned myself, was a Philips mono portable cassette recorder. It sounded rubbish, but it gave me huge amounts of pleasure.

 

Didnt have anything until i bought a Dancette with my pocket money. I then discovered Pink Floyd and its been one of my passions ever since. Love music and Hi Fi!! Its fun

 

My first record player when I was 10 in 1973. A very common model at the time. I always thought Fidelity who made it were top of the line. It took me years to realise they were a budget brand. The above model always played slightly fast, but I didn't care at the time.



My first cassette recorder in (about) 1975. I thought it was posh because it had a built in mic!

Whatever happened to ITT?

 

Being born in the year 1970, I remember vividly the moment when my parents went from a cheap Topaz-like turntable to a HiFi Stereo system with the speakers separated from the record player.
And explaining to me that a good equipment should allow you to distinguish the bass guitar notes from the bass drum, and the subtilities of the hi-hat.
I remember also my parents being amazed at how they could hear the lead singer "inhale" before singing his parts in certain recordings. (which they couldn't hear with their previous gear).
That was the 70s and the beggining of hifi ! (at least in Europe).

And then "Dark side of the moon" came out and my father just kept on playing it to demonstrate his hifi system to anyone that would be invited in the house

This is a picture of me in July 1975, listening to Dark side..." with headphones on. If you look closely you can see the album sleeve in the shelf. (It was an 1973 original, but a french pressing).

 

Same here.

 

In 1972 my dad brought back from Singapore a rather large portable Sony reel to reel / cassette recorder which included detachable speakers and inputs for a turntable. (Sony TC 330) Possibly a year later a Dual 1215 turntable was brought back as well, which replaced an old Garrard. Not yet a teenager I was very impressed, though the bass was woeful.

Taping records in the dead of night onto 7" reels when everyone else was asleep (I had been banned from playing music a year or so later as music was "too distracting"), learning about recording levels, head cleaning and demagnetising, and adjusting the head azimuth on the cassette section to get some prerecorded tapes to sound better, all took me down the path of getting music to sound as good as possible - an audiophile in the making. Hi fi magazines helped a lot - Australian Hi Fi and Stereo Buyer's Guide.

My dad's still got the Dual - a few years back I bought a 78 cartridge for him, and the Sony might still survive at my younger brother's house.





Found these photos on the web - the Dual had three speeds and a pitch control, the Sony tape sections were both two head systems, and there was no Dolby.

 

We had a console, but my parents had practically zero interest in music, though my mother loved Elvis and my dad would listen to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio if he was working outside.

At some point we did have a GE trimline suitcase which became mine. My sister and I loved music and my mother worked at a diner and she would regularly bring us 45's when the jukebox guy swapped them out.

 

Voice of Music smaller tube based console-no tuner, just turntable and built in speaker. I hauled it off to college with me. Sounded great to me at that point in time. Still have it( in storage).​

 

That's exactly the same turntable that my Dad bought. In fact you can actually (although barely) see it in the photograph I posted just above your post.

 

Maybe that was the turntable of the day - I can't make it out in your photo, but can see someone pretty engaged with the Dark Side of the Moon.

 

Not the same models but that's what I had around the age of 10, my parents had a radio only. I thought it was amazing when I could record the top 20 via my cassette's microphone. I also had a very small plastic radio, I'd listen to U S forces radio, in bed under the blanket presumably L.W. as other voices would fade in and out, I thought it was alien transmissions from outer space.. Later I thought I'd moved into audio heaven when I got the 70's ipod. It had speakers that clipped to the deck, which had a carrying handle, I'm sure I enjoyed music just as much as now, I should have saved some money!

 

My father was a minister with four children in inner-city Philadelphia when I was growing up. We had a whole lot of nothing, but all we needed. A member of Dad's church was an electrical engineer and was offered a job in England in '62 when I was 7. He brought over an entire stereo system that he had built (and modified). There was a Dynaco tuner, preamp and amp, an AR turntable and a set of Electro Voice speakers. He just gave them to my Dad as he didn't want to ship them, use transformers etc.

My Dad splurged and had a beautiful cherry wood stereo cabinet built to house this system that he still uses today. The full range EV speakers were mounted on each side and the equipment fit in the center racks. Dad now has a different system within that I put together for him at his request (a Sony receiver he wanted and a California Audio cd changer and Sony Blu-ray player I bought for him). But we both remember the sound of that tubed Dynaco system. That was how I learned to love music, from that great sound. And that is why I have a tubed preamp, phono preamp and amp today and have since the beginning of the 'nineties.

 

I didn't appreciate it at the time as much as I should have, but as long as I can remember my Dad had a Fisher 800 and a Garrard TT, think it was a Lab 95. Don't remember what brand of speakers, but he also had a Teac reel to reel that he used extensively. I was raised listening to classical music on that rig.

Wish I knew what ever happened to that Fisher - I fear he gave it to my older brother at some point, who did God knows what with it.

 

The first system my dad had in the house was all Fisher. An X-100A integrated with a matching tuner, turntable and speakers. Around 1978, I inherited that system after he upgraded to new gear - Yamaha receiver, Polk Audio Monitor 10’s, Dual turntable and BIC two speed cassette deck...

 

Fisher, Dual and Sound Craftsmen.

 

All I remember is it was always a combo record player tuner setup, all built into one jobs. We were pretty poor, but my older brothers and sisters were hippies and always had records around like Led Zeppelin, and Elton John.
Yellow brick road was my moms favorite.
As a side they would make me play smoke on the water with a plastic kazoo
For entertainment.... Humiliating

 

This was the (National!) Panasonic 'music centre' I bought in 1979, just after I'd started work. It cost me £395. A phenomenal amount in those days. Actually, looking at this pic, it's not quite the same model, but all the controls are the exactly like mine.

This was, with0ut doubt, the best record player I ever had. It sounded amazing. It survives today even. Residing in my dad's garage. The cassette and record deck no longer work, but the radio is fine.