Did your dad's system get you into Hi-Fi?

My dad, who passed away three weeks ago, had a Fisher (tube) FM tuner and a Gerrard turntable. His speakers weren't great, but he did get me and my brother into music.

 

Most certainly, My dad started with a 1952 Motorola Hi-Fi Record Player that was given to him by my grandfather. When I was three or four, he purchased a Wollensak 5730 Reel to Reel. I could not stop watching those reels go round and round. In the 70's he purchased a then nice Fisher system, Speakers, 30w Receiver, Turntable and 3 Head Cassette Deck. He told me I was not allowed to touch it as I loved playing with this stuff. He passed away 3 years ago, but I still own all of that equipment and play it occasionally.

 

in the span of a solid ten years, (2000/PRESENT)
and several intermediary steps, i moved from my dad's system,
handed down to me;














-to my current system, completely divorced from my first,
and consisting almost completely of personal dream components
of very specific brand and model;

















VSX-D1S TOTL 130w/ch. A/V Stereo Receiver (1990/1993)
PD-91 Reference Compact Disc Player (1988/1990) (upgraded with parts from a PD-3000, the JPN market version)
PD-M90X Reference Multi-Play CD Player (1987/1989) (the very first REFERENCE/ELITE multi-play CDP)
CT-S800 (1988/1990) full-featured TOTL Single-Well LaserAmorphous-Head cassette deck, with casted-iron transformer
DV-09 Reference DVD Player (1998/2000)
CLD-3030 TOTL Compatible Laser Disc Player (1988/1989)
GR-777 Ten Band Stereo Graphic Equalizer (1988/199?) (TOTL remote controllable EQ with dual spectrum display)
CS-G503 Four-Way Stereo Loudspeaker System (199?)
SE-305 Stereo Headphones (1974)
CU-AV100 Programmable Remote Control Unit (1987/1989)
CU-AV200 Programmable Remote Control Unit (1989/1993)
CU-AV70 Programmable Remote Control Unit (1989/1991)
MR-100 Multi-Room IR Receiver (1989/199?)
CU-MR100 Remote Control Unit (1989/199?)




HR-S8000U TOTL S-VHS VCR with Digital FX (1988/1990)
RM-S1 LCD Touch Panel Programmable Remote Control Unit (1988/19??)



MIRACORD 46 Idler Drive 33/45/78 speed Stereo Turntable (1970) with ADC VLM Mk.II Cartridge/Styli (197?)

 

Cool Mac, ya still got that Sankyo STD-1700? Gotta love the model number STD Hehe

Sankyo made some very nice transports back in the day...

 

My Dad had a stereo built into a wall unit. It sported a tube amplifier, slide-out turntable (Garrard?) and custom speakers. Sounded great and packed a punch especially compared to the portable in my room.

Since we had a stereo in the 60s I bought stereo albums whenever possible and now that mono mixes are all the rage I come up short.

My Dad's love of vocal groups like The Letterman no doubt influenced my later fascination with The Beach Boys.

 

LOL, lessons learned - early stereo and CD digital were both Killians "BRILLIANT" when the first came out

 

sad to hear that you had to let go of that vintage console system of your childhood, Stu...

anyway, no, i don't have that SANKYO any longer,
nor any other piece of my original system...

 

My Dad an old Pye 'radiogram' all-in-one when I was growing up. You could stack up records on it and it would drop them down one by one and play them. He got rid of it a few years ago.

It wasn't an audiophile piece but I loved it. I've only seen one piece in anyways similar here in the US; $475 in a 2nd hand store. Yikes.

 

Ummmmm, yes, in a strange way

Dad's system was an all in one Sears am/fm/record changer with built in speakers. I called it "no -fi". I knew there had to be better, more realistic sounding audio out there. Come to think about it, that's still what I search for in gear.

 

My Grandfather. Back in the 60's early 70's all reference Marantz and McIntosh gear. I got Audiophile'd!!!

 

I guess so. We had a series of record playback devices that were by and large, pretty weak. One-piece mono systems with tubes—you could smell them operating as they spun Sinatra, Belafonte or Lena Horne. Later there were Solid State Stereos with drop-down turntables [more often than not Gerrard's] and swing-out speakers. One system like that was set in a bay window and gave me my first taste of "Stereo Imaging" on a Lou Rawls record. My father's later "Systems" were pretty much the in same price range, the sound quality of them getting worse and worse as time went by. The records he played left their impression, but his playback gear mainly helped to inspire me to get something better.

 

sorry about the quality... I found my dads 85' pioneer stereo when i was 11 and I've been hooked ever since.

 

@MacGyver That is a whole fleet of remotes!

My dad had a Magnavox console with television, turntable, and speakers all built in. A beautiful piece of furniture (don't recall the type of wood now), but it certainly passed the WAF factor back in the day!

While it likely wasn't audiophile by this forum's standards, the speakers sounded phenominal and could be cranked very loud. It certainly blew away my little portable tape player, transistor radio, and first Realistic "all in one" stereo!

 

My Dad never listened to music, only to sports on a radio, and he always had a cheap AM model.

 

In the early 70's my dad had a Sherwood receiver with a Dual turntable, I cannot recall what speakers he had. Our house was burglarized while we were at an Oakland A's game (Vida Blue was pitching) and his stereo was taken. He replaced it with a Sansui 5000x receiver, Sansui turntable, TEAC reel to reel and huge Sansui speakers. From that point on, I was hooked.

 

i found my dads pioneer sa-750 receiver from 85' when he got out of college. i also found his cabinet speakers radio and turntable for it

 

Yes. My Dad's system was a central part of growing up in our house. A Harman Kardon "Chorale" tube amp circa 1960 connected to a set of large Goodmans "16 0hm, 6&1/4 lb. magnet" speakers sat in the living room. I think he put the speakers together with stuff from Lafayette Radio Electronics. Hooked up to a Garrard turntable. From what I still have of his collection, there are no mono records to be found.

I grew up playing Disney and Colpix records on that Garrard. I had three older brothers and a sister, all at least nine years older and they had a wide range of musical tastes too. A typical week could result in a sessions with my Dad's Vikki Carr, my sister's Pete,rPaul & Mary, one brother's Meet The Beatles and another brother's Beach Boys LPs. This all before I was in first grade. Early to mid sixties.

I wrecked my first rock LPs on that Garrard too. Beatles Revolver (UK!) and the White album. The Harman Kardon amp is now sitting in my living room. It's not hooked up to anything, but it has an important place in my interest in music to this day.

 

My Dad had a mid range Scott receiver, Garrard changer and eight inch sound craftsman full range speakers. Sounded good to me then. Wish I had that old Scott today.

 

My granddad's, actually. My dad had a nice Sansui receiver and decent Sansui speakers, but always had a cheap cassette deck. Grandad got a big Technics receiver, Sansui turntable, Technics cassette deck, Teac reel to reel and Thiel loudspeakers. Even so, I listened to a lot of music on both of those systems.

 

All my dad cared for were firearms. He was into tango but never cared about sound Q. or records or gear. My mom OTOH had a nice Philips mid-fi system and let me use it. I remember how badly she wanted to upgrade to an AKAI hi-fi she kept checking at a downtown hi-fi store but my dad decided would be money down the drain (because HE would have no use for it)

I remember when I paired a nice receiver to a pair of kerrapy Technics speakers and she said they were OK but lacked ¨something¨, which she never specified.

She was into classical and was horrified when I started showing interest in heavy metal but always helped me with my gear and records purchases.

 

I learned the impact of music upon my sentimentality/emotions from my Dad but he was never big into HiFi but that's more because my mom was very much of the "Turn that $#!7 down!" persuasion. She was also an (admittedly) awful cook.

Funny since my two major passions in life are cooking and audio

 

Not my dad, he was satisfied with the AM radio, but a friend's dad back when I was about 10yo in the mid 70s. I was already right into music back then but we only had an AM radio, portable cassette player and a very cheap record player. Both my friend and I were into the Beatles and so was his dad. He had an impressive Hi Fi system with a large reel to reel machine as its pride and joy. I can't remember what brand the stereo components were but it surely sounded good. It always took me a while to listen to the same material on the cassette player when I got home.

 

No but, now that I'm a dad, I hope my system gets my kids into hi-fi! They do enjoy listening to it and they do tell me it sounds nice.

 

Good call! My 1-year old daughter likes watching her dad cook and we've had music on for almost her entire life. I wanted to make sure she was exposed to music of all genres and even at 1 year old she has "preferences" that catch her attention. Intro theme songs to TV shows, even. Whenever a song comes on during a show we have playing for her, she stops what she's doing and checks it out. It's honestly so frickin' cool And the fact that I can get her to fall asleep on my lap to Pantera or Tool? All the better!

 

Yes my dads system got me into the hobby. In the late 50's he built his own amp and preamp along with a tuner. He built the credenza to hold the equipment and records and then built the speakers, which were Klipsh corner horn style knock offs. It wasn't till I was older that I realized how special all this was. He also built our TV's. Including one he built into a wall in 1966, sort of the first flat screen. My dad always had something up his sleeve.