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

My Grandfather had Quad electrostatic speakers and Quad tuner and amp. Can't remember what turntable, but I think Goldring. He always wanted an LP12 but I can't recall if he actually got one.
When we visited I would take over my latest LP and we would sit and listen with my Dad and my Uncle.
I still remember how incredible Tommy by The Who sounded.
My mother and grandmother came home from shopping, and said Tommy cpuld be heard 'from the end of the street.'

 

Actually, yes it did. He bought it all while in the Army. Polk Audio SDA SRS 2.3's, DBX amp, DBX preamp, DBX 10/20 EQ, DBX cd player, and a DBX dynamic range expander?

 

In a way, yes. He was a DJ with lots of gear so I grew up knowing about amps, speakers and turntables from a very young age.

When I was 10 I asked for the same hi fi he had for Christmas, which was a Waltham ST50, an Irish one I believe.

 

My Dad's system, in particular his 70s era Pioneer receiver, shaped my expectations for what a well-made component should feel like. Those solid knobs and buttons with no slop, those beautiful meters and tuners, the wood sides, and that tank-like heft were gorgeous. Now I realize what a respite it surely was for my Dad to turn on the components, put on a record or reel-to-reel tape, adjust whatever settings needed to be adjusted, and sit back and enjoy his music. I don't remember being blown away by the sound (he wasn't an audiophile), but definitely enjoyed the overall experience.

 

Yup. Audio Research amps driving Maggies, fed with a Linn Sondek (purchased new in '82, and still going strong). He's old school - still hasn't forgiven me for integrating a sub into my system - but I set him up with AirPlay streaming lossless files, and he's loving it.

 

I spent the most time with my dad's 70's Realistic setup, but what got me into HiFi was my uncle's more modern late-80's Sony ES gear and the Crutchfield catalogs he ordered them from.

Bill

 

Yes it did.

Sherwood S7100A receiver
Superscope CD-301A tape deck
Home built speakers

Later added an early model Sony cd player. Loved it.

 

Big Time! In 1960 my parents bought a Phillips console that had electrostatic, free standing, satellites. and a 12" in the cabinet. Tube powered. I remember listening to Beatles '65 the day it came out, on that system. In about 1972 it stopped working, and no one could fix it. The cab was a beautiful cherry wood early american style. In '74 I removed the electronics and installed an Onkio receiver, Dual turntable. and Bose 901s. They (my parents), loved it!

I've never found anyone who knows anything about this particular system. I think Phillips was part of Ford, and not the Phillips of Holland?

 

I am the dad who had the equipment that should have been a role model for my children. Unfortunately, none of my three children have really been into buying audio equipment. My two older children in their 40s are daughters, and as a rule women aren't into audio equipment like men. My son is 28, and a product of digital downloads and hearing music on his iPhone. He is also a struggling to make a living as a photographer, so he doesn't have a lot of disposable income to spend on much equipment at this time.

 

It was my step-father. My earliest memory of his house was with two refrigerator sized speakers flanking the fireplace with Dave Brubeck on the turntable and the whole thing sounded like the quartet was right in the room with us. The Bozak speakers, if I remember correctly, were driven by McIntosh electronics and a Dual turntable.

Every time I play my vinyl reissue of "Time Out," I fondly remember those days almost fifty years ago.

Miss you, Larry.

 

My friends dad got me into it. He was the first to teach me about stereo components. Took me to Lafayette where I purchased a Dual 1219, a 40 Watt Lafayette Amp, and Lafayette speakers.
Little did he know he was setting me up for an ongoing lifetime of enjoyment.

 

100%. Dad had a hifi system and constantly played music on it from the day I came home from the hospital. Hifi was just the way music was supposed to sound and anything else was a let down.

 

My dad had nothing to do with me getting into Hi-Fi but this is one of my all time favorite threads. Love the stories.

 

My parents system was a Soundesign all in one set up. The speakers were separate though. The system had the TT, 8-track player, cassette player, am/fm tuner.
It was set up in the forbidden living room so I never really used it for anything.
My dad, and his dad, built a pair of nice, amplified, speakers for Grandpa to use with his TV. I thought that was neat.
Otherwise my dad really had little to do with my audio addiction. He did have a nice LP collection, which is now mine.

 

Most definitely.

Garrard first, now, Technics turntables
Shure & Grado first, now, Stanton carts
Fisher first, now, Yamaha integrateds and matching tuners
Magnecord first, now, Teac open reel decks
crappy portable to a 3 head Dobly & dbx cassette deck (Teac?)
University Medallions first, now, Definitive Technology towers w/ built in subs
Koss first, now, AKG cans
over 300 "pop" LPs and over 100 "classical" LPs (by the time I hit high school)

I used his gear more then he did and to his credit... he let me; because, he taught me the rituals well before I hit double digits. And, probably, because he knew he'd never be able to keep me from it. The chit he had in his record collection was just too good... Bird, Trane, Miles, Dizzy, Dylan, CSN&Y, Janis, Jimi, Joni, Atkins, Ashkenazy, EW&F, RTF, B.T. Express, Stones, Steppenwolf, Stanley Clarke... on and on it went. How the hell is someone not supposed to listen to all that??? ...when it's calling your name from the living room... every dang day of your youth???

[If you're listening, Pop, I'm raisin' a glass to you.]

 

Yes. It was so bad I knew there must be something better.

 

You betcha. Always fun to sneak downstairs and crank Pyromania on the house Hi-Fi. An experience just short of being allowed to hook up the Atari to the color TV for a night.

 

Yes, it's all his fault!

Garrard SP25 Mk IV turntable with Goldring cart
Amstrad IC 2000 Mk II amp (oh the horror)
Terrible top loading cassette deck with VU meters, think it might have been an Alba.
Rotel tuner that I can't remember much about, other than it was the only component that still worked without issues by the mid 80's.

Spring '77, I'd just bought the "Sunny" 45 by Boney M.

This was one of those rare occasions that my dad liked one of my records, so he asked if I'd like to hear it on the 'system that must not be touched'. I sat there mesmerised as the intro panned from right to left and back again, first time I'd experienced it in hi-fi stereo. From that day on I started saving my pocket money, shoe polishing, grass cutting, household chores, any old odd jobs for relatives & neighbours just to get some cash.

After a couple of false starts with a ropey all-in-one music centres that thankfully broke down before the warranty was up, I eventually managed to piece together my first system of separate components at the end of '82.

Sony PS-X600 turntable with Shure M95ED cart
Rotel RA-820 amp
Aiwa cassette deck
Goodmans speakers

My dad and What Hi-Fi magazine have a lot to answer for.

 

I was introduced to electronics both through my Dad's ham radio set (I still remember his call letters) and his Hi-Fi stuff which included HeathKit components, Garrard turntable and AR speakers among others. I really liked his Realistic rig (yeah I know, Radio Shack, but I was like 9 years old so what did I know) because it had a built in tuner and matching speakers that weren't physically connected like my suitcase style record player with speakers that were on hinges but could be removed for more separation. There of course was not a tuner for either AM or FM and at the time I was really into listening to the two hot stations in the Twin Cities (1130 AM WDJY, and KDWB 'station 63' 630 AM). My folks got divorced at about that time and a transistor radio was the total of my music rig for many years. I still use equipment I got used and have only recently bought some new (or refurbished) pieces to update my system. I am finally at a point where I can afford to buy a piece here and there to slowly get both my HT and my 2.0 set-ups where I want them.

 

Kinda sorta. When I was a little kid in the 70s my dad had a big Fisher console (it was HUGE) with built-in speakers, a turntable, receiver and tape deck. One by one the components inside stopped working so a new stereo was placed on top. This consisted of an Akai receiver, a Panasonic tape deck with digital meters (which I loved to watch!) and a Garrard turntable (which I only found out later spun a bit too fast). Eventually the built-in Fisher speakers were replaced by some locally made tower speakers that had a separate enclosure for every driver. He bought them used - $800 - from my best-friend's uncle, who was an audiophile. That seemed liked an incredible amount of money when I was a teenager in the 80s.

I thought that system was awesome - until I heard a McIntosh tube amp driving Quad ESL-63s - which was owned by a high school friend! Who bought this system using pizza delivery money. That was the big stereo game changer for me.

 

Definitely! My Dad was always into gear to play music, usually to hear the Johnny Cash, Webb Pierce, Marty Robbins, etc. records he had. We started with a huge Magnavox tube console that had the sliding tops, AM/FM radio, storage for records, and the auto changer had the cartridge to use for 45s!

Then, with that one being moved to the back room of the hobby shop we owned for years, my Dad then went with a tube Fisher receiver, BIC turntable (which, despite some opinions, worked beautifully with the stylus my Dad got for it!) and Fisher speakers. I just remember music sounding so much bigger through that setup!

It was comparing that system with what I had in my bedroom at the time that had me discovering how big a difference a system can make in the ability to hear certain things in music. I had always enjoyed the music no matter what it was played on, but the clarity and being able to detect certain nuances was something different altogether.

 

100% YES!!!

 

No

 

Really none.....he did get a Fisher 200 receiver, custom made speakers, and Dual 1019 Turntable whilst I was in high school but the Zombies, Beatles, Dave Clark 5, and Beach Boys had already lit a fire under me. I got my own stereo with money I earned working the summer of '71 that sounded better to me. I didn't like my dad's speakers. I got Dynaco A 35's and Dynaco Stereo 70, and Dynaco pre. Later, I got a Scott tuner at a pawn shop. I had to get headphones too....my parents hated what I played! My dad was a classical snob. All other music was pond scum, to him.

 

Yes indeed. My dad was a professor of piano and music history. In his office he had a mono hi-fi system left over from his bachelor days: AR turntable, Bogen integrated amp, AR-1 speaker.

While I was interested in that, what really captivated me was the system my uncle passed along to our family in the early 70s: Harman Kardon SR-600 receiver, Dual 1009 turntable, and unusual Harman Kardon speakers designed by Richard Shahinian. The speaker design had a rear-firing woofer, with the tweeter and midrange mounted on an angled top plate, similar to Shahinian's later designs. On that system I learned to play records and enjoy FM.

But the biggest thing that made me love audio happened in 1978 when I was 11. Dad brought home a Pioneer CT-F900 cassette deck. Fluoroscan meters! Big silver knobs! Making my own recordings! I was totally hooked from that point on.

Right now in my own office I have a Bogen stereo tube amp, Dual 1009 turntable, and Pioneer CT-F900 cassette deck. I listen to music every day and think of my dad. And I think he would really enjoy listening to my more serious system at home.