The first stereo you personally owned?

Dinatron (or maybe Dynatron) MD 300VM, I think. Made in Japan in the 70s, I believe.

 

Parents were Fisher fans, so rocked a Fisher boombox in my bedroom in the early 80s, benefited from my college roommate's Carver/Klipsch setup, but the first stereo I bought with my own $$ after college graduation and landing a first job in 1989 was my 'dream' system:

Onkyo TX-840 receiver, Onkyo TA-2200 single cassette deck, Onkyo DX-1700 CD player and a pair of JBL2600s. Financed and I was so proud. 'Hi Fi'! Brand! Synergy! Sigh....

All but the JBLs are long gone (still in a guest room but probably headed out this year), but I stuck with various Onkyo iterations through about 2012.

 

In 1974 I owned :
1 x Pioneer Amp
1 x Teac Compumatic Cassette Deck.
1 x Dual turntable (with Ortofon cart.)
1 pr x Jorgen speakers.

 

I’ve had hand me downs from my grandfather who is the closest to another audiophile in my family. Mostly older late 60’s/ 70’s joe average consumer stuff. When I was in college a got a denom receiver and some boston acoustic tower speakers that I save up for with my job working at Rose Records (who in Chicago remembers them). My first piece of audiophile gear came from a co-worker, an NAD302o I got for $50 and was blown away.

 

My first Stereo was (is!) a Sanyo. Turntable TPX3 - Amplifier A 10 - Tuner T 10 L - Cassette Deck D 10. My father gave it to me in 1983.
I still listen to it, it goes very well.

 

When I was probably 12, I got this Yorx integrated system with a front-loading turntable. It sounded like crap and I think I knew it almost immediately. Anemic amplifier and cheap speakers with a single driver.


Soon thereafter I bought a JVC boombox with detachable speakers that sounded much better.


Replaced both with a Fisher rack system within a few years, which was also my first CD player.

 

In 1972

Lafayette Integrated 50 watt (do not remember the model, but it was very nice and well built)
AR. XA turntable with Pickering cart.
Sony TC 353 R2R
homegrown speakers later replaced in 1976 with Dynaco A 25

 

My first stereo was some kind flip down turntable with built in speakers, white, probably a GE IIRC. I was probably about 7 or 8 when I got that. By the time I was 12, it was some type of Sony integrated amp with a cassette player built in. When I was 16, I got my first "real" stereo. A friend of an elder sibling of my best friend was selling his Dynakit Stereo 70 and Dynaco PAS-3X tube preamp. Both for $100.
I thought I died and went to heaven. By then I had a Dual 1226 and a TEAC A-450 cassette deck, with some Marantz speakers (can't remember model). Shortly thereafter, I replaced the Marantz with some Altec Model Nine 3-ways. Not a bad system for a 17 year old.

 

Great posts here!

My first real stereo that I owned was around 1982 when I was 13. It was a Technics SL-5 turntable, a mid-line Sony quartz/digital-tuner receiver, I think the SL-V5, and a pair of Boston Acoustics A40 speakers. (I think I had a pair of Radio Shack speakers before that, but I have no idea what model - they were nondescript bookshelf units, not in the Minimus line).

I also had a Teac A-660 cassette deck my father had given me, and I think some kind of ADC 10-band EQ, but I don't recall the exact brand or model.

Later, in early 1985, I added a Technics SL-P7 CD player. Man I loved that thing!

 

Back then I judged Cassette decks by how loud a “click” was recorded onto the tape when hitting pause while changing records to record. The Sharp deck I had ( model 1155 or something like that) was real Clicky when pausing. After a couple more decks, I finally got a Teac and no click at all.

 

Kenwood KR1000
Akia Cassette Deck
Dual TT
Bose 901

 

Garrard GT-10 Turntable
Pickering Cartridge
Heathkit AA-32 Integrated
Lafayette Mono Tube Tuner
Wald Speakers

Not bad for a 12 year old. I paid $12 for the amp and tuner from a neighbor up the street. The amp chewed through 6GW8 output tubes and I finally replaced the amp and tuner with a Pioneer SX-550 receiver. Honestly didn't sound as good, but it was reliable.

Yes, I still remember the tube type. I bought that many.

Four decades and I'm back to a tube integrated.

 

I had a Hitachi HTA-3000 receiver, with digital display. Got it at the late lamented Tech-Hi Fi in Huntington NY.

Can’t remember the speakers I had, probably Radio Shack.....

 

My Dad owned a similar system back in 1960. His amp was the Eico HF-81 with a pair of Jensen 2 ways, along with the Garrard Type A. My first experience of hearing stereo records being played was on that system.

Over the years I put together almost the same system consisting of an Eico HF-81, Type A and a pair of new Klipsch RB-81's. Wish I still had my Dad's original gear, but that is sadly long gone. Great to hear original 50's-60's vinyl played on this system.

 

Great!!

 

I still have my original AR 2ax speakers purchased in 1970s. Yeah, I am old, too, but got to listen to great music, imho.

 

Sansui sr222 mk2 turntable
Jvc Ja s11 amplifier
Wharfedale shelton speakers
Cartridge,, ortofon vms20

I really loved it at the time,, 1979

 

I got a suitcase style portable stereo with turntable, AM/FM radio and two detachable speakers from an aunt when I graduated from high school, in 1969. I got a lot of use out if it. A little googling tells me that it was probably a Magnavox. Pic is from circa 1971 and the speakers are on the floor, not in view.

 

Mid 70's. Pioneer SX 434 receiver....Sansui FR 1080 turntable....EPI 50 speakers. Of course I thought it sounded great...lol.

I used to love those lil speakers with the Burhoe tweeter. I still have the Pioneer receiver...it sounds great powering some very small Wharfdale Diamonds in a spare bedroom. The turntable was meh... probably used a cheap Pickering cart in it.

 

Marantz 2216b receiver + Marantz TT (can’t remember specifics), Utah speakers, and a new membership with Columbia Record Club.

Bliss

 

When I was 9 or 10; I had this scrappy record player (portable, looked similar to a Samsonite suitcase), I bought at a flea market with a little scratch I made on the farm. I can't remember the brand name; but it didn't last.
My cousin Mike gave me a "hand-me-down" Capehart record player/stereo receiver with a couple of beat-up XLH cloth grill speakers.
I thought that Capehart was the greatest thing I listened to, and owned!
Mom didn't like it very much; she threatened to throw it out the window a few times! LOL!
Good memories!

 

My first stereo was a Christmas gift in 1965. One of those Sears models that was a closed up rectangle. You swung open the speakers and then folded down the turntable. The first LP I played was Rubber Soul, also a Christmas present that same year.
Everyone I knew had something similar...high fidelity wasn't part of our world.
In 1969, my parents bought me a Zenith "Circle of Sound". It was quite a step up, it even came with a set of Zenith headphones, because the unit had a headphone jack!!
I had that for a number of years and gave it to a friend when I bought myself a stereo in 1972.
The first stereo I bought for myself was a pretty beefy Kenwood receiver, a Dual 1219 turntable and a pair of AR 2ax speakers. It served me well until the mid 80's.

 

Fidelity UA9 - a radio tape turntable thing.

Edited - it was a UA4 and didn't have a radio or tape!

 

As best I recall: Garrard turntable (can't remember what model, or what cartridge), Fisher X-101 tube integrated amp, ADC 303AX (I think) speakers. Later on I built a Scott LT-110B tuner.

 

I had an all in one compact as a kid. Then in high school Dual 505, Marantz 2230 and Marantz two way speakers.