AR-XA, brand new in 1973 with the new Shure V-15 III. The turntable is long gone but I still love the Shure V-15 III cartridge. I had owned record players with detachable speakers before that but the AR was my first "real" turntable.
Sansui P50 : My dad had promised me a used car if I graduated from high school. He told me he was kinda broke, and offered something cheaper instead, so I immediately said '' an audio system'' ! so I for sprung for an amp, speakers, cassette deck and TT, and my dad remember my granny had given me a boombox, so he said I'd have to settle for amp and speakers, which I ''could connect my boombox to'', which of course sounded horrible, so a friend got me this TT from a musician friend of his, in great condition for some u$ 50 (1980). Sounded wonderful ! I bought some bargain bin records to get started : The Kinks-Low Budget (ironic, innit ?) Rush-Permanent Waves.Ted Nugent-Weekend Warriors.
That was mine? Some Fisher-Price suitcase thing, in the ‘90s. In the house, in the ‘80s, we had an all-in-one stereo thing, but I could not possibly identify the brand.
In the '60s, our family had an enormous RCA Victor color TV/stereo hifi console. I also recall there being in the family a '60s GE stereo suitcase portable with a fold-down record changer and detachable speakers, probably something that my older brothers were given. My first personal record player (early '70s) was a plastic, green, portable mono player. After that, I had a BSR record-grinder (hooked up to what, I do not recall). Around '77 or '78, I got my first reasonably good hifi, including a brand new BIC 960 turntable, which I used until around 1983 or so, when it stopped working. I replaced that with a gently used Technics direct drive, which at the time felt like trading up from a Le Car to a Corvette.
I purchased my first turntable my freshman year of college during the fall of 1979 and sold it during the spring of 2017. I bought it used for $295 at a stereo store in Fort Wayne, IN. I loved the suspended design, the ease of use, the light racking arm/cartridge and the sleek Danish Modern look. I ran it with a Marantz 1030 integrated amp and a pair of Infinity Qb speakers. Here it is with some of my favorite albums I bought my freshman year: And a couple "action shots" from 2013:
This sounded remarkably good, for what it was (and looked cool). It was what my family had when I was a kid, and when I got into hifi at age 11.
Dang I don't remember, I was like 13 my dad bought me some all in one unit from Leo's Stereo also had a 8-track player/recorder........Or maybe it was from Monkey Wards, I don't 'member, I've slept since then.
I had a Garrard something like this one in the 70's. The base was just made of plastic. it might have been a lower model than this one but looked similar.
Think I might have had one of those. If I remember correctly it was super microphonic so didn’t hang around too long.
Clearly you had the deluxe model for the grown ups, not the entry level one for the kids: Makes sense, since that is clearly an original Blue Note first pressing on your table, not some later re-issue.
Some kind of close-and-play that my grandparents gave me circa 1965 on which I played such monster hits as Tubby The Tuba, and Peter And The Wolf. My first real turntable was some Garrard sold under the Heathkit brand that my father handed down around 1968. First one I ever bought with my own money was a Dual DD in 1975. JohnK
Entry-level Garard, right off the shelf at Radio Shack, back in 1973. Similar to Post #29. My fourth hi-fi purchase with my Dilly-dipping money, after my Pioneer receiver, a used pair of Utah speakers, and Koss headphones. My father, hoping to keep me from blowing all my dough in fancy-dancy stereo toys, did an end-run around me couple of years earlier, by surprising me with this for Christmas: It actually pushed me into getting my first real job in Sophomore Year, to push that mustard-colored atrocity out of my life. I kept upgrading piece-by-piece, and finally had a complete system I could be satisfied with two years out of college. (But by then, the record collection itself was already out of control! )
My story is very similar! I got a GE Mustang "all-in-one" like yours for Christmas and a few years later bought my first separates at Lafayette Radio which included a Garrard 40B and a Shure cartridge.
Garrard Model 30 turntable. My Dad bought it for me along with an Allied receiver and speakers in 1969. This was my first real stereo system.
I think it was an RCA suitcase player. Iwas in fifth or sixth grade. It had one of those stylus that you needed to flip over for LP/78. My dad had a Philco stereo that used also.
I've never had a record player before until one day, several years ago, just before vinyl was making its big comeback, my girlfriend and I went out for a walk and we found a kids Fisher Price record player on the curb. On a lark, I took it home with me and tested it out with a beat up old Mitch Ryder record that someone left in our basement. I was REALLY surprised how good it sounded on that plastic toy! I got the bug then and there, and purchased a Denon DP-790. Here I am years later, still in love with the format!