The first stereo you personally owned?

My first stereo system purchased by me was assembled in two phases.

My first job out of high school was working at Sears during the Christmas season. When Sears laid me off after the holidays had passed I jumped to a clothing store for a few months. I was able to earn/save enough money to put together a headphone-based system which included a Technics turntable w/Shure cart., Sanyo cassette deck, Marantz 1090 integrated amp and Koss Pro 4AAA headphones.

That was my system for about eighteen months. I then added a pair of Technics SBL 300 loudspeakers and an MXR equalizer.

 

Panasonic SA-AK12

 

Heck, I forgot I had a Yamaha K720 cassette deck too.

 

Thank you Dad!
Equipment circa 1972-1974 (we were an 8 track family!)

Craig 3223:


Xonet ET 547:

 

My first attempt at "hi-fi" in 1980:

Technics SA 400


Dual CS 1257


Marantz 1810


Ohm L


Koss HV1a

 

In the final analysis it's only an "attempt" if there is no success. I think you did quite well, and so it is more than an attempt. An enviable achievement by my reckoning-- or it certainly would have been in the estimation of any of my 20-something friends in 1980!

 

First stereo owned:

EICO ST40
Garrard Type A
University 2 way speakers.

I still own it!!

 

A portable 70's Sanyo Job bought off the next door neighbor for $20 AUD (in the 70's!)

To play a 12" 33 1/3 rpm disc the lid had to be left up and IF it fell whilst playing.....#*&@#^*

Had 2 seperate imitation wood panelled bookshelf speakers which sounded great in my tiny bedroom.

Could i be retrospectively incarcerated for admitting playing a Neil Diamond 45 six times in a row whilst still under 10?

 

High school graduation present (1971). Dad asked what kind of watch I wanted and I replied that a nice turntable and speakers like my friend's brother had recently gotten was my dream and that maybe we could split the cost. He said "sure" and I was in heaven.

It was a Magnavox system with table built on what I guess one would call an integrated amp, and wood speakers with a "tasteful" fabric cover, maybe 7 x 15" and 5-6" deep. Not the loudest or lowest, of course, but leagues over my and my friend's 's record players and their parents' consoles. Man, oh man, speakers that could be 10 feet apart! The boys were envious.

Of course, when I hit Iowa City in the fall, I discovered that my prize setup wasn't exactly state of the art, though it still received compliments in the next few years "for what it was". And once I stopped using the changer feature and changed needles regularly, it and the Disc Washer took amazingly good care of my albums.

I sold it for $20 at a garage sale in 1992 and got a CD-based system from that famous high-end company known as DAK.

This was the turntable part of the system, but those aren't the speakers. The wires were attached to the speakers and hooked up to the table via thin little spades.

 

My uncle's Magnavox looked a lot like this one. The speakers were different, though - narrower and with a fabric that had green and yellow in it.

 

The first STEREO was an Electrophonic console with 8 Track recorder. However, my parents purchased me a new Pioneer sx680, Pioneer PL512 TT with Empire cartridge, A 2 year old Sharp cassette deck and a set of Fisher speakers with 8 inch woofers. I had the loudest and best system of all my friends by far.

 

That's pretty nice....even today. I'd be happy with that equipment, for sure.

 

I had a couple of mono record players before my dad got me my first stereo set up for my birthday. It was a used Motorola player. It was semi-portable. I say semi because it weighed about 50 pounds. It folded up into a big block. Had the standard 4-speed auto changer, a tube amp built in, actual bass and treble tone controls and two detachable speakers with a center speaker so it was really a three speaker system. It sounded terrific and I used that stereo for many years. The tone arm left much to be desired and had to be kind of heavy. I remember putting on one of those really soft flexible RCA albums once and when the side was done playing, there were shards of vinyl stuck to the needle. Ouch!

Here's a drawing. I couldn't find an actual photo of the player.

 

My grandparents gifted my first stereo when I was 10, back in the early 7os.
Sylvania Exponent 40/20, semi-portable with amp, record changer, and AUX input.
I had a tuner connected to the AUX.
Believe it or not, the speakers are still in service, used in the garage!
And I still have my original "One More From The Road" LP that got worn out on this rig.

"Borrowed" pic off the 'net:

 

First proper system was Quadraphonic

 

It was a Toshiba portable hybrid (two tubes) that I bought from a German sailor on a Swedish ship in 1968. Being made for the Japanese market, the motor was made to run at 50 hz, and ran faster on US 60hz power. It was like an elongated briefcase, red and white.

 

Put this system together while in HS-

Technics SA-101 receiver
Technics SL-B1 TT w/Grado cart, later upgraded to Stanton 681EEE
Toshiba PC-G2 cassette deck
AR-18s
Cheap interconnects and 18ga zip cord for speaker wire
Headphones, can't recall

Decent sound for not much $. Most expensive were the AR's at about 200/pr.

 

I bought Marantz component system in the early 80's. Cost me $3,000, which I don't have to tell you was a lot of money back then...

 

Christmas 1976:
Garrard TT
Pioneer amp
KLH speakers
Heaven!

 

Mine was a mono:

 

Then after a few years I bought my first stereo:
Dual 1229 w/empire cartridge
Sherwood S7900A receiver
DLK-3 Speakers

 

I had one of these too...

 

Nice. Voice of Music...562?

 

They look like dual hairdryers