What Was Your First Setup?

[John Kotches]

First "audiophile" setup was a Hafler preamp and amp with KEF 104.2 speakers.

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[Rey]

i had an old fisher with an 8 track player. had the old backlit needles . it sounded pretty good to me......

 

[Ramy]

I had a Technics Dolby Pro Logic surround receiver and just a bunch of mismatch speakers I found.

 

[Kevinw]

Just repurchased my first setup Haman Kardon 430 Twin Power receiver and DLK 1 speakers

 

[riffjim4069]

First "real" setup was a Yamaha M-70 amp, C-70 control amp, and T-70 tuner that I purchased overseas in '82. They blew-out a pair of Marantz tower speakers so I picked up a pair of JBL Studio Monitors. Lesson Learned: don't play Ozzy and Judas Priest on Jazz speakers. Also picked-up a Teac "remote control" cassette player, top-notch turntable (don't recall the brand) and DBX equalizer and noise reduction components. I remember the "remote" consisting of a plastic touchpad attached to a 30ft. cable...and I was as happy as a pig in slop controlling the cassette player while paying in bed. Anyway, I still have the Yamaha amp and it works as well as the day I purchased 'em.

Yamaha M-70 Amplifier Yamaha Natural Sound Power Amp Performs A+ Nice Condition | eBay

 

[gadgtfreek]

My first setup was a Sony HTiB in 2003. First "real" setup was Polk Monitor series and an Onkyo AVR in 2008. I consider what I have now a "real" setup though.

 

[dfergie]

First "audiophile" setup was a Hafler preamp and amp with KEF 104.2 speakers.

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I need to see if my Hafler can be repaired... slightly off topic, in my storage the other day I ran across Stereo Review magazines from the 80's

 

[riffjim4069]

For those growing-up in the '70...who here didn't have something like this in their bedroom?

Panasonic SE-2600 Vintage HIFI Stereo Record & 8 Track | eBay

 

[MarkVA]

What a time warp! I was also in college in the 70s and it's downright scary how very similar my first set-up was to a lot of other posters:

Sherwood stereo receiver -- #1 rated in Consumer reports back then, as I recall
Pioneer Dual cassette deck -- don't remember why. I guess I wanted to make copies or something
DSR Belt-drive turntable with a strobe disc to precisely calibrate the speed
Teac 2300S real-to-real deck
AR-6 speakers -- the cabinets were unfinished, so I had fun staining them.

When I was assigned to the UK (USAF) in the mid-1980s, I bought 50Hz conversion kits for the Teac and turntable: larger spindles, different size belts, etc.

My first full-size TV was a 1979-vintage MGA with digital tuning. I still have it and it still works. It's hooked up to a converter box and is in front of our treadmill. At the same time, I bought one of the first Panasonic "top-loader" VCRs, because I wanted to tape the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. I still have the tapes somewhere, including the entire set of hockey games. In 1979, the VCR cost ~$500 and each 2-hour VHS take cost ~$10.

I still have everything except for the VCR. I even replaced the woofers in the AR-6s several years ago.

 

[mr_tv]

Kit built 3 ways bought while living in England. Warfdale put out the kit. Put it together when I got back to the US. Garrard turntable also from England. Got home and bought a Kenwood integrated amp. Can't recall the model but it only had 25 watts per channel. Had system for quite awhile. Eventually bought a cassette deck from Ampex. The Ampex was the weak point of the system. Otherwise I thought it sounded pretty good.

 

[dfergie]

Ok, how many of you used cinderblocks for your early setup shelfs etc... (guilty, along with 2" x 12" 's)

 

[ripnbigc]

+1

 

[tnsprin]

I guess my first seperates, as opposed the old cheap record player, was
A Lafayette RECEVER (i think it was a lr1000)
AR 4x Speakers
and Garrard tuntable with a Shure cartridge