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What were your humble beginnings on the path to high end audio?

Recently there has been a discussion as to the “price point where mid fi tops out and hi end systems begin”. I’d be willing to bet that there are not many folks who started out in this field of interest spending $100K, $50K or even $10K. Going back to your very beginnings, what was your first serious audio system?

I’ll jump in the wayback machine with Mr. Peabody and Sherman and give you a look at my beginnings.

My journey began at around age 13. I started out with a Lafayette KT-630, stereo tube amp that I built from a kit in my 9th grade, “electronics shop” class. The speakers were built at home from plans in the 1968, July issue of Mechanix Illustrated. I upgraded the cabinet construction from plywood, to solid mahogany. The twin woofers in each cabinet were also upgraded to 5” from the specified 4” units and the tweeters were also upgraded from the specified 2-3/4” units to the deluxe 3” units. The inductors in the 6db per octave passive crossovers were hand wound and the caps, terminal strips, L-pads, magnet wire and grill cloth were from Lafayette Radio Electronics as were the woofers and tweeters. The turntable was a purchased Garrard SL72B with a Shure M91E magnetic cartridge.

Check out the amp specifications on page 42 of the Lafayette 1968 summer catalog #648.
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Allied-Catalogs/Lafayette-1968-Summer.pdf

The raw speakers are shown on page 55 of the Lafayette 1971 catalog #710. Woofers, 99-F-01554, figure D. Tweeters were at the bottom of page 55, 99-F-00499. The Garrard SL72B is on page 69 of the same catalog.
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Consumer/Lafayette-1971.pdf

I still have the speaker systems and the amp and they all still work! Alas the SL72B is long since gone. I mowed a lot of grass and shoveled a lot of snow in the neighborhood to buy all that high end gear at age 13! :-D By todays standards, not very impressive, but to a 13 year old in 1968, it was awesome!

So to reiterate, what was your first serious audio system?

P.S. - If you are interested, check out some select old Lafayette, Allied Radio, Heathkit, Radio Shack, Olson and other old catalogs from what I think of as the “good old days” of electronics and my youth.
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Electronics_Catalogs.htm

vintage_heath
vj
2 posts
 
Cica 1969..
Marantz 1060 Integrated Amp..Dynaco A25, & JBL Studio MonitorsEmpire Troubadour Turntable w/ Shure Pickup..TEAC Reel to Reel..Sansui RA-500 Reverberation Amp.. Sennheiser  Open Air HD414 Headphones


Had summer jobs to pay for all.. sure sounded good especially the open reel.those were the days...
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
While I was still in the womb, MY Mother had dreams of giant loudspeakers....
Ag insider logo xs@2x
mwh777
2 posts
 
First stereo in the family was a Curtis Mathes (I think) from the late 1950's console era but, was a two box affair with the turntable, controls, left channel amplification and left side speakers in one box and the right channel amplification and speakers in the other box connected via a long interconnect.

My first stereo system was a Kenwood receiver, Dual 1219 table and a pair of Sansui speakers.

My first "hi-end" system was an Audio Research SP-7 preamp, an Audire Forte amp, a Linn LP-12 table and a Pair of Phase Research RT tower speakers.
meiatflask
58 posts
 
As a teenager in the 70s, I started with mid fi stuff, but purchased a Advent 300 (Tom Holman) reciever and Rogers LS3/5a speakers. I read the Audio Critic, and was fortunate to have local dealers for both of these products so I could audition.

I got the smaller bang and olufsen turntable (replacing a dual) which had a special suspension that you could not scratch the records. Great for around siblings and friends who were ignorant.

the great thing with the advent 300, was that you could split off the preamp, so you could add an amp. I started with a Marantz 8, which I paid $200 for and sold for $175 when I needed cash for college. Damn thing would have been worth a bundle today.  Then dynaco st70, Conrad johnson mv45 later in college,  then upgraded to better preamp and turntable once I was out of school and earning money.

i remember paying $495 for the Rogers back in 1976.  Finally sold them for $2500 around 2000.  Pretty good appreciation, but have regretted the sale ever since. But not as much as selling the Marantz 8.
jrosemd
10 posts
 
1971: AR 2AX speakers, a KLH Model 51 receiver (yes, KLH made receivers and it was actually a good one), and a Garrard Zero 100 turntable.  The best part was that I wrote a music review column in graduate school, as a result of which I received hundreds of free LPs from every major record company from 1971 through 1974.  It's a wonder that I got any schoolwork done.  
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