Your First System


This should be good!!! Most of us have been in this expensive hobby for years now and have worked our way up to components we only dreamed of. I want to know what was your first system of separate components going back as far as you can remember. My first consisted of a Pioneer SX-680 receiver, a Technics SLD-1 turntable (I think that's the right model #), a Sharp tapedeck, and KLH floorstanding speakers. I was 16 at the time and thought I was the biggest badass on the block. Now, 20+ years later I have a ML 334, Meridian 507 CD, CJ PV10A, Canton Ergo 900 speakers, and a Transparent Power Isolator 4. I'm in the process of upgrading to a ML 390. It goes without saying the IC's and speaker cables are top notch as well. I know my system is WAAAYYYYY down the foodchain compared to what I've seen here but It would be interesting to see what everyone started out with.
pcook15
I must have been half asleep when I wrote that, it was an Audio Techica cartridge. But reading most of the other entries, it does seem to be a trend. Almost all of us started out in the mid-fi stereo of the 70's. I remember stores like Sight and Sound, Harvey's Warehouse, and later Circuit City, that sold good mid-fi equipment at affordable prices, perhaps this has something to do with why our hobby is dropping off? This starting point is missing. It's either surround sound systems for movie sound tracks, or nothing, until you jump straight into the big money stuff? Even though there may be affordable systems at your local salon, these shops that were in every local shopping center are gone, and one must seek out the rare salon, which can be intimidating to the uninitiated.
Let's see.....

There was a Marantz receiver with a horizontal thumb wheel. The was a BIC turntable. Strange, but I can't recall the speakers.

I do remember that my first high end speaker was the Kef Corelli and my first separates were from Audire. I bought the Audire Diffet Pre and ? Power amp at a steep discount from Crazy Eddie, a NYC based big box store that somehow briefly got hold of an Audire franchise.

There was also a Dual turntable in that system.
1965. AR-3 speakers; AR turntable; Shure V-15 cartridge; Dynaco PAS-3 preamplifier; Dynaco Stereo 70 amplifier.
JVC R-S77 Receiver
Infinity RS-2000 Speakers
Yamaha PF-30 TT
Nakamichi BX-125 cassette deck