[mca]

After reading Rob's post about those old CV's, I got to thinking about some of the systems I had back in my 20's. Like most folks, back then it was all about the bass and the volume  

Between some of the parties I threw, and the system I had, I became known as "The Ayatollah of Rockn'rolla". A GAS Thalia pre and Ampzilla amp feeding a pair of Speakerlab 7s. This was the cool ampzilla, black with Ampzilla strewn across the front in giant, menacing white letters. To this day, I wish I had never sold that amp.

The 7's were big speakers, and with rear 12" and front 10" drivers, they could do big, wall shaking bass. I still remember complaints from the neighbors, knocking plates off the wall next door and rattling the windows across the street. I was not a very popular neighbor  

Beasty Boys, Yello, Devo and Kraftwerk were party favorites. But when we wanted to rock, I would pull out my leather bound LP of Motorhead's No Remorse, that's when the girls got scared and started to leave.

I figured out somewhere along the way that if I pulled out the front 10" driver, there was just enough room that one could stick their head clean inside the speaker. With Sir Mix-A-Lot cranked up real loud, it made for a very cool scalp massage. I have a video somewhere with people taking turns sticking their heads in the speaker and me cranking up the volume. I always wanted to make a copy and send it in to Americas Funniest Home Videos  

[Rob Babcock]

I might as well chime in with my early years.  My first "good" system was a pair of Infinity SM-150+'s, driven by a Carver CM-1090 integrated amp.  Seems like I fed it with a Sharp CD player & my old Sony 'table.  This replaced a Sony Rack system I had before.  This rig served me right up until 1990 or so.  

Yeah, delicacy wasn't the strong suit, but it could boogie. And the chicks really dug it!:lol:

[SCUBADON]

My first "bad" system may date me a little.  I used dad's old RCA home entertainment system (color TV, radio, turntable combo) then I went to K Mart and bought a Soundesign unit (2 large speakers and a receiver that was mounted on a silver pedistal), next came the "cool" thing!!  I connected both systems with a quad 8 Track  tape player.

Wow, Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon in true quad.

I remember cranking it up and walking down the street to see how far I could go and still hear it.  Oh well, next it was off to the skating rink and girls, girls, girls!

[Charles Calkins]

How about a pair of KLH 23's. Pioneer SX990 receiver and a Garrard DD55 turntable.
  All this "High end" gear I bought from a company called Pacific Stereo. Anybody out there remember Pacific Stereo?

                            Cheers
                            Charlie

[Tonto Yoder]

After reading Rob's post about those old CV's, I got to thinking about some of the systems I had back in my 20's. Like most folks, back then it was all about the bass and the volume  

I guess I was the exception to this rule since I bought a pair of ESS knockoffs with slimmed down Heil tweeters and one's choice of woofers from 8" to maybe 12" . Mated with a Marantz quadraphonic receiver.
I could only afford the 8" woofer, so super volume wasn't possible; a circuit breaker on the speakers would blow and have to physically be reset.

A local Walmart-like superstore had an audio section featuring Altec Stonehenge speakers and AR 3a's for the bass-hungry. Local audio store had real ESS speakers that I would have loved to own, but couldn't afford.

[Taz13]

Started with a 15Wpc Rotel intergrated amp with a dual TT and Shure cart and small wallet. Speakers were a 3 way DIY with 15" woof. Not loud enough for a teenager.
Then picked up a used phase linear amp and was happy for a short period.
Next was a set of altec 19 speakers, i still like them. TT turfed and replaced with cassette, bad move but back then I didn't care. Added carver m400 cubes and replaced TT and was happy again. That brings me from 69 to 80 something and the changes and modifications are still on going.
Differences are the size of the wallet and the options to choose from. Also the number of dedicated systems. HT, 2channel, digital, tube based etc.

[rosconey]

my first try was a yamaha reciever and a pair of dcm time frames-

loudest system was the party room at the house of viking when i was in my early 20's and lived there-
it was a diy wall speaker built by bill my roomate(1 of 8 or so depending on the day)had every speaker he could take apart  from  garbage picking speakers-about 20 total and ran thru a old mixer-
it would crank so loud that the cops would come and tell us too turn it down all the time-thing is it was in a basement and the closest house was about 100 yards away and next to the airport runway -after a year or so the cops stopped coming to visit(well except for the no drugs drug bust, boy they looked like idiots 24 hrs earlier and they could have had 1/2 lb of coke and 10lbs of reefer)

[warnerwh]

Guess I'm the old fart here, my first system was an AR integrated amp, BSR turntable and Dynaco A25 speakers. After that I had a Marantz 1120 and some KLH speakers and the turntable I don't remember.  Those were some fun years but it's hard to remember much.

[Mike B.]

count me as one of the old ones also. My first was a Magnavox turntable/ amp in a suitcase style case. The front came off and housed one speaker. The other speaker was in the case with the t-table and amp. A girlfriend spilled a slo gin drink on it and the turntable had a bit of wow and flutter after that. Next was a Eico tube integrated, Garard 40 turntable and pair of Utah 8" co-ax speakers in homemade boxes covered in paisley fabric. Real cool man.

[mcrespo71]

MY very first real system was a 70's Pioneer Receiver, Infinity RS1B's- Arnie Nudell infinity's with an Emit ribbon tweeter, Pioneer 6 disc changer, and a JVC direct drive table with some cheap ortofon cart.  I was served by this system for about 3 years until I was given a Harman Kardan integrated from the 80's with a Denon CD player.  These held me from 1985-1992.  

I then bought a Rega P3 to plug into the HK integrated in 1990 with a Shure cart.  Everything else stayed the same until about 1996- then I was stupid and bought a HK receiver and went home theater for a year.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.......  The new HK receiver was much worse than the HK integrated from the 80s and the Atlantic Technology speakers were far inferior to the Infinity's.

My Dad then started me down the money pit of audiophilia (circa 1997)by giving me a Conrad Johnson PV5 tube preamp, MV45 tube amp, and some Magnepan SMGc's, and the Rega P3 was still spinning.  I bought my first high end CD player, which was a CAL ICON MK II HDCD.  I was around the high end since the 70's because my Dad was an audiofreak and became a dealer, but didn't actually own my own high end stuff until 1997.  That started me out and I haven't switched that many times since then.  

If I include all my Dad's systems, which is what I listened to when I was a kid and teenager then I had systems with CJ, ARC, Mark Levinson when it was owned by the MAN not Madrigal, Linn, all the Magnepans, Acoustat, Fulton J's, Threshold, Ampzilla's, Tandberg, Janis, Jadis, Electro REsearch, Rogers, Kef, Nakamichi, Michell Gyrodec, Quad, Creek, Micro Seiki, Denon, and Spendor.  I've been lucky I guess, but I never really knew what I was listening to until I got into the hobby later.  I wish I could go back now and listen more critically to all that gear, but I enjoyed my records on it back then so it served it's purpose for a young kid.

Michael

[lonewolfny42]

count me as one of the old ones also. My first was a Magnavox turntable/ amp in a suitcase style case. The front came off and housed one speaker. The other speaker was in the case with the t-table and amp. A girlfriend spilled a slo gin drink on it and the turntable had a bit of wow and flutter after that. Next was a Eico tube integrated, Garard 40 turntable and pair of Utah 8" co-ax speakers in homemade boxes covered in paisley fabric. Real cool man.

I had a similar suit case system...1966. Flip down the turntable...and your ready to rock, Beatles, Door's, Hendrix, Animals, ect. Next came a Pioneer SX-1010 receiver, Advent speakers, BSR turntable, Wollensak 8 track player/recorder. Later added a Sanyo cassette deck. Funny,  I still have the Pioneer, BSR, and Wollensak.... and a load of 8 tracks and cassette's.

[DVV]

I strated out by swiping my dad's system in 1970. This was an Uher (German - anybody remember them?) tape recorder with built in 2x15W amps, Uher bookshelf speakers and a Dual 1019 turntable. Then I added a Nordmende (German) receiver. Then came a pair of AR5 speakers, which I dearly loved. This was followed by a ReVox A76 integrated amp (2x45W/8 ohms) in 1975.

The Dual was soon exchanged for a newer, direct drive Dual CS604 in 1977 (I think?), which I have to this day. Then a Koerting (German) system, preamp, power amp and digital tuner came along in 1985; the odd thing was that the preamp was a blatant copy of a Phase Linear model of the time (I know, because I had the schematics), but at a much lower price. Why they were not sued, I'll never know, but they went bust anyway two years later.

That's when it stopped regarding amplification, because I started using my own, and bought products only so I could write texts on audio using commercially available gear.

In 1986, I bought my trusty AR94. After being thoroughly redone, they work very well to this day in my son's system. As does my Philips N4520 open reel deck, which I bought in July 1981.

And so it goes. End not even in sight.

Cheers,
DVV

[Ronm1]

As I date myself...
While in the Navy I picked up a Sansui AU/TU777, BSR table, AR2ax's.  Only change, stored 2a's and went to AR3a's and added a Nakamichi deck.  That equipment slowly went to a son, while I went to the Carver receiver, B/O straightarm, Polk 10b's and a Nakamichi CD player.  That's now with son #2.

[PhilNYC]

I don't remember any of the model numbers, but my first real system (paid for by a summer job during college days working in a lumber yard...and I was a scrawny 140lb 6ft weenie!) consisted of a Harmon Kardon 65wpc integrated amp w/phono stage, Technics turntable, and EPI-TE100 speakers.  Made my first move into digital in the "second generation" of CD players in 1985 with something from Technics as well.

The HK integrated also gave me my first negative experience with UPS...had to send it in for a repair, and it came back with the chassis signficantly bent up.  Got it "repaired", but it was never the same.  FWIW, I still have it stored somewhere in my parents house....!

[jackman]

Okay, this brings back some memories.  My first "good" system consisted of the following:

*  Dahlquist DQ-10 speakers.  These were really special because the guy who sold them to me totally ripped me off.  The drivers were rotted out, his "Mods" to the crossover were poorly done and one of the woofers was a bit blown.  The good news is that a guy from MDS (a local repair shop) happened to have a complete rebuild kit on hand, (all new drivers and rebuilt crossovers) from a guy who ordered it years before and never installed it! And the repair guy felt sorry for me and was a HUGE DQ10 fan so he gave me the stuff at cost and did the install free.  He completely rewired the crossovers, installed the new drivers and got them sounding BETTER than new.  They didn't have great bass but did everything else very well.

*  Adcom GFA 555 amps in mono and GFP 555 preamp.  The DQ's needed lots of watts and these were the best I could afford.

*  Nakamichi CD3 with musicbank.  The first generation of musicbank.  Worked great and was a very heavy and large player.  The large transformer stuck out the back and did not allow me to close the doors on my cabinet.  I used it for years without any problems.  

* Nakamichi Cassette player, I can't remember the name but it was really nice and I sold it for about 75% of what I paid for it ten years later.  It worked flawlessly and I should have kept it to show my kids when there are none left!

I loved that system.  Replaced the speakers with some large Klipsch speakers (mistake) and replaced the amps with some lower powered ones (actually one), not a mistake.   Gave my brother the perfect DQ10's with all new drivers because I didn't have room.  He moved to California and ruined them in less than a year.  He wound up dumping them.  What an A-hole!

Jman

[SWG255]

My first piece of audio gear was a Lafayette open reel tape recorder with non-detachable speakers. I suppose that's why to this day I feel analog master tape is the holy graille of high-end audio, not vinyl. After that i got my grandfather's Knightkit vacuum tube integrated amp, a pair of Jensen 3-way speakers and a cheap Garrard turntable with a crystal cartridge. I kept this system though high-school and then moved up to a Lafayette stereo receiver, bought for me by the same grandfather as a graduation present. It was the unit highly praised by Consumer Reports, so it had to be good right?  

In college I was exposed to true high-end gear for the time, and began moving up bit by bit. First a Philips GA-212 turntable with a Shure M91E, followed by JBL L26 speakers, real rock n' roll for a dorm room, and finally upgrading my receiver to a Sony STR-7065.

After graduating  college, I really arrived with my first Revox reel-to-reel, the venerable A-77 Mk. III. I soon coupled this with a dbx 224 because i got into live recording and I really liked all that hiss-free dynamic range. On most of the music I was recording the dynamic anamolies of the dbx were inaudible.

From there, it was a McIntosh MC-2200, and one of Frank's first units, a Dynaco FET-5 from Frank Van Alstine. By this time I was selling hi-fi for a living so a great deal of gear came and went. I seemed to gravitate to English speakers though, going through KEF Callinda's, then to a series of IMF monitors, starting with the TLS-80, then the RSPM Mk. IVs and to the IMF SACM.

During this time I was also using all kinds of electronics, amps by BGW, Luxman and Threshold, preamps by Luxman and Conrad-Johnson. A Revox A-700 which I still own, and several turntables, culminating with a Denon DP-80, a SME 3009 Mk. IV and several great moving coil cartridges, of which the Koetsu Black was the best.

The gear I've sold and wished I'd kept would fill another post this size, so I guess I'll quit while anyone still cares to read this.