[TomS]

While in high school, I sold "hifi" gear at a local electronics store - Pioneer, Marantz, Sansui, HK receivers, McIntosh, Citation, Bose 901's, Advent, KLH, AR 3a/LST, etc. as well as Henry Kloss' first projection Advent TV's.  I could even align one myself, which was a real pain!

With the generous salesman comp discounts (40-60%), I spent all my meager earnings on gear and parlayed it into a Mac 275, Citation 16, Mac pre, Soundcraftsman EQ, Bose 901's, and later double Large Advents to replace them.  It was all WAY overkill in a small college dorm room.  During college, I worked in a couple of local shops and moved on to a Paragon 12a, Phase Linear 400, Dahlquist DQ10's, among other goodies up the chain from there.  Not much food and beer money left, but it was big fun.  The vinyl collection mushroomed too, but was unfortunately later devastated in a nasty basement flood.

Tom

[scottielee]

great topic yooper! glad you asked. after some serious recollecting, i actually remember almost every piece of equipment that i grew up listening to:

age 0-10:
Peking opera played from a wooden console with built-in tuner and turntable from the 70's.
Mozart's Magic Flute played from a large boombox in my parents bedroom, while my sister and i jumped on the bed, of course.
Teresa Teng played on a small cassette player with built-in speakers when we go to sleep.

age 11-25:
Pavarotti played from Bose speakers, Carver receiver, Nakamichi tape deck, and Magnavox cd player. boy they always managed to get my uncle and i to tap our feet and dance like no body's business. good times.
Sony yellow boombox to record and playback our funny voices and laughter. it pulled us through some tough times.
Sony cassette walkman my mom bought me from a rude salesman in a crappy store on Broadway.
Evgeny Kissin and U2 played from an Aiwa mini-system. it rocked our high school days.
then came MINIDISCS!!! MAN I LOVE THEM!!! I STILL DO!!! Sony MZ-R55, MZ-E55, MZ-E10, and LAM-Z10 blew my mind with J-pop. Sony MDR-D66 headphones and MDR-E888 earphones.

age 25 on:
B&W Signature 805, Denon 3803 receiver, and Sony DVP-NS999ES universal player. the fever begins. a year later,
B&W Signature 805, Jadis JA30 amplifiers, Wadia 861b cd player...

cheers,
scott

[SET Man]

age 25 on:
B&W Signature 805, Denon 3803 receiver, and Sony DVP-NS999ES universal player. the fever begins. a year later,
B&W Signature 805, Jadis JA30 amplifiers, Wadia 861b cd player...

cheers,
scott

Hey!

  Scott, long time no see! What are you up to man?

  Anyway, that is a big jump from Aiwa mini to B&W Sig!

   BTW.... I have the MD too. I have the portable one from Sony and used to take it to High School with me everyday with my Grado SR60 headphone. Well I still have the player but rarely use it now.

Take care,
Buddy

[scottielee]

hi Buddy! i miss hanging out with you guys. what can i say, i am married with kids

you know what, music always sound good to me, especially when there is love for the equipment. i am just a big gearhead

to me, performance is important, but no more than craftsmanship, innovation, execution, character, and beauty.

take care!
scott

[Pneumonic]

For me it all started out back in the late 70's when I monopolized my Dad's system …. a Yamaha CR1040 receiver, AR 10pi speakers, a Yamaha YPD8 table and a Toshiba PCX40 tape deck.

I spent the next several years pumping gas and saving up my money to buy a NAD 2200 power amp, a Hafler DH 110 kit pre, a used Ariston RD11S table and pair of PSB 70R speakers. This system got me through university and bachelor days.

[Rob Babcock]

I started out with a boombox of course.  My first "real stereo" was a Sony rack system.  The components were all separate and discrete, but connected with ribbon cables, looked like DIN cables.  It was a 25 wpc integrated amp (w/5 band graphic EQ and no CD input, just an AUX), an automatic TT, a digital tuner and a logic operated cassette deck w/Dolby B.  The speakers were your typical pet coffins- 3/8" MDF covered with vinyl, 8" paper woofer, 3" paper "midrange" and 1.5" paper "tweeter".  There were virtually no x-over parts to speak of and the box had nary a sign of stuffing.  The "port" was just a hole cut in the back, not even a port tube!   It was craptacular in retrospect but it was awesome to me at the time, and I was the only kid in school that had a "real" stereo.  It was on that rig that I heard my first CD.

That system served me pretty well til the end of high school when I replaced it with a Carver CM-1090 integrated and Infinity SM-150 speakers.  My sister inherited it and used it for many more years.  It's still in her attic in Sioux Falls, I think, and still works.  Hooked up to decent speakers it's actually not intolerable.