[medium jim]

No name White Van Speakers that I bought around 1973 at the South Bay Swap Meet.  They were JBL L100 Copies, but with a Piezo Tweeter.  Thought they were pretty good....about 2 years later I came into a pair of Altec Lansing VOTT's and my world as I knew it changed.   

Funny thing is that a few years after getting the VOTT's, a bought a pair of Radio Shack Minimus 7's, talk about the direct opposite.  I had the VOTT's in the living room and the Radio Shacks' in the bedroom.   

Jim

P.S. I got a real pair of L100's about a year after the white van specials and they were a leap ahead as well.  I bought a Phase Linear 700B and 2000 at about a month or so before getting the A7's and it was my first major league system.

[Scott F.]

My first speakers were DIY. They were a pull from an old Magnavox console. They were a 12" woofer and a horn. I cut plywood and made a simple sealed enclosure for them. I guess I would have been around 11-12 years old when I did that.

My first 'real' speakers were Technics SB2200s back in the mid-70s
.
 

Those thing rocked but I kept blowing tweeters. My next set was the model after the Altec Bolero 890c. Mine had two tweeters rather than the horn of the Bolero. Wish I still had them. They were a fun listen.

[randytsuch]

KEF Corelli
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/bas/0908/

Bought them in high school and had them for college.  At some point, I traded them to my brother for a couch, I had upgraded to Quad 57's by then

[JoshK]

Other than the old vintage Pioneer system my dad gave me in HS, the first pair I ever bought were VMPS RM40s. 

[steve k]

DCM Time Windows. I've always been a soundstage nut and was blown away by the big soundstage these threw into the room back in 1980. They were a little rolled off on top but they could rock. I still have them and they work fine.

steve k

[mark funk]

I guess 1973?   Pioneer R500




                                                                                                                                   

[paul canady]

The B.I.C. Formula 4. These babies could play as loud as your amp could go, with incredible punch. $250 or so.

Interesting design!

[satfrat]

My 1st true loudspeaker was the Acoustic Research AR3a, bought & sent home while I was in Vietnam back in 1970. It was close to 2 years later before I even got to hear them. Those were the days when I had exceptional high frequency hearing,,, not any more. 



Cheers,
Robin

[Wicked Ace]

Because I was a poor student at home and my Dad was against everything rock and roll. I built a pair of speakers from Jensen coaxials (car speakers) and built boxes to house them from cardboard. I drove them from a Sony car head unit powered by a 12v supply and used an Awia cassette Walkman as my source.

[mclsound]

yep
tough soundstaging though

[rollo]

  Fisher XP9, then Heco Hoern 5302, Dalquist 12, Mirage M3SI, Maggie 3A, Pipedream 924, there you have it. Now lusting after Analysis Omega panels with Duelund CAST crossover.


charles

[Vapor Audio]

My first speakers - I scoured the salvage yard for any decent looking car speakers I could find.  Ended up with 8-10 pair of Cerwin Vega co-ax and tri-ax speakers, wired them in series/parallel, and strung them all over the room running off a Sherwood receiver. 

At the time I thought it was pretty damn awesome 

[medium jim]

My 1st true loudspeaker was the Acoustic Research AR3a, bought & sent home while I was in Vietnam back in 1970. It was close to 2 years later before I even got to hear them. Those were the days when I had exceptional high frequency hearing,,, not any more. 



Cheers,
Robin

Robin:

I think you speak for most of us over 50 types.  I did a sound sweep and I was aghast that I could barely hear things over 10K, that someone that most of the music is under that. 

Jim

[rollo]

  At 62 I hear everything I don't hear. Don't you ? 


charles

[Randy]

Reading this thread makes me realize that, wow, you guys are really old. I'm right there with you. My first speakers were a big pair of Pioneers I got while in Viet Nam. Instead of ordering in a px catalog like I should have, I schlepped the pair on my back one at a time to my hootch in 100 degree heat, but like satfrat, it was nearly a year before I heard them as I immediately had them shipped home. Didn't exactly have the digs for a hi fi system at the time. More sensibly I ordered via a catalog a Sansui receiver and a Dual turntable to mate with them when I got back "to the world."  The speakers cost $150 a pair which seemed a small fortune in those days. I left them sitting on the floor of my last apartment when I moved into a house, but by then I had a pair of Magneplanars, circa 1984. The receiver still sits on a bench in my garage, but one channel has long since blown.

Not that it matters, those speakers may have been Sansui rather than Pioneer. Been a long time and memories start to fade.

[S Clark]

At 19 years old, I picked up a used set of Frazier Monte Carlo's, a used Sony 355 RTR, and a new Marantz 1060 integrated.  The Fraziers were 8" two ways with dual slotted ports- similar to Klipsch in sound and effieciency.  Not a bad little rig at the time for a college kid.

[Jeffreypi]

This is a strain on my memory, but I think the first serious speakers I had was bought in the late 70’s….JBL L88P. Still have them in storage actually.

[richidoo]

My first real 2 way speakers were in my "high end" Pioneer Centrex boom box, 1978.
It sounded fantastic and had line input so I ran the vinyl through it.

Then in 1982 I got Radio Shack Minimus Seven with little Onkyo Rx. Awesome little speakers.
They were a big investment at the time but worth every penny.

[avahifi]

8” dual cone ElectroVoice driver in small corner horn cabinet driven by Heathkit 7W mono vacuum tube integrated amplifier.  Both I built myself in 7th grade. Garrard Turntable with Grado high output MC cartridge completed the system.  The cartridge was by far the most expensive part, about $125 back in the 1950s.  Excellent sound for way back then.

I took this system to college and pranked our dorm hall advisor. He had the only telephone on the floor.  I had a good sound effects record containing a telephone sound.  I would play this when I knew he was at the other end if the hall and watch him come running.🤤

 I kept this setup running until the 1960s when I upgraded to Dyna MK 4 mono amps, a Dyna PAS 3 preamp, and a pair of KLH 6 speakers, Dual record changer, and added a Dyna FM-3 tuner.  All electronics vacuum tube and built myself of course.

Those were the days.

Frank

[S Clark]

At 19 years old, I picked up a used set of Frazier Monte Carlo's, a used Sony 355 RTR, and a new Marantz 1060 integrated.  The Fraziers were 8" two ways with dual slotted ports- similar to Klipsch in sound and effieciency.  Not a bad little rig at the time for a college kid.

I saw that almost 9 years have passed since I wrote this.  Since then, I had an opportunity to pick up a pair of these Fraziers again.  Reattached a wire to a woofer, replaced the caps, and plugged it in.  Sounded like crap.  Muddy, boomy, and lacking any of the signatures I currently like in a speaker... except efficiency.  I doesn't take much power to run it. 
But I suspect that it's like a lot of nostalgia where the memory exceeds the reality.