[Zero]

I guess you could say my very first 'system' was a pair of computer speakers from BOSS. 

Afterwards, my parents bought me a pair of Polk RT2000P's and a Pioneer receiver as a HS graduation gift back in 2000

[BobRex]

My first "system" was a portable cassette deck circa 1972.  I then graduated to a Sears all-in-one, the type with a crystal cartridge and an 8-track player (probably 1973).  From there I went to a Webcor receiver, Technics table (SL20), V15 III cart, and some house brand of speakers in 74.  The Technics was my first purchase on credit, shortly after I got my 1st real job - working in a clothing factory after school.

[denjo]

My first system was a "mono" FM/AM radio/cassette ("Fairmate") which I hooked up to DIY speaker! It gave me endless hours of enjoyment ... oh, the innocence and simplicity of it all! I then moved up to a combo (Technics) with detachable speakers, then the Onkyo midi system. It was not until I owned the Musical Fidelity A1 (10th Anniversary edition) that I realised what I was missing!!

[Gordy]

My first was a little suitcase turntable with built in amp and speaker. This in the late 50's so it was mono.

Mine was a mid 60's version with two breakaway speakers and authentic fabric finish. Then we upgraded to a turntable and amp we pulled from a 50's mini console,  had to use nickel's to keep the needle in contact    We wired in some extra speakers (OB's!) so we could have "stereo", or would that be surround? 

[chadh]

When I was around 6, Santa left a "Six Million Dollar Man" under the Christmas Tree for me.  That doll had a real bionic arm, a real bionic eye and a back-pack that included its very own crystal radio set and a single attached earpiece.  This was the biggest thrill for me.  In the dead of night, I could hook the little alligator clip to my reading lamp and tune into radio broadcasts of the Australian cricket team touring England.  Apparently, music wasn't such a big deal to me at 6.

At around 12 Santa provided a little Marantz boombox.

Then, at around 18, I got myself a pair of Bose 201s, a Yamaha stereo receiver and Sony discman.  By the end of my undergraduate degree, the electronics had been replaced by NAD entry level CD player and integrated amp.  But I was still saddled with the Bose 201s.

Chad

[some young guy]

When I was around 6, Santa left a "Six Million Dollar Man" under the Christmas Tree for me.  That doll had a real bionic arm, a real bionic eye and a back-pack that included its very own crystal radio set and a single attached earpiece. 

man, i had one of those too. you could peel back the skin and remove the bionics, look through the eye... but then at my house, col. steve always got his ass kicked by g.i. joe . we had to ask big jim to leave as it could get down-right ugly. sorry, back to the first rig topic .

[bprice2]

This is what started it all for me. 

[Hmm...picture not working.  Here's the link:  http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5457/480/1600/ashowandtell.jpg ]

I'd almost forgotten about the old Show'n Tell.

I used my parent's set-up, which included a Pioneer receiver...don't remember what the TT or speakers were.  Got a Sony system with a TT, TP, receiver, and matching Sony speakers in about 1980.

[TONEPUB]

First system was at age 13.  Built my amp from a schematic in the RCA tube manual.
Sloppy wiring job but it worked!!  Used pair of AR-7s from nextdoor neighbor as well
as a well used SONY reel to reel deck.  Technics SL-1200 w/681EEE (whole summer
of paper route and doing chores for everyone in the neighborhood)

Moved through a lot of mid fi gear in the 70's, got first real "audiophile" system
in 79...  Hafler amp & preamp kits, Magnepan MG1's and a Rega Planar 3

Today, 34 years later, the hifi is completely dialed in and the chase down the rabbit
hole is OVER.  Enjoying the music all the time!!  Thank goodness the job as a reviewer
lets me spend a little time with other things I might be intrigued with and send em back!!

As my old boss Harry Pearson used to say "I've got the best job in the world!"

Well, maybe Hugh Hefner has the best job in the world.....


**** good one, forgot about the Show & Tell!!! Used to play Monkees 45's on that!!
Awesome!!

[mjosef]

Waw... this Q had me reminiscing, my first real system was mostly DIY... my college buddy gave me a Garrard turntable, and with his guidance built a tube amp based on EL84s... 1977. My tube amp build hummed like hell. 
When I got my first real paying job in 1978, I bought a NAD integrated and a Phillips turntable (don't remember the model) and built my first real speaker system around a KEF kit: B139, B110  and T25(?). I was proud of my mid/tweeter statelite unit which was time aligned, but I think I built the bass unit(with the B139) too big...the bass was kinda sloppy. 
Back then I didn't know of the word "audiophile"...

[macrojack]

I started out listening to Big Dan and Cousin Brucie on the radio. This led me to spend $50 I had hoarded on one of those suitcase stereos in about 1958. I didn't buy my first real stereo until 1973. For that, I took out a loan, and bought a Pioneer SX 1010, Bose 901 Series 2, and a Phillips GA 212 with Stanton 681EEE. Perhaps, a thousand components later, I'm feeling quite settled with a fairly simple bi-amped rig.
I never was much of a DIYer but I certainly bought into sponsoring a lot of other peoples' DIY efforts over the years. Don't ask.

[TjMV3]

When I was a little kid (7-8 years old) back in 1970/71...... I had one of those cheap little turntables,  which was some kind of all-in-one component,  in my bedroom.  I don't remember exactly the manufactor,  but it may have been Sony.  Not sure.

I started collecting 45 singles and 33 1/3 LPS at this early age.

Then my dad bought some Sanyo seperates system,  roughly around the time I was 9-10 years old.  It had just about everything-   Tape deck,  Tuner,  Pre Amp/Phono,  turntable and floorstanding speakers.  I was thrilled! 

When I moved out at 18 years old,  I could only afford a Sony tape deck boom box type of thing.

I had collected almost 800 vinyl LPs by the time I was 23/24. 

I had been saving for a few years to buy myself a better system.  When I was 24 I went away on vacation for two weeks.  While I was away there was a flood and the nice finished basement where I stored all my vinyl;  was flooded over.  My vinyl sat under nasty water for almost two full weeks.  Every LP and 45 was warped and ruined beyond belief;  save for a handfull of LPs my good friend had borrowed from me and still had at his house.

I was so devastated and pissed off about my vinyl collection.  With Compact Discs just hitting the market,  I decided on that;  as opposed to trying to hunt down and buy all the same LPs I lost.

When I was 25/26 I bought a pair of large Yamaha floorstanding speakers,  a Pioneer Stereo Receiver,  a cheap Sony CD Player and a Denon Cassette deck.   That was truely my first "real" system...

The speakers lasted a good 22 years.  The Sony CD player died after a year and a half. 

[martyo]

I bought a Zenith Hi-Fi at a garage sale in '69. It was in 2 cabinets. The main had a radio and a phonograph w/cobra tonearn. Two 12" and one tweeter in the main cabinet and a 15" in the second cabinet w/it's own little amp and tone controls: treble, bass, and presence.
In '74 for $1000 at Pacific Stereo I bought a Pioneer 9100 integrated amp and 9100 tuner, a Philips 212 turn table w/Grace cartridge and some Altec's, 2-way, 15" w/ a paper cone tweeter.
Then in '77 it started, Dahlquist DQ-10's, Son of Ampzilla and Thebe pre-amp, Kenwood KD500 w/SME III and Audio Technica Signet.

The cabinets on the Altec's were really something. Sold them to a friend who also used them as end tables for years!

Before all that, in '64 for 8th grade graduation I got a Swing-a-long by Channel Master. It was a portable 45 player with an am radio and it actually kinda swung-a-long your side while you were walking. It was way cool for the time and all that summer I walked around playing "I Get Around".

[zacster]

I bought my first real stereo around 1975/6.  It consisted of a pair of large Advents, an AR integrated amp (Acoustic Research, not Audio Research) and a Pioneer PL-112D belt drive tt.  I don't remember what the cartridge was, but it couldn't have been much more than a throwaway.  It sounded pretty good and would play loud.  That system got me started, and I've been improving on this ever since.  There is still a continuous line of succession into my current setup since at no point did I ever replace everything at once, although who does?

And the flooded basement happened to me too, all my LPs got wet but are still playable, if no longer pristine.  The jackets all stick together though.

[robert1325]

A micro hi-fi set by philips the mc130 ( still made I think)
It's from 1996... ( Got it when I was 8 years old )

The CDP died, it's not stable.   But everything else is still working.  The speakers where single drivers.  The sound is still surprisingly good.  Especially for classical music.  It has this way of getting the strings right.     

After that I got some Labtec edge 418 SLAB computer speakers,  these are the most amazing set of Subwoofer/sattelite speakers I've ever heard !  They sound very realistic with great presence and tone.  Almost tubey.  the sub is very musical, a bit sluggy but just fast enough and at times it rattles my windows. 

I still prefer them over my main setup ( even with my audigy 2 ) as source.    That's why I got me another pair to hook up in stereo  

[bpape]

My first system was a Project One integrated, a Technics TT with AT cartridge, and a pair of homemade speakers using a 12" woofer and a 2x6 horn from Radio Shack when they used to sell speaker components.  In the car, it was the trusty old Craig Power Play 8 Track with Jensen coax 6x9's in a lime green 1968 Galaxy 500.

Oh the good old days...

Bryan

[8thnerve]

Yamaha 5 disc CD Changer
Pioneer Elite Receiver
Bose 501 Speakers

I'm embarrassed to say it really did sound quite good.  Better than the HK CD and Receiver hooked into Bose 901s that I replaced it with.

Then I jumped off the boat and got Wilson Watt/Puppy 5.1s, Levinson CD39 and a Levinson 335 with Nordost cabling.

So much for a linear progression.

[TheChairGuy]

Age 14/15 or so....

Marantz 2216B receiver
JVC JL-A20 Turntable with ADC LM-1 cartridge
Lafayette Criterion 2001 speakers

Upgraded to 3D Acoustics 3D610B speakers which, then, was a radical concept......two small 6" 2 way Acoustic Suspension speakers and a (passive) 10" down-firing bass reflex subwoofer.  It sounded fine indeed as I remember it.

I often wonder how far audio really has progressed in those 25+ years......not terribly far, I think, except in convenience and price.

[Russell Dawkins]

My first set before I began my quest (actually, come to think of it, there was no "before") was an all-in-one thing that looked a little like Samsonite luggage, branded by, of all people, Singer (of sewing machine fame). There was an identical unit branded KLH and it was designed by the late great Henry Kloss. It was fiberglass and had latches to release a speaker on each side (a single crossoverless 4 or 5") and a turntable inside, plus built-in amps and tone control. This was in 1966 and the thing sounded great by most ordinary standards of the time.
It also suited my nomadic lifestyle.
From the next room it was the first system to fool me into thinking (just for a second) that there was someone singing in the room for real.

[SET Man]

Hey!

    I assumed that we are talking about something beyond boombox and mini-system right? If so here is my first system....



    That's me back in 1991. I was 14 than. While my friends back than spend their allowance on Nintendo games and comic books. I instead safe every penny from allowance, and money I made doing small chores for my family members to buy my first system and of course music CDs

   The system consisted of...
1. Advent "Baby II" speaker. About $200 a pair I think. When I was buying these the store had Bose at the same price next to the Advent... well I walked out with the Advent.

2. JVC 2 channel receiver. $250 I think. Simple 50wpc 2 channel receiver with remote.

3. JVC CDP. I think it cost me $180. Cheapest one from JVC at that time.

4. JVC Tape Deck. About $200. And later another Technic tape deck about the same price.

5. $3 turntable I picked up from junk store in Chinatown. It was working fine when I picked it up just need new cart. So, I got cheapest Ortofon OM something cart for it I think it cost me $25 or $30. Sadly not long after a year or two I gave up on vinyl. That was during the biggest decline in vinyl world. But than I found myself back again around 1995-96 I think... big time this time!

6. Cables are mostly cheap bottom of the line Monster.

7. I built speaker stand from scrap woods that building's maintenance guys throw away and the shelf I found in the garbage room down in the basement of the building I was in.

   The journey started around late 1989 I think when I discovered Stereo Review magazine. Than sometime I 1990 I safe enough money to buy the receiver and speaker at first to be use with an old tape deck I got from my uncle. A few years later I sold the system to my High School friend.

    I have to say I had the best the system among my friends at that time. But of course all of my friends back than were more impressed and interested with the Nintendo games not audio.

  Looking back now it is funny that back than I used to dream about owning a pair of 500+ watts monoblocs amp and big speaker with many drivers. Ironically today I only have a pair of 18 watts monoblocs SET and home made Single Dirver speaker with single 6" driver + supertweeter per side

   But I have to say that I'm very happy with my current system. So, the journey is slowing down for me now... much slower now. Well, that is a good thing since lately I've been enjoying the musics more than ever!

Take care,
Buddy

[Bigfish]

Wow!  My first audio gear was a mono Zenith turntable given to me for Christmas back in 1960.  45's were the rage then and I think the big guns were Elvis and the Everly Brothers.  Other than 8 track tape decks and later cassette players I did not owe a decent audio system until 1978.  Then I purchased ADS 810 II speakers, an Onkyo Turntable, and a Yahama CR 2040 Receiver.  I kept this system until jumping into HT a few years ago.  Currently, I am working on building my first audiophile system.

Ken