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KEF Cresta speakers, Armstrong 521 integrated amp, and a Garrard SP25 Mk2 with Sure M3DM. Year: 1969.
In light of last week's question, it seems appropriate for reader Glenn Bennett to ask: "Let's see how far back we can go. I caught the bug with a Knight reel-to-reel in 1955!" <P> What was the first component (or components) you purchased and what year was it?
Not counting the equipment my parents bought for me, my first purchase was my first system. A Crown pre/power combo— IC 150 & DC 300. A pair of Janzen 412HPs and a B&O 3000 turntable. It sounded like heaven, if heaven could crank. It was 1972 or there about.
My first "real" audio system, assembled around 1972, included the Large Advent speakers, a Pioneer stereo receiver (SX-???), and a Dual turntable. I still own and enjoy listening to the Advents—and, to my surprise, I was even able to replace the foam surrounds successfully as a DIY project. I also still own a later version of that first Dual turntable, though I haven't played LPs in years.
My first system was a $400 Tech Hifi special purchased in 1978 when I was 19. It consisted of KLH bookshelf speakers with paper cones, a 20wpc Rotel receiver, and a Phillips belt drive turntable. But my first high-end component was my Linn Sondek turntable with Basik arm and cartridge for $895 in 1986. I was really interested in the Basik turntable, but the Sondek was so much better sounding, even when played through an NAD integrated amp and Snell E speakers, so I emptied by piggy bank for the Sondek. Twenty-two years and various upgrades later, this was the best purchase I ever made on pretty much anything.
In the summer of 1977, I bought a system deal: Kenwood KA-3500 integrated amp, matching tuner KT 3500(?), Technics SL-23 table, and some kinda bookshelf speakers—AR maybe, that I traded in a couple of months later for some The New Large Advents. Bought two more Advents a year later, and went double Advent for over 30 years.
In 1960 I bought a small transistor radio (hot new product) with my own money so, like my compadres, I could run the earplug wire through my shirt & listen to the World Series games in class. Not to miss Roberto Clemente. Teacher caught us.
A Pioneer receiver (don't have the model number handy, it was 22 years ago), a Kenwood CD player, a Technics TT and cassette deck and a pair of Celestion DL6s. Not "high-end", but a major step up from the "all in one" Emerson TT/Cass/Speaker set I had before.
Dad always had a hi-fi, even when it was mono. What caught my attention was after my parents' divorce, when he built a Dynaco PAS-3X with a stereo 120, driving a set of Bozak speakers (which my brother still has) with an AR-XA turntable and some kind of Ortofon. It sounded like nothing anyone else I knew had. Later he set my brother and me up with some Lafayette stuff that still blew away all my friends' parents' systems. It was Dad all along.
When I was 13, my grandmother gave me my late uncle's Pioneer receiver from the mid '70s (since gone). The same year, I got my hands on a pair of Zenith Allegro 2000 two-ways and built a pair of speakers using prefabbed enclosures and drivers from PE. I bought a pair of Kenwood KL-777s for $100 when I was 17, that same year I really got in to car audio. Now I have a nice Yamaha HT receiver w/ a pair an Infinity CS3006s, Polk audio CS400i (want to mod or replace), a pair a modded Optimus Pro 88av's and a Cerwin Vega sub. The bedroom has a Vintage Marantz Quadraphonic receiver with an oscilloscope, a Sony DVP-C600D, a pair of Canton Karat 920s and a pair of DIY stands. I'm currently working on the PC sound system and a few more. I love audio. Now if I can only get my hands on a McIntosh pre and tube amp, a pair of Maggies, a pair of Klipsch Heresys, and… and the list goes on and on…
In the summer of 1968, 40 years ago, I went to Lafayette Radio in Jamaica NY and bought a Fisher KT-80 FM-stereo tuner kit. I built it in just one day. It worked great and I listened to it over the years with many girlfriends during my high school and college years. I still have it. It still works.