Your first ever 'hi-fi' system?

Sony CDP-M12 (from my midi system - unreliable piece of crap CD player and a brillo pad to boot)
JVC amp (£50, Freeads) - why didn't someone tell me Richers had opened down the road when I got this - it wasn't too bad-an amp really - 50watts, fairly clean sounding, think it was a 222 or something like that.
Sony speakers from same aforementioned midi system
Pioneer analog tuner (£20, second hand)
Sony WM-D6C Pro Walkman for recording
Casio pocket telly, headphone->phonos

...and no turntable.

Got me through my final year at uni - but one weekend the Pro Walkman died for no reason, and I never did get it going again.

 

First "hi-fi"...

...or first music making equipment...?

In my case it was a Garrard SP25 turntable fitted in a Hacker amp/receiver, Ferguson cassette player and Castle Richmond II speakers (the latter of which I still proudly own...)

Now have

Cairn.Ezo Aria amplifier
Revolver turntable
Musical Fidelity X-LP
Musical Fidelity X10-D
Technics CD Player
Fostex back loaded horns......

Dougie.

 

about 12 years ago i got my first ever hifi system which consisted of:
rotel ra930 amp and matching tuner, marantz cd65mk 2 (handed down from dad) and celestion 15's which sounded very nice indeed at the time.
never forget getting home and plugging it all in (big thunder storm going on outside) and having a listen. (there was a lovely new smell about them speakers!!!!)
neil

 

welcome to ZeroGain. Glad you liked the ditton 15s: they were my first buy, hence the nickname. when did upgraditis kick in?

 

Pioneer X-33 separates system, purchased in January 1980. The amp is still used on a daily basis! I miss the black and solid turntable, PL-200 (I still have it somewhere, but it rotates the platter about 100 rpm).

Funny thing, I have never been as satisfied with my system as I was 26 years ago.

Regards,

L.

 

Was only 5 years ago, but...

Arcam 7SE CD player
Arcam 8R Amp
NAD 402 tuner
Sony MDS-JE330 Minidisc player
B&W 602 with castle stands

Wasnt bad for a first venture into hifi, and basically lasted me until last year!

 

There was no audio or music tradition in my house when I was a kid. Even now, the best playback equipment is a £75 boombox I bought my mother about 5 years ago so she could "go modern" and listen to CDs for the first time!

So I was on my own getting started. First effort was an Alba turntable with own bookshelf speakers - ok for playing mid-70s 7" pop singles (which was all I wanted it to do at the time) but not much else.

Proceeds of first college summer job (1979) went on replacing the Alba with a Trio KD1033/NAD 3020/Kef Celeste combo.

Ditched the Trio in favour of a Rega Planar 3 in about '85.

Resisted CDPs until my local dealer finally conceded they had stopped sounding unduly cold and harsh and could be admitted to the shop (may have had something to do with acquiring new agencies!) but eventually got an Arcam Alpha 5 in the mid-90s.

....And that's how it stood till late 2004 when it struck me that none of this kit owed me anything, the world had moved on, and I couldn't think of anything better to spend my spare cash on. So I started buying the magazines again (curse you all, spawn of the devil:JPS and haunting the shops, leading to acquisition at great cost to the Exchequer of a Pathos Classic One, MF X-DACv3, Ruark Prelude IIIs, Pro-Ject Phono Box and associated wires (TCI and Precious Metals).

Then, of course, instead of leaving it at that, I kept buying the bloody mags., joined forums like this one and now I'm sunk. Have since acquired a s/h Jadis Symphonia CD player which completely blew away the Arcam/MF combo. so I sold the DAC; and some fancier wiring from a local amateur and forum poster. Now for a tuner and a t/t upgrade........Gawd 'elp me!

 

Trio record deck.
NAD 3020 amp (still have it as the garage amp)
Akai 60W/channel FET amp (2nd hand, it hummed) used in student digs.
Mission 700 (orginal model) speakers.

 

1972 in Melbourne:

Japanese T/T (make forgotten)
Sansui AU-101 (still working in a friend's study system)
two-way kit speakers with Peerless drivers.

Lasted for 8 years until the arrival of the Quad 33/303 and Rogers LS3/5a - which I still use!

 

quote: ditton 'welcome to ZeroGain. Glad you liked the ditton 15s: they were my first buy, hence the nickname. when did upgraditis kick in?'
assume you were refering to me, i did mean the celestion 15's 1m tall black boxes not dittons (however we had ditton 15's in the house and they were put through they're paces as well when parents were out!!)
'upgraditis' worked its way in with an audiolab 8000a then tannoy precision P40's. 1 year ago bought secondhand 8000m & q which still remain one of my favourite purchases. They now supply current to my 1month old PMC IB1's which are absolutely awesome in my opinion.
I'll get round to posting my new system on 'my kit' when custom stands are back from sprayers tomorrow.
cheers
neil

 

1st system which I kept for quite a few years:
Technics Cassette deck (still in the loft)
Pioneer A22 (?) amp
Mordaunt Short MS20 speakers (cousin has these still)

Additions and upgrades:
Marantz CD63 CD player, NAD304, Royd Minstrels, Revolver TT, AA Dac in the box, Naim NAC42 + NAP110, LP12 + Basik + Ortofon 510, Ittok, DV 10X4, MF CDT (modified), NAP180, Linn Kans, NAC102, Shahinian Arcs, NAP250, Aro, Armageddon copy, DV 17D2, Micromega Duo Pro, NAC82, Shahinian Obelisks, DV HX75 power amp, DV TeKaitora, DV L100 + P100 pre + phono, Well Tempered Reference, DV L300 + P300, DV HX1.2, DV XV-1s!

Cheers

Jason

 

My first "proper" system was my Dad's hand-me-down of -

Hitachi PS-17 turntable
Eagle International TSA151 Amplifier
Eagle International AA-8 tuner
Eagle International AA-20 speakers
Technics RS-263US cassette deck.

Loved it to bits at the time but it's long gone now........

 

Pioneer PD 105 CD (I think)
Rotel RC 970 pre amp
Rotel RB 970 power amp
Omni Audio speakers - yes these are the amazing speaker you could buy out the back of a van, which just so happened that the driver had one extra set un accounted for !

In a word I was done !

 

Acoustic Research EB101 T/T with Linn K9
Kenwood KA660 Amp
Kenwood KX660 Cassette
Celestion Ditton (dont know exact model) speakers inherited from my father.

 

Wow! 1985

AR Legend turntable with Goldring1042
1st edition Cyrus1
Tannoy M20 Gold speakers

And it was sonic nirvana! Still miss the way that system impressed me

 

My first Stereo system was a Bush record Player - a stereo ceramic cartridge an external valve amplifier (not sure of the make and an eliptical speaker inside a wooden box Id made.

First Fi (I dropped the Hi) was a Sinclair 2000 amp, Goldring G101 Turntable, EMI speakers (About 1973) and Abbey Road sounded great (at That Time) - Its still one of my favourite albums. As time goes by the bass rifs just become clearer and even more awesome.

 

Bought from L&M hifi in Sandiacre Notts in 1973;

Garrard 101 tt with shurexxxcartridge

Teleton GA 202 turntable

Some shop special speakers with EMI 13 x 8 drivers and disposable tweeters.:JPS:

Cost about 3 weeks wages back then.

 

Garrard DD75
NAD 3030 (big brother to the more popular 3020 with twin VU meters and 10 watts more per channel)
RAM200 monitors

I had this set up from Summer 1980 to 1982 when some theif nicked the lot but didn't spot the 42/110 in the corner

Sounded pretty good playing New Years Day by U2 in 1981