Oh, I can't really remember that far back. My father owned two audio installation and service companies after he left Hi-Fi Associates in Miami. My father always gave my younger brother and me a lot of audio equipment. (I got first dibs, since I was older.) Sometimes the equipment was from trade-ins or older pieces that customers abandoned. I absconded with a lot of equipment from the abandoned pile, including two Dyna ST-70's, a Dyna PAS 3 (PAS 3X, IIRC), an HK Citation 16, and a Hafler pre-amp (a kit that the original owner couldn't assemble; with only two inputs wired, the power supply mounted externally, and some of the controls by-passed, it was a nice little pre-amp). When I moved in the mid-80's, I gave those five pieces of equipment to two of my friends, and they continue to pump out some very good sound to this day.
The speakers that I remember owning from thirty-five to twenty-five years ago were several pairs of AR's, including a set of double AR's (I can't remember the model number; maybe the AR 3's), a large Infinity (jumbo bookshelf or small floor-stander) with a ribbon-type tweeter (not great), and a pair of DCM Time Windows (worse than the Infinitys). I think that I even used the AR's in a quadraphonic system for a while.
My father had a pair of JR 149 speakers, a cylindrical aluminium speaker built by Rogers. They had wood tops and bottoms and a foam grill, IIRC. I really became hooked on their sound, and years later, in 1987, I purchased a pair of used KEF 101 Reference Series, which continue to be the best speaker that I have owned, despite their lack of low end. Recently, on audiogon, primarily as backups for my KEF's, I purchased a pair of Linn Tukans and a pair of Spendor S3/5's. I like the Spendors, but they are not as open as the KEF's, IMO.
This week, a friend gave me a pair of KEF C-65's. They are a small vinyl-covered floor-stander with active and passive woofers. They have a weak high-end, a muffled mid-range, and a boomy low-end. They were not one of KEF's better offerings (they retailed for $700.00; it's really a shame). My wife and 12 year old daughter like them. M daughter thinks that they are going in her room.
