My first component system was a XAM 20 watt receiver, a Garrard 40B turntable with a 1 cent Grado cartridge, & a pair of XAM speakers with single 8" "full range" speakers. It was the house brand of EJ Korvette, a discount department store on Long Island. I probably would have done better if I could have talked my dad into going to Lafayette, but it was a longer trip.
I replaced the Garrard with a $91 AR XA in 1969. It was obvious that turntables sounded different, even to a 16 year old! I don't recall reading that in Stereo Review!
1969: Heathkit EA-3 and a similar RCA branded amp for other channel. EV corner cab with Wolverine speaker (still have) and cheap guitar bass amp cab with 12" with SC (twisted together) to a metal pa horn for HF. Lower model Garrard TT and Pilot mono fm tuner IC (twisted together) into two channel. All components were scrounged together for total cost of $.00. I owned app. ten albums. I was as proud of that system as my current one!!
My first system was in 1967. I was five years old and it was a portable 45 rpm record player with built in speaker. The first record I ever played on it was "March of the Toy Soldiers" from the Nutcracker.
ca. 1967, 15 years old--I had a Magnavox system (IA/TT/spkrs) with headphones, which I used a lot. My parents were in heaven with the 'phones. They bought two of my brothers similar systems the following Christmas.
A Scott solid state all-in-one: AM/FM with a built in Garrard record player and separate 2-way speakers in walnut cabs. You’ll notice I didn’t say ’turntable’.
The best I can say about it is that it played music. My most vivid memory was the box it was shipped in. It featured a picture of a young guy & gal shakin’ a tail-feather to some groovy boss tunes.
Scott’s advertising slogan from that era: "Great Scott !!"
An earlier post said that EJ Korvettes came from Eight Jewish Korean Vets. Sounds great. It’s a very popular urban myth. The store first got started before the Korean War (1948 to be precise)
A one-speed Schwinn, and a clam-shell GE record changer. My folks owned a mono system - Rek-O-Kut 'table, Audax 'arm, GE mono cartridge, Bogen DB35 integrated tube amp and one KLH speaker. They replaced the 'table with a Dual 1019 at some point (not sure). They STILL HAVE the KLH speaker! Looks like they will be moving soon, so I may try to sell it. Maybe someone with another single can make a pair out of it. Not sure of the model number without seeing it, though.
( I think) it was a Rek-0-kut turntable with either an ESL or Grado Lab arm with the top Grado cartridge at that time, with Citation amp and preamp and KLH speakers (I moved to Thiels, but don't recall when)
My first system was a Capehart straight from K-Mart. An all in one turntable & 8 track player with 2 very bad speakers. I knew it sounded like crap but at least I could play music of my choice. I updated the speakers to Soundesign in short time. They were not that much better but when I put them at the end of our hallway (lived in a standard 3 bedroom ranch home) closed all of the bedroom doors I could get some "awesome" bass out of them. A lot has changed since then. Still love music though & listen pretty much everyday.
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