Your First System

It was the day after Christmas, 1974. I took my Christmas money into New York City and bought a Pioneer PL-12dII turntable with an Empire 1001 cartridge. When I got home I plugged it in, put on a record and watched it spin... which was all I could do, as the table was the only component I had. It wasn't until the big President's Day sales later in the year that I picked up the rest of the system... a Harman/Kardon 330c and a pair of Genesis Model One's... the ones with the green surrounds on the woofers and the yellow EPI-type tweeter.

To this day I've never owned a system that was used more.

Dean.

"Pcookl5":

What was my first system??? Well........ here it goes:

The year???? 1983

My age at the time??? 20 years old

And here are the components of that system:

Speaker System: Polk Monitor 4's
Stereo Receiver: JVC R-30 (30 Watts Per Channel)
Cassette Deck #1: Luxman K-220 (purchased in 1984)
Cassette Deck #2: Nakamichi BX-300 (purchased in 1987)
Compact Disc Player: NAD 5255 (purchased in 1985)
Cables: Monster Cable (don't remember the model numbers.... 1986)

For such a small system, this system rocked the shit out of my crib back in the day. Though, it doesn't hold a candle to the system that I have now (see the system listed below), but, if I say so myself, for a 20 year old college kid who had his first job back then, I don't think I did too badly back then. The system I really wanted back then was a pair of Boston Acoustics A60's, a Yamaha "Natural Sound" Stereo Receiver (don't remember the model number back then, but I believed it was also rated to deliver 30 Watts Per Channel), a Denon Direct-Drive Turntable (don't remember the model number of the turntable either) and a Sonus Phono Cartridge. But being that's when I got started at the time, money was an issue with me back then, and that's why I ended up getting the system stated above instead.

What I have now is this:

KEF Reference 102 Speaker System with KUBE Equalizer
REL Strata II 10" Powered Subwoofer (100 Watt Internal Amplifier)
Adcom GFA-545 Mk II Power Amplifier
Adcom GFP-750 Preamplifier (Active/Passive Line Stage)
Magnum Dynalab FT-101 FM Tuner
Meridian 508.24 Compact Disc Player
Denon DVD-2200 Universal Player
JVC XL-M509TN Compact Disc Player/Changer
VPI Scoutmaster Turntable w/JMW Memorial 9 Arm, SDS System and Grado Sonata Reference Phono Cartridge
Thorens TD-165 Belt-Drive Turntable (circa 1974) w/Grado Prestige Gold Phono Cartridge
Nakamichi BX-300 Cassette Deck (YEP...... I still got this baby)
MITerminator 2 and 3 Interconnects
MITerminator 2 Speaker Cables
Monster Cable HTS2500 Power Center/Conditioner

And while this system is still serving me well to this present day, I am getting that itch to upgrade again. But only this time, it's going to be even harder. Because right now, I got my sights set on a pair of Von Schweikert VR4 Jr's, paired up with some PS Audio Amplification (in my particular case...... a PS Audio GCA-200 with a GCP-200 with a Marantz SA-11S1 Two Channel SACD Player. This system sound LIKE MUSIC (!!!!!) AND....... Oh.... that bass response..... the kind of bass response I can make love to). But with a price tag of about $20K+, I believe that system is a little too rich for my blood right now

CAN YOU SAY LOVE????? OR INFATUATION?????

I'm kind of like "Flynntom" now, when am I going to hit that "Mega Millions" lottery????

--Charles--

My first system was purchased in the summer of 1972. It consisted of a Sherwood S-7100A receiver, AR-XA turntable with Shure M91E cartridge, and Dynaco A25 loudspeakers. Total cost was $330 from Baltimore Stereo Wholesalers. I received price quotes on this equipment from several mail order houses advertised in Stereo Review. Looking back, I think I assembled quite a fine system for the price and the time. I moved up to a Sherwood S-7200 receiver the following year, and I still have that receiver. I do not even remember what happened to the other components, which I must have sold off to friends at the University of Southern California.

I wish I had kept the Dynaco A25s. I keep reading glowing reports from contented listeners on several message boards. I would love to hear them today driven by my Sumo NIne Class A amp. I wonder how they would stack up against my current Dynaudio Audience 42s.

Pcook15 Hilarious- My first component was a Pioneer SX-680 receiver also. I used car speakers for a month or so until I saved for a pair of EPI 100 speakers. You and I are about the same age. I bought my SX-680 new around 1980.

About 1975 or 1976, my first system consisted of a Kenwood 6006 integrated amp, a Pioneer CTF2121 cassette deck, a BIC 960 turntable, and Electro Voice ETR-18 (3 way, 4 driver, 12" woofer) speakers. I can still remember the exact price: $726.50, probably because I earned every last cent for that system by working as a janitor's assistant.