Your First System

A Kenwood KR-2600 stereo reciever(15 watts per channel!),
a Pioneer PL-112D turntable with a Pickering XV-15 cartridge
and Fisher St-455 12",3-way loudspeakers with DOME tweeters and finished in genuine walnut veneer.
I upgraded to a Technics SU-7600 integrated amp (50 wpc)
SU-7300 tuner, Garrard DD-75 turntable with Stanton 681-EEE, ADC Integra XLM-1, and Empire 2000T cartridges, and Marantz Imperial 6G 10", 2- way loudspeakers finished in genuine walnut veneer.
I later added a Technics RS-M228X cassette deck with DBX.

In 1971 when I was 14 , it was a 60 wpc ? KENWOOD TK140X Receiver , a cool BENJIMIN MIRACORD Turntable model ? , An AMPEX reel to reel Deck model ? And a Pair of Large 2 way BOZAC Speakers w/12" woofers which I proceeded to BLOW PRONTO !!! Playin' HUMBLE PIE'S "Performance Rockin' the Fillmore" Lp. What a blast it was ! mike

It was 1982 and I was only 9years old. Dad gave me a NAD6040 tape deck - to play recordings made on his Linn LP12 / Nakamichi - connected to an - then already - old Dynaco Integrated valve amlifier driving a pair of AR8s speakers. The sound was great!

I was working at Lafayette Radio's southern most company store (Forest Park, GA) while in school when I bought my first real system.

1975

Lafayette LR-2200
Lafayette Criterion 777 speakers
BIC 940 w/Shure M91ED cartridge

1976

Lafayette LR-3500 (from marketing literature "Massive 47 Watts RMS per channel")
JBL L-36 loudspeakers (still have them)
BIC 1000 w/ADC ???? cartridge
Kenwood KX-530 cassette deck

Moody Blues, Doobie Brothers, Pink Floyd, etc all sounded so good back then. Ah to be young with little or no cares in the world.

Several changes since them but still have some of the equipment, more changes are coming!

Really it was a Craig 8-track I bought from Bill Ursery when I was 13 for $50 because he needed the cash for his trip home from Northern California to Kentucky, (or was it Tenn.?), and with it came a pair of plastic, backless, 45* angle 5" fullrange(?) speakers which I mounted to my wall above my pillow so I could get the full 'true' stereo effect (Ooooh pleeeeease)
- But I learned to love Carly, Led Zep, Grand Funk, Cream, Jesse Colin Young and others which were right out of 1971-73 during this summer of '73.

In High School (a few years later) I bought a Concept 3.5 (which I still have in good looking/working condition!) from Pacific Stereo and then BUILT my 1st pair of speakers from Plywood and a pair of Altec 15" along with some E.V. 3500 horn tweeters I acquired from an older gentleman at Church.

That stinkin' system was so loud, full and efficient with the ported enclosures I built (at the ripe old age of 15) that I immediately became rather a well-known fixture as a Freshman who liked to hang out on the Senior lawn, and was allowed to.
-The reason? Because I was invited to all the Junior / Senior parties as long as I brought my stereo and 'DJ'd all night!

Now THAT was real fun; because I had the right stereo system I was a big man on campus as a FRESHMAN!!

Oh, what a fun little stroll down amnesia lane.

These days I often find time to enjoy my Soundlabs, Threshold S/500, and Studer CD, which aren't real upper end but set me free every time I off the lights and melt into the Ekornes with that hauntingly ethereal Mr. Hedges on guitar... Can't wait to hear him again live, but that won't be on an Earthly Stereo system.

We all miss you Michael.