Your First System

Garrard record player, Sony TCFX310 cassette, Amstrad Executive receiver and Goodmans Q30 speakers at 16 yo. I thought I was spending a fortune - little did I know until later.

My first component system was a Dual changer (model 1015?) with a Stanton 500E cartridge, a Fisher AM/FM receiver, and a pair of 10" or 12" 3-way house brand speakers from Cal Hi-Fi. This was 1968. For my $500, I could have just as easily gone with AR and Dynaco had someone given me some guidance, though I probably could not have tackled a kit.

Garrard 401 (hand-me-down)
Aiwa cassette deck
Denon DCD1000
Kenwood tuner
NAD 3020
Electrovoice Crystal speakers

A real hotch potch of components, but I loved this little system which I can blame for getting me into this hobby back in the early 80's.

As a kid, I had always wished to be the age I am today (36). I wanted to have the finances to buy all the audio equipment I would dream of. I remember when I was 14 years old, I had a paper route and saved up enough money all summer long to buy a Marantz receiver in 1981, from Leo's stereo. I don't recall the exact city, but in the Los Angeles area.

I remember getting up on Saturday morning and waking my mom at 930am so I could be there when they opened at 10am (god, she must have hated me then). We went down to the store and I knew exactly what I wanted. I can recall my parents keeping the receipt for me in their safe, and even though I had other pieces of audio equipment before, that was my first piece of real home stereo equipment that I earned and found myself.

That September I started my freshman year of high school, and the quest was on...

Today I have most of the things I dreamt of as a youth in my house and in my car, but nothing can compare to how my system sounded in my own room when I was 14. That was priceless.

1973-I was 18 and had travelled cross country with a high school buddy after graduating. We ended up in Maynard Massachusetts where I got a job for Digital Equipment Corp. I worked in a department with some Vietnam Vets who were all into audio and, after hearing them discussing gear, and telling them I wanted to buy a decent stereo, they suggested I buy a pair of AR 7's which I did and they also told me to go down to H.H. Scott (just down the street) because every Friday they opened to the public and sold equipment, as is, that had some kind of defect(s). I purchases a receiver that worked perfectly for $75.00. The only thing wrong with it was it was missing the bottom cover. I don't remember the turntable I had at the time but after coming back home to Washington State a few months later I purchased an AR turntable with a Shure cartridge (don't remember the model), and an Advent model 201 cassette player which was the first player to have Dolby noise reduction. For it's time it was an incredible sounding system. Those speakers made a lot of jaws drop. And I don't know if I'll ever enjoy a system, no matter how good, as much as I did that one.