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Your first real hifi

1997, aged 15:
Michell Focus One/AT1120/Goldring Elektra
Creek 4040
Heybrook HB1/HBS1
Cost £190, from the back of HFN&RR.

James
 
1983
rotel rp3300 deck
rotel ra 314 amp
hitachi tape deck
jvc tuner
b&w dm220 speakers

now
xerxes 10/artimez/dv20x naim 82/hicap x2/250/dbls marantz cd63b (1983) naim nat 03 nakamichi rx202e
 
1994, sold my Warwick Thumb bass to raise enough money to buy a Rotel 965BX CD player, a Rotel 930AX amp and Mission 760iSEs. Great little system. Bought my first Planar 3 a few months later...
 
1995 (11)

technics something amp, tuner, double cassette. trio graphic eq lol, sl1200 (still have it) philips cd 104? mission 737R
 
1984
Dual CS505
Rotel RA820B
Mordant Short speakers on Lin Kann stands
followed in 1989 by a Denon CD player (forget which)
The Rotel was a nice clean slim black 'no knobs and buttons' amp with an on/off a selector and a volume. ;-)
Ahh those were the days....

I was still using it years later, when I first went to my now wife's flat she had a Naim Nait 3 and a Rega Planet - dead impressed......
 
1974: Philips GA-212 turntable, B&O cartridge
Dynaco SCA-80Q integrated amp kit
Dynaco A-25XL speakers

I wish I'd been smart enough to buy an AR XA turntable instead, and spend the savings by upgrading the electronics to a Dyna PAS-3X preamp and Stereo-70 amp. It would have been about the same money.
 
Early 90s.

Sony discman [didn't have the money for a separates CD player]
Teac V-615 cassette deck
Aiwa XA-003 integrated amp [pretty sure that was the model; at the time it was the only amp with a phono stage Richer Sounds in Glasgow had in stock]
Tannoy Mercury M1 speakers

I still have the Tannoy speakers, and the Teac cassette [although I think it's actually a different physical unit as I have memories of selling it to buy a double cassette deck, and then buying another one when the double deck died]. I added a cheap P-mount turntable and an Eclipse CD player soon after, and then a Yamaha tuner.
 
Dual 505 / Nagoaka MP11(£119)
Rotel 820a(£79)
Kef Coda 3(£99)
QED 79 cable

Mail order from Billy Vee after buying first edition of Hifi Now ! magazine.

Got me hooked ........
 
1971

Connoisseur BD2/SAU2 - bought in Hitchin
Shure M75ED - bought in Kempston, Bedford
Rogers Ravensbrook - bought in Kempston, Bedford
Wharfedale Linton - I have forgotten where I got these.....

All bought one piece at a time over 6 months or so from savings from my first job. The Shure was the last item bought to complete the system.

The Lintons were rapidly replaced by a pair of B&W DM1s from an advert in the local paper - and were a major improvement. I also regretted not saving a little longer for a Thorens TD150. I think the BD2/SAU2 was around £30, the Thorens around £45...but the BD2/SAU2 gave good service.

David
 
1976

Pioneer PL112D with AT7E (about £6 for cart)
Trio KA 1300? (30W)
Wharfedale Lintons then KEFKIT 2s? (T27/B200/DN12)

Paid for by picking flowers in that hot summer.

CT
 
Late 60s: 2 x mono Tripletone valve amps. ( 6 tone controls!) Garrard SP25 with Sonotone 9TA cart. 2 x 8" Elac twin-cone units in home-brewed cabinets. Regrets? Should have kept the Tripletones ! Martyn Miles
 
My 18th birthday present from my dad was the following

Mission 760i SE
Marantz PM 44 SE
Awia cd player (cant remember the model)
Awia casstte deck

It was all what hi-fi reviewed and the speakers and amp where their hot products at the time. I loved it and still have the speakers down in the garage somewhere.

I actually bought a PM 44 recently off ebay for about £50 just to relive some memories lol but it very quickly went pop for no reason so i have no idea what to do with it now. Wont light up or anything.
 
1981
Garrard gt255 belt drive turntable
A&R Cambridge A60 amp
Original mission 700 speakers
Sharp rt10e cassette deck
Scott t216 tuner

1982 heard my friend's linn lp12 / basic lv v / a&r e77

The rest is then the start of the slippery linn / naim slope!!
 
1980's, bought from the proceeds of my paper-round:

Garrard SP25 Mark 5 - £49.99 (new old stock in a local store, I didn't know anything about it but with belt drive and a suspended chassis it looked a bit like the expensive turntables in What Hi-Fi at the time. Unfortunately it was crap.)
Sony TA242 amp - £39.99 (bought mail order, a friend's big brother had one of these so at least I knew that it would work, plus it had LEDs that showed the power!)
Pioneer CS363 speakers - £39.99 (mail order again - from one of those clearance stores that advertised at the back of What Hi-Fi, another friend already had a set of these and I thought they were OK, certainly much better than the ones on the Panasonic music centre I was previously using)

The turntable and amp were on an old coffee table and the speakers rested on top of upright car ramps (balanced against dining chairs) - those were the days!
 
1980 - 6yrs ish old
pioneer stacking system, can't remember the model but much better than the double tape deck I had before..
 
1970 - art college

Goldring GL75 with some Ortofon cart (FF15?)
Armstrong 521 amplifier
Wharfdale Dovedales (which were large and sat on the floor. I don't think stands had been invented)

It sounded amazing in a bedsit played really loud, and quite astonishingly no one ever complained.

(bought from a series of nameless shops on Edgware Road)

palp
 
You spent some cash there Palp. Doveys were decent, as you say stands didn't exist then. The Goldring can still hold its head up and early Armstrong tranny gear was OK by the standards of the day.
 


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