Ahh, the Philips 312 TT, the 20W Superscope R-1220 receiver, the $100 Wharfedale Denton loudspeakers that every(hip)one in highschool had, and the woodies.
Such sentimental journeys, how could I forget.
(Mom was an alcoholic and skipped town before 5th grade, what a relief)
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No, The AR-1, circa 52. Kloss left and founded KLH in 57, Advent in 67.
The ad is on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJZi-gYQN4A
I got mine when I had the mumps and was confined to bed for a week.
My first gear was a 1978 Pioneer 25 WPC receiver
My brother gave it to me after he upgraded to a rack system in 1984. The little silver face had a bad channel so I fixed it and used it for the next 5 years.
My first "real" system was a Carver M1.0T amp with matching pre-amp and a Sony CD player along with an Onkyo cassette deck. Still have the Onkyo deck, I think it works but it holds a shelf down and has been doing so for the past 20 years.
A few years back, an old audiophile in his 80's asked if I wanted some old gear since I can take care of audio equipment and would take care of it. OK... I opened the box and inside was a 1981 Pioneer SX-3700 silver faced receiver! It included the owners manual and was still fully operational.
A serious flashback but with the uber cool green light things for power meters. Plugged in an old CD player into the AUX inputs and it pushes my line arrays around with 45 watts of pure silver faced power.
I'm pondering shipping it off to get the capacitors replaced and the pots fixed this winter. DIY or have it refurbed? Since it is 31 years old, not sure if it is worth putting money into since many parts are not replaceable. Upgrade my surround sound receiver in the house, take the old one to the garage when the Pioneer blows?
The gentlemen that gave me the silver face was thrilled when I sent him a picture of the giant line arrays with the green glowing Pioneer in operation. Nobody wants to mess with the Pioneer, there is nothing that says CD on the front and they have no idea how the MP3 player plug in cable works (tape monitor switch) Part of me enjoys having a mystery machine
My brother gave it to me after he upgraded to a rack system in 1984. The little silver face had a bad channel so I fixed it and used it for the next 5 years.
My first "real" system was a Carver M1.0T amp with matching pre-amp and a Sony CD player along with an Onkyo cassette deck. Still have the Onkyo deck, I think it works but it holds a shelf down and has been doing so for the past 20 years.
A few years back, an old audiophile in his 80's asked if I wanted some old gear since I can take care of audio equipment and would take care of it. OK... I opened the box and inside was a 1981 Pioneer SX-3700 silver faced receiver!
It included the owners manual and was still fully operational. A serious flashback but with the uber cool green light things for power meters. Plugged in an old CD player into the AUX inputs and it pushes my line arrays around with 45 watts of pure silver faced power.
I'm pondering shipping it off to get the capacitors replaced and the pots fixed this winter. DIY or have it refurbed? Since it is 31 years old, not sure if it is worth putting money into since many parts are not replaceable. Upgrade my surround sound receiver in the house, take the old one to the garage when the Pioneer blows?
The gentlemen that gave me the silver face was thrilled when I sent him a picture of the giant line arrays with the green glowing Pioneer in operation. Nobody wants to mess with the Pioneer, there is nothing that says CD on the front and they have no idea how the MP3 player plug in cable works (tape monitor switch) Part of me enjoys having a mystery machine
First gear I bought was when I was ~15 in 1978 and had saved up money from picking weeds in the farm fields, baling some hay and saving up birthday money.
I bought a Marantz 1550 receiver and a Technics SL-D2 turntable (can't recall the cartridge). I bought raw drivers and made my speakers (15" woofers, horn mids and piezo tweeters). Uff-da, kinda in your face sound but fun.
A Marantz 5025 cassette deck and ADC Sound Shaper 110 graphic equalizer came shortly thereafter.
I still have the 1550 and it has treated me well over the years.I gave the cassette deck and turntable to a girlfriend.
My very first albums to play on that gear were greatest hits as I tried to maximize my dollar....Rolling Stones "Hot Rocks" and Grateful Dead "What a long strange trip its been".
Pink Floyd's The Wall came out around a year later which was quite the good time to listen to LOUD.
I bought a Marantz 1550 receiver and a Technics SL-D2 turntable (can't recall the cartridge). I bought raw drivers and made my speakers (15" woofers, horn mids and piezo tweeters). Uff-da, kinda in your face sound but fun.
A Marantz 5025 cassette deck and ADC Sound Shaper 110 graphic equalizer came shortly thereafter.
I still have the 1550 and it has treated me well over the years.I gave the cassette deck and turntable to a girlfriend.
My very first albums to play on that gear were greatest hits as I tried to maximize my dollar....Rolling Stones "Hot Rocks" and Grateful Dead "What a long strange trip its been".
Pink Floyd's The Wall came out around a year later which was quite the good time to listen to LOUD.
A Lloyds am/fm 2 watt mono unit with built in motor driven vinyl chisel, added two 6 inch drivers with purple burlap grills and shop class cabinets, burnt out the output stage with too low an impedance. Moved up to an Electra 10 w/ch integrated with no name 3 way speakers with 10 inch woofers, didn't understand why the ceramic cartridge overloaded the moving magnet RIAA input..... Anyone remember the Shure M91ED dealers gave away on every cheap turntable? Took them all apart and modified/broke them - everyone of them and I still do........
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My first gear was a Pioneer SA-7xx amp, a BIC T2 twin-speed cassette deck, Technics SL-Q2 tt and Fostex FP 254 (I think) 10" full-range drivers in back-loaded horns which I built in my room over a couple of weekends augmented with a couple of JBL bullet tweeters and a pair of Auratone 5c SuperSound cubes.
The BIC died after a few years and nobody could fix it, largely because a number of techs failed to find the actual fault. Sad really because it was a very good deck while it was alive, competed very well with others costing 2-3x as much.
The Fostex cured me from full-rangers and back-loaded horns for the rest of my life although they were quite good for parties!
Still got the tt in the shed somewhere and also still got the Auratones which is good because now they are worth 5x what I paid for them.
The BIC died after a few years and nobody could fix it, largely because a number of techs failed to find the actual fault. Sad really because it was a very good deck while it was alive, competed very well with others costing 2-3x as much.
The Fostex cured me from full-rangers and back-loaded horns for the rest of my life although they were quite good for parties!
Still got the tt in the shed somewhere and also still got the Auratones which is good because now they are worth 5x what I paid for them.
Found this when looking for pix for my son's wedding -- that's a REMCO ca 1956:
Attachments
time to revisit this old chestnut
first gear that could be called "mine" was gift in the early 60's - another variation on crystal radio set with single earpiece - this one was shaped like a rocket ship, good for picking up two closest AM radio stations and was probably to blame for my lifetime habit of late night listening / viewing
First "serious piece" was Noresco stereo consolette - definitely the bottom of their line, so probably NC321 or 341 Dual 1210 table, ceramic cartridge, probably a whole 5 watts, and Noresco speakers made in Canada with almost certainly Isophon drivers. That must have been between '65 and '67, 'cause I can remember making several trips on my newspaper delivery bike to pick it up from the dealer about 2 blocks away - Ryland Huntley's Radiolounge, as I recall. He also carried Nordmende and Telefunken mantle radios and consoles.
Which brings up another "remember when" - we lived in a low rent neighbourhood of Oak Bay municipality in Victoria - barely a block inside of the "Tweed Curtain" that has as far back as I can recall prided itself as a slice of the old country ( Britain, of course). To this day, as you head east on Oak Bay Avenue, within the few blocks after Richmond, you can actually feel
time
slowing
down
maybe that's a bit of hyperbole
oh, do I miss that first gear - no, it was quite horrendous, but introduced me to the world of controlling my own musical enjoyment
first gear that could be called "mine" was gift in the early 60's - another variation on crystal radio set with single earpiece - this one was shaped like a rocket ship, good for picking up two closest AM radio stations and was probably to blame for my lifetime habit of late night listening / viewing
First "serious piece" was Noresco stereo consolette - definitely the bottom of their line, so probably NC321 or 341 Dual 1210 table, ceramic cartridge, probably a whole 5 watts, and Noresco speakers made in Canada with almost certainly Isophon drivers. That must have been between '65 and '67, 'cause I can remember making several trips on my newspaper delivery bike to pick it up from the dealer about 2 blocks away - Ryland Huntley's Radiolounge, as I recall. He also carried Nordmende and Telefunken mantle radios and consoles.
Which brings up another "remember when" - we lived in a low rent neighbourhood of Oak Bay municipality in Victoria - barely a block inside of the "Tweed Curtain" that has as far back as I can recall prided itself as a slice of the old country ( Britain, of course). To this day, as you head east on Oak Bay Avenue, within the few blocks after Richmond, you can actually feel
time
slowing
down
maybe that's a bit of hyperbole
oh, do I miss that first gear - no, it was quite horrendous, but introduced me to the world of controlling my own musical enjoyment
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While I don't really miss my very first system (Garrard changer pre-dating the "A", the 8" James B. Lansing speaker and Altec amp, I do miss some of my early audiophile stuff: Sony TTS3000 turntable, B&O 4002 with custom arm and Sonus Blue. . .
I'm still using my Sony 3200f amp, and my dad's old Phase Linear 700...
I'm still using my Sony 3200f amp, and my dad's old Phase Linear 700...
1968 or 1969 for Christmas each of us kids got an All in One Panasonic eight track tape player stereo.
I took mine back to the PX and spent an additional $10 to upgrade to the one with a turntable as well as the 8-Track tape player.
PO was 15W/channel (doubtful).
I still have the speakers, although I've replaced the drivers, and possibly the grill-cloth.
I upgraded speakers in 1973 when in the NAVY and got a set of Kenwood KL-5050 speakers, and a Gerrard 95B Turntable.
I still have the speakers and they are in my bedroom.
I upgraded again in 1977 with a Sony STR-5800 and Klipsch Heresy speakers.
I still have both.
The Gerrard disappeared in the late 70s to be replaced by a Technics SL12(?) which has been replaced by a SL-1200.
I took mine back to the PX and spent an additional $10 to upgrade to the one with a turntable as well as the 8-Track tape player.
PO was 15W/channel (doubtful).
I still have the speakers, although I've replaced the drivers, and possibly the grill-cloth.
I upgraded speakers in 1973 when in the NAVY and got a set of Kenwood KL-5050 speakers, and a Gerrard 95B Turntable.
I still have the speakers and they are in my bedroom.
I upgraded again in 1977 with a Sony STR-5800 and Klipsch Heresy speakers.
I still have both.
The Gerrard disappeared in the late 70s to be replaced by a Technics SL12(?) which has been replaced by a SL-1200.
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My first disco gear was mostly made up of Maplin kits and parts.
I built 2 cabinets with 2 Fane 50WRMS speakers in each.
I built the Maplin kit 225WRMS bipolar amplifier.
I built the Maplin sound to light kit.
I bought in Maplins disco deck enclosure and 2 turntables and the pre amplifier kit for the disco.
The result was an excellent sounding setup. It was very loud and was good enough up to medium sized venues.
I built 2 cabinets with 2 Fane 50WRMS speakers in each.
I built the Maplin kit 225WRMS bipolar amplifier.
I built the Maplin sound to light kit.
I bought in Maplins disco deck enclosure and 2 turntables and the pre amplifier kit for the disco.
The result was an excellent sounding setup. It was very loud and was good enough up to medium sized venues.
Same here, except i got Patterson Indutry speakers (made in Vancouver) with an 8" RSC FR.
dave
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