As A Youngster, What Unit Puqued Your Interest In All This?

Very early 60's I had a Sony R to R. I taped the mic to my Sony FM radio and recorded as much music as I could. The start of it all..

My dad stepped up his stereo game around 1972 with the purchase of a Sony STR-6065 receiver, a Dual 1229 turntable and a pair of AR-3a's.   The immediate improvement in SQ was enough to get me interested in finding out what else was out there.  The store he frequented was very conservative and tilted towards east coast sound.  But I was fascinated by it all and was soon reading through all stereo mags of the day like Hi Fidelity and Stereo Review.   Still fascinated at seeing equipment from the 1970's and early 80's that wasn't available in my smallish town (Charleston, WV)

Dad had a pair of ADS 910's (still has them) paired with a McIntosh 2125 and C28. Yamaha Turntable, Nakamichi Deck. He had lots of friends into audio too. I remember Stuarts Audio in Westfield NJ had talks and I would go run around with the other kids that got dragged along lol.

My very first real job ~1977 while still in high school was as a part time salesman at the local Lafayette Radio. I was a kid in a candy store! Was running a $200 Sanyo Integrated system at home for several years prior. Soon I had all Lafayette/Criterion separates: integrated amp, tuner, phono, speakers with HEIL Air Motion Transformer.

Nearby shops sold Magneplanar, McIntosh, Klipsch and other goodies I saw and heard for the first time. 

Then on to college where I landed a similar gig at the local Tech Hifi and away we go....

My dad's mono system:  Rek-O-Cut turntable, Audax tonearm, GE pickup into a Bogen integrated tube amp into an early KLH 6.  I inherited the KLH 6.  It still works.  He once told me he auditioned early stereo and thought it was a gimmick created to sellore speakers!  Whenever my folks weren't home, I would put on some Led Zeppelin and crank it.

First heard hi-fi music at a basketball team celebration party at the home of our team sponsor in the mid-60's. He had a Fisher receiver and I don't remember the speakers. After hearing that clarity, I was off to the local hi-fi store in La Jolla, CA, and scraped enough together to buy a Fisher receiver. I couldn't afford speakers after that so I built some massive speakers out of 3/4" plywood and some 12" speakers (no tweeters or crossovers as I didn't know about that stuff). Still sounded awesome until 1975 in San Francisco I bought a pair of KEF speakers after hearing Fleetwood Mac's Rihannon in stereo. Been hooked ever since.

I was in preschool and there was an all in one portable record player there. I was facinated by it and what it could do. I had to have it. I went home with it. There was much conversation afterwards that i cant remember. My grandfather, a successfull architect, with many cool things in the eyes of a youngster, gave me my own with a 45 of, eight days a week. This was in holland in the mid seventies. 

It was My buddy's system:

Hitachi receiver

Unknown turntable

Pioneer Cassette Deck with fluoroscan meters

Realistic Mach One speakers

...followed within a few years (early '80s) with my own:

Luxman L450 Integrated

Luxman Graphic EQ

Nakamichi LX-5 3-head cassette deck

Pioneer PL-200 (?) direct drive turntable with Pickering XV-15 cartridge

Realistic Mach One speakers.

...oh yeah, there was also that first time I heard Rush in my other buddy's car on a Craig stereo of some sort--Cygnus X-1 and............I was hooked.

My Uncles Dual 1219/ELAC Cartridge/Grundig Receiver/UHER Reel to Reel/Canadian Knockoff JBL L100's (ADS ?).

My Dad's German Koronette Cherry Wood Stereo Console with built-in Bar. BSR Ceramic Cart/Some Transistor big huge receiver. Dual knobs for Volume. 

My mother played classical piano and my dad played blues Coronet. We had some sort of system that played vinyl 78's a lot.

I watched my dad build his own speaker cabinets for his speakers.  And in my teens I bought my own fisher component system cause once again my dad had a fisher tube rack system that I remember could heat a room!  But everything sounded so deep, rich and detailed.  

One of my best friends in grade school introduced me to his parents' ARXa, PAS-3, Stereo 70, and AR3a speakers.  That inspired me to buy kit amps and such from Lafayette and Allied.  Later worked in an electronics store.  Now I have a lot of the gear from that era that I couldn't afford at the time.  

When I was 14, I saved up all the money I made working in the back room of my uncles liquor store sorting return bottles and bought a Panasonic compact stereo system with a built in cassette recorder, BSR turntable, am/fm tuner and speakers for around $200.00. When I turned 16 and started working at Burger Chef and was making better money, I sold my Panasonic to a co-worker and bought my first real stereo system.  It was a 20wpc Sansui receiver, Sony Dolby Cassette Deck, Garrard turntable with a Shure M91ED cartridge and a pair of Bozak bookshelf speakers.  2 years later I started working in that store that would last another 15 years.  I was constantly buying better equipment.  The disease never left me. 

Waytoomuchstuff ,,I was one of those other guys hanging around David Beatty.  Great place and great time.

My roommates brother brought home Sansui gear from being stationed in Korea. 
Wow.   ‘74, my brother in law sends me Sansui gear from the PX in Guam.  Later ‘74, in college, working at a new dinner theater.  I walked into the dining room as the busboys are setting up.  They had The Doobie Brothers playing thru 2 Voice Of The Theaters @30 feet up center stage.  It just rewired my brain. Nothing else has ever sounded like that.  I remember that moment in time.

For the next near 50 years, same Sansui 2000x, and turntable. Same sweet wife. On retirement, I moved to Primaluna, VPI, Sutherland, Soundsmith, and Klipsch Cornwall’s .  I have to feel the air moving around me a bit.  Close as I’ll get to those VOTT.   Lucky guy 

I was extremely interested in sound quality starting in 1973. Purchased Technics SL1200 with Audio Technica  Shibata tipped stylus, Sony receiver with Dolby FM.

A friend that worked at that store had Pioneer Quad system with Quad Open Reel and Tapes, with 4 JBL L300s. That was pretty cool.

When I heard the Heil Plasmatronics  in 1976, I was hooked on High End from there. (I didn't get them).

This thread obviously strikes a nostalgic chord with everyone. it's a chance to travel back in time to a younger more innocent time.  For me, it was Natural Sound in Framingham, MA.  Went there with a buddy in 1974 or so, (stoned of course), and listened to stacked Quad speakers, with Mark Levinson pre and amp, and some turntable I can't remember, but nice.  I think in those days, the system was $30K!  It literally blew me away.  Whatever we listened to sounded like the band was playing right in front of us.  It was incredible.  I have been chasing that sound (or how I remember it) since I started buying equipment.  Alas, the only things that I could afford were a Harman/Kardan receiver, a Phillips Turntable (with the very cool LED lights) and ElectroVoice Speakers.  Started upgrading in college and never stopped!  But still haven't gotten that sound, although my current system is excellent.

My older brother after his freshman year in college(1977) came back for the summer with a B & O Beogram 4002 table, Yamaha receiver(don't remember the model), and a pair of large Tannoy Era Monitors with classic 12" dual concentric drivers and a ceramic Elephant shaped Bong.  If you placed one speaker on top of the other, it was the size of a refrigerator.  After a summer of that system(I was a high school freshman), I was hooked on audio.

No particular piece of gear. I only noticed that some gear just sounded better than others.

In audio stores I used to hang out with friends (with the same interests) at various audio stores. Impressed with everything from Klipsch to Maggies to, well nearly everything. Being poor, I started with a raw speaker and tiny mono tube amp from a junk pile sale at Lafayette ($5 each… ha!). Soon I “upgraded” the raw speaker by soldering a cap to a found “tweeter” (woo-hoo!”)

My first “real” system was a Kenwood integrated amp, a tiny pair of Advent speakers and a Dual TT with a Shure M91ED cart… from there it was off to the races!

I've a relatively detailed history in my Virtual System. 

But before I ever got into all this, a transistor under the covers listening to Radio Luxembourg was where I discovered music. My parents refused to entertain a record player, so I hung at friend's homes and played their records. Penny on the headshell.

My Dad had a Sansui BA and CA 2000 when I was young.    When I was 15 I took all of my paper route money and bought a really nice used Sansui AU9900.    

My parents Columbia / capital console. I used to crank that baby up when they were gone.

I walked into a hi-fi store in the early 70's, there was a lineup of JBL speakers from bookshelfs to a Paragon. Loved them straight away, always have, tried other speakers but always returned to JBL.

I own a Sansui AU 7700 and a Sansui alpha 667i...

marvels at low cost no one can called obsolete amplifiers...

Did you always own the AU 9900 ?

My Dad had a Sansui BA and CA 2000 when I was young.    When I was 15 I took all of my paper route money and bought a really nice used Sansui AU9900.    

At 11 years old, in 1981 listening to After the Gold Rush by Neil Young hiding out in my bedroom listing on a portable cassette recorder. Now I’m older and because of Neil young and that little tape deck I’m now pushing past $200k in equipment.

My first audiophile equipment was a Sony 366 reel to reel tape recorder which I asked my parents for after my bar mitzvah (my friends received $3K to $5K in cash gifts, I got $300 during the Hong Kong Flu season-invested in stock market until 19).  Prior to my first serious piece of equipment, I started out with a tube based LP player until an Admiral light tracking LP player with detachable speakers (I had over 1,000 LPs at 10 years old).  By 15, I had a tube Kenwood receiver, Advent speakers, etc. and about 3,000 LPs.  Note that I currently listen to my collection of 48,500 LPs/CDs/78s/R2R and have disposed of 18,000 unwarranted records.   Probably another 5 to 7,000 more to dispose of.

My brother's R2R and 4 Quadraflex speakers with 12" woofers.  That could fill a room...

I could say my 8 track player and greatest rock hits but..

My friend, who worked at the local audio store, had a Big AR tube amp,AR SP3 preamp and Magnaplaner Timpani 3s.  So smooth and natural sounding.  Much better than the smaller Magnapans crammed in our dorm room.

In 1956, as a student at The Eastman School of Music, I found that it was very convenient to pass by Craig Audio which was owned by a doublebass player in the Rochester Philharmonic, Dave Craig.  It was only a block out of my way and was located in a tiny little bungalow on a side street.  It didn't take long for me to convince my parents that it was an essential part of my musical education to own a decent audio system.  It consisted of a 10 Watt Bogen amplifier [mono] , a Bogen turntable with GE Variable Reluctance Cartridge and a 12" Electrovoice coaxial loudspeaker in a tunable infinite baffle cabinet.  I still have the receipt !   The journey from then has been a joyous one and definitely the best hobby imaginable !  A set of Bozak "Symphony I" speakers still create an unbelievable sound even though they are in my garage [I'm also a gearhead] . Thanks to the OP for this trip down "Memory Lane" !

Went from GE fold down record player with swing out speakers to Heathkit receiver (AR-1500) and JBL L-150 speakers with Benjamin Miracord record changer. Tried other speakers but always came back to JBLs. Still have those L-150s, but also 4350s and DD67000 (and dozens of other models).  Over 60 years since the GE and still can’t keep from trying out interesting vintage or new stuff. Gonna be a hellacious estate sale when I kick off. Over a dozen pairs of speakers set up currently and multiple pairs of duplicates of the large format speakers, plus several dozen other pairs, and similar situation with electronics (Heathkit, Dynakit, Luxman, McIntosh, Marantz, Thorens…).

My dad’s HH Scott 222C, a Garrad turntable playing mom’s favorite Tom Jones album through a pair of 15 inch single driver Altec’s mounted in furniture grade cabinets.  Didn’t drive my Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath albums very well, so I went NAD solid state when I had enough cash to buy my own rig after college. Very harsh and grainy, but it would get loud! 

I’m back to tubes, Klipsch and male/female vocals.  What goes around comes around.  

Defining moment was listening to a Sheffield track record on a system with Klipschorn speakers and McIntosh tube amps at an audio store around the age of 15.  

I know better now, and I know that this will generate some snickers, but it was the first time I viewed and heard a pair of Bose 901's. The father of a girlfriend had a sweet system and those 901's just sounded awesome to my 15yo ears. This started my journey. I NEEDED a system of my own, no matter how humble. 

Saved up what I could as a bus-boy and walked down the three blocks to my local Radio Shack. I had to make three trips, speakers, receiver and turntable. It was mine and I was proud of it. For Christmas the same year my dad bought me a pair of AKG K240's. I swear I levitated while reclining on my twin bed, listening to Led Zep though those cans. (no mind altering aides were involved). 

when i was young and stupid(er) i ran nice speakers with crappy mass market receivers. at some point i started wising up and got a nad 3155 integrated--not a great piece by today's standards, but much better than the junk i'd used previously. it was something of a gateway drug.

Is it possible to edit the thread title?  There is plenty of gear that I owned in my much younger days that would make me puque if I had to listen to today 

Mahgister, I bought that 9900 used for $250 , enjoyed it for about 8 years and ended up giving it to my brother. Unfortunately it got stolen from his apartment

Wish I still had it 

Sansui was great in audio in the S.Q. /price ratio scale...

Now i am on headphone only , and the Sansui alpha drive them very well...

but the AKG K340 is near the top of high end not the bottom in the headphone realm...

It is very sensible to the electrical noise floor of the house  and component...

then even if Sansui is more than great, i must think about a dedicated headphone amplifier if not out of the electrical grid as my dac , dead quiet,... more quiet than even the quiet Sansui...

I am on vthe fence to upgrade...

Even if the Sansui AU 7700 were extremely good so muck i never change it when i had speakers... So much more quiet than the 7700 the alpha is, a top headphone is so sensible to the electrical noise floor i must consider  an upgrade...

Probably the Berning microzotl...

I would had never change my Sansui with any speakers upgrade...So good they are...

But refined  headphone need dedicated amplification ... My headphone system now is moere resolving than my speakers/acoustic room... So different they are the K340 is my favorite...

Mahgister, I bought that 9900 used for $250 , enjoyed it for about 8 years and ended up giving it to my brother. Unfortunately it got stolen from his apartment

Wish I still had it 

As a wee tot, I was playing with my sisters record player and received a shock. The rest is history. True story. Shock therapy?

Growing up my sister had an all in one compact Panasonic stereo. When she got married her husband had a Dual turntable, HH Scott Receiver, Tandberg reel to reel and Rectilinear speakers. Hearing that made me appreciate that the Panasonic system left much to be desired. 

Growing up my sister had an all in one compact Panasonic stereo. When she got married her husband had a Dual turntable, HH Scott Receiver, Tandberg reel to reel and Rectilinear speakers. Hearing that made me appreciate that the Panasonic system left much to be desired. That was in the 70’s. 

My second system beyond the one with home made speakers:

Dynaco PAT4 preamp

McIntosh MC225 tube power amp

Dual 1219 turntable with a Shure V15 type 2 cartridge

Wollensak reel to reel

Large Advent speakers

HK Citation.