First lp player was a zenith stereo where the speakers were connected using swinging hinges to the console and not a bad sounding unit. |
I don't remember the the brand, the folks bought me and my little sister a record player and we played the crap out of a bunch of early '60s kid's records. I also remember, opening the thing up while it was plugged-in and getting my fingers burned by touching the tubes and a hot wire-wound resistor, as well as getting the electrical shock of my life! Electronic items for kids were more fun in those days, but definitely not nearly as safe as they are these days.
First 45 was Steppinwolf, Born to be Wild.
First LP was Iron Butterfly, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.
Dad was listening to Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, and sound effects LPs downstairs on the Zenith console with extension speakers, and Mom didn't understand all this nonsense! |
My mom gave me her old record player when I was around five or so. I don't remember the name of it but it looked like a grey briefcase. The table would flip down when the clasp at the top was opened and the speakers were on detachable hinges at the sides. I loved the thing. My Dad owned a few bars and would bring home restaurant bus trays full of 45s. I couldn't read yet but I sorted the records by the pictures on the label. I had big stacks of Atlantic, Columbia, MCA and Capital singles from the mid 60's through the '70's. I would spend all day spinning records. I think I played "Dueling Banjos" so much the needle wore clean through to the other side of the disc. Ah...good times.
Cheers,
Jim |
In my household, all we had were 78 rpm players for the first few years--a walnut-finish wood tabletop model in the basement (about 2'x3'x3') where we played Disneyland records and Davey Crockett and some old acoustic count-tree square dance record. Upstairs was a 78 tube floor-standing console made (I think) of mahogany, where it took a stack of 78s to play one symphony.
When I was about 6 or so my dad got our first 33-1/3 RPM player--a portable RCA with built-in speaker. He'd set it on the kitchen counter and we'd listen to Beethoven or Tchaikovsky during dinner. When I was about 8 we got a floorstanding stereo console as the family Christmas present that played all 4 speeds from 16-2/3 to 78 rpm. This was back when you weren't supposed to play stereo records on mono equipment.
I remember one of the first stereo LPs we played on it was the Chipmunks Christmas, vol. 2. Fast forward a few years and at the end of 6th grade one of my sisters gave me a Gene Krupa compilation, "Drummer Man" LP on MGM records. Although I didn't buy it with my own money, it was the very first record I owned. The next one was given to me by another sister, "Time Further Out" by the Dave Brubeck quartet.
Finally, for my 15th birthday I got $5 from my Grandma. To that I added about $1.50 and bought two new LPs at $3.19 each--Creedence Clearwater Revival (self-titled, with the extended version of Susie Q and I Put a Spell on You) and Blood, Sweat, and Tears 2, the one with Spinning Wheel and You Make Me So Very Happy.
That Spring my older brother bought the first componenet stereo I ever saw, and the beginning of my 38-year (and counting) audio obsession. It was an Electrophonic POS with whizzer cone speakers and a built-in 8-track. Soon after he bought a mid-level Garrard turntable and battery-operated Cal-Rad mag phono preamp. |
Forgot about records of my choice back when I was a pup.
Stones High tide and green grass
Steppenwolf live
Mountain Nantuket sleighride
Savoy Brown raw sienna |
My Mom & Dad got tired of listening to me whine about wanting to play rock & roll on their stereo ( a nice looking walnut veneered Zenith console.) Mom was a music snob who used her love of classical music as way to put down anyone who enjoyed "lesser" forms of music and she sure didn't want to listen to what her teenage son did. So Dad took me to some old guys house who was selling his small Zenith unit with hinged speakers and we got that along with some free Hank Williams records. I promptly recovered the speakers' grills with a suitably psychedelic paisley cloth and went out and bought the Grateful Deads', Doors, and Mothers of Inventions first albums at Kmart. I think they were about $3.50 each. |
Record player installed on top of a Fisher receiver in a three piece system (2 speakers + receiver with record player installed in a cut out on top of it). The system was called the Fisher 105. I think the turntable (changer, actually) was an OEM from BSR. Cheapo Pickering cartridge. I saved my lunch money for a year in high school and bought this system for $300.
LP? I think it was "The Now Sound of the Brass Ring" by the Brass Ring (still have it). I recall reveling in the clarity and beauty of the sound in contrast with my parents' Magnavox console. |
thorens td150 junk sale 22 years ago
never looked back since
cost
five uk pounds
absolutely hooked ever since
terry |
These stories are great. Lots of wide smiles and chuckles on this side of the keyboard.
Schipo Zenith console and hinged unit What a family-I stiil listen to those records and I just went to see Kim Simmonds !
Forrestc I guess that got the hairs on your neck to stand up ! Hey Dad Dinners Ready!
Jameswei I had the same combo unit I bought it in a TV Repair Shop. I went home with Freddie and the Dreamers that day.
Uktel those Thorens are still worth their weight in Vinyl.
Desmondjim Learn to read by the 45rpm method what a school of music. Did you ever get a Jukebox? My Friends Mom was a Playboy Bunnie and she had a box in her foyer.
Photon I thought Hank Williams was Classical Music Just like Frank Zappa
Johnny B Good Davey Crocket King of the Wild Frontier aint that Ant Music ?
I bet your dad did opera in the shower. What a way to enjoy a meal
Thanks Everyone
Keep them hits coming
Groovey Records |
My first record player was a record changer by Emerson. You opened up the top and it became useable. The speaker was the front. Mono only.
First record ever was either Thunder Road or Quiet Village don't remember which.
First LP came from my sister it was a set of things like Peer Gynt for kids etc. The stories were good and so was the music.
Later inherited a Stromberg-Carlson tuner with multiplex and a turntable and hugh speakers. After that got into components and it has been my mania ever since. |
My mom and dad had a restaurant in small town Saskatchewan (Canada) and my first exposure to records was in their old Seeburg jukebox that played 45's. I was fascinated by how the jukebox would pull out 45's from the slot, play them, and then pop them back in to their place. The song that was played the most back then was "Don't Bring Me Down" by the Beatles. Unfortunately, the jukebox wasn't the most reliable piece of machinery; the vacuum tubes seemed to always burn out.
Other than that, my first real turntable (or record player) was a Sears model that had a fold-down shelf and built in speakers. The platter was made of plastic. My brothers and I were thrilled to have purchased that record player (from the Sears Catalogue) along with our first Carpenter's LP. Those were the days!
calgarian |
My first very own, not a hand-me-down, record player was a Christmas present at about age 15. It was a GE portable stereo that had two, biggish grey plastic speaker cabinets that snapped onto either side of the silver painted metal turntable/amplifier deck. At about 2 o'clock on the volume knob the system would begin to distort so I pencil marked the max point for quick set up. I wishfully hoped that limitation would one day magically vanish but it never did. Maybe it was a pretty good primer for coping with the componentry to follow - recognizing limitations and addressing distortions.
Groovey, let's not forget the fateful consequences of popping the balloons at the Woolworth counter that determined the price of those banana splits. Saving 25 cents could change your prospects entirely! |
My first was a "Close-N-Play" circa 1968, I was around five years old. Parents used to take me to Woolworths to buy 45's at three for a dime. I picked out the ones with the pretty lablels. The start of a life-long obsession with vinyl, I guess... |
Wow what memories! My family had a Zenith console that I used until I was 14. Problem is, this disease struck me when I was 12 and walked into the "high-end" room at a local Korvettes Department store and was smitten with the Marantz, McIntosh, Dual and Thorens gear - I was hooked like a junkie! I will never forget that audio department and how I felt when I entered it. I even remmember how it smelled!!!!
Not to be deterred, I saved up EVERY penny from a paper route and bought a Dual 1019 and an Ortofon cartridge when I was 14 and the rest as they say is history.
The LPs I first purchased with my OWN $$ were a Doc Severinsen LP and a Freddie Hubbard LP. I am drawing a blank on my first 45. (must be CDementia) |
It was sometime in the mid 1940s. A portable (in the sense that you could lift it), self-contained walnut-veneered record player/speaker/amp with a hinged top. I think the brand name was Silverline, or Silver-something. Played 78s, since that was the only speed at the time, and you needed to put the lid down so you could hear more music than needle noise. Cactus and thorn "needles" reduced the noise somewhat, compared to the steel ones. Among the first records were some jazz piano discs by Johnny Guarnieri. I'm still playing these on an Empire 298 reserved strictly for 78s, and amazingly they don't sound bad at all. Dave |
My parents bought a big Montgomery Wards console with auto changer, 8-track & AM/FM. My older brother (RIP) raised me on the Beatles, Average White Band, Tower of Power, amongst other 'brass' outfits, and oddly enough Kraftwerk. I think some of my first records were Disney Jungle Book, the Brady Bunch, and Donny Osmond (8-track) |
When I was 5...6 as far as my memory goes down the age I had a German mechanical gromophone to spin 78's but soon without realizing what this thing could worth now he..he.. I took it appart with no possibility to put it back together...:-) |
I was maybe 7-8 years old in 1976-7 with a record player with a built in speaker, model unkown. I just remember playing Carole King's Tapestry over and over and jumping around my room with my little 3 year old brother. Good times! |
My first record...Hound Dog Man-----by Fabian |
Pathetic little thing with screw on stylus, mount assembly that touched a rubber/piezo pad. White arm, mainly for 45s. Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini was my first record. Then my grandparents gave me a stack of Ravel Mother Goose Suite on 45s (they had since moved on to LPs)and the world opened up. |
a plastic base BSR/MacDonald deal with ADC cartridge. (hey, at least it was an idler drive so i've come full-circle there), run through an entry-level pioneer receiver to no-name speakers.
the first LPs i remember playing on the console at home are S&G bookends, inna-gadda-davida (side one only please), and tommy.
listening to (per the author)- stereolab dots and loops, tortoise tnt |
How do you gut the interior of a 1968 Zenith Stereo cabinet. We dont use it as a stereo any longer, but but the beautiful Oak cabinet could be gutted and used as a storage chest. Is it dangerous to remove the interior components of a stereo (after unplugging of course) and how do you dispose of these components.
Your input much appreciated |
Hey Groovey, nice thread...
My first t/t? > A lousy Blaupunkt Music Centre...
My first record? > ABBA / Voulez Vouz
How are you?
Keep well,
Dewald |
