The Hi Fi Audio Quest: circa late 1950s

I remember listening excitedly to AM/FM stereo simulcasting of the Perry Como show in the NY metro area. We had a Heathkit mono “HiFi” at the time, 1958 iirc. Having matched speakers like in the video clip would taken more disposable income than we had, that’s for sure. 

lol that’s a great video.  The subwoofer crawl with the whole family minus the subwoofer.  I remember my parent’s Magnavox stereo console.  AM/FM tuner, turntable and reel to reel tape deck.  Built in speakers and album storage.  A big beautiful beast.  I used it as a bar years later.  

Video a bit extreme but funny.  We had an Arvin stereo radio on the livingroom bookcase, late 50's. The big deal with it was the new introduction of FM.  No color tv yet at that time.

First stereo? Around 1965. It was a 'console' set, that is: a plastic carry box the size of a small briefcase that had a turntable and removable speakers. I remember taking the speakers and strapping them to my ears with a belt to get the loudest sound. It's probably one reasons that my hearing drops off a cliff at about 10k. Well, that and decades of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Yes and Funkytown with Koss Pro4AA headphones. 

Parents had a big 1947 Magnavox console radio-phono: AM/SW with separate FM tuner; Webcor record changer; 15" field-coil woofer and ginormous horn tweeter (of course, the speakers were directly below the changer). When I was 17, the electronics gave up the ghost. My Father told me to find replacement gear, but it had to fit in the console. The only equipment that would fit was Dynaco. So, we ordered the PAS-3x and FM-3 built and the Stereo 70 and an EICO AM tuner (so my Mom could listen to baseball) which I built, a Dual 1009 and an E-V 15" full range. My dad bet me $20 the amp wouldn't work when I finished (thanks for the vote of confidence, Dad) but it did. Shortly thereafter, we bought an E-V speaker system for the second channel. The system now is in the hands of my nephew who is rebuilding the ST-70 - I wanted to but am so shaky, I didn't want to risk trying to install a new driver board. That was our family's first stereo.