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What were your humble beginnings on the path to high end audio?

Recently there has been a discussion as to the “price point where mid fi tops out and hi end systems begin”. I’d be willing to bet that there are not many folks who started out in this field of interest spending $100K, $50K or even $10K. Going back to your very beginnings, what was your first serious audio system?

I’ll jump in the wayback machine with Mr. Peabody and Sherman and give you a look at my beginnings.

My journey began at around age 13. I started out with a Lafayette KT-630, stereo tube amp that I built from a kit in my 9th grade, “electronics shop” class. The speakers were built at home from plans in the 1968, July issue of Mechanix Illustrated. I upgraded the cabinet construction from plywood, to solid mahogany. The twin woofers in each cabinet were also upgraded to 5” from the specified 4” units and the tweeters were also upgraded from the specified 2-3/4” units to the deluxe 3” units. The inductors in the 6db per octave passive crossovers were hand wound and the caps, terminal strips, L-pads, magnet wire and grill cloth were from Lafayette Radio Electronics as were the woofers and tweeters. The turntable was a purchased Garrard SL72B with a Shure M91E magnetic cartridge.

Check out the amp specifications on page 42 of the Lafayette 1968 summer catalog #648.
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Allied-Catalogs/Lafayette-1968-Summer.pdf

The raw speakers are shown on page 55 of the Lafayette 1971 catalog #710. Woofers, 99-F-01554, figure D. Tweeters were at the bottom of page 55, 99-F-00499. The Garrard SL72B is on page 69 of the same catalog.
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Consumer/Lafayette-1971.pdf

I still have the speaker systems and the amp and they all still work! Alas the SL72B is long since gone. I mowed a lot of grass and shoveled a lot of snow in the neighborhood to buy all that high end gear at age 13! :-D By todays standards, not very impressive, but to a 13 year old in 1968, it was awesome!

So to reiterate, what was your first serious audio system?

P.S. - If you are interested, check out some select old Lafayette, Allied Radio, Heathkit, Radio Shack, Olson and other old catalogs from what I think of as the “good old days” of electronics and my youth.
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Electronics_Catalogs.htm

vintage_heath
mantaman's avatar
mantaman
37 posts
 
Purchased a t the main (P/X) in Saigon....late summer of 67
1 Teac A6010S reel to Reel Tape recorder
2 A.R. (3’s i think) speakers
3 H.H. Scott Reciever
4. Gerrard S.L.95 turn table
All long since gone
Now i have all Mcintosh With Platinum audio speakers, Krell C/D player
mr_m
1,900 posts
 
1969. Marantz 2220 receiver, Garrard 510 TT. and pair of "The Small" Advent Loudspeakers.
jjborders
5 posts
 
1979:
Pioneer SX-450 Receiver
Yamaha NS-4 Speakers
Technics SL-B2 Turntable
Grado cartridge

I'm still on the path looking to make more progress when my son graduates from college. ;-)
phomchick's avatar
phomchick
209 posts
 
I didn’t start at the bottom (but all of this gear was 2nd hand)

1968
Dual 1019 turntable with a Shure cartridge
Hadley 621 Preamp (Serial # 0001 !)
Sony TA-3120 amplifier
Rectilinear III highboy speakers
jrpnde
271 posts
 
In the 70's I didn't know what high end was or the equipment needed for that level. All of my friends had a system that required an amp, speakers, and some type of media source.
In those days the amp of choice was a receiver since a lot of people listened to FM radio. A few of the brands of the day were Kenwood, Pioneer, Sherwood, and some others. For some reason I went with the Pioneer. My system was.....
Pioneer SX-850 receiver.Pioneer PL-530 turntable (which I still have)Pioneer cassette deck with "metal tape capability". Wow. CD's hadn't taken over then.Soundshaper 110 Mk.2 eq.
Syngergistics S-51 speakers (still have them). A 3 way design with 12"woofer, midrange, and tweeter. They even have 2 adjustable crossover controls built in. Another Wow.

I thought, in those days, my system sounded as good or better than others. Technology has come so far since the 70's. The only people I knew that had what was probably considered high end were the age of my parents. Of course, I didn't hang out with them or have parties at their houses or even care about how good their systems were.
Days of yore.
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