What did your first "real" system consist of?

in 1977 I bought a Garrard belt drive with a shure cart., I don't remember the model, 1st LP I played on it I remember quite distinctly.. Pink Floyd dsotm. a JVC integrated amp 30 wpc,(couldn't afford the Marantz) and a pair of technics "phase aligned" 10" woofered speakers, 2-way (colorations would be putting it mild -- phase aligned yeah right as if it would help those speakers). My first upgrade was in 1981 or so, bought a denon direct drive with signet mm. Then in 1985 bought a music fidelity A-1 and stax headphones. next was my first pair of Spica TC-50s in 1987. Then a Rega P-3 in 1988. Still had the P-3 until 2 yrs ago.

70's, went from Sansui AU&TU-717 amp and tuner with a set of Bose 901's to SAE amp and pre-amp with Dalquest DQ-10's. The DQ-10's are what set the hook.

Dave

Sansui set the hook for me. It belonged to my best friends brother who brought it all back after serving a tour of duty in Vietnam. I even remember the first cut we played....Chicago-I'm A Man.....WOW!....that brings back some great memories. Excuse me while I go take CTA for a spin......

mine was a mac 275,with four stacked advent speakers, a thorens 125 turntable,an adc xlm cartrige,an old jvc reciever that i used for a preamp. Thought i died and went to heaven

It certainly wasn't high-end, but in the 70's when I was in high school and earning a bit of money during the summers, I bought myself a Pioneer Receiver (can't recall the model but it put out about 25wpc) and a pair of Advent speakers. My dad still uses that system on a daily basis in his studio, and it has never required repair. It actually still sounds pretty decent.

My first entry level rig did not come till after I was out of school, in the mid 80's, and on my own earning money as a photographer's assistant in NYC. I bought an AR turntable with a Grado cartridge, a BK EX-140 amp, a Moscode Super-It tube phono preamp, and a pair of Magneplanar SMGa speakers. That BK amp was pretty darn good even by todays standards and I sold it about four years ago for about half of what I'd paid almost 15 years earlier (value of dollar not accounted for there). The Magneplanars were novelty speakers IMO and short-lived in my posession. The Moscode was a great little phono pre, and the AR a classic which I only recently parted with after many upgrades. I was spoiled during my days back then as many of the photographers I worked for had great systems in their studio's (most of which cost more than I'd earn in several years at that time). Being exposed to those systems on a daily basis is probably one of the things that gave me some appreciation for how good musical reproduction could enhance my enjoyment of the music I so loved.

Marco