My first component system was a XAM 20 watt receiver, a Garrard 40B turntable with a 1 cent Grado cartridge, & a pair of XAM speakers with single 8" "full range" speakers. It was the house brand of EJ Korvette, a discount department store on Long Island. I probably would have done better if I could have talked my dad into going to Lafayette, but it was a longer trip.
I replaced the Garrard with a $91 AR XA in 1969. It was obvious that turntables sounded different, even to a 16 year old! I don't recall reading that in Stereo Review!
My first system was a Capehart straight from K-Mart. An all in one turntable & 8 track player with 2 very bad speakers. I knew it sounded like crap but at least I could play music of my choice. I updated the speakers to Soundesign in short time. They were not that much better but when I put them at the end of our hallway (lived in a standard 3 bedroom ranch home) closed all of the bedroom doors I could get some "awesome" bass out of them. A lot has changed since then. Still love music though & listen pretty much everyday.
( I think) it was a Rek-0-kut turntable with either an ESL or Grado Lab arm with the top Grado cartridge at that time, with Citation amp and preamp and KLH speakers (I moved to Thiels, but don't recall when)
A one-speed Schwinn, and a clam-shell GE record changer. My folks owned a mono system - Rek-O-Kut 'table, Audax 'arm, GE mono cartridge, Bogen DB35 integrated tube amp and one KLH speaker. They replaced the 'table with a Dual 1019 at some point (not sure). They STILL HAVE the KLH speaker! Looks like they will be moving soon, so I may try to sell it. Maybe someone with another single can make a pair out of it. Not sure of the model number without seeing it, though.
An earlier post said that EJ Korvettes came from Eight Jewish Korean Vets. Sounds great. It’s a very popular urban myth. The store first got started before the Korean War (1948 to be precise)
A Scott solid state all-in-one: AM/FM with a built in Garrard record player and separate 2-way speakers in walnut cabs. You’ll notice I didn’t say ’turntable’.
The best I can say about it is that it played music. My most vivid memory was the box it was shipped in. It featured a picture of a young guy & gal shakin’ a tail-feather to some groovy boss tunes.
Scott’s advertising slogan from that era: "Great Scott !!"
ca. 1967, 15 years old--I had a Magnavox system (IA/TT/spkrs) with headphones, which I used a lot. My parents were in heaven with the 'phones. They bought two of my brothers similar systems the following Christmas.
My first system was in 1967. I was five years old and it was a portable 45 rpm record player with built in speaker. The first record I ever played on it was "March of the Toy Soldiers" from the Nutcracker.
1969: Heathkit EA-3 and a similar RCA branded amp for other channel. EV corner cab with Wolverine speaker (still have) and cheap guitar bass amp cab with 12" with SC (twisted together) to a metal pa horn for HF. Lower model Garrard TT and Pilot mono fm tuner IC (twisted together) into two channel. All components were scrounged together for total cost of $.00. I owned app. ten albums. I was as proud of that system as my current one!!
A tube AM/FM clock radio (which worked very well); a couple of transistor radios; and during the last few years of the decade a $20 portable record player.
By mid-60s I had an AR table with a Shure V-15 Mk II cartridge, a Marantz Model 18 receiver, and a pair of AR3a speakers. The receiver cost an entire month of post-doc stipend. It was a pretty good sounding setup. I still have all of the above components, but no longer use them.
My first system was two Lafyette kit 8 watt tube mono amps, Lafayette/Goodmans 8" three way drivers in Lafayette kit enclosures,a Glaser-Steers automaatic turntable with platter which stopped when record dropped, Shure md3 carttidge which lacked output for the Lafayette tube amps,so had to add the Dynakit Pas3 preamp I have been at this hobby ever since. Strange how some items go up in value. The Goodmans are now selling for #300 a pair on Ebay, not bad for $15.00 drivers. Same for the Dynakit Pas 3. But then look at the current value of the Marantz 7!
I was about 8 or 9 years old (1966-67) when I bought a crystal radio set mail order from the back of a comic book. I strung the antenna wire in the maple tree outside my bedroom window. It worked. I picked up all of the local AM radio stations.
A $500 system bundle from Cal Hi-Fi consisting of a Dual turntable with Stanton 681 cart, a Fisher AM/FM solid state receiver, and a pair of unbranded 3-way large bookshelves with 10" or 12" woofers. It sucked, but I was a teenager and enjoyed my music back then as much or more than I have since. If I had had guidance from someone in the know, I might have ended up with AR and Dynaco gear at about that price, but I didn't.
I had a Sylvania or Magnavox (can't remember!!) fold out record changer that I inherited from my folks. I spliced in some no name speakers (in series!!) and had the obligatory penny on the tone arm tweak!!
a pilot intergrated w/ 7591 tubes ( I remember the number cause I bunt my fingers pretty bad taking a bad one out ) a garrard changer i think was a model a- something, and a pair of jensen 10" 3 ways .now about forty years later .god knows how many systems , houses and an x- wivfs, girlfriends , kids grand-kids ect > worked all the way up to my dream amp the fisher sa1000 . wish I had the cash back then ...but what a ride getting to this point .spending thousands on high end gear all through the 70's 80's and 90's ending up with a 300.00 amp from the 60's .god I love this addiction !!
My system was a Realistic 9 transistor radio I received as a Xmas gift in 1966 - just about right for a 7-year-old. 1966 solid state wasn't ideal for music perhaps and the 2" paper driver wasn't exactly SOTA, but it brought the 1967 Red Sox "impossible dream" season as close as I could have wanted :)
I remember it well, my first system, Leak Mini Sandwhiches, Rogers cadet integrated, Garrard SP25, all second hand. My mother is still using those speakers now
Tannoy, Thorens changer, gray v arm with table, Marantz and McIntosh electronics. Sold it all in the mid sixties to buy a house. Still have all the records.
1966 one of the fold down record players playing the Stones and Paul Revere and the Raiders. 1969 got an LL Scott all in one record player/amp/tuner with some Magnavox speakers. Not a bad system comparatively. 70's got MUCH better though.
Electrovoice Patrician speakers, Marantz 7C & 8B. and a Thorens TD125 (still have this. I wonder how this would sound today-you don't see many Patricians around these days.
with the numbers that "rolled over" with an audible click each minute change ... I was born in 1966 so my high fi obsession did not start til much later
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