Who remembers audio from the time when ...

Anything we did in our youth was amazing. I remember hanging out in a friends basement with a very crappy stereo. He did however have a giant color organ that looked cool when Steve Miller was playing. I also had a girl with me. That added to it a bit! I'd trade my high end system to go back to that moment in time.

It was about 1972. My family and I moved into a new house in Essex County NJ. One day after some planning, my Dad and I went to Tech Hifi and we or he bought two stereos. One for our family room that consisted of an Elac Miracord turntable with AudioTechnica cartridge, Sansui Seven receiver, and a pair of Ohm B speakers. I don’t remember if he bought me my system or if I paid or chipped in for the system I got. I was a freshman in high school. But I somehow got a Philips GA-212 turntable with those cool elevator light buttons along with an AudioTechnica cartridge. Also got a Sansui 661 receiver and a pair of EPI 120 speakers. I think the very first album I ever bought was Derek and the Dominos Live in Concert. I would spend literally hours in Sam Goody scouring for albums to buy or put on my mental short list. Also did the same at EJ Korvettes. That was a great place to buy records. They always had great sales ads in the Newark Star Ledger. When my folks were not home I would crank my system LOUD. Loved it. As I got older in high school I worked during winter break steam cleaning cookie sheets for a bakery so that I could make enough money to go back to Tech Hifi and buy a Technics cassette deck. It was the one where the cassette sat in a 45 degree position behind a sliding clear door. Loved listening to WNEW-FM and their tremendous DJ crew. I remember them debuting the most amazing albums. One that immediately comes to mind was Brain Salad Surgery by Emerson Lake and Palmer. Unreal. Graduated college. Went to college. Got involved in the college radio station immediately. WMUH-FM in Allentown, PA. We were “Underground Radio for the Lehigh Valley”. I spent so many hours there. I had two four hour DJ shows. I Friday evening rock show and a Sunday afternoon jazz show. At different times I was Business Manager, Music Director and Assistant Station Manager. I could have been Station Manager, but I didn’t want to flunk out! Learned how to slip cue discs, handle PSA carts use the mic, develop a play list on short notice, manage time and avoid dead air. Discovered new bands from records sent to us from the record companies. One was Boston (duh!). Got to collect a bunch of “dupes” (duplicate records) from the station as a fringe benefit. Have always loved music. Learned how to play electric bass. Now I have an even better and elaborate system. Still enjoying the music. 

Dave's not here.....  1957 parents has a portable all in one mono Zenith record player.  4 speeds 16 2/3 up to 78, tubes and awesome (at the time) bass.  Pop played 2 45s a lot The Beat and The Tennessee Stud.  Needles were ceramic and about 1.50 to replace.  1965 while in hi school, got a Sears electronic stereo all in one with a detachable speaker.  Used to listen to Steppenwolf or the Seeds at night in bed, turned the volume down all the way.  The ceramic needle was loud enough just by itself.  1970, US navy and a Pioneer flea watt receiver.  1974 an Acoustic Research integrated with 50 whole watts.  And it just goes on and on.  Time changes everything, listening to music, live or recorded stays the same.

   In the late 60's I was in high school. At the time, my main interest was playing in a band with some of my school buds. We were pretty good for an amateur band and were the band of choice for many school functions. In those days in Atlanta, Ga. soul music had reigned for quite some time but the surge of British music (Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Yardbirds, and others) were taking over. Our ban incorporated all of those in our performances.   One night at a performance my Fender Twin Reverb blew a speaker. I was devastated. My next door neighbor was an elderly gent who had been in electronic repair for most of his life. He agreed to repair my Fender amp. When I went to his house to pick up the amp I noticed that he had an unusual audio system. Unusual to me since I never paid much attention to such stuff since my priority was live performance. His speakers were unfamiliar to me since I suspected that he probably made them himself. His cabinet was filled with electronics I didn't recognize. He started an Ampex reel to reel and played some music tracks. I was astounded at the quality of the sound even though the music style wasn't to my liking.   At the time my stereo system consisted of a gift from parents from Sears. It was an "all in one" unit with detachable speaker and a turntable that was hinged into the main assembly to be swung out to play records. I only used it to listen to popular songs to emulate guitar licks for my part in my band's makeup since we didn't perform original material.   But, I never forgot how good my neighbor's system sounded. Years later I sought to have such a good sounding system of my own. Nostalgia isn't just for memories.

@mijostyn we appear to be soul brothers except i earned the $ in harsh Ohio winters with a snow shovel. The old man had a Dual 1019, Shure Type II, MX-110 and MC-240 running Bozak B-305.

i still have the 110 Z and the 240 ;-) got me hooked for sure....