Who remembers audio from the time when ...

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....

I vividly remember riding my bike to Seligman Bros. Record Store, which luckily, was only about a mile from our house. I mowed lawns and shoveled snow for the money for the bike and records. The LP I bought was Harry Nilsson - Son of Schmilsson.
It's 1971 in America on a beautiful Saturday morning and Mom has just served a nice brunch. Everybody is still sitting at the table, and it seems like the perfect time to show off my new purchase...
Mom and Dad both love music and it seems to be going pretty well
until track 5  - You're Breaking My Heart
Life lesson: Never play a track for an audience without previewing it !
I just ended up skipping that track, but I never forgot the lesson.
The system was a large Magnavox console with an Ampex eight-track recorder jacked into it.
I built my first stereo with a Garrard turntable Sansui receiver and  speakers shortly after that. Next stereo was DCM Time Window speakers with Adcom electronics JVC TT and Dynavector cartridge.
After that I ran across a good deal on a pair of B+W 804's.
There have been a lot of iterations over the years.
Great sound and great music both excite me very much.
Best Regards,
Bil