First serious hifi

[karatestu]

My memory has gone a bit misty with time, I can remember getting a Pioneer PL112D tt and it being replaced by a Dual 704 . Can't remember my first amp, but the 2nd one was a A & R A60, speakers Celestion Ditton 33's.
When I left home, I purchased a Thorens 160, Sansui 217 and Mission speakers, that wasn't a bad little system, only to be replaced by a Linn LP12, Claymore amp and Epos ES14's.

Some iconic stuff in that lot Dave. Has everybody had a LP12 at some point ? (apart from Clive ).

[Fretless]

The first bit of 'serious' hifi I got was a Michell Focus One turntable.



I was very suspicious of the LP12 Sondek hype and later replaced the Focus with a Logic DM101.

[Lordie82360now]

More than a Misty memory!
Goldring gl 78 with a Shure m75ej cartridge - couldn’t afford the Ed at the time.
Pioneer SA500 amp and Wharfedale Denton speakers.
Prinzsound cassette deck from Dixon’s completed the package.

Happy days!

[Grumpytim]

First system was a Michell Syncro with a linn k9 (One of only 2 bits of Linn I've ever owned), a Yamaha amp, I've no idea what which was replaced by a Rotel 840bx and AR8 speakers.I think the first cassette deck was a Sony.

Of the old kit I'd love to hear the Rotel again with decent cables, likewise the AR 8's and the 18's (I think) that replaced them.

Thinking about it in the main system I've had two turntables, neither of which was an LP12. Four Amplifiers, none of which were Naim or Linn, 3 cassette decks, non of which were Nakamachi - sadly. Four CD players, one of which was a Linn, but was used as a transport. Three (only three you say!!!) DAC's though the house total is closer to ten. And Four sets of speakers.

In Hifi terms I'm really not swapping boxes nearly often enough..

[SteveTheShadow]

Thorens TD160/SME SeriesII Improved/Ortofon VMS20E turntable setup.
Denon DRM-400 cassette deck.
Marantz PM350 amplifier
Kef Coda III speakers, on those round based B&W single pillar stands.
It was a nice little system.

The amp got replaced with a Musical Fidelity A1, which kept blowing up, so that was replaced with a NAIT 2, which didn’t keep blowing up.
Actually that third system was very very good.
Then I ended up on the bloody Flat Earth treadmill, which took me 10 years to escape.

[Neonknight]

What to call serious hi fi? When I was 11 I got a Zenith Allegro all in one for a stereo system. I listened to a lot of music on that.

At the age of 13 I started to piece together a stereo system with birthday, Christmas, and yard mowing monies. A Pioneer SX 2400 reciever, a Realisitc turntable of some sort, a Sanyo cassette deck, and these large floorstanding speakers from a surplus sale.

When I was 19 I started buying my first serious stereo system.

Amber Audio 17B pre amp
Dynaco Stereo 70 tube amp (you could buy them dirt cheap in the late 80s!)
Systemdeck IIKE turntable with Audioquest Alchemist IIIs high output moving coil cartridge
Tandberg TCD 310 cassette deck
Spica TC 50 speakers with their matching Servo subwoofer

Looking back it was a decent stereo for a college kid. I bought much of it used or on close out.

Those are interesting speakers for a 19 year old. I have been intrigued by Spica speakers and would love to hear some but that will probably never happen.

There are some things that time passes by and you can never return to, Spica speakers are one of them. The designer sorted and grouped Audax drivers and designed variations of his crossover for each particular subset. I have heard from people who have a hobby of restoring Spica speakers that the drivers parameters change over time, and they become out of spec with relation to the crossover. Since the drivers are no longer produced they cannot get them back to OEM specs, but rather spend their days trying to find complimentary new production drivers and see what they get as a final outcome. There are some companies that offer what they believe is the best modern replacement for the drivers, but once again it will not be like they were new. So buying a pair of vintage Spica speakers now is really not recommended. Certain audio components just cannot be retrieved from yesteryear.

During that time period I had some other interesting components. I had a Mission Cyrus One that lost a channel, I probably screwed up and had a speaker wire strand short out, but it was gone for a year for service. On the way back to me it got run over by a fork truck in a warehouse. I bought the Amber pre amp and Dynaco ST 70 as interim components, and just stuck with them. Before the Spica I had experimented a bit with Mission speakers and owned 70 II and 700 II. I walked into our high end shop one day and the owner decided to close out his Spica and said I could have them for $225, so I made that buy. Before I had the Systemdeck I had a Thorens TD 125 MK II with SME3009 arm, but had walked into another audio shop I frequented in Seattle WA and the owner offered me the floor model Systemdeck for $250. I took it, and later a friend of mine sold me his CJ Sonegraphe with Sumiko MMT arm. Of the three tables I liked the sound I got out of the Systemdeck the best, but since it was so inexpensive I always thought I could do better. In hindsight I really liked that table.

Early days in hifi were so exciting and full of discovery. Now I have enough money to buy pretty much whatever I want if I choose to save long enough and shop the used market. The sound here is very nice, but in some ways you become jaded at what is possible. Miss those early days of this hobby at times.

[savvypaul]

Dual CS505-2
Rotel RA820BX
Wharfedale Laser 90B
Twin & earth as speaker cable

Had it a couple of years then sold it to my work colleague. Got a bank loan, LP12, Ittok, Karma, Naim 42/110, BLQ1...it was 'better', but less enjoyable.

[BillyBones]

Seems quite a few people had Rotel amps BITD, I must admit I did enjoy my old RA930BX. For the pittance I sold it on for I wish I'd just kept it.

[slinger]

The first system I bought all-in-one-go, actually as a system rather than bits and pieces picked up along the way, was...
AMP: Arcam Alpha 2
SPKRS: Celestion DL4 S2
TT: Dual CS505
CASSETTE: Kenwood KX-440HX
TUNER: Kenwood KT-58 T
That little lot all came from Sevenoaks HiFi

I later added a Philips CD player, which I think was a CD-610, from Richer.

That system lasted me the best part of twenty years, and I'm still using the Celestions for computer audio duties, hooked up to an SMSL Q5 Pro amp.

[karatestu]

Thanks NK, I enjoyed your post very much. Shame about the Spica drivers going out of spec.

Early days in hifi were so exciting and full of discovery. Now I have enough money to buy pretty much whatever I want if I choose to save long enough and shop the used market. The sound here is very nice, but in some ways you become jaded at what is possible. Miss those early days of this hobby at times.

I wish I could get back to the early days of music discovery when I didn't care about the hifi, it was just a means to an end. Nearly there but my diy system isn't likely to be finished for a while and I can't switch off the critical design process.