What was your first "hi-end" component ?
 

From your own perspective, what was your very first component you purchased that got your started on your audio journey?

Classe CA 100 2 channel amplifier. I enjoyed it, but eventually needed more power!

Well, that was approx 1963 with a 7 inch record player w/built in speaker/amp. Forgot the model & manufacturer -- but it was green.

Then in 1967 or so a 3-in-1 unit -- AM/FM radio/TT/built in speakers.

Then in 1969 was my first true component system: Fisher 450T Integrated, Fisher Speakers (forgot model), Garrard SL-95B TT with Shure V-15 cartridge.

I still have the Fisher & continues to work fine. MINT wooden case.

Bob

1976 - Harmon Kardon Citation 16 & 17, Tandberg TD-20A, w JBL L300's

Perreaux PMF1050 amp and SM2 preamp. Should have kept the preamp - despite it being so noisy because the board was gold plated. Connectors to.

I don't consider this as a high-end BUT it got me started.


MEADOWLARK KESTREL'S


very musical, I still have it in my closet collecting dust. :D

A pair of McIntosh MC-30 mono amplifiers, a Dynaco Pas3 preamp, a Dual 1019 turntable with a Shure V15 Type II cartridge, and Altec Voice of the Theater speakers. In 1968 that sound system rocked the house. :yes:

I started my journey with B&W 705 speakers in 2008.

Harman-Kardon Citation 11 preamp and Citation 12 power amp. I got rid of the Citation 11 preamp for a Dyna PAT 5 that I modded with a design published in The Audio Amateur by preamp guru Walter Jung that was subsequently reviewed by The Absolute Sound. The Citation 12 amp was really a killer amp in it's day, though, and interestingly was the first auido product that Nelson Pass ever built when he was a kid (you could get them in kit form in those days). I still have a(nother) Citation 12 power amp, and it is still a very respectably good-sounding amp to this day. Dual mono amp on a single chassis.

I started this crazy hobby in 2003 with the following gears:
Speaker: B&W N804
Preamp: Luxman C-383
Poweramp: Luxman M-375
SACD player: Marantz SA8260

I started in 1976 with a Rotel receiver and Ohm E speakers, but I would have to say the first high end purchase I made was Wilson Sophia 2 speakers a couple of years ago. :)

When I was 16 I bought with my commissary bagger tips my first system from the BX in Soesterberg.

Sansui 771 Receiverhttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3122/...eb70650677.jpg
Kenwood KL44 speakers
PioneerPL55DXTurntablehttp://medias.audiofanzine.com/image...5dx-449313.jpg

My 1st HI end was 1994 Rotel Tuner-pre amp Rotel 980 amp B&w Speakers but i
loved HI end At a very early age when the NAD 3020 receiver came out i got hooked

Those were nice sounding speakers in their day. Too bad the company went belly up :sigh::sigh:

Dahlquist DQ10s (1980). Then added around that.

Final 1.4 MK2 speakers.

Sent from my iPhone using A.Aficionado

:scratch2:.....1974, a SONY quadrophonic receiver and a pair of SONY speakers...have long forgotten the model numbers..... But I believe it was an SQR6650...

Dahlquist DQ-10's
Great American Sounds - Ampzilla amp
Nakamichi 610 pre amp

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...4f5cH14-jsGdbq
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...SSWg87-rVQxkf0
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...AVHClb806qB8hA

2007 - B&W 803s. It seems so long ago!!

I do not necessary think that this is hi-end, but it was my first set up in middle school. I think that is when I bought it say early 70's.

Scott 350R receiver
Technics SL-QD35 TT
Infinity QE speakers

http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/...k737/_-2-4.jpg


http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/...k737/_-7-3.jpg

I still have them and shot these pictures. I was hoping the Scott would light up for the photo but "no go" I'm afraid.:sigh: However, the last time I had the speakers hooked up they did work.:banana: I use to play my LP's all of the time in my bedroom and many times would play my drums to the songs. Artist like the Beatles, Steely Dan, BTO and of course many others.

I have kept all of my gear through out the years like a Sony Stereo Cassette Deck TC-FX4, Onkyo TX-SV727 receiver, B@K Ref 50 preamp and others. It is interesting to see the progression of gear through out one's life span...

Conrad Johnson PV10.

Great stuff... thanks for the photos!:thumbsup:

My first purchase from a real "hi-fi" shop in 1974:

Kenwood KR-7400
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...BbdvkirJeuam8w

Large Advent loudspeakers (4)
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...xtmv-VcysBMGRt

Harmon Kardon Rabco ST-7
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...RhP2Cypz16IwE9

Kenwood KX-910 cassette deck
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...QCSApQebBZ3V1g

:smoking:

Terry

I had owned a "stereo set" for several years - an RCA "all in one" set with a remote speaker and it sounded good enough for my college dorm room but . . .

My first "good" speakers were Electrovoice EV-2 - two-way speakers, bought in 1963, and used for several years The speakers were rated for 35 watts and peak input of 60 watts. (Whatever that means?)

I used these speakers with a Fisher X-101-B integrated amp and a Garrard type A turntable - (record changer) with a Shure cartridge

I probably cut the plugs off of a pair of lamp extension cords to get a "really good" set of speaker wires. We had never heard of dedicated speaker wire in those days, and I can't imagine the poor quality of whatever interconnects I used.


My First Speaker Wire:
http://images.drillspot.com/pimages/1449/144971_300.jpg


http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...m/EV_front.jpg

http://www.theanalogdept.com/images/...rard/TypeA.jpg

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Fisher-Tube-I...NqQ~~60_57.JPG

Julian,

Awesome! :thumbsup: The photos are great to see.... really takes me back in time.

Sony TAE-1000 ESD preamp.

A McIntosh C24 pre-amp around 1970 or so. I built a Dynaco 120 amp to power my Bose 901's. I then later upgraded to a Phase Linear 400.

JBL L 100 Century.

My first high end components were Dual 1019 turntable, Pickering XV15/750 cartridge, KLH 5 speakers, Tandberg 64X tape deck and a Lafayette 1200T receiver in 1967, I was 13.

I basically ran out of money where the receiver was concerned. My childhood lawn mowing business didn't quite make it to the Marantz 7C and McIntosh MC275 that I was drooling over at the time!

When I was 10 or 11 (I started very young), I needed a better record player than the old mono player I used to play the drums with, and my father would NOT let me get a $200 "portable stereo". I sarcastically asked if I could get components like he had, and he said YES! I saved for a few years, and that's what I got. Thanks dad!

I started my audio journey in 2007, when my dad gave me his trusty old luxman integrated amplifier & some Klipsch KG4's I was 13 years old at the time. I was sucked into this hobby from then on.

Define high end? When I was ten I purchased a Realistic integrated tuner, cassette player, turntable, and speakers from Radio Shack. As I recall the entire setup cost me about $400, but remember I was ten. But even then I liked to ROCK OUT!!!!!

The high end, for some of us who can actually remember back more than a decade or four, was not anywhere as extreme as it is now, and was much more inclusive.

ME TOO.

Any wire over 16 AWG was a really good speaker wire!

1975 I bought a Marantz 1060 integrated amp. It was beautiful

1969 a Fisher 250 ? receiver Some AR 2AX AR turnable Shure V15 type
??. And before that It was AM radio :banana:

McIntosh MC2105 (used)

I think it was 1982, and looking back, likely stolen property (but I was to young and naive to know then).

Still use it today - office system... go blue (meters)!

My dad gave me a Dynaco PAS-3, Stereo 70, AR turntable, and AR 3 speakers when I was 10.

For me it all started with a Denon AVC A1 (forget the year). Once I hooked up the Millenium DTS decoder via the external inputs and watched laserdisc's such a Jurassic Park, I thought I had it all and my going to the cinema days were over...

In December 1973 I purchased and built a Heathkit AR1500 receiver out of my reenlistment bonus. To that I added a Dual 1229 TT. My speakers were a used set of custom built 3-way no name floor standers that I bought from somebody in the shop. In 1976 I brought back from Japan a set of Sansui SP4500 speakers. In 1980 I added a Sansui SC5100 cassette deck that came home from Okinawa with me. :D

Audio Research LS7 Preamp. Pure tube heaven.