First Stereo System

[Ron Thorne]

My first system was, of necessity, inexpensive. However, I saved considerable money by building my amp/preamp and turntable from a kit, allowing me to purchase a superb tonearm & cartridge I couldn't have afforded, otherwise.

Here it is, and it would still be considered a fine system by today's standards.


Harman Kardon A300

Specifications -

Power output: 12 watts per channel into 8Ω (stereo)

Frequency response: 15Hz to 70kHz

Total harmonic distortion: 1%

Input sensitivity: 3mV (MM), 125mV (line)

Signal to noise ratio: 60dB (MM), 75dB (line)

Speaker load impedance: 8Ω to 16Ω

Tube complement: 4 x 7408, 4 x 12AX7, 1 x 12AU7

Dimensions: 15-1/4 x 5-7/16 x 11-1/2 inches

Weight: 25lbs

Finish: brushed gold front panel

I built my amp/preamp from a HK kit in my senior year of high school, which was great fun. I took great pains to route all of the wires neatly and make perfect solder joints. It sounded phenomenal & performed like a champ for almost 40 years, before developing some problems. I'd love to get it up and running again.

That power button glowed purple, unlike anything else out there. Always dug that subtle feature.

I also built a Rek-O-Kut K34H belt drive turntable (kit), and mounted a Grado Laboratory Series arm & cartridge as part of my original sound system with the HK amp. My speakers were a pair of AES Gigolo bookshelf units (kit), infinite baffles with 8" full range speakers. This was all circa 1961. Kid on a mission with a very modest budget.


Rek-O-Kut Turntable (not mine + incorrect arm)


Grado Laboratory Series Arm & Cartridge


What was your first sound system?

[David Beckett]

My first "stereo" system ...was mono. It was a green metal clam-shell piece of luggage, essentially, with a handle. It spent most of it's time open and lying flat. It had a turntable and a speaker. I played an LP of Souza Marches on it. And a Danny Kaye LP called, if memory serves "Tubby The Tuba". There was also a Peter And The Wolf; i can't recall the narrator. But the best and most favored item I played on it was a 45 of Tennesee Ernie Ford playing "16 Tons", which was written by Merle Travis.

The "Stereo" I'd most like to have again was a Fisher console made of lacquered black wood. It had a woofer mounted underneath and pointing to the floor. It had two doors in front which opened up revealing a radio with a sort of blinking eye which got bigger as you got closer to being right on the station. My Grandmother got it shortly after the term High Fidelity was invented. It was quite something. My father and I took it apart to create a guitar amplifier. I really wish I had it today.

Speaking of my father, he got me a crystal radio kit once and we put it together. That was much cooler than I realized at the time of course. Youth is wasted on the young.

Then, my parents had some lousy stereos and some GREAT records, many of which I have and still play: Several D'oyly Carte Gilbert and Sullivan boxed sets, an E. Power Biggs Bach Organ record, some recorder music, and lots of L.P's by the (very) English comedy duo Flanders and Swann (who my parents later took me to see). Then there was a lot of other recorded music, much of it pretty ordinary and reflecting the times more than anything else...

When I went off to school, I had a crappy little Turntable/Reciever/speakers rig with a better than average turntable. I got this little auxiliary tonearm which adhered to the deck with a suction cup and supposedly pulled gunk out of the grooves of the LP's. I think it was called a "disc preener". later I had (still have) a "disc-washer".

The next stereo I had was Sherwood Components and good speakers I was loaned while the owners went away for a Sabatical. That was a good one. I bought a copy of Exile On Main Street and played it on that one.

When I had my first real appartment (rather than a dorm room) I bought a good stereo of my own for the first time. Yamaha components and Genesis II speakers, which were guaranteed for life. The company LONG since went out of business, and I still have the cabinets which need new speaker cones. So they're now essentially speaker stands for a pair of small Mission speakers, on top of which sit a pair of Bowers and Wilkins speakers. I have the old Yamaha turntable and a whole bunch of components in a stack which aren't really impressive but do the trick.

I really miss my Squeezbox Duet which was a MAGICAL device Logitech used to make and no longer does. I use the TuneIn Radio app on my iPhone now to do what the Squeezebox did (listen to radio over the internet). It took me a while to realize the iPhone plugs right into the stereo with a 20 dollar cord (slaps forehead).

[Ron Thorne]

I got this little auxiliary tonearm which adhered to the deck with a suction cup and supposedly pulled gunk out of the grooves of the LP's. I think it was called a "disc preener". later I had (still have) a "disc-washer".

I had the same accessory and loved it, David. The bristle brush roller was red, right?

That was called the ESL Dust Bug.




Actually, the Parostatik Disc Preener was a precursor of the Disc Washer, and I had both of them, too.

[David Beckett]

Bingo!

Birds of a feather, ain't we?

[Ron Thorne]

Bingo!

Birds of a feather, ain't we?

Yep.

[moldyfigg]

The firststereo was my folks', a Magnavox, I my later life the first was a Sansui

[BeBop]

It was my trmendously good fortune to meet a really nice guy in a local stereo shop (db Audio in Berkeley) who set me up with a system that has remained "in use" (to the extent I ever come in contact with it for more than a moment) 35 years later.

Sota Star Sapphire turntable
Sumiko tonearm
Sumiko Blue Point cartridge (and a Denon DL103 before that)
conrad johnson PV2ar preamp and MV75 amps
Vandersteen 2 speakers

The "really nice guy" is now something of a luminary in the audio world, but remains "nice" and down-to-earth. I was blessed.

If I ever stop traveling, I will probably update with some modern touches, like a CD player.

[Chazro]

I had one of those 'dust bugs' also, or something like it (a secondary arm thingamajigger that was supposed to help with the dust!). I used the damn thing so much the 'duster' got shiny and ultimately just slid across the record in a couple of seconds, probably (undoubtedly) did more harm than good!;) Currently I'm on like my 5th carbon brush that I use all the time and my good ol' Record Doctor that I use for the deep clean. Usually use her when I bring home used records!

[David Beckett]

Where's the Retweet button on this thing?