Poll: Your first music system

My first hi-fi speakers looked a lot like this.

CNET News Poll

Music memories
My first music system was...

An iPod/MP3 player
A Walkman cassette player
A stereo system with a turntable or CD player
I never owned a music player

View results

I bought my first hi-fi with money I made working at a supermarket when I was 16 years old.

The system had a Garrard turntable, XAM amplifier, and XAM speakers. The system cost $106 in 1965, that would be more like $600 to $700 in 2009 dollars.

Man, that little system ruled! My records came to life like never before. A month or two after I bought the system I accidentally crushed the "needle," so I bought a better phono cartridge and my records sounded even better. I became an audiophile! It didn't take long before I had the best stereo of all my friends, and they brought their new LPs over to my house to check it out.

What was your first music system like? Vote in the poll.

[gringcorp]

My first music player might have been a Sanyo walkman clone, and my first system was a JVC boom box, but my first hi-fi was a TEAC CD player, Mission 760i speakers, and a Kenwood stero amp. The speakers, alas, are blown, the components dispersed.

[minimalist]

My first system was when I was 11 or 12. It consisted of a pair of Infinity speakers from the early 80's a Sony receiver and used Thorens turntable. I also bought one of the first Sony Walkman (I think it was the WM-2 with my yard money). Then I saved and saved and bought a the only CD player I could afford (they were still pretty pricy in the mid 80's). It was a odd half-width Hitachi but I thought it was cool as hell. At some point I purchased a bottom of the line Nakamichi tape deck (to make mixed tapes of course).

Now I'm all about a music server and surround systems but I am thankful I had to opportunity to experience music like that when I was young.

[DevonR1981]

My first stereo was all hand me downs from my dad and included

NAD amp
Nakamichi Tape Deck
B&O Turn Table
Cizek Spears

Pretty much all of it was from the late 70's early 80's

[duperstar]

Mine was a amp/turntable from Realistic (SP?). Boy was it crappy, but I loved it.

[feverboy777]

Hey Steve, I thought I was looking at a KLH speaker but I guess I was wrong.

My first was a Scott unit (1968) which had a turntable built in on top with small Scott speakers , I thought I had it all,it was stolen from my apartment with my great collection of LP's my next system was the KLH unit with the same Garrard TT on top and did that unit sound great.

[ECarver]

Radio Shack receiver, Pioneer belt drive turntable and Radio Shack Speakers, ca 1973. Within 6 months I had Dynaco speakers and added a reel-to-reel tape deck. Eventually Tandberg deck, separates.

I built a Dynaco SCA-80Q amplifier and an FM-5 tuner, had a pair of Dynaco A25XL speakers and an AR/XB turntable when I was in college in the late 70's. I still use the A25XLs which still sound pretty good for 30 year old $90 speakers.

[Vesicant]

A Dynaco amp (SCA-35 or -80, can't remember), Dynaco A-25 speakers (which I still have), and a Dual turntable (1019?).

[DragonStab]

My first stereo was from JC Penny's. They had their own "Hi-Fi" electronics brand back in the 70's. It was a Receiver and speakers. I think the turntable I used was some hand-me-down from my dad. I soon also purchased JC Penny's 8-Track Tape Deck RECORDER. I was taping my albums on 8-Track to play in my 8-Track Deck in my Pickup Truck ! ! I still have that 8-Track Recording Deck somewhere in my attic.......

[nessjoel]

Sherwood receiver (with a broken FM/AM Tuner) as a handmedown from my dad with some off brand speakers. As a child, priceless. Nowadays Harman/Kardon and Emotiva is the way to go.

[samermic]

1978 My brother and I went in half on a Technics by Panasonic Receiver , Tape Deck and Altec Lansing Speakers. We added a Technics Direct Drive Turntable a little later. All from Dixie Hi-Fi which I believe was bought out by Circuit City. It was an awesome set up for a 13 and 11 year old. When I moved out, we split the system up. I got the receiver and turntable and my brother got the tape deck & speakers. I don't recall what kind of tape deck I got, but the replacement speakers were Bose 201. I still have the receiver & turntable & speakers in storage in the basement with my LPs. When we bought the new house it was wired for surround with the JBL speaker up and downstairs. I ended up getting 2 cheap Sony surround receivers with crappy subwoofer. My old system could kick the crap out of anything I got now!

[soundman45]

My first system, I remember it well was a Marantz 2250B Classic Reciever. A Technics SL-Q2 Turntable (Everybody had to have a Quartz locked direct drive motor back then). A pair of Klipsch Heresy Two Loudspeakers (complete with hissy sounding horn loaded midrange and high frequency drivers),
and what late seventies teenage stereo system wouldn't be complete without an ADC Sound Shaper MK-2 multiband stereo equalizer, sculpted with a twin smiley face EQ curve to fit my then finely tuned ears......It was hilarious. I miss those days.

[AOC3]

With the EQ in a smile, I wonder why the speakers were "hissy".

[pubmat]

A (cheap) Sony receiver, ADS bookshelf speakers, and a Yamaha CD player.

[phoxhound]

first music system (i.e. the one I own now) is mostly stuff I got out of my dad's closet: a 1993 denon receiver, 1996 Infinity SS2001 bookshelves, and my collection of CDs ripped onto my computer as well as a stanton turntable. the stanton goes into the digital input of my sound card, an ESI Juli@.

[EvanSei]

how did it go for me well I got a walkman tape player and listened to it on occasion, then gave up music for about 4 years then I got a cd player and had all of 3 cd's and only used it about a dozen times then about a year and a half ago I got an iPod and fell in love with it used it all thee time and got lots of music when I was sure of things I moved up to the iPod touch and got lots off apps, videos and of course more music, then last year I got the iPod touch 2nd gen. to go with that I decided to indulge in a surround sound system, and an alarm clock with an iPod dock. If all goes to plan the next thing i will get is either an iPhone or an iPod touch 3rd gen.

[jc4691]

My first audio experience was when my father purchased a system in the early seventies. It consisted of a Yamaha Natural Sound Integrated amplifier with a variable loudness control and defeatable bass and treble controls, an Akai top-loading cassette deck with Dolby B noise reduction and analog Vu meters, and a Dual direct drive turntable with an auto-return tonearm and a stackable center spindle. It was a lot of fun watching the tonearm auto-return, drop another album, and start playing again. At nine years old, I was hooked on cool audio equipment. What memories, what memories...

[jmpetersen]

Harmon/Kardon amp, Phillips turntable, Bose and Zenith speakers. I don't know where my brother "found" the Zenith's, but they were the heaviest speakers I've ever had. Every payday I used to go to this place called Tower Records for enormous vinyl discs... I added that Nakamichi tape deck when those new-fangled cassette tapes replaced the 8-tracks : )

How many hours of my life went into making tapes? It used to take 2 hours at minimum to make a 90 minute tape, picking songs, cueing tracks, etc. Now it's 10 seconds to drag a playlist together.

[one_flat_monkey]

I had a Ham and Carton receiver, a Dual TT and some speakers I bought from Pacific Stereo. I traded up/down(?) to a Pioneer receiver and Bose speakers. Some dope addict buddy of my roommate stole my stereo system, and I ended up with a pair of Yamaha NS-500 speakers and a Yamaha receiver. I bought a Tascam Model 3 mixer and two Technics SL-1700 TTs so I could make mix tapes with segues. I had an Akai reel-to-reel tape deck and then an Akai casette deck, the GXC-570D.

[i_gilbert]

It was 1979 when, with all the money I earned working in a local supermarket nights and weekends, I bought my first system.

Amp - NAD 3020A
Deck - Sansui SR222
Speakers - Mission 70 MkII

After that I was a committed audiophile and have not looked back.

[kokura845]

Hafler 101 preamp
Audionics CC2 amp
Nakamichi 500 Casette deck
Spendor SA1 speakers
Connoisseur tuntable with Grace Tone arm & ??? Moving magnet Cartridge
van den hull cables

[humblehifi]

Heathkit 1800 Preamp
Heathkit 1600 Amp
Phillips Turntable
Tech CD player
Sansui speakers w/ Lattice grills

Sounded pretty good and I still have all but the CD player in storage. It should be cool to hook it back up someday.