I bought my first system from them in 1969 ish. Consisted of Garrard SP25 Mk 2 with a Goldring cartridge, RSC TA12 amp and a pair of unnamed speakers. The whole lot cost me less than £60 which I paid off at £5 per month.
No system that I’ve had since gave me as much pleasure as this, coming from a Dansette record player. Makes me wonder how much better the five or six figure systems are - technically and specs they most certainly are, but from a pleasure point of view not so much.
I bought a turntable, amplifier and headphones from Comet in the early 80s for just over 100 quid (pounds sterling). Upgrading to a NAD receiver, Rogers LS4a speakers and an early CD player really got me into hifi.
My first serious hi fi when i was a youth was a Prinzsound turntable which was a Garrad SP25 MK 3, a Prinzsound cassette deck and a JVC S.E.A amplifier from Dixons and Wharfdale Kingsdale MK3 speakers from Laskys. 1974/5.
@staniand, that ad looks familiar, but then it was a style common to many. My first system cost about the same as yours, and same year, and Tt was the same SP25 mk 2 from some mail order place but whether RSC I don’t recall. Rest was different: Shure M3D cartridge, and then DIY came in to play to maximise buying power: Amp was Sinclair Project 60 modules direct from Sinclair, assembled myself within homemade TT plinth, speakers my own design reflex with Eagle FR8 full range 8” drivers bought direct from Eagle. The speakers led to discovery of bass, but also revealed the rumble of the Garrard idler wheel. No borrowing: funding was the previous year’s paper round money supplemented by cash in lieu of birthday and Xmas presents from family.
We had as a family a Furguson Studio 6 like the one @TheKevster posted on a thread some years back. That introduced me to Tommy Vance and the Friday Rock Show (via cans) and recording albums or the radio to cassette. Let’s not dwell on the multi single loader! It was a family focused piece of furniture as we listened to that almost as much as the TV (3 channels only at the time) so I do have fond memories of it but it wasn’t good.
My first system was a Rega Planar 3, A&R C77, Creek CAS 4040 and Monitor Audio R252v speakers and that changed my access to, and thoughts on, music as well as providing the focus for friends, late nights and talking music but mostly talking bolloc&s. I loved it but I have endlessly upgraded and as it’s mostly me that listens to it, my focus is purely on musical enjoyment and I’m very happy with where I’m at. I’m amazed at at how much effort has gone into so many performances and recordings. I wouldn’t go back.
For my 21st birthday, my late father wanted me to join his masonic lodge and covering the cost of that was to be my birthday present. Ungratefully, I declined and instead opted for my first hifi system: a Roger’s valve amp, small Celestion Ditton speakers and Garrard turntable along with my first LP of Sibelius symphonies. That setup served me for several years and was very much not a purchase I regretted, but my current system is even more enjoyable.
The only thing I can remember about my first proper system was the speakers Mordaunt Short Pageants. A little later on there was a Nad3250 (?) and pioneer deck quickly replaced by a Thorens TD 160 (as it happens a friend had one of these repaired recently). After this tentative step I was introduced to Roger and Haimish at the SO; then the madness began.
My first proper system would have been a Technics stacked system complete with a black wooden cabinet and smoked glass door. It had an integrated amp, a tuner, a cassette deck and a record deck. I bought it early 1980’s but the model was probably from the late 70’s.
At the time I thought the SQ was very good and played over and over albums such as Joe Walsh - Rocky Mountain Way, ELP - Works, Eagles - Desperadoes etc. My bedroom was next to the living room, my poor long suffering family.
I kept that system for about 5 years until it was replaced with a NAD integrated amp and Linn Sondek.
