Super!
Max
@JazzMan @PBenny I got my Philips N2205 ca. 1973 - it was Slade, T Rex, Suzi Quatro etc. back then …
The first system including turntable was only later as following (early 80s):
- Marantz TT130
- Sony STR-VX30L
- Sony Speaker System E70
@Pete.T you had a quite clean haircut compared to mine (driving licence photo 1981) 
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My first system 70s in my untidy bedroom - speakers were home made (can’t find pic)
Thorens TD150AB - Rogers Ravensbrook amp - Rogers Ravensbourne Tuner - newly acquired pride & joy Revox A77 (only disposed of last year)
Very poor pic of cartridge
Attempt at flashy pic of turntable
changed turntable to LP12, came with SME 3009 arm - I think 1976 with the at the time fashionable ‘Dustbug’ (soon disposed of)
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If I had photos of my university dorm room system in the late 70’s, they would look that way without addition of special effect filters!!! 
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That Quad is stunning. A keeper, even if it ended up just as a decorative object.
Looks like a device for making candy. 
Handily you could detach the tonearm in the summer for visits to the beach.
G
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Believe it or not it was a prototype for the LP12. Made by Fisher Price whom I believe did manufacture a few different audio products.
Unfortunately the format never took off so the discs were not that easy to come by and so my listening choices were rather restricted.
Mike
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After the Music Center, my first separates, I went for cassette because it looked more technical with Dolby, EQ and bias adjustments plus had RMS to search for tracks. Took ages but was so cool. I couldn’t afford speakers so used some Sony headphones.
Also, I had one of these, it cost £6 when a normal cassette was about £1.50:
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This is a great thread.
A combination of odd jobs, blackmail and an 18th birthday present yielded my first separates system; an Audio Innovations Alto amp (selected entirely because it looked like a spaceship) an Arcam Alpha 1 CD player and a pair of Acoustic Energy AE100 speakers.
The majority of the system lasted from 1995, through university, moving to London and up until 2009 when it turned into the original Naim Uniti.
I think the Arcam died after a slapdash house move and was replaced by a Cambridge Audio CD player and then the CA DAC. The amp got progressively woollier (I knew nothing about recapping in those days) and blew a bunch of inputs but is still functional and in use at my parents’ house. I remember assiduously following the accepted wisdom of spending 15% of budget on cabling and my father nearly disowning me as a consequence and muttering darkly about bell wire. The cat loved the amp’s casing.
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Other than some really rubbish stuff that I will save you the boredom of having to witness… the mighty Audiolab 8000a was my first item.
Was in a second hand shop trying to palm of an unused bike, and just came across one of these. The guy behind the desk owned it before and upgraded to Cyrus. For £250. Remember him telling me that this is a very special amp and a good price.
I personally really preferred its headphone stage output rather than its speaker. Still got it in the garage somewhere
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Many amplifiers, including mine, had Din connectors in the 60’s and 70’s. It is interesting that RCA’s took over. The first time I saw RCA’s was on the back of a Marantz 1030 amp.
I was never very fond of soldering DIN’s, the fiddly little buggers.
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I still have the 8000c and 8000p under the house somewhere. They weren’t my first system, though. I still have my Yamaha DD TT. I might drag it out for a photo.
We had one of these, an ITT KA1255 with white speaker cabinets, this is a library photo. I remember it played at roughly 36 rpm for some reason but I still really enjoyed spinning my few records on it, especially when everyone else was out.
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My first turntable Technics SL B1 which I bought over the Sansui SR222Mk2, which I always regretted. The Technics was pretty rubbish.
Also, my first proper speakers - B&W DM22 which started my long relationship with the brand (DM22, DM14, Matrix 1, Nautilus 804, CM1, CM1 S2, 707 S2) that I am likely to sever this year.
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All images in this post are library images.
My 1st record player was a mono Perdio unit that looked like this:
My cousin handed it down to us after she graduated to an HMV stereo record player the speakers for which clipped on to the plinth to form a lid for transporting the unit.
I hated it and spent a few years gazing longingly at the pictures of various music centers in my mother’s mail order catalogues until I finally convinced my father to get us a real hifi system that consisted of:
-
BSR MP60 turntable (rebadged as “Rank Domus”) with Empire 999 R/EX cartridge
-
Rotel RX-150A receiver
-
Rank Domus 2-way speakers (model 175, I think) each with a captive bellwire speaker lead terminated in a DIN speaker plug
-
Sharp RT 442H cassette deck
It all sounded great in the shop and, at first, at home. However, as the system shared the living room with the TV, which was hardly ever turned off, I did most of my listening on a pair of Koss K6 LC headphones.
That was when I discovered that the MP60 rumbled like a freight train. So out went the MP60 to be replaced not with the ubiquitous (at that time) Pioneer PL12D but with a Connoisseur BD1 with SME 3009 series 2 (fixed headshell, of course, for lowest mass) and a Shure M75 EDII. And the rest is history…
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love this thread!
The first pic here Ian. Was this just before you went out for a bit of the old ultra-violence!
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This Beomaster was the heart of my parents system in the early years. Loved the slider to find radiostations and the feeling of quality.
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My second university dorm room system (bought with money I earned summer after first year) was centered on this:
I used it for a number of years thereafter, until (a) the switches got really noisy and (b) I got a Yamaha AV amp to do laser disc and surround sound.
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