Your nostalgic Hifi System

[shado]

I started off in in 1985 when What Hifi was still alive and kicking with a Hifi starter system from my Grandad that consisted of a Leak Stereo 30 Amplifier, Leak Troughline FM Tuner a Dual 4 speed turntable set in solid Oak with a Shure MM cartidge and a Sony Reel to Reel Stereo 30 Deck set inside a wooden unit that straddled home made speakers in 1960 being approx 4 ft tall and 1.5 foot wide with a cloth covering and I was hooked. I added an Akai HX 3 Cassette deck in 1986 and a Philips Midi 64 bit I think CD Player in 1987. I sold my speakers to a college friend and purchased Wharfedale first Diamond Speakers with QED 79 strand cable. With an insurance payout I purchased a Marantz 40wpc Amplifier (PM440 ?) with built in 5 band graphic equaliser that was champagne Gold in colour had 5 inputs and MC option and a Fisher (I think FM55) analogue Tuner that only cost £30. Once I joined the Royal Navy - money became less of an option and after consulting What Hifi Magazine and listening to products in a dedicated Hifi shop I replaced items with a Denon TU260L Tuner, a Sansui 80 WPC Amplifier (unfortunately harsh to listen too after time), A Kenwood KX5010 Cassette Deck that would calibrate metal/chrome/normal - excellent deck and my first bitstream CD player from Rotel RCD 955 I think that cost £300. My best ever purchase was the Yamaha A400 Amplifier. Wow it was that good and I added Sony APM22ES Speakers that had Titanium Tweeters and a square woofer but a harsh treble was evident but eventually controlled by Pink monster Spkr Cable. Apollo Speaker stands were added as well as the renowned Target 5 tier Hifi stand. All interconnects were QED and I even bought the weird QED plug system that was a five block system that took those small strange plugs. My Wharfedale speakers were damaged so I bought the version 2 to compliment the Sony APM22ES. I added a Sony auto reverse deck for playback to go with the Kenwood and when my Rotel gave up the ghost I upgraded to the RCD965BX version. All was well and I wanted to improve the Rotel version and listened to the Arcam and Mission at around £600 against the DAC in the Box with my Rotel player with QED £50 cable and the Rotel combi won on sound quality. That system was my element until I got married and had our first baby and I foolishly sold it thinking the baby would pull out cables etc once he was crawling. Even though I got a £1000 for my system 13 years ago I do miss it and who knows once the children have left I will most likely start again.

 

[kena]

Shado,

Got you by 10 years unfortunately! , 1975 and my first boss was a hi-fi nut and introduced me to decent sound systems , Started with a Pioneer PL12D , Rotel A820 AMP I think tho may have been one of the other models , a Sony cassette player and AR6 loudspeakers. The start of a superb journey which has seen many changes along the way to my current setup which still performs very well but like its owner has been around the block but like you family commitments rule out desireable but hard to justify tinkering/tweaking.

My mother now 84 still uses the box for my second turntable the Pioneer PL71 for her xmas decorations and every time I see the box in her cupboard I can picture in my mind my set-up in my bedroom at that time.

Off to the attic to bring down some LP's from that era....

Cheers

Ken

P.S. I had the weird QED power plugs for a while as well....

 

[Anonymous]

My Bose 301s were handed down from my Dad - he bought them in the mid 80s!

They still work a treat.

 

[shado]

Hi Ken,

It is just great to compare the old with the new - I even had a hand held cumbersome Sony Head demagnetiser for the Reel to Reel and boy could you feel vibrations when you put them near the heads. Tweaking with different cables to get that extra ounce of sonic from newer equipment. My system at peak used to send shivers down my back and when permitted would not distort at loud volume. My bedroom used to be covered in Hifi reviews and brochures. Miss those good old days. I must hunt out the photo of my pride and joy and display it on here. I remember being tempted by the Rotel Amp RA400 but was too expensive for me at the time. Sounds like you had a good set up. have you got a photo of your system?

Regards

Gerry

 

[kena]

Gerry,

I agree completely , will have photo somewhere but not sure where , next time i'm in attic dragging down old vinyl and I'm sober i'll try and find one in old photo stash. The things you say are spooky (or typical of the times I don't know? ) My brother passed onto me a Sony Reel to Reel about 72 when he flew the nest I was still at school at the time but for some reason I desperately wanted a head demagnatiser - never manage to get one tho

Cheers

Ken