What was your first system (with pics if you can Google/find them)?

[KEW]

After reading a post from Gmoney in another thread about his Lloyds stereo, I thought it might be fun to have a thread on the subject and photos if possible.
I am actually shocked that Google image search had my "Juliette Cassette Stereo"! Don't know if is a fluke or if most of you will find your's as well!
But first, I got this Mayfair portable reel to reel player when I was 11:

It was in the ballpark of $20 and that was before my paper route, so it must have been a birthday or Christmas present.
Of course it used the small (4"?) reels and recording quality sucked, but it was still a cool thing to be able to record from the radio (yes, using the crappy mic). It is as close as you could get to a cassette recorder before the cassette recorder existed. I think it probably used 4 ea. size C batteries! It actually had a matching green lid that clamshelled over the top to protect the tape!
This thing almost got me in trouble at school! I had spent the evening before breathing heavy into the mic (taught me about hyperventilation - had to pause the recording process frequently to let my head clear). This was when Dark Shadows was a big thing and they always had breathing going on in one of the old mansions (I forget what it meant-maybe simply that it was haunted). For some idiotic reason, in my 11 year old mind, I thought the bomb would be to put this hidden in the trash can playing back with the volume up (I sat in the back and the teachers would change classrooms at the bell, so we had about 5 unsupervised minutes between classes). My mom wuld have beat me if she knew I had wadded up ~15 sheets of clean notebook paper to bury the recorder! I left the first 2-3 minutes of the tape blank so it didn't start until after class got settled. The kids back in my corner started giggling a little after it began, and after a while the teacher took notice. At first she must have thought it was a passing thing, but after several minutes she decided to walk over to out area as she lectured to see what was going on back there. Oh crap, I knew she wouldn't make out the sound of breathing from the front of the class, but I had not considered that she might walk back there! I was watching her as close as I could without being conspicuous about it! I could tell that she was starting to pick up that there was a strange sound back there that didn't belong. and as she got closer to the trash, I knew I was going to have some 'splaining to do, but then, the tape miraculously ran out (does anyone know how long teh smaller tapes would play? I think this was at the 3-3/4 ips tape speed). She stayed back there a couple more minutes then returned to the front of the class.
Looking back, she could have later asked any of the kids what the commotion was and I would have been busted, but she didn't. Kids are weird - I guess it was just showing off!? But a portable recorder in 1969 was cool beans!

Three years later I had a paper route and bought my first audio system - a Juliette Stereo Cassette System for $69.99 from Key Wholesalers (a catalog merchandising store very similar to, but pre-dating (at least, in Augusta, GA) Service Merchandise)!

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The speakers that came with it were 6" one-ways. I believe the cabinet was sealed, but after about 6 months I removed the driver and filled the cabinet with rags from my mom's rag bag and was delighted that the sound actually improved quite substantially (my dad built Heathkit and I had watched him stuff padding around his speaker - looking back it is kind of weird that he didn't really get involved with my audio - he seemed to think it cool that I did what I did, but we did not share any of my development - I guess parents back then were more aloof - although he did get a 15' sailboat that we spent many, many weekends on - who knows!)! I can't remember how I had hooked up a turntable, but I figured out that by having the record button depressed and the pause button engaged I could play other sources through it (no source selector). The actuating arm molded under the record button broke and I figured out how to jam a little plastic Dairy Queen ice cream cone whistle into the mechanism to hold it in place (I was working at DQ by then), and this unit spent the next couple of years with the whistle permanently installed (I had figured out that the recorder was crap, but it worked okay as an "integrated amp"). My next purchase was a pair of KLH 6V speakers (mail order special for $58), and all of the sudden the sound quality blossomed! It actually sounded decent the KLH's.
I could go on with the rest of my system evolution involving a used HH Scott receiver, BSR 810 automatic turntable (worth a pic because of the unique changer mechanism in the spindle) Technics cassette deck and then on to a professional income with real Hi Fi gear - Sansui amp, Nachamichi cassette deck, Thorens TT, and AR 3a's. But these are more mainstream gear and less colorful than the fledgling beginnings!

 

[Zildjianmeister]

I wanted to find a picture so badly for this but alas I cannot.

My first setup was a pioneer receiver with built in cassette from the early 80's. (The cassette sort of went in flat and the lid flipped up). It came with its own pioneer speakers.
Connected to it was a BSR turntable like the one in the attached photo.

Z

 

[KEW]

I wanted to find a picture so badly for this but alas I cannot.

My first setup was a pioneer receiver with built in cassette from the early 80's. (The cassette sort of went in flat and the lid flipped up). It came with its own pioneer speakers.
Connected to it was a BSR turntable like the one in the attached photo.

Z

Maybe like this "Centrex by Pioneer"?

My best friend had one like this (8-track with phono on top and lower model):

 

[NINaudio]

My first "system" if you want to call it that was an old boombox from the 80's. May have been from Radio Shack, pretty sure my dad got it for me. It was black, had ported 2 way speakers that you could detach and move if you so desired, dual tape decks, and a cd player. At some point I discovered that a ping pong ball would fit almost perfectly in the port opening without sliding through, so for some reason I did that to both sides. The first one I bought myself was in college, where I had an Aiwa surround sound mini shelf system with a 3 disc cd- changer and dual tape decks. It had an aux in and a sub out, so I hooked up my TV to it and bought a little Sony bandpass sub unit with a 6.5" driver. I eventually bought a set of 3 way Pioneer speakers from Crutchfield that I attached to it for the left/right channels that had 12" woofers (my first floor standers). The Aiwa system looked something like this:

except it was black, the cd changer was on top and it had these glowing lights that would change color as it changed discs. I'm pretty sure it's still at my family's home back east with the original Aiwa speakers. I had that through college. When I graduated (1999) I bought a Boston Acoustics surround sound package, which included the front 3 I still have now as well as a pair of dipole surrounds. They were powered by a Sony STR-DA 555ES receiver. It had a sweet programmable touchscreen remote that you could make macros on to control other devices as well.

 

[snakeeyes]

I had something very similiar to NINaudio’s Aiwa, from Technics in the mid 90s. (Prior in early 90s had a cheaper Technics). Mine had an amp and cd and dual cassette which could stack or stack in 2 stacks, but was “mini”. I believe I had 50w per channel. I added some used 1980s 3way speakers with the 12in woofers to it and Stereo Hifi from VHS player audio RCA in.

In the early 2000s I had a DVD player and a Sony HTIB then soon after that a Yamaha with Boston bookshelves in 5.1 with a weak DT “sub” in my apartment. That escalated quickly to DT BP10B towers in 6.1 and my heavy Yamaha 2003 RXV3300. I only recently in 2017/2018 replaced that setup from 2003 and had only added TVs and disc players all those years.

 

[Pogre]

This was my very first system! At least it's very close. I remember the play buttons being more square and pastel colored. Otherwise identical. Even the same handle.

I'm not even kidding. I know it's not much of a "system" but that little red tape player introduced me to a lifelong love of music at a very early age so I say it counts! Sure, most of what I listened to with it consisted of Disney tapes and read along books, but there was some Kenny Rogers, Pat Benatar and AC/DC in the mix too. I went through 2 of those units and wore out many a cassette with that little bugger. It went everywhere with me. I remember stocking up on batteries and going to the neighbor's cow pond to catch salamanders all day while singing along to "Its a Small World After All" and "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". I was devastated when the 2nd one bit the dust, tho I s'pose I shouldn't have been surprised. Cow ponds and outdoors in general don't always mix well with electronics.

My mom felt bad for me but we were broke, so she gave me her system on my next birthday. I wish I could remember what it was, because that was my first real stereo. I remember thinking it was nothing special but looking back I think it was actually a pretty nice little dual tape deck/receiver with half decent bookshelf speakers. I know the radio dial was one of those ones that felt heavy and "floated" when you turned it. Even had meters on it... I'm gonna text my mom and see if she remembers...

Wow. Memories. I haven't thought about catching salamanders in the old cow pond in decades... We really had to work as kids to make out own fun living out in the sticks. We barely had 3 watchable channels on TV!

 

[MR.MAGOO]

My first system cost under $500 from Pacific Stereo, in 1974, with my first paycheck! I still have the receiver but the speakers and turntable are now part of a landfill somewhere. LOL Images found on Google search.

Harman-Kardon 330b

Advent speakers
BSR turntable

 

[Pogre]

You got a $500 paycheck in 1974?! What'd you do?

 

[snakeeyes]

This was my very first system! At least it's very close. I remember the play buttons being more square and pastel colored. Otherwise identical. Even the same handle.

View attachment 35772View attachment 35773

I'm not even kidding. I know it's not much of a "system" but that little red tape player introduced me to a lifelong love of music at a very early age so I say it counts! Sure, most of what I listened to with it consisted of Disney tapes and read along books, but there was some Kenny Rogers, Pat Benatar and AC/DC in the mix too. I went through 2 of those units and wore out many a cassette with that little bugger. It went everywhere with me. I remember stocking up on batteries and going to the neighbor's cow pond to catch salamanders all day while singing along to "Its a Small World After All" and "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". I was devastated when the 2nd one bit the dust, tho I s'pose I shouldn't have been surprised. Cow ponds and outdoors in general don't always mix well with electronics.

My mom felt bad for me but we were broke, so she gave me her system on my next birthday. I wish I could remember what it was, because that was my first real stereo. I remember thinking it was nothing special but looking back I think it was actually a pretty nice little dual tape deck/receiver with half decent bookshelf speakers. I know the radio dial was one of those ones that felt heavy and "floated" when you turned it. Even had meters on it... I'm gonna text my mom and see if she remembers...

Wow. Memories. I haven't thought about catching salamanders in the old cow pond in decades... We really had to work as kids to make out own fun living out in the sticks. We barely had 3 watchable channels on TV!

I had a similiar one from Fisher Price! I played my 80s cassettes on it, not just the smurfs cassettes that came with it. LOL It took me forever to get my first stereo boom box. Think was $60 and my Dad had me working chores for $1 for an entire year. LOL

 

[KEW]

My first system cost under $500 from Pacific Stereo, in 1974, with my first paycheck! I still have the receiver but the speakers and turntable are now part of a landfill somewhere. LOL Images found on Google search.

View attachment 35774Harman-Kardon 330bView attachment 35775View attachment 35776
Advent speakers
BSR turntable

I think I remember Pacific Stereo! I'd spend hours pouring over several catalogs and High Fidelity's Test Reports!
Was Pacific Stereo the one that put together recommended systems at different price points? If so, they always did a good job of it. I was obsessed enough to know most of the. better gear, but I felt that any "package" they put together was a good value! That is a nice little system for the money at that time!

 

[KEW]

This was my very first system! At least it's very close. I remember the play buttons being more square and pastel colored. Otherwise identical. Even the same handle.

View attachment 35772View attachment 35773

I'm not even kidding. I know it's not much of a "system" but that little red tape player introduced me to a lifelong love of music at a very early age so I say it counts! Sure, most of what I listened to with it consisted of Disney tapes and read along books, but there was some Kenny Rogers, Pat Benatar and AC/DC in the mix too. I went through 2 of those units and wore out many a cassette with that little bugger. It went everywhere with me. I remember stocking up on batteries and going to the neighbor's cow pond to catch salamanders all day while singing along to "Its a Small World After All" and "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". I was devastated when the 2nd one bit the dust, tho I s'pose I shouldn't have been surprised. Cow ponds and outdoors in general don't always mix well with electronics.

My mom felt bad for me but we were broke, so she gave me her system on my next birthday. I wish I could remember what it was, because that was my first real stereo. I remember thinking it was nothing special but looking back I think it was actually a pretty nice little dual tape deck/receiver with half decent bookshelf speakers. I know the radio dial was one of those ones that felt heavy and "floated" when you turned it. Even had meters on it... I'm gonna text my mom and see if she remembers...

Wow. Memories. I haven't thought about catching salamanders in the old cow pond in decades... We really had to work as kids to make out own fun living out in the sticks. We barely had 3 watchable channels on TV!

Your post reminds me of the hours as a kid I spent listening to "Peter and the Wolf" over and over,

and my parents had this cool jazz album; "Archie and Mahitabel - A Back Alley Opera" that I "graduated" to.

Great stuff for sparking a kid's imagination!
Of course, this predates VCRs!
Memories!

 

[Mr._Clark]

I'm not sure if it qualifies as a system, but the first thing I owned that was capable playing back music was a Sony Walkman cassette player. I pulled the speakers off the headset and wore them inside noise protective earmuffs. Far from perfect, but it allowed me to listen to INXS while doing class assignments in the computer lab without annoying everyone else. Or, at least without annoying them more than my mere presence did already.

Next up was a boombox with removable speakers and a CD player. That was while I was in grad school. I remember The Cult and The Smithereens were on (short) the playlist.

My first surround sound system was a cheap Sony box system. I can't remember the model number. It was a thoroughly forgettable system but it got me by for a few years while I was living in a little apartment paying back student loans. Fortunately, it was incapable of making enough noise to bother anyone else in the building.

 

[lovinthehd]

My dad gave me a little Panasonic system when I was 11 or 12, had 8-track player, record player, receiver and some very mediocre speakers. Looked thru a bunch of images, not quite finding it altho a coupla years ago I did but guess I didn't save it. Later when I was 16 and had a part-time job I got dad's handed down Fisher receiver (something like the 500T) and bought a pair of Original Advents and a Dual 1219 with a Shure cartridge....never took pics of that.

 

[NINaudio]

Wow. Memories. I haven't thought about catching salamanders in the old cow pond in decades... We really had to work as kids to make out own fun living out in the sticks. We barely had 3 watchable channels on TV!

I remember when I was a kid and we'd go on boy scout fishing trips that I would tromp through the lake catching newts. I'm pretty sure everyone that was actually trying to fish hated me for that...

 

[MR.MAGOO]

You got a $500 paycheck in 1974?! What'd you do?

First job at AAA, in the data center as a 'stock boy' or whatever they called it back then, delivering reports all over the office, putting boxes of computer forms on the shelves so the night shifts could print all the insurance policies, etc.

 

[Gmoney]

You got a $500 paycheck in 1974?! What'd you do?

Yeah! dude was pulling in good money, gas was like what 55 cents a gallon, hell my Dads house note was 167 a month.

 

[Gmoney]

First job at AAA, in the data center as a 'stock boy' or whatever they called it back then, delivering reports all over the office, putting boxes of computer forms on the shelves so the night shifts could print all the insurance policies, etc.

each week you got paid 500? the only ones I knew who made that kind of money was the “ Goodfellas” but the Benefits and retirement wasn’t good cause one day I asked where Guido was and Jimmy two times said he had a early retirement.

 

[Zildjianmeister]

Thanks Kew. That's the one! I couldn't find any pictures.

Maybe like this "Centrex by Pioneer"?

My best friend had one like this (8-track with phono on top and lower model):

 

[Pogre]

Thanks Kew. That's the one! I couldn't find any pictures.

Based on your AV and user name I'm guessing you'd like this system I had a few years ago...

*Edit: I just realized you can see my bowling ball and golf clubs too... it was my toy room! lol

 

[KEW]

Thanks Kew. That's the one! I couldn't find any pictures.

I "cheated"! Searching "Pioneer cassette system" gets a ton of cassette decks and no "systems", but your description sounded like my friends 8 track system so I tried 8 track instead of cassette to see what type of terminology was used to describe the all-in-one system. There wasn't any special terminology, but I picked up on "Centrex" as their name for a system. I surely don't remember that name on my buddy's system - I remember it as a Pioneer, but I guess that is what Pioneer did - kind of like Marantz's "SuperScope" line!
My dad got one of these when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer to better spend the time when he could no longer work:

with the cassette deck (actually, this is teh 301, he had the 302 which added Dolby:

The speakers were not bad and overall, it was a nice little system! They were unique with their magenta lighting which was the best color for dark-light adaption (but never transferred that to their Marantz units, lol!). Hios old Heathkit system was mono, so this was a step up!