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My first propper system was somewhat differant to most thus far mentioned.

I was about 15 (circa mid 80's) and had worked all summer for a pal of my old man, and saved every little penny I had earned and took a trip up to Tottenham Ct. Rd and came home with a nice new pair of Technic's SL1200's, a pair of Cerwin Vega VS10's (think this whas the model but some time ago now!) and a Newmark 1700T mixer. This was all connected to a Pioneer amp I had got 2nd hand of our nextdoor neighbour.

Ohh happy days comenced

My first 'system' consisted of a Sharp GF777 ghetto blaster and a Technics turntable. I would be grateful for help in identifying the turntable as its getting on my wick that I can't find which one it was. It was an SL linear similar to the SL10 but was programmable like the SL15. But mine had the program buttons along the front edge.

It was the heart of many a party and really belted out the volume with loads of bass. I remember my mums face when I brought it home, the box was the size of a wardrobe! 

Been trying to add an image of the GF777 but can't, how do I do it?

This was one of my first hifi items- if you can call it that

Ah, the 3D Superwoofer – such an advance on the old 2D type which, only existing in two planes, couldn't move back and forth at all, and thus produced no sound.

Mind you, there used to be speakers with 2D tweeters – they were just printed on the front baffle above the single real drive unit.

knacker:

This was one of my first hifi items- if you can call it that

One of these sitting in the transmission room where I work. Renovated it last year for something to do, still working.

I remember in about 1979, I got one of those silver Amstrad'dy midi all in one units with 'tape to tape' for my 14th Birthday. I even remember the cheap TV ad's for them, played out 1000 times a day. They sold in their thousands. Mine had 70 watts 'PMPO' (remember that?) and a 3 band graphic equalizer. So, that'll be Bass, Tone, and Treble then...

My next was an Akai semi-separates system - marginally nicer than my Amstrad - but a whole world better than my brother's Alba system.

 My father had an ITT 'music centre' which was basically a large gramophone player with 33, 45, and 78 rpm selector. It had those floor standing wooden cylinder speakers with the 'open' rims at the top for the sound to come out. It actually sounded remarkably good believe it or not.

 My first serious hi-fi was a Technics separates system in 1987 approx., which I still have to this day. It sits in the guest room for any guests that wish to use it. Still works fine.

As for graphic equalizers, I remember when we used to compare stuff at school.. "Well.. Mine has an 8 band graphic equalizer.. yours only has a 5.. so mine's better than yours.."  Obviously none of had the faintest clue what a graphic equalizer was.. only that when you pushed the 2 end ones up as high as they can go it 'sounded' better. At least, we thought it did at the time...

My first gear was my dads old Garrard (SP86?), an Alba amp £30.00 from Comet, and a pair of home made speakers from Wilmslow Audio, back in 1984.

Not true hifi, but loads of fun. And miles better than my mates Rack Systems!!!!!

My first hi-fi consisted of my Dad's old cast-offs and I had it in my A-Level years, around 1994.

The CD player was a Philips model from c.1986 (I still remember my Dad playing Jean Michelle Jarre on it to show the 'quality' - I presume he wasn't referring the music!), the Amp a Technics 40w per channel jobbie my Dad bought when we lived in America (c.1980) and the speakers were a pair of Wharfedales from the mid-1970's.

I was an ugly, hotch-botch looking thing and most of the indicator lights and displays were knackered, but it still sounded much better than my mates' Aiwa/Sony/JVC stereos. In fact, I still have thr Technics amp as it has a really nice sound. I intend to use it for a future spare room/garage project.

My first system was a JVC. I cannot for the life of me remember the model number but I do remember that the speakers where remote control as in by using the control you could move the tweeters left or right. It was a standard system that split into 2 parts. Consisted of:

Amp,Tuner (one Unit) CD and Double Tape (second unit)

35Watts a channel wasn't bad back then and I hadn't really been around a seperates system or anything better than my old JVC. So I thought my old JVC was allright and then I had invested in a better tape deck which I believe was a Pioneer CTW-506DR! I had to use it through my Koss headphones as the JVC's amp didn't have room for extra tape decks. I then invested in a Pioneer PDS-707 CD player and I used this through the AUX 1 on the amp! 

 So this was all well and good then I had the offer of my old mans Technics which I had until 3 months ago and even then it was 16 Years old! SO I was able to use my extra Tape deck and CD player and the ones that came with the Technics went up in the loft!

I got stuck for cash so I sold both the Pioneer decks (Wish I hadn't) and used the Technics standards which where also good decks but what was annonying was the CD player only had Otical Out! 

That old Technicsd JVC system has gone now and I only have the Tape deck from my old Technics plugged into my new Technics system

 I am now on the hunt for a mini-disc deck so I could lift me beloved Vinyl and Casettes!

Cheers

Well I have had quite a few systems over the years and I am only 15!

To start with I had a Sharp all in one system that had a turntable on top it had a cd player, cassete player and I seem to remeber it had a collosal 1 watt per chanel of power. The cd player did'nt work it had some problems with the laser I seem to remember. That was at the age of 5 it used to belong to my parents.

My next Stereo was a Bush portable stereo radio cassete, it had slightly more power at 2 watts per channel! All in a rather garish blue colour. That was a christmas present from my nan and grandad at the age of 6.

On to my 3rd stero now. This was another bush but it was a micro system that had a cd player, cassete player and radio. it had  about 5 watts per chanel of power. I seem to remeber the cd player could be a bit tempremental sometimes it would play then sometimes it would say no disc which was rather annoying. That was an 8th birthday present from my parents . 

Now On my 4th system. This time I had a Goodmans micro system that had a 5 disc cd changer, cassete player and radio. The cd changer refused to open once and kept 5 of my cd's at once! that had to be repaired. I think That had 10 watts of power per channel. That was a christmas gift from my parents when I was 10.

Now onto my 5th, This has to be one of my most favourite it was a sanyo micro system and It has such good sound for what it is. It only has 3inch drivers and god only knows how they got that ammount of bass from them it is quite astonishing for the size of driver. It was actualy a good bit of kit, it was quite compact being about the size of a denon micro system it had a cd player, radio and an add on cassete unit also it had a phono input. And It has 25 watts per channel, I still use it today sometimes when I have friends round just to set it up in the garden and blast some music out of it I just love the big, bassy sound it produces. Sadly the screen has gone west but it still works which is strange you just have to guess what track or function you are on! That was given to me by my parents it used to be in the lounge.

Now onto my first ever separates system It is all cambridge audio equipment and it consists of:-

Azur 340a integrated amplifier

Azur 340c cd player

S30 bookshelf

S90 subwoofer

All bought at christmas last year in the richer sounds sale I am realy pleased with it, it sounds just right I have the bass half way on the amp and sub and the frequencey set as low as possible on the sub and trebble 3 1/4 of the way. The sound is just perfect not extreme bass but punchy and coherant just the way i like it.

That should do for now!

Discounting the Amstrad stack system I got when I was about 14...

When I went to Uni, the second year we had 6 months work experience and I saved up and bought the following:

- Yamaha CDX100 CDP

- Pioneer A400 amp

- Celestion DL6 speakers

- Kenwood tuner (can't remember which, 3040 possibly??) 

- Target stands

- Furukawa interconnect and speaker cables 

I also had my dad's old Pioneer Pl12D turntable.

Sounded good and in fact still have the A400 and Celestions which my dad uses with an Arcam Alpha 6 CDP.

I bought my first real hifi in November 1999 when I was a student in London:

Arcam 7SE CD Player
Arcam 8R Amp
Tannoy R3 Speakers

It was a special advertised in What Hifi by Richer Sounds. I later added the following:

Arcam 8 tuner
Arcam 8P power amplifier

I remember being on a coach on a trip back Windsor and trying to get through to the What Hi Fi helpline. I remember it taking me over 1.5 hours to get through. Andy Clough was editor back then wasn't he?

I still have my Tannoy R3s to this date. Still love them.