"Back in the day", where did you buy your first piece of gear?

[quaddriver]

Folks got me a sears all in 1 amfm 8 track tt, so that came from sears. next year they got me a RS cassette deck. next year dad got me an sx3700 from 'The sound Store', so *my* first piece that *I* bought, was the RS lab 390 TT which I wish to god I never sold. Miss that player.

 

[Chrisxo55441]

i bought my Marantz 2245 in 1975 at Northside Electronics i believe it was called in Crystal MN, a waitress i worked with husband knew someone there and and could get me an installment plan i was 20. my bosses daughter who worked at Janszen Speaker Co. which was located here then also me got a pair of returned Z410 electrostatics for me for $150. Got a floor model Dual turntable downtown in Lasalle Court but dont remember the store name so that made up my first system. bought the rest of my gear 8 track, cassette , stanton 681eee cart, WC-22 at Team electronics in Uptown which was a few blocks from me. Still got the 2245 and stanton 681eee, Z410's are crapped out and in sorry shape and been in storage since the 80's, Dual went wonky after 10 years and i threw it in the dumpster (dumb) tape decks might be stashed somewhere but could of tossed those as well dont remember.

 

[avionic]

Mini-BX at Bitburg air base In Bitburg ,W.Germany 1980-82. Yamaha NS-1000's -- Macassar ebony models. $855

 

[OldPolishGuy]

My first "real" stereo system was purchased from The Sound Room in Pomona, Ca. Consisted of a Marantz 2215 and a pre-owned pair of Empire Grenadier speakers; I don't remember the speaker's model number but they were two-way not three-way speakers. Not long after that purchase I added a "real" turntable, a Phillips GA-212 with ADC XLM cartridge. Odd thing about the Marantz, when I picked up the items at the store, the sales person gave me a 2245 in error. About a week later I got a call from him desperately trying to find out to whom he gave the 2245 to in error. Being young, dumb(?) and kinda-sorta honest, I fessed-up and made the swap. The 2215 was still a really good receiver. OPG.

 

[lini]

Not sure, where my grandaunt bought the Sennheiser HD420, which actually was my first piece of hifi equipment. But both the Hitachi radio recorder with detachable speakers (TRK-9300), which served as my first "system" for not too long, and the Technics receiver, cassette deck & turntable and Canton speakers combo, that became my first real hifi system, after the Hitachi thingy had turned out to have an unrepairable bug in the cassette deck section, were from Media Markt. The original, first Media Markt here in Munich, that is - i.e. back in the early 80s, long before it became a huge consumer electronics market chain with hundreds of subsidiaries all over Europe.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[RichPA]

I bought an all-in-one from Montgomery Ward in 1970, along with some "air suspension" speakers (top right here https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1970-Montgomery-Ward-Christmas-Book/0274). A year or so later, I built some speakers based on Radio Shack "full-range" 8" speakers with whizzer cones.

First component stereo was a Realistic/BSR changer with Shure cartridge, Eico SS integrated amp built from a kit, and used Smaller Advent speakers from a shop in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 1974. Maybe 6 months later, I replaced Eico with a used Scott SS amp from the same shop.

Great thread!

 

[whoaru99]

The BX at GF AFB.

Sansui AU-D33 integrated, TU-S33 tuner, and an Akai cassette deck the model thereof I do not recall.

 

[brian222]

Furniture store and a guy rented a back corner. He only carried 4 brands. Marantz. Dynaco. Dual. Shure. I bought one of each.

 

[johnda]

I worked in Manhattan in the 60s until 2000. The 45th street and 6th Avenue area was a hotbed of great stereo shops. One of my favorite shops was Leonard’s. You walk in and there were great rows of McIntosh gear, AR speakers, turntables and just about anything dealing with audio. Yep, I shopped there!

 

[gbroot]

Radio Shack 1974

 

[Lapslah]

Radio Shack

 

[Splatter Pak]

Back in the very early 1970's, my mother worked at Midland Electronics...anybody remember them? She used her discount for me to purchase a totally BOTL system. I still have the speakers, though I have modded them. Later, I bought my first Marantz, and I was off and running...

 

[Erik Tracy]

My first stereo was a low powered low cost receiver and cheap speaker package from a Lafayette store in Albuquerque, NM c.1974

Then when the family moved to San Diego, it was either Dow Stereo or Pacific Stereo.

[edit]
Oh, and I bought some gear from the Sound Company which was right next door to the Tower Records on Sports Arena Blvd.

 

[bigaltx24]

Heathkit for a AR-15 receiver. Then Pacific Stereo for a pair of Infinity 4000s and a Garrard Zero 100

 

[CraigVMN]

Sassafras Audio, just outside of northeast Philly. Rotel CD player, Adcom GCA-510 passive preamp, GFA 545 amp, ACE515 power line conditioner, Dahlquist DQ12 speakers. Circa 1987

 

[stratmel]

My Army buddy stationed in Saigon sent me a Sansui 2000 receiver from the PX there. This was 1967 I think. I ran down to the local stereo shop in Mesa, AZ and bought a Dual 1019 turntable and a pair of AR 4x speakers, which I picked over comparable Wharfdales and Dynacos. I still have the AR's.

 

[S. Pupp]

Wall to Wall Sound and Video

 

[fsdaron]

Radio Shack

 

[Ohighway]

I received used donated and entry level new gifted items early in my audio days.

However the first piece I remember buying was a Sanyo DCX3300K quadraphonic receiver. Grabbed that one from Stereo Discounters 7 W. Aylesbury Rd. in Timonium , Maryland 21093.

 

[Thorsten R.]

My dad´s shop in Lüneburg, Northern Germany. An RtR Uher Royal de Luxe. It had a 2 x 10 W HiFi - amplifier that could be used solely. It was 1969.