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  1. #51
    Magnepan HT User
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    My first pair of speakers were also a set of JVC three-ways, can't remember which model. Didn't have much air to them so I added a super tweeter from Radio Shack at the time. Through the years went through AR, DCM, Klipsch, Cambridge Soundworks, Celestion, B&W and my current speakers are Eminent Technology and Martin Logans.

  2. #52
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    Electro-voice EV 14 A's

    bought in 1974, powered by a Marantz 1060 amp. Typical [at that time] 12'', 3 way sealed enclosure, excellent for not much $ at that time, but nothing compared what's available, even for less equivalent $ these days - the state of mid-fi is much improved. They did last for about 25 years, though, and provided a lot of enjoyment and memories...

  3. #53
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    JBL 4312 Control Montiors

    I got them from the Army PX in Seoul, Korea, when I was stationed there in 84-85. It was kind of a G.I. rite of passage: get yourself a humongous stereo rig. I think I paid ~$400/pr. (great deals on hi-fi gear were one of the perks of overseas service. I also got a Nakamichi BX-300 cassette deck for about half the retail price at the time.)

    Technically, I guess my first proper speakers were a pair of Klipsch's. The model escapes me now. Two-ways with a horn tweeter and unfinished beech plywood cabinets. I tried them for about two weeks, then heard a buddy's 4312s and traded the Klipschs in.

    I kept 'em until last year when WAF finally took its toll. Actually, I'm glad it did. I had no idea how much better 5.1 could sound. Good as those monsters were (accurate, crisp highs, tight bass), it's been really satisfying to re-educate my ears. And the funny thing is, I sold them on eBay for more than I paid for them. Same with the Carver M500t power amp I had driving them.

    I might hold on to my Denon/CSW setup for at least as long, but I definitely don't expect that kind of return when it's time to upgrade.

    Great thread.

  4. #54
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    Dynaco A-25

    Dynaco A-25's, when I was about 16 or 17. Drove them with a Heathkit AA-29 amp I built. A little soft on the top end, but superbly tight bass and great balance with excellent neutrality. I wish I had held on to them for secondary use. You can't get sound like that for $79 in real veneer cabinets anymore!

  5. #55
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    My First "Real" Speakers

    After building many poor home-made speakers, I bought a pair of Electrovoice two-ways with 8" woofers and cone tweeters. These were powered by a Kenwood KA-3500 (40watts/ch.). I later compared the speakers to Boston Acoustics A40's. The Bostons were only a little better. Peace.
    Mark Wellman
    "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

  6. #56
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    Little but loud...

    A pair of Boston Acoustics A-40's bookshelf. Matched with Technics intergrated and Sony 1-bit cd player and TEAC cassette back in the mid 80's. I remember setting the system up and calling my mom into the room to listen I hit play on Ozzy's Bark at the Moon cd and nothing came out. I turned the volume up but nothing. Then I noticed the input selector was not on CD so I turned it to it. . .but . . I had forgotten ot turn the volume back down it was at like 8 out 10. Scared the crap out of my mother and all I could say was cool. Speakers survived for 12 more years before the bass surround died.

  7. #57
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy C
    ...about 12 when I bought a pair of Lafayette Criterions... similar to the Mach Ones you mention.

    Six months later I had a small pair of Pioneer HPMs. Slightly better.

    By age 14 (1980...yikes!), I found "high end" audio stores, and bought the Boston Acoustics A70s. I can remember lusting after the Alisons and Snells, but the "bang for the buck" was firmly planted in that Boston lineup.
    Lafayette Radio - i haven't heard this name in years.i wish i would have bought their supply of tubes!
    bottom line save your money young man.

  8. #58
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    My first speakers

    Back when I was in high school, and completely naive about good stereo, save for wanting better than a boom box, I bought very budget Radio Shack Optimus brand speakers and one of their first Pro Logic receivers.

    As I went through college I slowly upgraded through 2 different Yamaha receivers and better Polk speakers, and now I'm finally moving to B&W speakers with Rotel gear.

  9. #59
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    The first speakers I ever owned were a pair of Vandersteen 2Ci's. I used my enlistment bonus of $5000 from the Navy to purchase them and the rest of my stereo system at the time. $1300 for the Vandersteens, the rest spent on NAD equipment and MIT cables, and some Stax "earspeakers." I had my brother sell the Vandersteens when I moved to another state back in '96, and I purchased some KEF Q15's to get me by until I could afford something better. I'm still using the KEFs, although I added a subwoofer and other HT equipment to the rest of my old line-up.

    I loved the Vandersteens, but KEF was always my favorite, ever since I first heard the R107 and R104. I also loved the Apogee Diva (long gone, alas!), but they and the required amplification were way out of my league financially!

    Regards,
    Erick

  10. #60
    Forum Regular hifitommy's Avatar
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    dynaco a25s

    i was sold them by a very insightful sales guy at pacific stereo. i wanted the ar4s in my mind and hadnt heard of dynaco.

    about to make the purchase, i told him i wanted the ARs so he put on the nillsson schmillsson cut 'jump into the fire'. first he played the ar4s, and i liked it. then the a25s clearly defined the difference between the simultaneously playing bass guitar and kick drum whereas the ar did not.

    i went home with dynas, a sony 40wpc receiver, dual 1215 tt/shure m91ed system. later, i went to a sherwood s8900a 60wpc receiver for more power and them bought a second pair of a25s to go with my dynaquad box.

    then i put a pair of EV spks in the rear and stacked the a25s in paralell in front and WOW. the bass could then be compared to quads in quality and similarity of extension in the bass (that is not very deep but very tight and defined). it required significant LF cut with my metrotec 5 band eq to not be overpowering in bass level.

    the impact available was made obvious while playing the sheffield labs harry james DTDs. i added a philips 1" dome above 10k and the things opened up and became airy.

    i wish i still had them, but the same can be said of my rogers LS3/5As!
    ...regards...tr

  11. #61
    Shostakovich fan Feanor's Avatar
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    Legendary, but maybe a bit overrated ...

    Quote Originally Posted by bobhaze
    Dynaco A-25's, when I was about 16 or 17. Drove them with a Heathkit AA-29 amp I built. A little soft on the top end, but superbly tight bass and great balance with excellent neutrality. I wish I had held on to them for secondary use. You can't get sound like that for $79 in real veneer cabinets anymore!
    They were my first speakers too. I had them only couple of years, though.

    I traded mine for AR7's. The AR's offer significantly better detail and, as I recall -- both speakers are gone these many years -- a bit better tonal balance. For sure though, the AR's didn't have as deep bass.

  12. #62
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    Mine were home made using Realistic 8" full range drivers in bass reflex cabinets from a project design in a magazine called "Electronics Australia". Kept them from age 16 to 23 (powered by a kit amp called Heathkit, from England).

    Then I bought KEF 104ab's and a Sansui AU 417 (in 1981). I had the best student system in the whole city! (Canberra, Australia). Still have all that today as my main system. It does me fine. It's old and out-of-date, but still sounds great.

    Cheers
    Tony
    PS: Thanks for the initial question. You have started a huge conversation piece here!

  13. #63
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    Wink First Speakers - Sansui 3500

    My first set were a pair of Sansui 3500 speakers. I bought them in the PX in 1973 while in the service because the sounded very good and the discount price was too good to pass up, $135 each.

    They were the best sounding Japanese speaker around for an affordable price. Didn't sound quite as clear as the Large Advent, but much stronger on rock and roll music.

    Enjoyed them for several years until selling them because I was going overseas.

    After I came back home, it took several years of listening to my homemade DIY speakers before I had enough money to buy a set of Sonab OA2212 speakers, but I still wouldn't mind having the old Sansui's for the den/pool room.

    Frank


    Quote Originally Posted by jamison
    I have an interesting question, what was the first pair of speakers you owned? how long did they last and did you like them.

  14. #64
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    my first pair of speakers

    my first pair of speakers were trio kenwood 100 watt a peice the model number was LSK--400D run by a cheap but mint sears LXI reciever with a sony 5 disc cd changer and a technics turntable with a 200 doller needle on it i also have a pair of near mint smaller advents my dad has JBL--L--112 300 watts a peice run by a 300 watt reciever talk about power it is going to my soon to be stereo once he gets it cleaned up im only 14 remember

  15. #65
    EAH
    EAH is offline
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    i'M OLD

    well, panasonic 3 IN 1 7.5 w/ch and
    the speakers were single drive 8", that was it.
    Have had many many, many, sistems since then.
    And right now not with the best

    EDUARDO AH.

  16. #66
    Datarush datarush's Avatar
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    Talking BIC America 2 way

    Don't remember the model. I got them in 1975 along with a BIC turntable. BIC America was a hot retail brand back then. They wound up on various corner shelfs or on the wall to get them out of the way which no doubt knocked the hell out of their fidelity and lower bass. I do remember replacing the 10" drivers about a year or two before I sold them to an immigrant. Now that I'm older and smarter I realize placement is at least as important as the speaker itself, but putting them way up there did solve some space problems.

  17. #67
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    My first speakers I owned are the JBL HLS410 I got it 5 years agao and I still have them. My second ones are the JBL S26 I got that 2 years agao.

  18. #68
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    B&O system. Forgot which model

    But I blew them when I hooked a baas guitar up to the receiver. I wasn't a very smart kid. But then I got a pair of Dahlquist DQ-10's and was in audio heaven.

  19. #69
    Forum Regular hifitommy's Avatar
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    DQ10s

    after hearing them properly set up, i nagged my dealer friend int carrying them. he was not sorry. i also nagged him into carrying tonearms and separate TTs. once more, not sorry.

    i had a modified pair in the house and drove them with a hafler 500. never had i heard deep bass from the 10s until then. i was never a fan of their sub though.
    ...regards...tr

  20. #70
    Forum Regular kingdaddykeith's Avatar
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    Neat idea for a thread, I’ll chime in, though the brands I’m going to mention will not show up on most peoples radar.

    North American Sound Studio monitors ($1000)
    Amber 40 integrated amp 60w per ch ($450)
    Kenwood K(XX)-650 Turntable with a AQ 404 MC cartridge ($850)

    The speakers were custom made by a local (Dallas) hi end audio company that is now defunct. Gave the speakers to my brother years ago and started building my own, have never bought another pair of consumer speakers. Took over a year to get this system off lay-away.

  21. #71
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    Blast from the past

    I agree, a nice thread. Almost a history lesson here.
    When I was almost 15 I spent the summer managing a fast food place at night in Dallas, Texas. Worked all summer to buy my first real stereo and a mortorcycle.
    1- Pioneer Quad reciever (It had the "too cooool" oscilloscope on the left side with 4 volume buttons for balance)
    2 - 4 advent 3-way speakers with the 12" woofers on em.
    3 - A Used Nakamichi Cassett deck
    4 - Pioneer turntable with the fancy new needle cartridge system in it.
    5 - Honda SL100 dirt bike
    At the end of the summer I collected my new toys from various layaways and went home to Oklahoma. My bedroom was on the second floor in my parents house which was directly on lake keystone in Oklahoma. I had a small porch that overlooked the lake attatched to my bedroom where the speakers seemed to migrate to a lot. I almost lost it all the first week due to the lake patrol calling my parents and saying they could hear Ted Nugent, BTO and Black Sabath (big stuff in the mid 70's) across the lake from us and didn't appreciate it. LOL
    I had kind of forgotten that till now.
    Take care all

  22. #72
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    Do you remember what model Advent speakers? I don't think I've ever seen/heard of a 3-way Advent. Just curious. I had a pair of the large 2-ways with the rounded corners. Loved them, but they fell prey to surround rot.

  23. #73
    Tyler Acoustics Fan drseid's Avatar
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    This is somewhat embarrasing, but my first set of speakers (apart from a couple boomboxes when I was a kid) was a set of BOSE AM-3s that I bought while in college after buying into the marketing hype. These are the ones with one little cube for each channel, and the "bass module."

    Needless to say, after about 3 months of ownership, I realized that the cubes were hardly satisfactory... I sold them for about the full price I paid (I guess they are good for holding their value), and bought my first real 5.1 speaker system, the ProCinema 100.6 from Definitive Technologies... I haven't looked back.

    I now own some very nice speakers from Legacy Audio, ACI and Tyler Acoustics, but I can look back on the Definitives with a nice feeling of nostalgia... I can't say as much for the BOSE, however. :-(

    ---Dave

  24. #74
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    Legacys?

    Which Legacys do you own? I have the Focus mains and Silver Screen center in Ribbon Mahogany. I use a pair of German T&A P-30 for surrounds, but would love to have the MiST surrounds, but they're a bit pricey. The low-end on the Focus is incredible, great power and weight, no boom, a speaker which provide both quality and quantity. The Def Techsare also good speakers, but really not in the same league as the Legacys. Enjoy!

  25. #75
    Tyler Acoustics Fan drseid's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kfalls
    Which Legacys do you own? I have the Focus mains and Silver Screen center in Ribbon Mahogany. I use a pair of German T&A P-30 for surrounds, but would love to have the MiST surrounds, but they're a bit pricey. The low-end on the Focus is incredible, great power and weight, no boom, a speaker which provide both quality and quantity. The Def Techsare also good speakers, but really not in the same league as the Legacys. Enjoy!

    I have 5 of the Studios (although I am only using 3 for the rear channels in my HT/multichannel music system right now, using Tyler Acoustics Taylos for the front 3, and an ACI Titan II for the sub). The 5 Studios were my next purchase after the Def. Techs, and they, like the Def. Techs over the Bose were a *big* step up, even more so once I found the ACI sub to pair with them, after several poor attempts with others.

    I have heard the Focus, and I agree it has a tremendous low-end extention and a great overall sound too. They would be way too much for my medium sized room, but if I ever move my system to bigger quarters, they would be high on my list for consideration in a 2 channel system.

    Enjoy,

    ---Dave

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