Mine was:

Fisher 400 FM Receiver
Dual 1229 Turntable with Shure cartridge
Teac Reel to Reel
JBL 100 Studio Monitors
Sennheisser Headphones
Disc Washer Record Cleaner system

Later added Nakamichi cassette deck (not the Dragon)

For skiing, I had, and still have, the original metal case Sony Walkman which replaced my Astraltunes.

Yeah, I'm an old fart.

ipod dock

I remember taking student loan money and spending WAY too much on a Denon system. Possibly the worst purchase of my life - not because of the system, which was awesome, but because the money should have gone to so many other things.

My favorite system was a simple pioneer tape player in my VW bug with 6x9's in the back on a board. It was bumpin.

I'm rockin' a Sonos system now at home.

The KLH, Model Twenty One, FM (only), radio. Occupied many an apartment and dorm room. Marvelous sound from a sealed box. The sealed back of the radio was part of the whole amplification of the coaxial speaker. If you punctured that back, the sound deflated like a balloon losing all it's air. I punctured it once and it cost dearly to get it fixed. Listened to KJAZ a lot. It sits today in my home office.

Denon was my preferred system as well at home.

Alpine for the car deck and Rockford Fosgate for the boom.

Nice system...mine
Marantz 2270 receiver
Marantz Studio 7 Speakers
Dual 702 turntable with Shure V15 type III cartridge
Teac 2340 reel to reel
Teac 450 cassette deck
Koss headphones

Sigh...miss the 2270 and the speakers...still have the Dual and the Teac reel to reel

Vector Resarch VRX6200R 200 Watt Amp and Receiver
Infinity Speakers, 12 inch
Connected to a 32" Sony TV (the largest they made in 1991, it fell off a truck)

Me and my entire block got to listen to Apocalypse Now together

[video=youtube;30QzJKCUekQ][/video]

Eventually blew out the speakers
Then ditched the TV (the damn thing weighed close to 200 pounds)

Still have the Vector Research Amp (have had to replace fuses over time) but it is totally unplugged despite sitting next to four foot tall Dennon speakers

Now I simply use a Tivoli AM/FM desk radio with aux devices
Great sound, and doesn't disturb the neighbors

With student loan I bought a pair of Bose 901 Series II and added them to my
Pioneer SX950 Receiver
Technics SL-1300

Best use of student loan funds as it sparked my interest in audio and the industry. Within two years of graduating from Cal I became the audio buyer for Pacific Stereo.

Stepped to

AR9 Loudspeakers bi-amplified via a
Dahlquist DQ-LP1 crossover driven by
2 Hafler DH201 Amplifiers
Halfler DH101 Preamp using as its source a
Kenwood KD600 Turntable with a
SMEIII tonearm that was mounted with
Denon Moving coil cartridge (DL103 maybe?) and Denon's pre-preamp

first car .. 67 cougar xr7

blue with white int

head soundstream tc306
zapco px
halfer mid amp
cant remember the bass amps
soundstream mids and highs
2 12' and 4 10' M and M for lows

my setup in the dorms was a panasonic discman plugged into a Gallien Krueger guitar amp... yep, only got one channel... some songs sounded pretty funny. I remember repeatedly going down to that electronics store on telegraph across the street from the fondue place to look at stereos... I think they were in the $250 range. could never decide between the Sony and Aiwa and never felt like I should spend the money, so the ghetto system persisted.

Bears2thDoc;842469680 said:

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Yeah, I'm an old fart.

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Late 60s...
Altec Lansing 604 speakers in home made enclosures. Huge. And sufficiently loud to psychedelize our minds.(Still have.)
Home made amp, from a circuit diagram in the app notes of some Delco power transistors I ordered. (Lost to history.)
Home made preamp - ripped the circuit from the preamp stage of a Heathkit integrated amp a friend had. (Still have.)
Dual turntable of some kind. (Lost to history.)
Next - early 70s ...
Suite of Dynakits I built - PAS 2, ST70s, FM3. (Still have, + 3 more ST70s in various mod states.)
Sony open reel tape deck.
Now?
A bunch of digital junk. Lousy sound. Kids today don't know what fidelity can actually be achieved.
But my ears have gone bad, so it's a good match for me.

Hoopty.

At Cal I had an Akai receiver/amp, Boston A40s, loud enough and not too expensive. After Cal got a nice Yamaha amp (still have it but not hooked up) and some used Boston A70s.

If you guys are really into it, check this place out: LINK: http://audiokarma.org/ It's about old audio gear and talking about finding great old stuff at garage sales and CL. You know, Polk Audio speakers that went for 6 bills back in the day...now $10 bucks.

Marantz Receiver
Dual Turntable (still have a Technics, believe it or not)
BIC Venturi 6 Speakers (huge)
Teac Casette Deck
Koss headphones
Disc Washer Record Cleaner system (lol)

Attempting to eventually get all my vinyl transferred to digital via a USB turntable, still have hundred of records....

Sansui amp, preamp and tuner
JBL L-65 Jubals
Technics SL-1300 turntable (still have)
Teac A4300 Reel to reel...in my attic if anyone wants it...should still work...maybe.
Never got a cassette deck...hated the hisssssssss.

going4roses;842469796 said:

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first car .. 67 cougar xr7

blue with white int

head soundstream tc306
zapco px
halfer mid amp
cant remember the bass amps
soundstream mids and highs
2 12' and 4 10' M and M for lows

---

lol, I learned to drive on my Dad's '67 cougar (burgundy w/black vinyl top)

My sound system at Cal was well under audiophile level, but consisted of...
Yamaha turntable
Kenwood amp
DWD speakers

It sounded great. Then one day, I come home home and my roommate had put my speakers in our window, turned up the sound to"8" and was entertaining the whole block on Northside, except it blew the speakers. I sent 'em back, in hopes they'd fix 'em. Six months later -- I'd given up and forgotten all about it -- they sent me some new ones, but they didn't sound as good. All that sh!t is in a corner of my garage right now. My wife wants to get rid of it, but I'm holding out.

Can I get some modern speakers that are as good, but half the size?

What do y'all think about the modern, digitalized stuff, compared to vinyl? I wanna swear that the new formats lose a great deal of nuance and depth and I can't believe people don't squawk.

Sophomore year:
NAD 7240 receiver
Klipsch KG4 speakers
Don't remember the CD player

This simple setup was one of the loudest in the Unit III that year. The guys at The Sounding Board on Shattuck hated me for buying Klipsch instead of the Energy speakers they were peddling; the following year they added Klipsch to their lineup.

Junior year:
Luxman LV105u tubed integrated amp
Luxman CD player
Luxman tuner
a/d/s/ CM7 speakers

traded volume for clarity, but could still crank it pretty loud. Kept this system for 15 years.

Now:
Denon AVR-X1000 receiver
Paradigm Studio 60 front speakers
Paradigm CC590 center channel
a/d/s/ CM7 rear speakers
some generic Sony blu-ray player

The neighborhood knows when we're watching a movie

Dang - mine is early 90s
Pioneer receiver (died and replaced with something from costco)
Sony dual deck cassette (no autoreverse)
Pioneer CD player with 6 disc cartridges
Pioneer turntable (had died recently, yet to replace)
Sony MDR-V6s for listening, speakers were large bookshelves that I inherited from my dad, but they were no great shakes.
Took the setup to Cal in 94
favorite freshman vinyl: Phantom Surfers
1994 was also the Free Radio Berkeley launch

NYCGOBEARS;842470100 said:

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Hoopty

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say again? best goto for young'n speak is from here, riight?
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hoopty

Quote:

---

Basically, a piece of shiit car. Usually cheap and/or broken down. Can be any size, make or model, but must (or should) be embarrassing to drive for some reason, such as when you bump the stereo all the plastic "effects" you have hot-glued to the exterior rattle, instantly betraying the cheapness of your bling.

A hoopty can be anything from a '78 Cadillac Brogham with the panels missing in front of the brake lights (but replaced on only one side with duct tape), to a fine purple two-year old Hyundai Elantra with three spinner hubcaps and a vanity plate that reads BBY GRL.

The term has also been used in certain circles as an insult to one's boy or girlfriend, as in scrub or hoochie mama.

1. Can you believe he be gettin' all mad whenever somebody lean up against his old stupid hoopty.
2. I can see now you ain't nothin' but a hoopty.

by Cello March 11, 2005

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my stuff? sorry, headphones set so loud musta atomized the memories.

i do recollect a marked down (tg&y?) japanese transister radio pulling in fm-kpfk's "radio free oz" program from exotic LA. some '66 evenings when the moon was full whole segments of peter bergman's schtick [prior to Firesign Theater] bounced over disneyland thence to ucsd dorm ground zero; frosh year once and done army prep.
# those were the days.

smh;842470153 said:

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say again? best goto for young'n speak is from here, riight?
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hoopty

"Basically, a piece of shiit car. Usually cheap and/or broken down. Can be any size, make or model, but must (or should) be embarrassing to drive for some reason, such as when you bump the stereo all the plastic "effects" you have hot-glued to the exterior rattle, instantly betraying the cheapness of your bling.

A hoopty can be anything from a '78 Cadillac Brogham with the panels missing in front of the brake lights (but replaced on only one side with duct tape), to a fine purple two-year old Hyundai Elantra with three spinner hubcaps and a vanity plate that reads BBY GRL.

The term has also been used in certain circles as an insult to one's boy or girlfriend, as in scrub or hoochie mama.

1. Can you believe he be gettin' all mad whenever somebody lean up against his old stupid hoopty.
2. I can see now you ain't nothin' but a hoopty.

by Cello March 11, 2005"

---

Anyone up for a hoopty thread?

I had one of those crappy 2-in-1 systems (double tape deck and turntable). I think it was a Fisher.
Maybe three or four years later I had system that had a removable tapes deck. It had a button that would eject the part of the tape deck that was the size of a Walkman. Pretty cool stuff

On top of those, I was a proud owner of this sweet DC Superhero turntables.



Currently I have a Techniques SL-1200M3D turntable with a Marantz 2220B receiver. I have a pair of vintage speakers but I forget what brand they. They don't have labels/brand name on them.

UrsusTexicanus;842470195 said:

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Anyone up for a hoopty thread?

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Would love to - I have extensive experience with hoopty's from my younger days. Shout out to all my homies that have left a car abandoned on the side of the road because towing / repairs are greater than the value of the car.

dajo9;842470301 said:

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Would love to - I have extensive experience with hoopty's from my younger days. Shout out to all my homies that have left a car abandoned on the side of the road because towing / repairs are greater than the value of the car.

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Been there. Done that.

NYCGOBEARS;842470304 said:

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Been there. Done that.

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this year's neil young book is all about his lifelong compulsion to restore classic cars.

the habit began very early; road trips cut short after touring wheels died.

for many years, probably still, him and his (semi) junkers occupied acres of hilltop property down the peninsula somewhere, halfway from the bay to the coast.

# bad hearsed

Cerca 1973:
Dynaco SCA80Q (kit from Pacific Stereo)
Philips TT and Dynaco A-25 speakers (Igor's Stereo - anybody remember them? An offshoot of Leopolds).
Dyna FM5 tuner kit (The Sound Well)

1975: Dokorder reel-to-reel deck

1976: Klipsch Heresy speakers and Technics SL1500 TT

Now: PS Audio 4.5 preamp, BRB Systems Power Amp, NAD 533 TT, Magnepan speakers for audio. Hafler DH101, SAE XXX1B and JBL L20T3 speakers for the video system (2channel only). Also have a Pioneer SX-680, a Yamaha CR1040, and a couple of old Marantz receivers boxed in the garage - all garage sale finds I couldn't resist but now don't know what to do with . . . I had to stop going to garage sales.

my sound system and hoopty back in the day....

high calibear;842470424 said:

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my sound system and hoopty back in the day....

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At least you wore cool clothes

Bears2thDoc;842469680 said:

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For skiing

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Marantz 2270 Receiver
Dual 1220 Turntable
JBL Century !00 with ugly orange foam grills
Nakamichi 670ZX Cassette Deck

I have mono; stereo is for poseurs.

Moving along...this was my A/V set-up back in the day at Cal.

NYCGOBEARS;842470304 said:

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Been there. Done that.

---

Me? Twice. I put my Cal brain to work, came up with an algorithm (which included an emotional quotient, is pain the ass to get car back, and pain in the ass to not have a car) and crunched the numbers. Letting go just seemed to make more sense.

So I had a system that I pieced together on a student budget that turned out remarkably well.

I came to Berkeley in the fall of '96 with a discrete cd player that I don't recall how I obtained and a tiny amp and speakers that I don't remember too much about except to say that every thing was undersized and tinny sounding.

Over christmas break that year, I found a 70's era Sansui 350a for 50 bucks at a second hand store while visiting my brother in Utah, brought it back with me on the plane to Oakland, and hauled it on bart back to Berkeley. At the time, there wasn't a lot of buzz about these vintage Japanese integrated receivers but it was an incredible purchase looking back on it now. I didn't know much about them. I just knew it would suffice and it was better than what I had.

Finally, I found a set of Boston A100s at the Berkeley swap meet. The drivers were shot and I replaced them with generic set I bought at the sounding board. It was the first and only time I'd even been in that place. I just walked in and told them what I found and they were all over it haha.

So by my senior year I had a fairly decent system that was completely improvised and cobbled together on a shoestring budget. After I graduated, I moved out of state and left the system behind in a friend's storage unit along with a really nice queen sized futon. Haha. Funny how things work. Man I wish I had that amp now.

BancroftSteps;842472346 said:

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So I had a system that I pieced together on a student budget that turned out remarkably well.

I came to Berkeley in the fall of '96 with a discrete cd player that I don't recall how I obtained and a tiny amp and speakers that I don't remember too much about except to say that every thing was undersized and tinny sounding.

Over christmas break that year, I found a 70's era Sansui 350a for 50 bucks at a second hand store while visiting my brother in Utah, brought it back with me on the plane to Oakland, and hauled it on bart back to Berkeley. At the time, there wasn't a lot of buzz about these vintage Japanese integrated receivers but it was an incredible purchase looking back on it now. I didn't know much about them. I just knew it would suffice and it was better than what I had.

Finally, I found a set of Boston A100s at the Berkeley swap meet. The drivers were shot and I replaced them with generic set I bought at the sounding board. It was the first and only time I'd even been in that place. I just walked in and told them what I found and they were all over it haha.

So by my senior year I had a fairly decent system that was completely improvised and cobbled together on a shoestring budget. After I graduated, I moved out of state and left the system behind in a friend's storage unit along with a really nice queen sized futon. Haha. Funny how things work. Man I wish I had that amp now.

---

What is it about that amp? Do they not make something as good or better now?

Is my Kenwood integrated amp (circa 1977, mentioned earlier in the thread) something good like that? It's sitting in my garage.

I had a discman plugged into a Sharp double tape deck boombox back in the dorms. Loved that setup. I carried the discman around campus until I dropped it one day. My neighbor had a Sony bookshelf system that impressed the ladies, but I was okay listening to my own cd's and not doing classwork. Then I had a Kenwood bookshelf system that served me well until it was damaged pretty badly during a move, made do with playing mp3's on a computer through little desktop computer speakers and an ipod/dock for quite a few years after that, but three or four years ago I had enough and walked into a home theater store and surprised them by being less than a hundred years old and looking for a pure 2-channel setup and not some 15.1 home theater system, ended up with a file-based setup with alac files on my NAS that I access through a Mac mini hooked up to an NAD preamp/dac, Linn amplifier and speakers, and a PSB subwoofer. I also bought a Sonos connect for my dad while I was there, helped him rip all of his cd's, he's got a pretty good setup with a Krell amp and some huge speakers. He loves the Sonos, makes it so convenient to listen to his stuff. I should probably make sure all of the firmware on that system is up to date this weekend.