Your first proper hifi..
We're not talking Sansui or Matsui stereo, but your first seperates hi-fi system, what it comprised of, and if you can remember what it sounded like, here's mine:
Pioneer PD-S703 CD player and Aiwa ADF410 Cassette Deck > NAD 3020i amplifier >JPW Speakers
Speaker cables: Cable Talk 3
Interconnect: Maplins RCA (gold plated)
Speaker stands: Atacama
I was at college, so thought it was amazing (especially the CD player with the 'Stable Platter System' and the fact that the CD had to turned upside down). The NAD was an exceptional starter amplifier (it could even be used as a pre-amp!) and probably would have been better partnered with Mission bookshelf speakers, although at the time JPW was more in line with my student budget.
The Aiwa cassette deck was also an excellent budget deck to play back recordings off Radio 1 Pete Tong or Annie Nightingale sessions or albums on cassette I'd brought back in the 80s - it was simply the business! Upgraded some tapes with the CD versions later in the 90s and stopped using the deck then and soley used the Pioneer.
Overall, the build quality was excellent and used the above for over 10 years without fault, unlike some modern hifi components I've had over the last few years.
Now what system did you have?
PS Sorry if this duplicates another thread - Fri fun!
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Ok, what Sansui model was it?
Mine was all bought in about 1979-80 as a teenager.
Amstrad Amp, Technics cd, Trio Tuner and Wharfdale Denton speakers
At the time I thought it was the dogs!
My first hifi was a Pioneer/Wharfedale combination. I suppose I don't have a proper hifi amp now though seeing as I've got some rubbish Sansui number here. 
http://www.vintageaudio.com.au/Amps/Sansui/Sansui%20AU-717%20Integrated%20Amp.htm
1959 Built my own mono 10 W valve amplifier (11 valves, I think). No stereo records available at that time. Replaced with a home built 10W transistor amplifier in 1962.
1969 Trio 10W stereo amplifier, KEF speakers and Thoren's TD150 mark II record deck.
(I still use the disc player. Sorry I didn't keep the old amplifiers, I would have liked to compare the old valve one to modern stuff. The early transistor amplifiers had rather a lot of background hiss.)
Andrew
alanchan_9:We're not talking Sansui or Matsui stereo, but your first seperates hi-fi system, what it comprised of, and if you can remember what it sounded like, here's mine:Pioneer PD-S703 CD player and Aiwa ADF410 Cassette Deck > NAD 3020i amplifier >JPW Speakers
Speaker cables: Cable Talk 3
Interconnect: Maplins RCA (gold plated)
Speaker stands: Atacama
Were you in Plymouth at the time?
Sheffield. Pulp and Warp Records!
alanchan_9:We're not talking Sansui or Matsui stereo, but your first seperates hi-fi system, what it comprised of, and if you can remember what it sounded like,
1980, 15 years old living in BC, Canada, my first seperates hi-fi was a silver JVC seperates unit of receiver, tape deck and turntable deck with speakers of unknown origin. Loved it and played it to death...it was the start of a journey and hobby that I still enjoy and haven't yet made it to the fianl destination, don';t know if I ever will...
Mid 80's... Dual CS-505.2 De-luxe, Creek CAS4040, Wharfedale Diamond III.
My first CD player was an Alba tape/deck/radio/CD system with a set of National Panasonic speakers which at the time I thought sounded ok, when it came to replace it I wanted a flashy all in one with all the lights and EQ's but Dad convinced me to spend the money on a proper system
So after reading What Hifi for a few months (didn't demo any kit, doubt they would have let a 16 year old in the shops around me) I bought a Yamaha CDX-496 CD player and Yamaha AX-396 amp with Eltax Monitor 5 speakers, got it around 1999, freaked out when I spent £30 "on a cable" (interconnector) and the whole lot came to £330 from Richer Sounds, a lot of money when your 16.
Still got the system in the house, brother now has it in his bedroom.
Still waiting for it...
My father gave me his stereo in the early eighties as he had bought a new hitachi seperate system! wow it was loud! the system he gave me i think was branded Boots,an amp,turntable and speakers i remember hooking up my jvc ghetto blaster so i could play tapes and radio.I would say the system i bought 2 months ago is my first proper hifi,i worked and travelled around the world for almost 20 years so was never able to buy a real system,after years of various ghetto blasters and later laptop speakers im very happy to have a real system,love it!
I remember buying my girlfriend (now wife) a Sansui CD player many years ago, the Rotel R?965 that I tested it against was better, but I couldnt afford the extra £130. My first system was Technics/Mordaunt Short.
Dual CS505-2 deluxe turntable
Creek CAS4040 amp
Denon DRM-07 cassette deck
Acoustic Research AR19BX speakers
Target Hifi rack (in white
CA StreamMagic 6 | CA 751BD | CA 651A | PMC DB1i
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