Guest wusplay Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 We were young once. No money in the pocket (for me). I was so happy when I got a Walkman in school day. My Aiwa mini compo and 21 inch Toshiba TV was my first HT/music setup. Another 18 years later, I'll dig out this post to thank XP, Stereonet, and all of you to be along my hifi journey, by then I'll be old, possibly happy to use a simple clock radio, but still enjoy music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wusplay Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 42 minutes ago, Chowbotak said: Good thread to estimate the age of forum members 18 years ago we were just bunch of kids pretending to be adults participated in hifi discussion. Aftet 18 years, We are still young now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FG Chong Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 (edited) I bought my first hi-fi system back in 1977 from my year's saving from working part-time in places like Turf-club, A & W, car-wash & polishing services. I was then in my pre-u 2. It comprised of a complete Yamaha NS-88 system (turntable, receiver amps & a speaker) and a separate Sony deck (cannot remember the model). Edited October 22, 2020 by fgchong wrong spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagdpanzer Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 (edited) 1981 - I was still a teenager and I managed to convince my sister to buy a Technics rack hifi system with separate quartz TT, cassette deck (metal and chrome tape selection), 32 band graphic equaliser and tuner. I remembered it cost $1,700. The first LPs ($12 each) I bought were England Dan and John Ford Coley, Bread and ELO Greatest Hits. I was so disappointed with the sound of Technics because it could not match the performance of my brother AR7 speakers and Goldring TT. The first hifi I bought with my own salary was Heybrook pt5 speaker, Pioneer A400 (UK made) integrated and Sony CD player. Edited October 22, 2020 by Jagdpanzer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Teh Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 This thread brings back some fond memories. My much richer audiophile friend asked me to go to Atlas with him. The Meridian and Accuphase gear was totally out of reach. We would talk about guys with 10k systems like they were demi-gods ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxerfan88 Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 8 hours ago, kinger said: Which mk is your 8000a? Not really sure, most likely the Mk2 (the black one). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajitmoses Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 Year 2013 Randomly read an article on cnet how a high end speaker designer created a 129 dollar speaker that was making waves. Ended up buying a Pioneer BS22-LR speaker, A 20 dollar Lepai LP2020 amp. Source was YouTube via rca from TV. The bug bit me really hard and since then changed 3 speakers and 4 amps. Deep down that rabbit hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajitmoses Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 3 hours ago, watchdog said: We would talk about guys with 10k systems like they were demi-gods ! Like how we talk about you now 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YANG Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 10 hours ago, kinger said: My older cousin was from Akai midi system to separates Harman Kardon amp & cdp with big 3-way Celestion bookshelves which, to me, was really hifi sounding... Akai was another popular brand back then... Ahhh... AKAI!!! How could we had forgotten that "old" senior in the Audio World long before DOMPTN(denon, onkyo, marantz, pioneer, technics and NAKAMICHI)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue_starfish Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 2 minutes ago, YANG said: Ahhh... AKAI!!! How could we had forgotten that "old" senior in the Audio World long before DOMPTN(denon, onkyo, marantz, pioneer, technics and NAKAMICHI)! Correction. Pioneer was a very old and respected hifi brand that was sold here since the 1970s. They and another old respected Japanese brand, Sansui have almost disappeared from our local scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue_starfish Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 5 hours ago, Jagdpanzer said: The first hifi I bought with my own salary was Heybrook pt5 speaker, Pioneer A400 (UK made) integrated and Sony CD player. Were you like me, influenced to buy after reading HiFi News and Record Review, Hi Fi Choice and What Hi Fi? Those mags raved about the NAD3020, Pioneer A400, MF A1, Audiolab 8000, Audio Innovations, Mission Cyrus. Speaker wise Heybrook, Epos, MF, JPW, TDL (I still have my TDL Nucleus 1, which after mods have no right to sound so good for $200). Those were happy days of Hi Fi. I just enjoyed the music with cheap cables and inaccurate speaker placement. I never knew anything about imaging, soundstage, height, depth etc. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeling Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 1994 NAD302 for AUD400. Mirage (Canadian brand) speakers and I have a Sony 100 disc CD player. Still have all of them scattered around the house / office somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tane0019 Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 Marantz CD63SE. Copland Pre-Power can't remember the models, but were both tube based. TDL RTL3 and Monitor Audio Studio 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esquire Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 My first setup in 1985 Philips CD880 Luxman L-5 Intergrated Amplifier B&W DM330 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quest88 Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 3 hours ago, wusplay said: We were young once. No money in the pocket (for me). I was so happy when I got a Walkman in school day. My Aiwa mini compo and 21 inch Toshiba TV was my first HT/music setup. Another 18 years later, I'll dig out this post to thank XP, Stereonet, and all of you to be along my hifi journey, by then I'll be old, possibly happy to use a simple clock radio, but still enjoy music. haha, I got my first walkman when I was 4-5 years old.. I remember using it for audio books.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinger Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zephyr11 Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 (edited) never had the space, or the money to get anything "proper", only just started about a year ago, when i got my new place; 1st setup NAD C328 CCA, Marantz 5005cdp Aurum Cantus SEII MKII all 2nd hand cept for the marantz Edited October 23, 2020 by zephyr11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YANG Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 12 hours ago, blue_starfish said: Correction. Pioneer was a very old and respected hifi brand that was sold here since the 1970s. They and another old respected Japanese brand, Sansui have almost disappeared from our local scene. Ahhh... i guess this is where my deep impression on AKAI being the oldest bird in Audio industry... My bad. Quote ......Pioneer, is a Japanese multinational corporation based in Tokyo, Japan, that specializes in digital entertainment products. The company was founded by Nozomu Matsumoto in 1938 in Tokyo as a radio and speaker repair shop... 1937: Pioneer's founder, Nozomu Matsumoto develops the A-8 dynamic speaker. January 1938: Fukuin Shokai Denki Seisakusho (precursor of Pioneer) is founded in Tokyo. May 1947: Fukuin Denki is incorporated. December 1953: Hi-Fi Speaker PE-8 introduced. June 1961: Company name changed to Pioneer Electronic Corporation. October 1961: Shares are listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Second Section. June 1962: Introduces the world's first separate stereo system. ... ... ... 1973: Introduces de reel to reel recorder RT-1020L November 1975: Introduces the world's first component car stereo. 1976: Hi-Fi Speaker HPM-100 introduced... ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Corporation Quote Akai was founded by Masukichi Akai and his son, Saburo Akai (who died in 1973[1]) as Akai Electric Company Ltd. (赤井電機株式会社, Akai Denki Kabushiki Kaisha), a Japanese manufacturer in 1929[1][2][3] or 1946.... ... ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akai http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2016/2/26/auto-reverse-the-hard-way.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagdpanzer Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 (edited) 12 hours ago, blue_starfish said: Were you like me, influenced to buy after reading HiFi News and Record Review, Hi Fi Choice and What Hi Fi? Spot on. Since I could not afford as a student, I used to browse Brits hifi mags in the early early to mid 80s in our public libraries - Hi Fi News, Hifi Choice by Alvin Gold, Ken Kessler. My fav hifi window shopping haunt was Plaza Singapura Pertama Audio and Sim Li Square (but I didn't like the rude Ah Beng salesmen there except Merdeka and Avit). Pioneer A400 was overhyped by Brit mags which are very pro Brits brands. My first expensive gold interconnect was $69 Monster (still looking good despite its 35 yrs) and first speaker cable was solid core Tara Labs Space & Time from Avit Nakamichi Dragon was my dream cassette deck then which I saved and saved $ until it disappeared. Lucky I didn't buy. Edited October 23, 2020 by Jagdpanzer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YANG Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 My reference magazine back then was STEREOREVIEW. I do read some issues of WhatHIFI as well. The impression i get after going to few years of SAVE in Le Meridien Hotel gave me the confirmation that, ANGMOH reviews, ANGMOH hearing, ANGMOH palate... is DIFFERENT from LOCALS! So... eventually, i'm only impressed with 2 brands. SHERWOOD and PHILIPS, on the amplification stage. POLKAUDIO or TDL for speakers. Audio source device wise, will be dependent on what kind of digital to analogue over sampling they offer... such as PHILIPS BitStream conversion, or PANASONIC's MASH-Multi Stage Audio Shaping... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue_starfish Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 22 minutes ago, Jagdpanzer said: Spot on. Since I could not afford as a student, I used to browse Brits hifi mags in the early early to mid 80s in our public libraries - Hi Fi News, Hifi Choice by Alvin Gold, Ken Kessler. My fav hifi window shopping haunt was Plaza Singapura Pertama Audio and Sim Li Square (but I didn't like the rude Ah Beng salesmen there except Merdeka and Avit). Pioneer A400 was overhyped by Brit mags which are very pro Brits brands. My first expensive gold interconnect was $69 Monster (still looking good despite its 35 yrs) and first speaker cable was solid core Tara Labs Space & Time from Avit Nakamichi Dragon was my dream cassette deck then which I saved and saved $ until it disappeared. Lucky I didn't buy. I agree with you on the overhyped part. I found the lesser known Nikko and Kenwood amps to be excellent. As were the JVCAX5 and 9. What the British mags we read never said was the terrible reliability of the products they touted, with a few exceptions (like Naim, Exposure, Audiolab). When I visited often quoted shops like KJ West One and Cornflake Shop during my days as a mature student in England, they were scathing on reliability. Advised my not to buy some brands. Even though they sold the stuff. I preceded you. My window shopping hangouts pre Plaza Singapura were Supreme House (Ref Audio and Peter Chew, UIC (Atlas Sound) and Lucky Plaza (Absolute Sound, Eastland Audio, JVC, Technics ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YANG Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 Number of months ago...i got a chance to lay my hands on a PHILIPS AVR like this @ CashConverters... ...unfortunately, due to my current residence space constrain, hv to give up. What a MISS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinger Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 (edited) 13 hours ago, zephyr11 said: never had the space, or the money to get anything "proper", only just started about a year ago, when i got my new place; 1st setup NAD C328 CCA, Marantz 5005cdp Aurum Cantus SEII MKII all 2nd hand cept for the marantz Edited October 23, 2020 by kinger Replaced with a more appropriate song which expresses one's pursue in hifi journey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 1 hour ago, Jagdpanzer said: Spot on. Since I could not afford as a student, I used to browse Brits hifi mags in the early early to mid 80s in our public libraries - Hi Fi News, Hifi Choice by Alvin Gold, Ken Kessler. My fav hifi window shopping haunt was Plaza Singapura Pertama Audio and Sim Li Square (but I didn't like the rude Ah Beng salesmen there except Merdeka and Avit). Pioneer A400 was overhyped by Brit mags which are very pro Brits brands. My first expensive gold interconnect was $69 Monster (still looking good despite its 35 yrs) and first speaker cable was solid core Tara Labs Space & Time from Avit Nakamichi Dragon was my dream cassette deck then which I saved and saved $ until it disappeared. Lucky I didn't buy. Yeah, I wanted to buy an A400 back then. I think I was in Poly back then. Went to Sim Lim to buy it and the salesperson there persuaded me to buy the Creek 4040 instead. Asked me to listen to the 2 amps to compare and I was totally convinced. On hindsight, that was a good decision. The Creek was a beautifully crafted and gorgeous sounding amp. Lasted me for a very long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagdpanzer Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 (edited) Integrated amplifier from mass market Jap brands like Technics, Pioneer, Akai etc in the 80s and early 90s were full of bull****, with the exception of some models from Kenwood and Sansui. Akai and Aiwa used to gloat high power PMPO for their hifi system in full page ads in our Straits Times then. Wasted my hard earned $ in NS and giving tuition for these mediocre disappointing integrated. The Japanese were only good in cassette decks and build quality with a lot of bells and whistles those days. Edited October 23, 2020 by Jagdpanzer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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