My first stereo!

[Cleve]

I found this on Ebay - identical to the very first stereo I owned as a young teenager, a Zenith Allegro 8-Track system with a 'smoked plastic' dust cover and BSR record changer. It was my "major" Christmas present circa 1973 or 1974. Depending on the year, I was either 14 or 15, and boy was I happy to get it!!! There was something magical about how good it sounded, after only hearing little mono am table radios for all of my natural life to that point.

and here were the speakers that went with it... Zenith Allegro 3000's, with 10 inch woofer and HORN tweeter!!!! No wonder I like horn speakers even today! LOL

I do remember that my first record purchase was Black Sabbath "Paranoid", and my first 8-Track was Focus - "Focus 3"!

Of course, this system evolved over the years... next year I added an Akai GXC-75 D auto reversing Dolby cassette deck, and then the NEXT year a Tannoy Micro manual belt-drive table (which I added to the Zenith's ceramic phono inputs vis a vis a Rat Shack special order magnetic phono pre-amp! And then Koss Phase 3 headphones, and sometime around 1975 a Dynaco FM-5 tuner.

Then in 1976, the Zenith unit was totally replaced by my "powerhouse" Technics SU-8600 integrated amp, which powered the Zenith Allegros until June of 1977, when I was given a pair of Cerwin Vega HED speakers with 10" woofers for a graduation present!!!

Ahh, those were the days!!!

[garymd]

Killer system Cleve!

I took apart my mini-cassette player and attached a bigger speaker. Still mono but it sounded pretty good to my 12 year old ears.

[sheltie dave]

Haering music for the first time was magical! Now that I am turning into an old fogey, I can take comfort that I can blow the eyeballs outta the young roosters that come around once in a while.

I liked it at the pawn shop today when the owner called me schizophrenic. I picked up the Bulgarian Women's Choir, David Crosby Live, Bob Marleys "Legend", The Who "Quadrephenia," a Phillip Glass opera, and Metallica's first album, all for $12.

[tankhokie]

wow, thanks for posting that pic.

that is the same unit that was in a beach house we rented throughout my childhood. i clearly remember the 8-tracks and the "thing" that is a small black rectangular box that fit down over the TT rod...no clue to what is was or did, but i do remember getting it stuck in 8 track slot when i was young...oops. i do remember i thought it sounded great as this was the time before my family went hi-fi.

[pinipig523]

man... vintage speakers... never had the opportunity to start there.

BUT, my first stereo set were a $20 2.0 altec lansing speakers for my computer... wow... i thought i was rolling then! this was only 4 years ago, freshman in college!

Now i have 2 pairs of Polk LSI7 bookshelves anchored by a 25-31PC+ sub all for my computer... my how things have changed.

[middlecreekguy]

Hey Cleve. Cool thread.

I remember that system. When I was a teenager I had a friend a couple miles up the road with one. I heard Springsteen's "Born To Run" 45rpm for the first time on that very system.

A year later my folks bought me Zenith`s newest rig. It was called "The Wedge", model# 2000. I just found it on ebay like you found yours.

This thing cranked as far as I was concerned and I heard so many bands for the first time on this system. I still own many of the LP`s from those days and to my surprise they`re in great shape. Heard lots of BTO, Alan Parsons, Boston, Steely Dan and on and on. I also listened to my mother`s old Sun 45`s of Elvis, Jerry Lee and Johnny Cash.

For those who are not familiar with these speakers,the holes in the front are not the horn tweeters. Those are the ports. I used BTO`s intro bass line on the LP "Not Fragile" as a demonstration of how much air this little system could move.

And by the way, I did not realize they had horn tweeters either. Who new? And also, guess what? My parents still have that system in my room at home. Much nicer than this one and still operational.

"Zenith. The quality goes in before the name goes on."

Remember that?

[edwinr]

My first stereo wasn't actually a stereo. It was a Pye portable record player with a detachable speaker and a ceramic cartridge with a saphire needle which I had to change every 40 to 50 albums. I was about 13 at the time (early 70's). To increase the bass and 'presence' I placed the speaker under the bed when I was listening to Elvis or America.

[Mighty Favog]

My dad bought us our first "system" about 1971 when I was about 6 years old. It was a Sears brand that only had AM/FM and a TT. Again a smoked plastic dust cover and the TT brand was not identifiable. I just thought it was cool you change the music to play out of the left or right speaker (balance control). The speakers were a hair bigger than two cigar boxes on stood end and back to back.

I memorized every Simon and Garfunkle song on that thing. The only downside to it was I had to listen to my brother's and sister's records, I had no money to buy any of my own.

We did have this "Stereo Demonstration" record that we found amuzing. It had people playing Ping Pong left to right, someone walking L to R on a hard floor, war explosions, foreign music, Louis Armstrong sing a bit from St. James Infirmary, and a whole bunch of other antics. I would kill to have that record again, if I only knew the title.

The one before that belonged to my two older sisters. It was some little suitcase deal with no detachable speaker(s). That's the one I remember playing all those Archies cut out records from cereal the back of cereal boxes and one copy of Proud Mary from Ike and Tina Turner (we would run around the room acting silly and laughing when the music got "rough"). My sister Sue would play all her Partrige Family records on it. I haven't told her but I still have two of her Partrige records in my record cabinet.

[avman2]

I love the 8 track man.

[Cleve]

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On 7/13/2004 11:51:14 AM avman2 wrote:

I love the 8 track man.

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I thought it looked pretty cool, the way it was angled upward and all! I used to sort of like 8 tracks (until they jammed, and THEN fixing em was a nightmare of horror!) Of course, when I realized how bad the audio fidelity was, that's when I saved for, and bought, an Akai Dolby cassette deck (top loading, to boot!)

[Cleve]

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On 7/12/2004 7:40:43 PM garymd wrote:

Killer system Cleve!

I took apart my mini-cassette player and attached a bigger speaker. Still mono but it sounded pretty good to my 12 year old ears.

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Hey, I used to do 'geeky' stuff like that, back in the pre-Zenith days! My first 'modern' non-portable type radio was this one...

A Longienes Symphonette Apollo 360 clock radio with satellite speaker. I used to take the satellite speaker and plug it into my cassette player for better sound. Then I found that I could do the same thing with a big Panasonic 6 band table radio we had in the kitchen, and that provided even better sound quality.

You know, I should buy some of this stuff like the Zenith... for $50 I could recreate my old system for nostalgia's sake.

[Cleve]

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On 7/13/2004 2:40:00 AM middlecreekguy wrote:

This thing cranked as far as I was concerned and I heard so many bands for the first time on this system. I still own many of the LP`s from those days and to my surprise they`re in great shape. Heard lots of BTO, Alan Parsons, Boston, Steely Dan and on and on. I also listened to my mother`s old Sun 45`s of Elvis, Jerry Lee and Johnny Cash.

For those who are not familiar with these speakers,the holes in the front are not the horn tweeters. Those are the ports. I used BTO`s intro bass line on the LP "Not Fragile" as a demonstration of how much air this little system could move.

And by the way, I did not realize they had horn tweeters either. Who new? And also, guess what? My parents still have that system in my room at home. Much nicer than this one and still operational.

"Zenith. The quality goes in before the name goes on."

Remember that?

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Yeah, I remember... that was when Zenith was still made in the USA, and the slogan actually MEANT something! These Zenith systems had much better speakers, and a much better sound quality, than other similar priced "all in one" systems at the time.

And yes, the Allegros DID have horn tweeters! I myself didn't realize it until I looked at the Ebay ads last night. Here's a close up of a plate

Hmmmm, a two-way speaker system with horn tweeter AND ported bass-reflex cabinets. That sounds a tad bit familiar! Wonder who Zenith was copying? LOLOL! Actually, it makes a lot of sense, since horn speakers tend to be so efficient - those all in ones must have been lacking in HorsePower, and needed the help.

But yeah, I first heard a LOT of music on that Zenith - stuff that I still love to this very day. And I had the "Not Fragile" album, it really did pump a lot of bass, and I loved feeling the air gushing out of those ports - it had a distinct 'speaker' smell to it, too!

Like I said, I may have to buy some of this stuff just to have it again. LOL.

[Champagne taste beer budget]

It's funny, but even after 25+ years I still almost expect to hear the click when my 8-track would change channels on certain songs when I hear them today. Somewhere I still have a stand alone Magnavox 8-track player that I intend to get set up sometime, if for nothing else than a conversation piece.

[thebes]

Had a console in the house growing up and my brother purchased seperates late in high school he still has today. Me, my first was in college. It consisted of a cheap turntable found by the roadside and, get this, two Drive-In Movie theater speakers. Sounded horrible, but it was the 60's so there were ways to make it sound much better!

Great thread, Kleve!

[ZAKO]

My first stereo? A LEE DeForest TV & radio consol mono plus a GE portable radio. set on a window sill. they were simale cast broadcasting over AM and FM a stereo record It was amazing . I was hooked. I bought a VM stero recorder & bought all the stereo tapes that I could find. Allied Radio at this time came out with a stereo integrated amp. EV speakers.

[skonopa]

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On 7/13/2004 9:13:59 AM Tom Blasing wrote:

That's the one I remember playing all those Archies cut out records from cereal the back of cereal boxes and

one copy of Proud Mary from Ike and Tina Turner (we would run around the room acting silly and laughing when the music got "rough").

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You mean my younger brother and I was not the only ones that did that? Was even more fun when any of my cousins where over and we all did the same thing. . I still remember that blue record player with detachaable speakers that the four of us basically shared. I don't even remember who the manufacturer of it was, or even what the model number was, but that thing certainly got plenty of use in the many years we had that, and if I recall, it actually did not sound all that bad.

Of course, when the parents were out, we usually ended up "sneaking" a record or two onto the big Hi-Fi rack system. Nothing like cranking up the sound-track to "Heavy Metal" on that thing.

[middlecreekguy]

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On 7/12/2004 10:37:25 PM tankhokie wrote:

wow, thanks for posting that pic.

that is the same unit that was in a beach house we rented throughout my childhood. i clearly remember the 8-tracks and the "thing" that is a small black rectangular box that fit down over the TT rod...no clue to what is was or did, but i do remember getting it stuck in 8 track slot when i was young...oops. ----------------

That black rectangular thing was the 45 adaptor for the record changer. LOL Great story.

[Daddy Dee]

Santa brought my first stereo along with the Firestone Christmas LP and Robert Goulett's Brigadoon.

Don't remember the stereo brand name, but was terribly impressed because it was not the usual record player with an internal speaker.

This outfit was "portable" in a suitcase type enclosure. Laid on it's side, the turntable and amp works was in the bottom half. The speakers in the "lid" could be opened up and set off from the turntable for a little separation. Sometimes I'd get up at night to listen, moving the speakers just far enough to lay down with my head between them. Like really big headphones, I could turn down the volume enough to hear nicely and avoid the wrath of my father being awakened.... or the terrible wrath of my father if I'd awakened and irritated my mother.

Thought my parents had really gotten cool when they got a family stereo. That was similar to the Zenith unit pictured above, but it was the one with turntable only and the little cylinder top firing speakers.

[Mighty Favog]

O.k. my first item that even played music was a small transistor radio actually played FM (OMG!). I bought it from Saturn Music Shop on Warsaw Ave. in Cincinnati about 1975 when I was an altar boy at my school/church. We got a $5 tip each before serving for a wedding (that I boched!!). Heck of a lot of money for a 10 year old back then.

[Cleve]

Tom, wow, now we're off on a different tangent.

When I was a baby, we had a table top tube radio set. I can remember seeing it, and hearing it, but have no real recollection of the sound quality, brand name, anything!

However, I do distinctly remember when my mom bought a transitor radio from a retailer called "Naums" I almost think it was because the tube radio died, and my parents were tired of troubleshooting tubes! LOL.

It was an Arvin AM radio - here's a photo of the same model I found on E-Bay. It's the bigger one on the right - I didn't feel like photoshopping the other radio out. LOL

My mom used to let me borrow it, and take it out in the backyard in the summer. Listened to a lot of now classic music - I remember that I liked the Four Tops "Bernadette"!

And then at some point, in the mid 60's, I was given my very own transitor radio - another Arvin, though more compact. I *think* it was this model, right here...

But I did prefer the tone quality of my mom's bigger radio to my own, and still ended up borrowing it quite a bit. I guess that was my first A/B listening test!