Hi, I have just joined this great site. Thought I would kick off with talking about my first stereo. It was my birthday, the year was 1983. My parents had a very nice surprise for me, hidden under my bed! They told me to go and look there after I had opened my other presents. (One of witch was a TDK AD C90, should have been a clue really). I found a Sharp GF-5454 under there! Couldn't get back from school quick enough that day. Since then I have owned all sorts of audio equipment, some pretty hi end stuff but nothing comes close to the excitement felt when you get your first stereo! I still have the machine (witch is quite well used now but still works) Just like to ask you people, what was your first stereo?

Welcome to the site Seb968!

Great story!

I've copied and pasted my story here from and old post.

I think the best memory I have is finding the Candle boombox I asked for Christmas when I was 10 (I think?). My Mother hid it very well but I came across it in the basement,hidden but not enough for a curious kid.

For and hour or two I would open it, play some of my tapes and return it back to the box with surgeon-like skill, before she came home from work. This was about a month before Xmas. I still remember that new plastic smell!

Sure enough on Christmas day I opened "the" present and put on my Oscar winning act of utter surprise   after tearing open the wrapping....My mother never knew

I'll never forget those hour long sound sessions in the basement......

I still have that boombox at my mother's house and promise to post a picture soon. It has none of the features my 550 has, and has crappy sound to boot... but it's still my first. It will NEVER leave my hands!

Ahh, nothing beats your first stereo, it dosn't matter what sort of features it had or how bad the sound was, it is still the first! I have collected a few 70's and 80's boxes since, I love that era. Will post more pictures soon. Yours is a great story, i particularly like the bit about getting the machine back in it's box before your mum got back from work and you did it more than once as well! The Candel you posted looks very nice.

Seb968...I swear that I could have worked for the CIA or KGB the way I covered my trail. If I could fool my mother...no country stood a chance at thwarting me

i love first stereo posts..mine was a Bush and it served me well for a long time...i vaguely remember beasting my mother for a ghettoblaster for xmas

I recall being 13-years old back in 78 and dreaming of this rather humble Panasonic.  It was in the window of an electronics store in Spalding and it was £59.99.  I used to go look at it every day and then doodle pics of it on my school books.  In fact my mum still has my old school books (why do they do that?) and I can see some of the doodles.  I knew I'd never get it as I had no source of income/pocket money.  I told my parents all about it but it never appeared on looming birthdays/Christmas's.

Anyway, bought this a few years ago for £20 and drove 2-hours to get it, insane when I think about it but it was the first one I'd seen for a while.  For the life of me I can't think of the model number but as you can see it's a nice Mono with the all-important tweeter, counter and 5-segment LED.

Nice to hear your stories. Great looking Panasonic'

That is mine...the akai pj 33

loud and proud back in 83 i was 13...

we went to comet in swansea.....didn't see much else but as soon as i saw this i had to have her...i remember the day so well as my sister bought one of those top loader video reorders....it was something like £800...anyway got the stereo 9 d cells and flash dance....i remember being left in a multi story car park blasting the tunes out while they did there shopping....she sounded good and i have a few now 1 boxed...doesn't sound quite as good now only due to the passive radiators rotting in the back of the speaker cabs...anyway that's my story guys...diddn't have her long due to her being faulty and ended up with a panasonic rxc52 after that...and then came the real star of the show the jvc d33l which i took everywhere including shool...used to have the whole school following me about with her

In the year 1988 my father purchased

our first colour tv which was a Philips Matchline ,

(dont know the exact model) , to watch the

Euro 1988 (you know Marco van Basten , Rud Gullit etc).

Along with this purchase we got a Philips D8061/01

as a freebie !! (pic 1)

I was so amazed by our new TV but most of

all i was amazed with this little radiocassette !!

With it i was able to record my mom and then

play the cassette to her laughing at how strange 

our voices were sounding!!

I really cant count the hours of listening to the radio,

making home tapes with my favourite songs trying not

to record the voice of the radio producer .

It lasted until the late 90s and took it nearly everywhere with me!

When me and my friends played basketball every afternoon

it was there, playing the soundtrack of the day !

When i first started collecting i was looking

for one but didnt know the model. I was able to find it after

a few months when i saw one being sold at the german ebay for 10

euros. Instantly i hit the buy it now button and by the summer of 2012

this Old Radio was again with me !!

I cant describe my feelings when i got my hands on it again.

Took it at my sisters place and she said

'' How on earth did you find it again??''

We listened to it for a couple of hours

remembering our childhood!

Now it is is not the exact same model as the D8061/01 ,

it is the D8062 (pic2) but the only difference is that the volume slide button

is green and the other is black ! I remember it being green !!

Next  pics are my dad at his work place with a mono which i cannot identify

This photo was taken by the begging of the amazing decade of the 1980s (actually 1980 ) !

The other one is a pic of my mother (on the left) being pregnant

to my sis with me closing my eye with my hand and listening to this mono

beast ! In this pic i m about 2 !!

Dont know the model too, but judging by the looksmaybe its an aiwa !!

Those pics are so personal and when i first joined here i thought to share

but waited for the right thread !

Hope you enjoyed my stories !!

Interesting story, I think you're dads pic is a Sony.

great stories guys, loving the pics too. 

I'm glad I joined this site, really nice stories. The photos of your mum and dad are great, puts theses radios in their original context, very interesting. I like the look of the Akai, very unusual.

These have been some of the best posts on S2Go IMHO...great stories gents!