According to ChatGPT, I’ve been better known as an automotive writer for the past half a century, yet four years before I even passed my driving test, I was hooked on hi-fi, reading every publication I could get my hands on, saving up for anything that might pass as a system. Purchased from photography/hi-fi emporium Woods & Porter of West Hill, Dartford, a stone’s throw from where I was born, my first stereo comprised a BSR McDonald MP60 turntable with Goldring G800 MM cartridge, a little 15wpc Trio KA2000A integrated amplifier and, dictated mostly by what was left of a very modest budget to begin with, a pair of Koss Red Devil headphones. Great. Tubular Bells never sounded better.
A few months later, a summer hols job stacking shelves at the Co-op in Dartford financed the missing speakers. The intention here was go big or go home, so rather than buy a new bookshelf number (that would come later with the original Wharfedale Diamond), I went for a pair of pre-loved and undeniably bulky Richard Allen Pavane two-way, three-driver floorstanders with a proper, 12-inch paper-coned woofers and beam-tastic paper cone tweeters. What a fabulous old-school (although I was only just out of school) experience that was. An enduring one, too, in due course playing host to a worryingly wobbly suspended ERA turntable and a wonderously limp-wristed but utterly charming Sugden A21 integrated amp.
Memorable turntable ‘keepers’ that never stayed included a Sansui SR222, a Pioneer PL12D, an early Rega Planar 2, a Linn Axis, a Pink Triangle Little Pink Thing, a Thorens TD20001, a Roksan Radius and a good few more that eventually led to the seven that currently reside at chez Viv. Best cassette deck? Sony’s Walkman Pro, natch. First CD player? Sony’s original Discman, the D-50, purchased for me ahead of the UK release in Tokyo by Motor magazine’s then Japanese correspondent. I hooked it up to a ‘chrome bumper’ Naim Nait integrated amp driving a pair of Royd Eden standmounts clamped tightly (maybe a little too tightly) in adjustable wall brackets. An amazingly good combo. The Royds, looking a little rough round the edges due to the enthusiastic clamping pressures, were replaced by first generation Linn Kans on dedicated open framework stands which, while fast and fun, never quite hit the sweet stop that the Edens had. Numerous full-sized 16-bit silver disc spinners from the likes of Philips and Marantz followed and led on to bitstream machines and a rag bag of DACs, the first of which was Arcam’s Delta Black Box. Oh yeah, and I was a huge Pioneer A-400 fan. I could live with the somewhat bright balance for the unprecedented (for a budget amp) grip and midband transparency. So much so, I soon graduated to the Tom Evans breathed on GTE upgrade which was fantastic. How I regret letting that one go.
You can read about the current reference kit after this and, yes, reflecting current hi-fi standards, it is superior to the early stuff by orders of magnitude in some ways. But I’m sure we can agree on this: little equals the joy of your first real hi-fi system, however modest. That doesn’t stop us doing what we can to keep the thrill alive and long may the endeavour continue.
Equipment
Turntables: Rega P6/Ania Pro, Acoustic Signature Double X Neo/TA2000/MCX3
Phono stages: Leema Acoustics Agena, Chord Electronics Huei, Tom Evans Groove+ SRX Mk2.5
CD players: Marantz SA-12SE SACD/DAC
Streamers: Primare Prisma Np5 mk2, Cambridge Audio CXN v2
DACs: Chord Mojo, Chord Mojo 2, Chord Hugo, Chord Hugo 2, Chord Qutest, Chord Hugo TT2, Audiolab MDAC+
Preamplifier: ATC C2
Integrated amps: Rega Elex, Leema Tucana II Anniversary, Rega Io, Hegel H90, Hegel H120, Primare i25 Prisma, Electrocompaniet ECI 80D, Audiolab 8300, Cambridge Audio CXA 61
Power amplifiers: ATC P1
Speakers: ATC SCM7, ATC SCM11, ATC SCM40, Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a Gold Badge, Russell K Red 50, Russell K Red 120, Spendor Classic 4/5, Spendor A4, Spendor A7, JBL L82, Audiovector QR1, Audiovector QR5
Interconnects: Nordost Red Dawn, Townshend Isolda DCT
Digital cables: Nordost, Merlin
Speaker cables: Nordost Red Dawn, Townshend Isolda DCT
Power block, grounding, cords: Nordost
Supports: Atacama, Townshend Seismic Podiums, platforms, cells
Speaker stands: Slate Audio, Bowers & Wilkins
Artists
Jacob Collier, Steve Miller Band, Michael McDonald, David Bowie, Whitney Houston, Ben Sidran, Sarah Jane Morris, Jeff Lorber, The Crusaders, Quincy Jones, The Clark Sisters, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Diana Krall, Beverly Crawford, Jools Holland, Pat Metheny, Oscar Peterson, Keith Jarrett, Bob James, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, The 1975, PJ Morton, Kirk Frankland, Nathan East, Eric Clapton, Edgar Winter, Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, Jonathan Nelson, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, The Beatles, Lunatraktors, Randy Newman, James Fortune, Yello, Anita Baker, Oleta Adams, Gregory Porter, Gabriels, Dua Lipa, The Carpenters, Elvis Costello, Burt Bacharach, Ricky Peterson, James Taylor, Van Morrison, Regina Belle, Marcus Miller, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Yes, ELP…