(I started this post under the "When did Hi-Fi get good?" thread, but then decided I was way off course for that thread, so I moved it here and started a new thread)
My interest in "serious hi-fi" began when I was little more than a knee-high snot-nosed kid. I took piano lessons with a local neighbour, which was perhaps kinda stupid because we did not even own a piano. Her husband had built his own mono valve hifi amplifier, the famous Mullard 5-20 valve amplifier, which was driving a horn loudspeaker of sorts. Sadly, I never asked him which one. Hey, I was only a kid, remember? Not even 13 years old yet because I was still in Standard four at Parkhurst Primary School, so I guess around 11 years of age.
I was fascinated, and loved the system that he had built. Over the next year and a half, I continued with the piano lessons although we still could not afford a piano. The husband saw that I had developed a very keen interest in building my own "hi-fi amplifier" and he took me under his wing. He gave me an old amp chassis that had been stripped of all components, I guess from one of his earlier attempts, and he showed me how to start wiring it up from a schematic. I was now 13 years of age and in Standard 6. The circuit I was to build was based on the Mullard 5-10 amplifier, only we did not have any EL84 valves. But we did have large side-contact CL4 valves and we substituted these for the EL84s.
I was very proud of my work and after completion I took it to him for his praise. Except... he took one look at the wiring and pulled it all to pieces. I was shocked, speechless and dumbfounded!! No, he admonished, do the wiring properly - neatly! I thought I was pretty neat but apparently not so.
Crest-fallen, I took my time and rebuilt the amplifier, ensuring that all the wiring was straight, parallel and all bends were exactly at a 90? bend. I showed it to him again and this time he smiled - it had met his quality standards.
This was only a mono amp, so now I needed a loudspeaker. He had an old homemade solid wood folded horn enclosure with an 8" front-firing speaker hole just calling for my very first loudspeaker, bought from Wild & Marr after some hectic saving of cash earned from odd jobs and even radio repairs that I had started in order to earn the money to support my new hobby. It was a Coral 8" coaxial loudspeaker and the advertising blurb said something to the effect of 40~ to 20,000~ - this was before some bright spark renamed cycles to Hertz. I was in Heaven, and that is when hifi got good for me.
That mono CL4 amplifier lasted me for a couple of years, by which time I had met Norman Teubes of Hi-Fi Exchange in Harrison street, a 30-minute walk from Parktown Boys' High, where I now attended school. I used to assist Norman in installing various Hi-Fi systems that he sold and in payment he opened an account for me to allow me to save for better gear. I had by now built two Mullard 5-20 amplifiers and traded the CL4 "5-10" with Norman. He supplied my with two Wharfedale Super 12 RS/DD speakers and a cream Garrard 301 turntable. The cartridge I had at the time was a Pickering V15 but my ass was itching for either an Ortofon MC cartridge or the Shure V15 Mk1. The arm I had purchased was an SME 3012. Browsing at the Hifi section of John Orrs Department Store, I came across a Shure V15 Mk1 packed in a most elegant Walnut wooden box. Mine!
I used the system above for many years even after relocating to Klerksdorp and although I moved on to other gear, I still have all the equipment described in the above paragraph. That was how my Hi-Fi Journey began!
Let's hear about yours now
-F_D
My interest in "serious hi-fi" began when I was little more than a knee-high snot-nosed kid. I took piano lessons with a local neighbour, which was perhaps kinda stupid because we did not even own a piano. Her husband had built his own mono valve hifi amplifier, the famous Mullard 5-20 valve amplifier, which was driving a horn loudspeaker of sorts. Sadly, I never asked him which one. Hey, I was only a kid, remember? Not even 13 years old yet because I was still in Standard four at Parkhurst Primary School, so I guess around 11 years of age.
I was fascinated, and loved the system that he had built. Over the next year and a half, I continued with the piano lessons although we still could not afford a piano. The husband saw that I had developed a very keen interest in building my own "hi-fi amplifier" and he took me under his wing. He gave me an old amp chassis that had been stripped of all components, I guess from one of his earlier attempts, and he showed me how to start wiring it up from a schematic. I was now 13 years of age and in Standard 6. The circuit I was to build was based on the Mullard 5-10 amplifier, only we did not have any EL84 valves. But we did have large side-contact CL4 valves and we substituted these for the EL84s.
I was very proud of my work and after completion I took it to him for his praise. Except... he took one look at the wiring and pulled it all to pieces. I was shocked, speechless and dumbfounded!! No, he admonished, do the wiring properly - neatly! I thought I was pretty neat but apparently not so.
Crest-fallen, I took my time and rebuilt the amplifier, ensuring that all the wiring was straight, parallel and all bends were exactly at a 90? bend. I showed it to him again and this time he smiled - it had met his quality standards.
This was only a mono amp, so now I needed a loudspeaker. He had an old homemade solid wood folded horn enclosure with an 8" front-firing speaker hole just calling for my very first loudspeaker, bought from Wild & Marr after some hectic saving of cash earned from odd jobs and even radio repairs that I had started in order to earn the money to support my new hobby. It was a Coral 8" coaxial loudspeaker and the advertising blurb said something to the effect of 40~ to 20,000~ - this was before some bright spark renamed cycles to Hertz. I was in Heaven, and that is when hifi got good for me.
That mono CL4 amplifier lasted me for a couple of years, by which time I had met Norman Teubes of Hi-Fi Exchange in Harrison street, a 30-minute walk from Parktown Boys' High, where I now attended school. I used to assist Norman in installing various Hi-Fi systems that he sold and in payment he opened an account for me to allow me to save for better gear. I had by now built two Mullard 5-20 amplifiers and traded the CL4 "5-10" with Norman. He supplied my with two Wharfedale Super 12 RS/DD speakers and a cream Garrard 301 turntable. The cartridge I had at the time was a Pickering V15 but my ass was itching for either an Ortofon MC cartridge or the Shure V15 Mk1. The arm I had purchased was an SME 3012. Browsing at the Hifi section of John Orrs Department Store, I came across a Shure V15 Mk1 packed in a most elegant Walnut wooden box. Mine!
I used the system above for many years even after relocating to Klerksdorp and although I moved on to other gear, I still have all the equipment described in the above paragraph. That was how my Hi-Fi Journey began!
Let's hear about yours now
-F_D
