Dolby Digital for £250!!!!!! Nearly ten years ago, when this came out there really was nothing else that decoded DD for under £1000, infact most others were still producing PL amps for a higher price.
A real break-through for those with RS budgets.
No one seems to have mentioned DVD recorders yet.
I have to nominate my first - the Panasonic E20
I wanted one to replace my SVHS video and was very sceptical about the hype. It seems very naive now, but I was convinced that somehow the quality must drop (like vhs) when transfering/copying etc.
I can still remember being thrilled by what it could do, like true instant record, accurate cutting/editing and the picture quality, which even in SP appeared indistinguishable from from the original.
The best way to judge our favourite bits of equipment IMO is the emotional impact they had when first used.
I was exited about my first video - a ferguson which was on the product of the year in What Video and cost me £799 in 1980.
I was thrilled when I got my first amp, like a lot of other members, a Yamaha 590.
But it was the E20 that had me grinning from ear to ear for weeks.
as we have a 2 channel variants time to update this one.
Arcam NICAM box
Marantz SP35 / 50
Yamaha DSP 1
TIVO
KEF 100
DVDO ABT102 upgrade to VP30 (to keep it current)
Lumagen HD scalers
Tag AV32R / DVD32R
Toshiba 9*** series DVD player
Pioneer CLD925 for that first DD experience
Sony Ruby
Millenium DTS decoder
Yamaha 492 add on
Lexicon Logic 7
Dolby Prologic 2
Nic I have to disagree with you on the DVD 32R. It was a fiendishly overpriced product and did nothing that a separate CD transport and medium range DVD player could not. In addition the unreliability of the product is shocking.
Happy to disagree here, if you use the search engine you will find some mega threads re DVD32R from me detailing all the warts and the breakdowns. I have panned it at times. It is a product I love / and hate BUT the thread is The most Signiifcant AV products, not the best value or the most reliable. The Tag has a sound quality rarely touched even today, 5 years on and the video, interlaced only is still one to beat. Feed that to say a VP30/ABT102 and the results are astonishing audio and video performance. Not bad for a 5 year old DVD player.
CD transports to compete with it needed to be >£3k and the medium range DVD got no where near. In fact today it is still the best interlaced player I know though I would put a Linn unidisc and Teac Universal higher nowdays but they are in a minority. Yes it was expensive, mine cost me £3400 (or a case of claret) BUT it was significant, like it or hate it, and I have done both!!
Sony SLC7 first VCR with all the toys
Sony SLC9 most toy laden VCR apart from *
Panasonic NV850 & Sony SLHF100 the two videos which introduced HiFi sound and to be honest were the point home ciname really started in the UK
Sony SLHF950* best home analogue VCR toys ALA C9 sound ALA 100 and better picture.
Samsung 80? the 250 Woolworth specials
Sony 7700 first reallly top end player
Pioneer 717 early top end player
Pioneer 575 SACD DVDA all for about £100
That big 37" Toshiba - budget big screen
Sony KP41 4/3 TV - cheap RPTV which kicked off the market
Sony KV32FD1 - the first Wega RRP £3200
Sony KV32DS60U - first decent IDTV
Panasonic AE100 - projector for the masses
That popular Pioneer LD player with the model number I have forgotten.
OK how about domestic portable gear from the early days - pre all in ones
Sony SLF1 - best portable
Pana NV180 - most popular
JVC GXN70 - best tube camera
Panasonic had a very good early CCD camera forgotten model number
JVC/Panasonic 10 pin to Sony K14pin - Most usefull accessory to plug the above two cameras into the top VCR
Very high end kit I do not know enough about.
DPL I didn't think that much of over stereo
DD well too big a market for me to fully understand - I just bought a very good mid market receiver
And to finish off
Tivo - first PVR
Sky+ - fist bit stream PVR
Pace Twin - first bit stream PVR you only bought not subscribed to
I just can`t believe that no-one has mentioned the mighty Yamaha DSP A-1000,which was the first hi-end surround sound amp to hit the market....this defined the genre imo. I paid £800 for one some 18 (guess) years ago & i am sure it would hold it`s own against a lot of todays kit.....it sounded fantastic,especially married up to the aforementioned Kef 100C.... both absolute classics
Lets not drag this thread down to that of some others....its not about comparisons,its about each persons individual choices of most significant AV product,and has nothing to do with reliability issues.
There are plenty of examples of groundbreaking but unreliable equipment,that opened the way for others.
My vote goes to the TAG AV32R/DP,not because I have one,but because it brought relatively affordable room correction to the market,with unrivalled(at that time) build and sound quality.
My nomination would be the original B&W Nautilus Speakers (you know the ones shaped like a nautilus shell). I only had a one hour listen to these years ago and my hair still stands up on end when I remember them. They were partnered with Linn Klimax CD and AMPs and I have never to this day heard anything like it.
Wireless rears! We redone the house and decided to get TV, DVD etc later and so we forget wiring for rears. And luckily the DAV700 has that, so no need to take off the carpet.
Am just about to retire my Wharfedale 750 this week! I've never needed to own a newer player until now - it's played everything I've thrown at it. Mine also survived a burglary, although it was so long ago that the burglars thought that taked the VCR would get them more money than that strange black box next to the tv....
I obviously had the last firmware as none of the famous problem discs like Jaw caused me any problems. In fact it's only just started to have problems in the last few months - a couple of region 1 discs won't load on first try, and vcds are failing to play on a regular basis