My daughter's in college and prefers a boom box. My son has a Cambridge Sound system hooked up to his computer. Actually that sounds pretty good in a dorm and through the head phones. Kids don't understand all that separates stuff.
I cannot wait until I can get my kids involved in audio (3 and 5 now). I wish I had been introduced at a young age instead of just starting now. Thinking back to that age though, my brother and I had a Sansui AM/FM eight-track combo player that unfolded, and had blue fabric covering the front speaker panels. Listened to "WAR" and "Superfly" on it.
Best of wishes to your family and hope you have many memorable listening sessions with them.
My 8-year old daughter will get her own system when she turns 10. I actively encourage my kids to develop an interest in music, I'm less than impressed with some of the music they listen to, but hey, to each his/her own. I let them use my main rig too (just not the turntable). I think the kid's systems are balanced and represent good value, and sound pretty damned good to boot!
When I was that age - or even your son's age - I of course could't touch my dad's component system. So I heard his records with decent sound, but my own stuff I had to play (for a few more years) on the same blue plastic GE portable player/amplifier with detachable speakers that I was given as a younger child. (In our teens my brother and I were upgraded to a TT/receiver/speakers component system, but it was still way inferior to Dad's, which we still couldn't use.) No wonder that as an adult I've put together a system with a vengeance that shames any he ever had! (Not that I'd let my own kid use it - if I had one! - but I do like to think I'd follow your example.)
Jeff, that's so great you're starting your kids on the path to music and audio appreciation. My dad allowed me to use his hifi when I was still in grammar school. We may be seeming your kids in the Audiogon forums in a fifteen years or so complaining about how their $30K systems aren't cutting it, and how they're so addicted to this hobby. [:) I hope you all have fun!
Hell, when *I* was that age, my "system" was a Magnavox boom box that sounded like ca-ca. That's probably because my parents wouldn't know music from a stapler.
