How Did You Become an Audiophile?

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Deafone

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Searched the threads, but too much came back to determine whether this had been discussed or not. Anyway, how did you get into this audiophile craziness?

For me it all started in high school. I was playing in the school orchestra and had a couple of friends who were into electronics. One friend got me to make a speaker by putting some wood together and putting in a speaker. Another friend who I met at a music camp was into electronics and his father had an elaborate system of Heathkit stereo components. Then my parents and their friends got into Acoustic Research speakers. This caused my parents to buy a receiver and a pair of speakers plus turntable. This led to me eventually to get a Yamaha receiver with a Dual turntable as I recall.

I went through some iterations on that theme and upgraded speakers along the way. Then several years after college, I put together my first "High-end" system consisting of a Bryston amp and pre-amp. I'll never forgive the salesman who sold me that stuff. As I was walking out the door with my stuff, he pulls me into their higher end room and says listen to this. It was a Maggie 3 series with some unknown amplification and playback source. It's been downhill ever since.
 
ever since I was a kid my mum was sending me to guitar lessons & piano etc, she knew I had the Irish gift in me & thought I'd put it into an instrument as well as the voice. Soon as I could afford a car it was also with the most expensive/best tapedeck I could afford, at the time it was a 40w Pioneer with a separate power amplifier & 3 way speakers, back then in the early eighties the cassette tapedeck for my car cost over NZD$1400, luckily i had a mate that managed to get me one repossessed for half that & since then, hundreds of thousands ..................................................................................................... of enjoyable hours... ;)
 
Music was a constant part of my life growing up. BBQs in the summer with Fleetwood Mac and Dire Straits are particularly wonderful memories. When in the car with my mother AC/DC would blast out :¬)

Used to take my Walkman everywhere too. Buying the Sennheiser HD595's was the start of my 'audiophile' journey. Needed a better amp after that, and so began my obsession with headphones. The setup I have now - Lumin A1, Moon 600i and Abyss - is sublime. Better than some high end speaker setups I've heard.
 
Yoga said:
Music was a constant part of my life growing up. BBQs in the summer with Fleetwood Mac and Dire Straits are particularly wonderful memories. When in the car with my mother AC/DC would blast out :¬)

Used to take my Walkman everywhere too. Buying the Sennheiser HD595's was the start of my 'audiophile' journey. Needed a better amp after that, and so began my obsession with headphones. The setup I have now - Lumin A1, Moon 600i and Abyss - is sublime. Better than some high end speaker setups I've heard.
Click to expand...


Hearing these songs/artists takes me back to special times.

Thank you for triggering a few now.
 
I started early to mid 70s I had seen a few Heath kit set ups but tubes were in disfavour in my area. ( a thing of the past I was told )My first system was a technics quad system a 8300 receiver 80 watts 4 ch t300 speakers and 1300 table with a cd4 cartridge. Why buy stereo when CD4 was going to be the only way to go. My reason to buy a system music was every thing in a small town concerts were 50 miles away hitchhiking and only a few times a year.Few people had good systems it was very underground . A few years later late 70s I bought a pair of infinity QLS and two pair of McIntosh 2205 amps vertically bi amped them with a McIntosh 32 preamp a dual table and a empire grass hopper cartridge. Later picked a pair of Ohm f speakers never used them much. I liked the bass from the QLS speakers later drove them with a Conrad Johnson P! and a custom pre amp and a SOTA table sme V arm. ( Bi amping was not common in my area ) Now I have the system shown below buy and keep my gear a long time never sold a record never tried to be the best just as good as I good make it do.Got in the hobby for the music stayed in because of the music. I enjoy collecting records but it comes in second. Best has I can put it. I buy on sound and reputation like stocks I buy and hold. Tons of gear I wish I had tried thou I like tall speakers good bass and gear that works no fires no blown speakers good gear that works. great way to spend a rainy day
 
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]I started out with a stereo magnavox tv console, a sound design stereo, a quad 8 track deck, and Pink Floyd (dark side of the moon) in quad. That did it. I went into the military and tried a lot of different equipment. Normally getting better each time. Then I bought a set of infinity RS 2.5 speakers. Kept those for 25 years. I would have to say those speakers actually turned me into an audiophile, not just an equipment collector. [/FONT]
 
Goes back to when I was a kid with my first Fischer stereo. Then my first job and Denon components, Spica TC-50 and Stax headphones. My first place with Bryston gear and Apogee Duetta Signature. Then the whirlwind of the last several years to my current system of K-01X, Soulution 520/501 and Raidho D3 v2.

I suppose my interest in music started even earlier. I played the cello in an orchestra from third grade through high school. Then I switched to playing jazz on a classical guitar (Charlie Byrd style).

Ken
 
My Dad was a hardcore Audiophile. He had multiple systems - even back then, but his main system was Klipsch/McIntosh. When I was young, probably 8 or 9 in the 70's, he would take the system apart and then teach me how to put it back together. I still remember his fascination with Quadraphonic sound, demodulators, and the like. My Dad even had a quad turntable and quad R2R. Unless my memory is foggy, I could have sworn that we listened to Pink Floyd's DSOTM in Quadrophonic sound.

When I was 10, I got a paper route. I delivered newspapers 7 days a week. I saved every penny I made and eventually bought a Pioneer turntable and a Shure cartridge. My Dad "loaned" me the rest of the gear while I continued to save. Some IMF speakers, a pair of Sony monoblocks and a pioneer preamp. Hey man - I was in business! I had my own little spot down in the basement to play my rock albums.

It took me almost a year to save for that turntable and cartridge. I hadn't had that turntable a week when someone broke into our house through the basement window and they stepped on my new turntable as they entered our home. It was in pieces. I don't recall whether the insurance replaced it or not....it's a bit of a blur. All I remember was that it turned out to be an older kid from the local high school and his name was Steve Crooks (no joke).

As I moved into the 80's, music was in my blood, but it took on a more natural form. I took up the saxophone. Played Alto, Tenor and Soprano. By the end of the 80's, I was competing in regional, local, provincial and even national level competitions, ultimately winning the National championship in 1987.

Throughout the 80's and 90's my love for audio continued. I moved from IMF speakers to Genesis speakers to Maggies to B&W 801F's and beyond. I fondly remember my many systems.

Today, I play the guitar and occasionally still rip out a few tunes on my vintage 1968 Selmer Mark VI sax.

My Dad passed away in 2013, but our shared memories and my love for the hobby live on.
 
Mike said:
My Dad was a hardcore Audiophile. He had multiple systems - even back then, but his main system was Klipsch/McIntosh. When I was young, probably 8 or 9 in the 70's, he would take the system apart and then teach me how to put it back together. I still remember his fascination with Quadraphonic sound, demodulators, and the like. My Dad even had a quad turntable and quad R2R. Unless my memory is foggy, I could have sworn that we listened to Pink Floyd's DSOTM in Quadrophonic sound.

When I was 10, I got a paper route. I delivered newspapers 7 days a week. I saved every penny I made and eventually bought a Pioneer turntable and a Shure cartridge. My Dad "loaned" me the rest of the gear while I continued to save. Some IMF speakers, a pair of Sony monoblocks and a pioneer preamp. Hey man - I was in business! I had my own little spot down in the basement to play my rock albums.

It took me almost a year to save for that turntable and cartridge. I hadn't had that turntable a week when someone broke into our house through the basement window and they stepped on my new turntable as they entered our home. It was in pieces. I don't recall whether the insurance replaced it or not....it's a bit of a blur. All I remember was that it turned out to be an older kid from the local high school and his name was Steve Crooks (no joke).

As I moved into the 80's, music was in my blood, but it took on a more natural form. I took up the saxophone. Played Alto, Tenor and Soprano. By the end of the 80's, I was competing in regional, local, provincial and even national level competitions, ultimately winning the National championship in 1987.

Throughout the 80's and 90's my love for audio continued. I moved from IMF speakers to Genesis speakers to Maggies to B&W 801F's and beyond. I fondly remember my many systems.

Today, I play the guitar and occasionally still rip out a few tunes on my vintage 1968 Selmer Mark VI sax.

My Dad passed away in 2013, but our shared memories and my love for the hobby live on.
Click to expand...


Mike,

Wow, you started at an early age. It was in your blood. I had no idea that you were such a great sax player...awesome. Thanks for sharing those memories.

Ken
 
What a brilliant thread, thoroughly enjoyed reading all of it.
I am not sure I would consider myself an audiophile, I just love my music. My knowledge of equipment and the likes is very limited and thats why I come onto these forums.

My Love of music as also in my upbringing. None of my family played any instruments but my Mother loves her music. She had me when she was 19 ( not so sure I was a planned baby -) )and was therefore still very young when i was in my early years. David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Elvis , TRex and many others were constantly played. So that was my initial start I guess.
With my second wage packet I decided to put a deposit down on a Technics stack system. I remember my Mams shocked face when I told her what I had bought as my bedroom was tiny, and I mean tiny. She had no idea where it would go or why i would spend so much on a hifi.
I kept that for about 7 or 8 years and then moved on to other systems. I tend to keep then for about 10 years or so and I am not one for chopping and changing. Once I have a system I like i tend to stick with it as its all about the music for me. Some of you guys on here have to be fairly wealthy to have the gear you do. I have always said that if I ever won the lottery, yes I would but new car and home etc, but it would be the new hifi set uo that would excite me the most. I feel now I am almost at the hifi system that I could never have dreamed of. New speakers some time in the next year or so and my feelings are that I will be done and I will have compiled a system that will be good enough for a considerable time.
I feel blessed that I love music so much, the enjoyment and that amazing feeling I get is like nothing else and impossible to describe to a non music lover. I cant imagine a life without it that is for sure.
Am I an audiophile? Not sure. I have recently read a book about getting better sound from your system and it is an excellent read and I have learned so much from reading it.....but do i really want to take a laser measuring device to optimise my seating position?? Not really. I have experimented with speaker positions and toe ins etc and I have also recently had room acoustic treatments which has made a considerable difference. Audiophile???.......not sure. Music lover .....yes 100%

Looking forward to hearing other peoples stories.
 
I was a toddler. Gough had just become PM. My father had a R2R. Sunday morning, I woke up to the fragrance of his baked scones and Hungarian folk music playing on the R2R and his new Pioneer sound system.

I was 5. I got my first transistor radio. I opened it up and pulled it apart. It was pre PCB. It didn't work after that. I got a new one and compared it against the broken one and learnt why it stopped working. Elton John, Eric Clapton, Olivia Newton John, Kool and the Gang, The Carpenters come to mind.

I was 7. We got a turntable. I unscrewed the cartridge off the tonearm because I thought Pioneer put it on crooked. I got in trouble and was told the significance of proper cartridge alignment. I understood and extrapolated from there. My parents asked me if I remembered how it was positioned. I said yes and realigned it by ear. It sounded better than before. ABBA, ABBA and more ABBA.

I was 9. I got a radio cassette recorder for my birthday. I waited up until 11pm for the first FM stereo radio broadcast, 92.3 EON FM. I wondered why my various recordings differed in quality. I learnt it wasn't so much the reception and aerial positioning but rather the time of day, whether or not I was using AC or battery, where I was plugged in or if the batteries were getting flat. Here I got a taste of Big Band Jazz, rock 'n roll and disco music.

I was 10. Things had changed. No more stereo for many years. I was sad.

I was 12. I was a paperboy. I saved up for a good pair of roller skates and my first pair of Lee stretch jeans. Hanging out at the local roller rink skating in circles to disco music with my friends was a lot of fun. Steve Miller Band, Hall & Oates, Vangelis, Men at Work, The Cars, Billy Idol, Joan Jett, Survivor.

I was 15. I got a part time job at McDonalds. I put a Sony twin deck ghetto blaster on lay-by at Brashs. It cost $899. It took 6 months to pay off. Midnight Oil, Australian Crawl, Bronski Beat, Duran Duran, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Eurythmics, Wham!

I was 16. I bought a Technics turntable to plug into my Sony ghetto blaster. Australian rock was huge and so was euro club music. Central Station was the place to buy 12" extended singles.

I was 19. I bought a Sansui car radio cassette with a 40w external amp and Pioneer 3-way rear speakers. It sounded great playing and exchanging favourite mix tapes.

I was 21'ish. Some of that timeline is a bit jumbled. Clubs and live performances were a nocturnal way of life. I'll never forget Chrissie's golden shower at Festival Hall or Doc Neeson's broken leg at Broadmeadows Town Hall. I loved watching Kate Ceberano mature on stage. Billy Idol's drummer was wicked. Bowie, Midnight Oil, Stray Cats, Joe Joe Zep, dare I say Pseudo Echo.

...and so it goes. Those were my early days of music.
 
When I was 10, I have my dad bought a tape deck, a receiver and a pair of 2-way speakers, that I have immediately relocated to my room. I was playing Abba, Abba and more Abba. The gear was really crappy - it was Polish made, and in the commie times it didn't mean quality - but I loved it.

When I was 14, I visited a high end shop when I was walking through the main street in West Berlin (there were no hi-end shops in Poland at that time). They let me listen to top of the range Quadrals Titan and those pyramid shaped JBLs (250 ?) on what I think was Burmester electronics, even though I didn't look as I had a single Deutsche Mark in my pocket. That experience have changed my life. I left the shop as a different person.

From that time on, I have saved all my money to buy a hifi gear.
 
When I was in grade school I had an Amperex cassette deck. Later I walked into a store that said "Pacific Stereo". I was hooked immediately after listening to my first higher end stereo system. While my friends were buying Corvettes, Roadrunners and Chargers, I was buying and upgrading my stereo. I did however, have a nice little Triumph TR-4A.
 
I am the youngest of 5. My sister tried to play the Viola but the windows shattered. When I was in Grade School, I tried to play the French Horn (too heavy for a little kid), then I tried the Trombone (arms were too short to hit all the notes). Next I tried the Organ, but the teacher was more into smacking your knuckles than encouraging you. Then I spent several years in the Choir with a Soprano voice until 8th grade. By then I was a Bass Nut and thru young covert entrepreneur like tactics, I purchased a Fret-less Rickenbacker, an SVT cabinet, and a Sunn 200 watt Tube Head and proceeded to crack the plaster in my bedroom.

Now, all the time this was going on, my oldest brother on his way to becoming several types of Engineer, was building Heathkits, Dynacos, and Hafler Kits on the kitchen table. My second oldest brother was collecting the AR speakers and putting all the kits thru their paces. I was frequently called up to the 3rd floor to listen to many half-a-song to hear the differences between one set of speakers or a differently tubed pre or amp.

My first stereo was one of those Heathkits, a Dual TT, and Heathkit speakers. That all lasted me until I was 17 and spent my first income tax check on an Onkyo Receiver, Tape Deck, BSR TT, and a pair of Infinity speakers with the EMIT tweeters and the 10" Milk Bottle Drivers.

Next up was a Sony AVR, Betamax 750, some cassette deck and stuff as I was just getting married and had other priorities. Not too long after that I purchased what I considered my first real stereo, a Hafler 945 Pre-Tuner and matching 9180 amp to go with the Infinities. I then replaced the Infinities with Mirage 970s and got a Marantz 67SE CDP and an Audio Alchemy DDEv1.1. I still have and use the Hafler gear.

About this time, as noted in another thread, as a Toolmaker / Precision Machinist, I worked with John Bicht of Versa Dynamics machining and building his Vacuum Platter TTs

Because my one brother used to take me to Soundex all the time, I got to see and hear all the stuff that was affordable. Dunlavey, Krell, CJ, Rowland, BAT, ProAc, Oracle and so on. I loved Dynaudio speakers the first time I heard them and after lusting for years, I spent the largest sum ever at the time on a pair of Audience 82s and sold the Mirages. The Hafler amp did not have the balls to drive the Dyns so I bought an Odeyssey Stratos Plus, which allowed the Dyns to thunder.

Always loving tubes, and my oldest brother encouraging me to go Tube Pre w / SS Amp, I got a Sound Valves 101i Pre to pair with the Stratos. That and the Marantz/AA setup was it for many years until I got the Rotel 1072 CDP and then lucked into my current VAC-Counterpoint-Clearfield setup.

Also, ever since my first car, I always had a killer Alpine Head Unit and Blaupunkt or MB Quart speakers.
 
My car was stolen.

When I was 18 I had a 1956 Chevy Bel Air that I was in the process of restoring and modifying with money from summer jobs. The theft occurred in a mall parking lot while I was shopping. I came out and the car was gone. I was totally devastated.

I got insurance money. It was a fair amount for the time as the car had 2 years of work done to it including a 350/350 Corvette engine, new transmission, new leather interior work etc. It even had custom front and rear speakers and had a sound system including a reverb unit!

Well, I wasn't up to customizing another old car after what I had been through. Someone suggested buying a nice stereo system and that seemed like a good idea since I always listened to music. Some people said I wouldn't be happy as, "you can't work on a stereo system like you can with your car". Well they were wrong. I've been modifying stereo stuff alone or with help for the last 45 years.

After all these years I'm finally finished. I am doing some serious music listening. I guess you'd best describe much of the system in the words of those old TV commercials, "Not Available in Stores!"
 
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