What was the first major component/system that turned you..?????

sharkmouth

sharkmouth

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Once you have heard, "really good".....???
How do you know?...
What is the benchmark....
What was the first major component/system that turned you..?????

For me it was the first Pioneer car system I heard in the 80's that was done right & from there I just thought wow & still do.....
 
For me, I worked in an audio store late 80's into early 90's, we had stuff like Kenwood, Infinity, Carver, one day though I went into the service area and heard sound like I haven't heard before and that was just using Kenwood speakers, asked what was goin on, my friend had a Mac tube amp hooked up. The presence, or, 3D type sound was new to my ears, sweeet. There have been "ah" moments since, but, that one was the first I remember having that type of a lasting experience.

Now, we built, some bombastic auto systems, but, that's a different thing. As an example, the guys built a multiple Electro-Voice driver system into the dumper of a monster truck. The era I was in the business car audio was really peaking. When the dumper was up it was like their wall of sound. A bunch of 1,000 watt Kenwood autoamps into E-V.
 
Back in the 1970's I heard a Marantz receiver and speakers and then around 1980 or so, I heard a system in an apartment in Brooklyn, NY that had a pair of 3 panel Magnepans and also a pair of Bose 901's that the guy switched back and forth depending upon his mood. That turned me on to Magnepans and high power systems.
 
Acoustat Spectra 2200 driven by, I believe, Classe Audio electronics. The violin was so palpable, floating in the middle of the room.
 
Buying a set of Polk SR5250 and SR104 for my Camaro when I was in my early 20's. The 5250's were $900 components and the 104 was a $300 subwoofer, both of which were built to be the transcendental car audio speakers for sound quality. I still enjoy feeling the music, but I quickly became enthralled with what happened in the music as well.

It's pretty incredible to think that in that eight to ten year span, I've gone from scavenging for audio as a young college kid to now having five figure amps and speakers seemingly all over the house. << I hope this doesn't come across as bold. I literally just realized the transition thanks to this thread.
 
DSkip said:
Buying a set of Polk SR5250 and SR104 for my Camaro when I was in my early 20's. The 5250's were $900 components and the 104 was a $300 subwoofer, both of which were built to be the transcendental car audio speakers for sound quality. I still enjoy feeling the music, but I quickly became enthralled with what happened in the music as well.

It's pretty incredible to think that in that eight to ten year span, I've gone from scavenging for audio as a young college kid to now having five figure amps and speakers seemingly all over the house. << I hope this doesn't come across as bold. I literally just realized the transition thanks to this thread.
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Perzackery... that pretty much sums up my line of thought with this thread. It pays to use the mirror every now & then instead of chasing our tails .... or tales ....
 
My first exposure to great sound in the home happened back around 1962. I was a paperboy delivering the Palm Beach Post and the Palm Beach Times morning and evening six days a week, as well as the Sunday paper. My paper route consisted of about 50 homes. Each week I collected payment for my paper route on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. One Saturday morning I knock on the door of a customer's home to collect the weekly payment and could hear music through the door. When the man opened the door the music sounded like a live band was in the house. I remember asking him if that was live music and being told it was a record playing on his sound system. He invited me in for a few minutes to look at and listen to what was a mono sound system, a large (the size of a desk) JBL floor standing speaker with a 15' woofer and compression driver and horn (I had no idea what any of that was at the time), a Garrard turntable, and a Fisher 400 tube receiver. I had never heard such authentic sound reproduction in my life. I was immediately bitten by the audiophile bug, thinking then that someday I would have a sound system that good. I was completely astonished at the sound of that mono JBL and Fisher based sound system. Quite frankly, I have never recovered. Six years later I purchased my first high-end system. The sound system belonged to a friend who was moving back to Seattle and did not want to take the setup with him. I bought the whole system which consisted of a pair of Altec Voice Of The Theater speakers, a pair of McIntosh MC30 mono tube amplifiers, a Dynaco PAS3 tube preamplifier and FM-3 tuner, along with a Dual 1019 turntable and Shure V15 Type II moving magnet cartridge. Man, I was in heaven.

My enthusiasm for audio and music reproduction has never diminished in all these years. From my first sound system until now I have never been without a quality sound system in my home. Here it is 50 years since that first system and I am still deeply immersed in high-end audio. It has, and will continue to be, a lifelong and satisfying adventure for me.
 
Quite the nice first system.

jdandy said:
My first exposure to great sound in the home happened back around 1962. I was a paperboy delivering the Palm Beach Post and the Palm Beach Times morning and evening six days a week, as well as the Sunday paper. My paper route consisted of about 50 homes. Each week I collected payment for my paper route on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. One Saturday morning I knock on the door of a customer's home to collect the weekly payment and could hear music through the door. When the man opened the door the music sounded like a live band was in the house. I remember asking him if that was live music and being told it was a record playing on his sound system. He invited me in for a few minutes to look at and listen to what was a mono sound system, a large (the size of a desk) JBL floor standing speaker with a 15' woofer and compression driver and horn (I had no idea what any of that was at the time), a Garrard turntable, and a Fisher 400 tube receiver. I had never heard such authentic sound reproduction in my life. I was immediately bitten by the audiophile bug, thinking then that someday I would have a sound system that good. I was completely astonished at the sound of that mono JBL and Fisher based sound system. Quite frankly, I have never recovered. Six years later I purchased my first high-end system. The sound system belonged to a friend who was moving back to Seattle and did not want to take the setup with him. I bought the whole system which consisted of a pair of Altec Voice Of The Theater speakers, a pair of McIntosh MC30 mono tube amplifiers, a Dynaco PAS3 tube preamplifier and FM-3 tuner, along with a Dual 1019 turntable and Shure V15 Type II moving coil cartridge. Man, I was in heaven.

My enthusiasm for audio and music reproduction has never diminished in all these years. From my first sound system until now I have never been without a quality sound system in my home. Here it is 50 years since that first system and I am still deeply immersed in high-end audio. It has, and will continue to be, a lifelong and satisfying adventure for me.
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Cool story Dan ! my only thrill when I was a paper boy was once a lady came to the door in her nightie...........
 
Mr Peabody said:
Quite the nice first system.
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Brian.......It certainly was a nice first system. I moved a couple of times and found it difficult to find friends willing to help me move the Altecs, not to mention you need a fairly large room for those speakers. Initially I had the Voice Of The Theater speakers in an old Victorian home in San Francisco with 10' ceilings. The room was about 16' x 24' which worked quite well. After two years I sold the Altecs and purchased a pair of Altec Valencia speakers. Much more manageable. I traded the McIntosh MC30 mono tube amps and purchased a McIntosh MA230 integrated amplifier. The MA230 and the Valencia's made sweet music together.
 
I got a Magnavox suitcase style stereo for a high school graduation gift. I listened to it though college. A friend came back from the service with a setup consisting of a pair of University speakers, large Teac reel to reel, and a Sansui receiver. That started it for me.
 
Mike B. said:
I got a Magnavox suitcase style stereo for a high school graduation gift. I listened to it though college. A friend came back from the service with a setup consisting of a pair of University speakers, large Teac reel to reel, and a Sansui receiver. That started it for me.
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Mike.......This was my first "sound system" as a young teenager. It was a Philco record player, circa 1960. I kept it in my bedroom.

Hey, you've got to start somewhere, right?


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I had enjoyed good systems, Pioneer integrated amp, turntable, etc., Burhoe speakers and loved them. But what took me from enjoying good music and gear to being an audiophile was a Nakamichi tape deck and KEF speakers. Boy those KEF's would eat Pioneer, Sony, etc., amps alive, forcing me to get into better amps :)... Hafler, McIntosh, Audionics, etc....
 
For me the journey began in 1993 at a specialty audio store in Atlanta. I wandered in looking for speakers for my new big screen. It was early on a Saturday right after they opened so I was the only person in the store. The owner helped me with some suggestions then asked me if I'd like to hear his stereo system. We adjourned to his "high end" listening room where he had B&W Matrix speakers, an old Krell KSA250, Levinson 30.5 transport, 36 DAC and 38 pre-amp all connected with Transparent cables and interconnects. I was floored. I was a music lover since child birth and couldn't believe the sound I was hearing. I left that day having purchased most of his demo set up. The rest is history.

Cincy
 
My oldest brother was always building and tweaking Hafler, Dynaco, and Heathkits on the kitchen table to be played thru various AR speakers when done. He eventually worked with David Hafler helping him tweak the circuitry in his products and kits for a while.

Once I went too Soundex (now closed) I was introduced to everything else. I also would use Alpine or Blaupunkt head units and MB Quart or other good speakers in every car I could.
 
Klipschorns with a LaScala center, Marantz tube electronics and an Empire 'table, with (I think) an ADC ZLM cartridge, Fall '70.
 
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