When did you first become an audio enthusiast?

[80B]

In the mid-late 60s my dad got a Fisher 400 receiver, Garrard TT & a large pair of speakers of indeterminate brand that was replaced in 1982 or so with a sleek B&O system that was more about its minimalist looks than it was the sound, not to knock the sound.

I always liked listening to anything from the Living Stereo 1812 Overture to Ellington's masterpieces to the boxed set of Toscanini's 9 Beethoven symphonies to Harold Betters' swinging jazz albums to the eye candy of Herb Alpert's Whipped Cream album, not to mention the Rock I bought on my own as I entered my teens.

I got interested in higher end gear in the early 80s with visits to Paragon Sound when they had a store in Toledo, especially with NAD and Boston Acoustics, although the system my dad eventually got was the B&O. My first real purchase was a pair of Infinity RS4B speakers that long timers on this forum know I still enjoy immensely.

[US Blues]

My folks had a console stereo, Harmon Kardon tube receiver, speakers built into the cabinet, etc. Dad got a turntable so I could play my first record: Dark Side Of The Moon. Tube power pushing Pink Floyd in a high-ceilinged living room! A good friends folks also had a tube console, so much of my early listening came on these two systems.

When I got my first cheap system in my room I experimented, with no real knowledge, to get better sound. Speakers hung on the wall soon had foam behind them to kill excess vibrations, maybe angle them in, you know the drill. My first Radio Shack headphones at 14 were revelatory. Pioneer receivers, Infinity speakers in college (still working in my BR), Dynaco tubes until the preamp blew up, etc. But always the most important thing is the MUSIC.

Been a long, strange trip since then, always searching for the sound.

[Jerome W]

Many nice stories here. Thanks for this topic Dan.

I always loved music. I can't think of any beginning for music.
When I was about 6 years old, I was spinning lp's on a very old amp / speaker / mono integrated TT. The sound was awful of course.
Once every year, my parents took me to a shop to buy a new stylus. That was a very cheap system. My parents were rather modest and not into electronics at all.
Between 8 and about 11, I listened cassettes on a product like this :



Please don't laugh. I had hours and hours of happiness listening to Ray Charles.
My father made me discover him and I could listen to an orange tape " Ray Charles story, vol II " if I can remember, all day long.
I became an audio enthusiast with that particular recording, along with Stevie Wonder's ones.
After that we got a portable SONY radio cassette, much better in sound and I thought I was in Paradise ! it was a bit like that :



But I had much more pleasure with my mother's walkman, the top of the line of Sony at this time :



I was dreaming of the small Sony mini systems untill I was about 16 : an horrible sound I thought was stellar at this time. My cousin had one but it was completely out of budget for my parents.

At about 22, I became an audiophile, when I entered a shop where an integrated McIntosh with beautiful vumeters was playing the most wonderful sound I ever heard.
Since that day, I thought that I would have to own a Mc one day.
This thinking never left me since 17 years.

[jdandy]

Jérôme.......That was a great story, and sentimental, too. Now look what's in your home. You have come a long way. I think it is safe to say you certainly have arrived.

[Jerome W]

Thanks Dan,

I also loved a lot your story when you were delivering newspapers and you met this man with the JBL horn speaker.
No surprise if you're a JBL fan !

[Masterlu]

I was very young, probably around 12 years old. The very first "audio system" I can remember was a Panasonic model called "Orbita" with round swivel speakers. It had AM/FM & a built in cassette.

After that came many Pioneer Receivers, then separates. I took 4 years of Electronics classes.

It was way back then a budding young Audiophile named Masterlu was born.

[jdandy]

When I was about 15 years old, and had a huge crush on a lovely young girl name Bobbi who lived across the street. I could see out my bedroom window to the house where she lived. I remember having a LP record that had a rousing rendition of Steel Guitar Rag. I would play that one recording with my windows open as loud as my old mono phonograph would go, hoping that Bobbi would hear it and think it was me playing my guitar. I don't think she ever heard it, or if she did she never mentioned it to me. I never got the time of day from Bobbi, so obviously my hopes were dashed. It makes me chuckle now, thinking back at how dumb I was wishing that Bobbi would somehow be impress by me playing that old record and hoping she thought it was me. Love struck silly boy for sure.

[Doug Lax]

I started out looking for a bose system my first year at college. I was talking about it to one of my friends and he told me that his dad went to a hi fi stereo store in Dearborn next to Ford Motors World headquarters. I went into the store and saw an amp that looked like my uncles welding equipment and some cyclops looking speakers. The salesman put in a cd and I was blown away. The gear turned out to be Krell and the speakers B&W 802s

[two dot]

I wish that you guys could have seen my face when I walked into this girls bedroom. I had a HUGE (high school) crush on this girl. She had a Crown D-150 Amp, matching pre amp, Thornes TT, and Klipsch Heresy's in Birch Plywood.

She was tall, beautiful, listened to jazz... I WAS HOOKED...

She bought it with her paper route money....

I talked to her not long ago... she still has all of the same gear... in a NYC apt.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by two dot

I wish that you guys could have seen my face when I walked into this girls bedroom. I had a HUGE (high school) crush on this girl. She had a Crown D-150 Amp, matching pre amp, Thornes TT, and Klipsch Heresy's in Birch Plywood.

She was tall, beautiful, listened to jazz... I WAS HOOKED...

She bought it with her paper route money....

I talked to her not long ago... she still has all of the same gear... in a NYC apt.

And...