How did you get started in this hobby


As a college kid, my roommate had KLH speakers, the Beatles Sgt. Peppers came out and homegrown Flemington flash came on the scene. My eyes were opened along with my ears. I visited a local audio store Audiolab and another not too far away Soundex. The effect on my listening, I was stunned by what I was hearing and how the management just let me listen to all the gear knowing I was just window shopping. I'll never forget Soundex( out by Willow Grove Pa)  letting me listen to all their rooms at different price points and more than a few occasions.One room had $30,000 each in electronics and $100,000 speakers. Well, I could not afford even the entry-level stuff but again my horizon was broadened. So off I went to NYCity with my roommate in tow. I ran into an audio store while he waited in the car and asked the sales guy what I could buy with the meager dollars I had. I picked up a pair of AR speakers, and a Dual Turntable, my roommate had an old HH Scott that was in his father's food store that did not work. I got it fixed for free by the teacher of the electronics class in my High school where  I would occasionally substitute teach ( babysit) to get beer money for college Thursday night beer sessions at the Extension bar.

Much later a fellow employee who was an audiophile got me connected with his buddy an audio salesman who sold me his Snell c2 mk.2 speakers and another of his friends who was looking to sell his Adcom GFP 400 pre amp/tuner and GFA 555 amp along with thick monster cable. Adcom was just starting up around 1980 and was thirty minutes away in New Brunswick NJ. For a box of donuts, they went over my gear and made some changes to the amp and preamp. I remember their CD player had a tendency to jump if vibrated that was fixed as well all while I waited for  just for a box of doughnuts.  Woo that was my system for almost 40 years.  I wanted something different, I found out about Audiogon and bought within a week a Technics SU G 700  and Canton speakers about two years ago at tremendous savings from local audiophiles one in bucks county near New Hope Pa., and another in Freehold NJ. That's my story. from start to finish.

Based on what I've seen here I am not an audiophile but someone just interested in listening to good music with good gear at good savings and who is intrigued by the character ( good and bad) I see on here and the stellar systems they have.

scott22

Showing 2 responses by cleeds

That's amazing how many of us had a crystal radio set. I had one as well and it taught me a meaningful lesson when I was about 10 and wondered what would happen if I fed the earphone output into my dad's stereo - he had an H/K amp and preamp and a Telefunken tape deck. My dad was a PE/EE and encouraged these kinds of experiments.

The result was outstanding! The crystal radio's simple circuit yielded an incredibly quiet, clean signal. This probably wouldn't work with today's AM band, which is filled with digital noise and distortion, but it was a revelation at the time.

 

 

artemus_5

Hobby!!!???? For me this isn't a hobby. Its part of my life. I can't remember when I didn't love music ... I'm often surprised at the idea that this is a hobby. Its little wonder that many drop out of this hobby after a while. Thats the nature of hobbies. I've had lots of hobbies...golf, motorcycles, hunting, models, poker, etc etc. They all went by the wayside. music never has.

+1, @artemus_5. For me, music and audio is actually a lifestyle. And you're right about those who "drop out" of audio because for them, it was just a hobby. Having a passion for music is something other than a "hobby."