1960. The neighbor across the street (an EE) had a Mac mono amp and one Klipsch corner horn. That thing played all day every day with a Mac tuner. I was interested and amazed at 7 years old. One day I asked him how loud it could play, they used it as background only. He just smiled invited me in and let that baby rip. As you are all aware that was it for me, I was totally stunned.
I would scour on my bike for console TVs discarded. Had my bag of tools and would "gut" them. Finally got one amp and a speaker to work, added more speakers (raw) as I found them and finally blew the thing up setting my bed on fire in the process. Got my butt kicked and also gained space in my dad's small workspace.
Living in North Jersey there was many many audio stores and NYC was only a 20 minute bus ride away. Imagine letting a 13 year old go to NYC on a scouting mission in this day-in-age.
Hook, line and sinker...
Regards,
barts