the gateway product that turned you into an audiophile

LOL I have that much power, yikes!

@foggyus91 you be you. Don't be cool Prius boy, ever. 

A used ARC D76A was my gateway product. This was back around 1970-something. My Rectilinear III speakers never sounded so sweet.

1976. I heard a set of Klipshorns. I sold my one year old car, bought a $500 klunker, and bought the speakers.

My seminal experience was with a Nakamichi Tape deck. It was used... of early 70’s vintage... the first generation, seven years old. I had purchased a top of the line Harmon Kardon (highly reviewed... product of the year). I took this ridiculously expensive old used tape deck ... about 40 pounds, upright, wood around it. It was an order of magnitude better than the Harmon. My jaw simply dropped as I heard by far better sound than I thought possible by a huge amount. The old used deck cost  three times the new cost of the new Harmon Kardon. The new cost for the Nakamichi was way more than 3x. 

I can honestly say, I have never heard an "affordable" "audiophile" product that sounded like one. Every audiophile component that has been simply stunning sounding has cost an absurd amount of money... and been worth it. If it didn’t cost more than my car... didn’t blow me away. As many times as I have tried "giant killers" they have been a complete waste of money... every single time. They never are. 

On the other hand, the price tag is not a guarantee... that is why huge amounts of research is required, to match your taste with the house sound of the product... this I learned over the decades. 

Magnepan Tympani speakers with Audio research electronics is what sold me in being an audiophile. This was back in the mid to late 70's. 

For me it was inheriting my older brother’s B&O Beogram RX2. I ended up building a complete system around it, which kicked off the never ending journey I continue to be on today. 

GE Trimline turntable - used as a kid

PRO-JECT RM-5.1 SE Turntable with Sumiko Blue Point No.2 Cartridge - purchased in 2016. Listened to a few records then the audiophile bug kicked in - 7 years intensive research and putting together my first high-end analog + digital system.

wow you guys started early in life. I only claim to have gotten the bug 10 years ago

For me, it was the Krell Showcase electronics + B&W 700 series that paved way to my audiophile journey. It was quite a step up from garden variety Kenwood, Technics and Sony stuff that you found everywhere back in the 90’s. 

Lots of steps for me.  My first "real" stereo was a nice Panasonic receiver with 8 track and Altec Lansing speakers.  BSR turntable and Audiotechnica cartridge.  Hardly high end, but much better than what my friends had.

Next was a Yamaha R-100 receiver and large Cerwin Vega D-9 speakers.  Not high end, but a step forward.  Those speakers would make your ears bleed.  lol. 

Then an Adcom GFA555 amp, NAD1300 preamp, and Vandersteen 2ci speakers. My first system with Stereophile recommended components.

Lots of other stuff since then...

Altec VOT. Which are now long gone   :)

I was 15, I saved my paper route money and bought a nice used Sansui AU9900 integrated amp.   That and some hand me down Speakers got me started

A NAD 3020 integrated amp made HiFi accessible for my after school income when I was 14. The first system rounded out with a Dual CS505 TT and a pair of Cerwin Vega 12 in. 3 way speakers. The CVs were the first to fall in my upgrade path, but oh did they rock.

My interest was sparked by a college roommate. We lived in an old double wide trailer that was a complete pit. Really nasty. Drank four dollar a case beer and Hiram Kessler whiskey.  But he had a great real to reel and speakers that were big and loud. We would crank that thing up, and you could see daylight through the walls of that trailer. So I took my first couple of paychecks from my first job and bought a 40 W amplifier, Kenwood, I think, EPI speakers and a Sanyo turntable, which I still have and need to get rebuilt just for the hell of it. I thought that was the most gorgeous sound that God ever made. 
 

after marriage and kids. I had to content myself with headphones for many, many years, but now I am happily squandering my children’s already paltry inheritance on gear. 

 happily squandering my children’s already paltry inheritance on gear

  and 

I fooled around with Heathkits etc. in high school, but turned the corner when I got a KLH Model 20 for graduation. 

Shortly thereafter I discovered a somewhat questionable use for student loans, but that's another story...

In early 90s I moved back to Springfield, IL to attend Med School. A good college buddy of mine had a degree in musical engineering and started working for a small speaker company there, Legacy. I was visiting him at his work and he turned on some music for me. I seem to remember it was a solo female jazz artist, maybe Eva Cassidy?

Anyway, I was absolutely blown away. I was turned to the side and when I turned towards the music, I fully expected to see Eva there in person - so REAL and engaging. Needless to say, I had no funds for HiFi. 

Wasn't until 2018, when I got started. I would often think back to that amazing sound and was in a position to start my journey. I haven't heard Legacy speakers in person for years, but still a huge impression on me. I have gone the route of a 2 watt Type 45 SET, so the Legacy are not in my future. But is was definitely them that got me hooked.

must have been awesome to see Legacy starting up :)

Mine were Magnapan Tympani speaker just like these:

I got them from Roger Sound Labs when they had one of their sales. They were laying against a wall in their back room and was told they were the owners personal speakers and quoted me a price. It's been downhill ever since. 😄

All the best,
Nonoise

1977 saved all my money from bussing tables at a local pizza joint in Chicago and marched down to Lafayette Electronics and purchased a complete system LR 5555A receiver, Speakers Lafayette Criterion 6 speakers and Lafayette T1000 TT. Man it was the best. 

I was always into stereo since I was a little kid and heard my uncle’s JBL Paragon/Mac system.  I went through a Crazy Eddy phase with Cerwin Vega, ESS, Marantz, etc.  But then I started reading The Audio Critic and learned about DCM Time Windows, Rappaport, , Janis, AGI, etc., and the worm turned to boutique audio.  And it has sustained ever since. 

Unsure if I’ve always been an audiophile, but I’ve always been attracted to speakers. Starting working at Cineplex Odeon at 15 and the first thing I purchased before saving for a beat up car were these Cerwin Vega VS-120s connected to an old Sony Receiver and CD Player. 

And to be honest, I don’t think I’ve experienced the same consistency of enjoyment with my current system. Something about the new experience and sharing the CVs with friends in the 90’s digs really deep for me.

mid 70s Altec bi-amped speakers with SAE preamp, modest turntable and I can't remember the cart.

Direct to Disc recording really hooked me, and the rest is not history yet.

Added a Nakamichi LX-7 cassette.

Moved to Seattle in '85, cot the deck serviced and new heads installed.

I had purchased some Tandberg monoblocs, and when I went to sell them the tech that serviced the Nak agreed to my asking price on the amps *if I would sell the Nak with it - took my asking price on all, and I was off to the next phase.

I went to a dealer in Richmond, VA, in 1979. I had no money for audio equipment, and little more than for room, tuition and food. He had a set of Magneplanars fed by an Audio Research pre and amplifier. The turntable (no idea what kind) had a “moving coil” cartridge (What’s that?).  When I heard the needle drop, I was just stunned. I had no idea that music could sound that way, just sitting in a room. He asked me if I liked jazz (sort of…!), and he played a record I had never heard of, “Jazz At The Pawnshop”. Well…needless to say, I never forgot that experience. 

First got the bug when my best friend at the time got a job at a "stereo shop" in our local mall (ya, back when they existed, in the early 80's). Hung out there alot and got exposed to shelves of display gear and a dedicated listening room with a wall of speakers. Bought (at a employee discount, thank you Donny) a Yamaha mixing board, Harmon Kardon citation 16 power-amp, Yamaha P350 TT with ADC cartridge and some massive Jensen speakers. Hooked since. I'd say it was the HK power amp that took me over the top. The speakers turned out to be mostly show and the mixing board got replaced pretty quickly, but that power amp I loved.

Marijuana was the gateway product.  🤣 

Mid 1960s went to a Dick Clark rock event at the Chicago International Amphitheater by the stock yards. All the bands were using a common PA system. JBL. I wrote a letter to JBL describing the system’s and they actually answered giving me their best guess as to what the components were. I have been a JBL man since. Started with a pair of Dorian S12 then. Used those until the mid 70s when I bought a pair of L222 Disco towers. Still my main speakers now. 50 years later.

Like some others, Magnepan (then called Magneplaner) Tympani speakers. Mine heard with ARC electronics and a Linn LP12 back in 1976 playing Stanley Clark’s School Days. I traded in my Advents, my Garrard Zero 100 and my Superscope receiver and became an audiophile.

Perhaps I've always been an audiophile, even as a kid some of my attention focused on sound quality. My best buds quad Dynaco setup with Linn LP12, this accompanied by light shows and ingestion of various substances was my gateway.

My own early setups pretty forgettable, Dahlquist DQ10's the gateway to higher end audio, still have them stored away.

Large Advent speakers.

Early '70s, Infinity 2000 electrostatic speakers. The shop played a Cat Stevens record through them and I was hooked. I was driving them with a humble Sherwood receiver. 

Later I got a Mac C26 preamp and a Crown DC 300A amp. I couldn't afford the matching Mac amp, so I settled for the Crown. 

Crazy TV Lenny's American of Madison Spring sale....1977....

Sansui AU 517 integrated...AU317 Tuner....Technics SL23 turntable...Pioneer HPM 60 speakers....Still have the amp and tuner working as good as new..

We used to cut out of school and go to 34th street in Manhattan and look at the JVC MC70 back in 80s.  Then it just got worse. My Dad had the Cerwin Vegas and dual cassette Akia 

Stage 1: AR-4x / Sansui Integrated / AR-XB Listening to Mississippi John Hurt in a small off-campus apartment, but the speakers were set up properly and I heard a stereo image for the first time. Might have been the pot, though. 

Stage 2: Bose 901 / McIntosh C26 and 2105 pair / Thorens TD-160 + Shure V15-III Listening to Pink Floyd. The 901s  were hung from the ceiling on chains. Once again cannabis may have been a factor.

Stage 3: Large Advents / McIntosh 5100 Integrated / Thorens TD-160 + B&0 SP-12 Listened to this rig a lot in a friend's dorm room. That was a nice system.

Stage 4: Magnepan Tympani III w/subwoofer / Audio Research SP-3a, 2- ARC Dual 76 Amps + Phase Linear 400 for the subwoofer / Thoren TD-125 Mk II + SME Arm + Supex MC cart. We listened to Joan Baez 'Diamonds and Rust', Joni Mitchell 'Miles of Aisles', Dan Hicks & Hot Licks 'Live at the Troubador'. Only got to listen to this for a couple hours, but that did me in. I'd heard some pretty good systems by this time, but this triamplified vacuum tube/transistor triamped hybrid with these immense panel speakers and dual KEF B-139 transmission line subwoofers was so far beyond anything id ever experienced. The sound was so immense, so transparent, and the acoustic spaces rendered so palpably, I was slack-jawed. Would probably be so again if I heard it today. From something like that, there's no turning back. I was officially an audiophile.  

I have had all kinds of systems since then, some large, some small, a couple vintage, more Magnepans, plus 3 dedicated home theaters. It's been fun, and even if my hearing isn't what it was half a lifetime ago, I still know how to listen to the music, a skill that many have never learned. 

My foray into the deep, dark & at times, very pricey audiophile road had two different origins. The first was when I went to a store in 1974 to audition Large Advents which were quite nice but then listened to a relatively new brand, ADS & their model 810’s powered by an Ampzilla amp. Wow! I bought the Advents fir to budgetary constraints & then added a second pair I got used which made a big difference but I knew someday I wanted a true audiophile speakers. This desire lead to Snell A II’s in ‘82, then  Proac EBS’s & finally Ariel 10 T’s for regular cone / dome speakers. 
 

The second path began when I did pro sound systems for live shows  & multi media presentations in Miami working for my Dad’s audio visual company. I learned about high sensitivity horns from Altec, JBL & EV powered by crown DC300 A amps. This lead to eventually, years later to desiring the dynamics & live sound that horns excel at but without their common colorations. In 2004, I heard Avantgarde Duo’s & was hooked! After a number of years & house  changes, I wound up w/ Volti Audio  Rivals & still really enjoy their live, dynamic sound. 

My older sister was dating a rich guy , it was the late 1970’s I was around 13-14 years old, up until this moment I grew up with a father that loved his big Pioneer 4 channel and huge home made speakers listening to classical loudly. I walked in to this condo over looking Tampa Bay on the 10th floor and what I saw blew me away! It was a complete McIntosh system with all separates, pre amp, tuner, amplifer all lit up brightly with nomenclature around all the knobs it was night and the effect was a substantial first impression indeed.The sound was sublime through the XR-7  MAC speakers using either a Tandberg cassette deck or a reference Sony turntable, I was smitten and the journey began for me. 

Matt M

I learned about the sound quality with my friend when i was 20. My friend was older and a bit more experienced. His own very old friend whom he presented to me was a genuine "audiophile"  with many room dedicated to his hobby but curiously with no acoustics basic, only electronics, different design, a suspended turntable and other eccentricities as it appeared to me...

 He advised me to buy Tannoy dual gold ...

I did...  My journey begun but stay there without change nor progress because  i cannot buy anything 30 years later anyway. My wife cleaned my Beyerdynamic headphone after 9/11 event and i decided to go studying headphones... But i disliked all the 10 headphones i bought....

  Then if i wanted a good S.Q. i understood and realized a decade ago that i must do it myself  at no cost(acoustics experiments with low cost speakers) because i could not upgrade anything...

In 1965 a friend positioned our Altec A7's VOtT PA speakers in my warehouse space and connected them to his Fisher receiver. I heard KJAZ in stereo FM for the first time. By 1967 Tom Donahue began broadcasting on KMPX FM between 6pm and 7am. 

...been at this for nearly 6 decades, starting with what was at hand for little and building what I could for speakers....

Overtime and over time, the selections improved....but any other than spouse  to hear the changes became less of a event to share....still true, more pronounced of late, but 'tis what it 'tis....

I can't hear your gear....Some names change, some remain the same even if morphed into a larger organization, some improve, some become unheard ever again.

Specs got to the tipping point where the differences became subtle to the point of a sort of 'confidence in the system', the numbers don't seem to matter anymore.

Nuance becomes ALL....the cables, the details, the 'analog/digital divide' yawns and the SS+Tubes get tossed into the maw....happened with stage amps awhile back, did you notice....?

Awhile ago, I opted to switch to BFTB over COG....been happier since.

The 'puters have their 'gigs'....sources, monitors, programs of interest and use....Then the 'typ' TT's, cass decks, cd players of various flavours...

"CD or DVD?  ...and all the digidomains as seen..."   (...a pun too far...)

A matrix or 2 stirs the brew....
...and I haven't even got to the speakers, my take on the Wall of Sound.
All pairs 'cept subs., but a pair there is in the offing.

...and there's all the other including the Real Other, but some will know of what that is....but it's obvious I've got IT bad...

...just a different variety....

I've got the Poison....I've got the Remedy
...and it's not Over until I say it is... ;)

Play louder, the weekend pends, J

The ESS Transtatic (pre-Heil AMT), Infinity Servo-Static, Decca Blue pickup.

Mine was a pair of Infinity RSIIb speakers, which led me to seek better amplifiers, which led me to seek a better preamplifier, which led me to …. And here I am almost a half century later with what I think is a decent system that produces, IMHO, excellent sound quality, assembled over the last four years at what, in today’s prices, seems “reasonable.”

My gateway product was my alto saxophone. Started playing in grade school through high school including a jazz quartet. Have loved music ever since. 

Merlin speakers were a game changer for me.  It was as much the man as the product, but being introduced to designer Bobby Palkovic, along with all the wonderful gear they used changed my audio tragectory permanently.

My father’s HH Scott 222 integrated amp, a Garrad turntable and a pair of 15 inch full range drivers of unknown origin listening to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass in the 8th grade. The local hifi shop had a pair of Klipschhorns that were so spooky…now I have four pair of Klipsch speakers driven by a host of tube amps.

12 yo me....Hitachi receiver, technics? tt, ?speakers, but it was the Capitol Record Club that was the clincher.

18 yo me....Nad integrated, Thorens TT, Bose speakers

60 yo me....Kef LS50 clinched it along with time and modest funds.

i gotta say it was probably an 80s nad 3300 integrated--not a great piece by objective standards, but considerably more "hifi" than the mass market stuff i'd been listening to previously. expensive hobby in any case.

As already mentioned hearing the Magnepan Tympani speakers producing solo violin was the start for me.  I was using Ohm Walsh speakers with SAE and Phase Linear electronics.  I wish I still had room for that system.  The Lafayette KT-550 tube power amp also blew me away.  Still have that sucker! 

In 1978 working as a carpenters helper I sold my soul for Klipsch LaScala, Mac 2500 and Mac preamp, wish I still owned that system.