the gateway product that turned you into an audiophile

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...