the gateway product that turned you into an audiophile

Hello foggyus91,

Great subject to start a thread.  To answer your question my "gateway" into the audiophile universe was a Dynakit ST70 kit that I received as a Christmas gift back in the 60's.  As many know, David Hafler, one of the pioneers of "hi-fi",was the founder of DynaCo.  Although my dad and one of my uncles were hi-fi buffs it was the Dynakit ST70 that got my audiophile juices flowing.  Thanks for your question as it brings back some great memories. 

Enjoy the music.

My love for audio equipment started in the late 1968 when my father upgraded from his Motorola tube console to separates (Large Advents, Pioneer SX 828, Thorens 161, and Stanton 681).  Soon after, with money saved from my gardening route of four neighbors on my block, I had my bedroom version (Small Advents, Pioneer SX 628, Pioneer direct drive TT, Stanton 681, and Advent tape deck).  This accompanied me through college.  However, the revelation came after receiving my MS with new affluence from a real job.   I was intending to drop my budget at the large discount box stores on Brooklyn and Long Island NY, Crazy Eddies or PC Richard’s.  Across the street and down the Boulevard I chanced on a  store called Audio Breakthroughs.  The sales staff sat me down in front of equipment brands never heard by me (B&W DM7s, PS Audio Separates, SOTA, Gram, Dynavector). I could not believe the timbre, dynamics, staging and imaging.   I was hooked and frequented another LI store American Audiophile  (Vandersteen 2s, Counterpoint separates, similar TT setup).  I ended up with my first low end/hi end system (DCM Time Windows 3, Amber Preamp, Amber Series 70 Amp, Nakamichi 680ZX, Walker TT, Dynavector Ruby).  I was addicted.  
 

PS My father’s Pioneer SX 828 and my DCM Time Windows are still producing music and retro sound enjoyment in a Vermont vacation home after 40+ years.  

I think I was 13 years old and did some babysitting to make some spending money in the Montreal suburbs. One of the couples I sat for were pretty cool and worked in downtown Montreal, and drove an old purple Volvo fastback. They had an incredible stereo set-up, I have never seen anything like it. It was my first experience with listening to an excellent turntable, tube amplifier and large 3 way speakers, I don't remember the names of any of it, but boy did Led Zepplin II ever sound amazing! I was hooked.

Led Zeppelin II always sounds amazing :)

I think I was an audiophile as a teenager with my GE portable stereo. That doesn't mean you can't go from something like that to a revelatory experience based purely on sound.  I had built a Dynaco SCA-80 integrated and had the Dyna A25 speakers that were so popular, also an ancient Thorens TD-1something TT on a wooden unsupported base.  Now when I moved back to Texas it was time to move up, and I was actually making some money.   I found a very good audio store and that was my gateway to the real thing. I got Dahlquist DQ-10 speakers, a better Thorens, the Threshold 400A amp Nelson Pass made, the the Apt Holman preamp that was the bees' knees in High Fidelity and elsewhere.  That's pretty good stuff and I liked it but the revelation came when my audio dealer offered me a Spectral preamp. It was so cool and had a pexiglas top fitted to it so you could see the insides.  Having "built" things before (some of which worked the first time) I couldn't believe how that thing was put together and wired. I bought it.  The revelation came when I got it home and replaced the Apt Holman with it.  I suppose that was the audiophile moment. The Apt was a high rated piece of junk next to that thing, and now the full impact of the Threshold was revealed.  That's the fun of being an audiophile. Just see how many posts we have here on this topic in a short time.  The bottom line is that are myriad ways to hear your music, so it's not just about the equipment (but it doesn't hurt!).