the gateway product that turned you into an audiophile

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!).

This was an amazing and unexpected experience....

I already had my college dream system.  Marantz 2285 amp/preamp.  Heathkit equalizer and graphic processor that I built, monster cables, Sony linear tracking table, and JBL L65 speakers. 

I bought a Conrad Johnson PV 10A preamp off of Audiogon.  It wasn't very big or impressive looking, but it used vacuum tubes....

Luckily, my Marantz allowed me to plug in the PV 10A into it and thus bypass the internal preamp within it.

OMG.  Night and day difference in the quality of the sound coming out of those wonderful L65 speakers!  I was blown away!  Then my quest began to upgrade my entire system to what I call 'entry level high end'.  I'm very pleased with the outcome, although it took many years to configure and it did cost a lot of money!

I eventually sold that PV 10A to another Audiogon member....

Rush, 2112.

made me purchase my Carver Receiver, Cerwin Vega's, JVC Tape Deck, ADC Equalizer. It was great until I heard the B&W Matrix 2 speakers...

My late older brother, back in the ‘80’s,  bought ESS Heil AMT-1’s and Sansui AU-717 & TU-717…One listen to Steely Dan on his system and I was mesmerized.  Over the years I bought components I could afford but always wanted more. After many years of compromises, work, different priorities, $ demands…I now finally have the time and $ to realized a long lost dream.  

I cited my Infinity RSIIbs, but I must go much further back than that.  In the mid-1950s, my Dad owned a TV shop, and he also sold record players.  I saved my money from paper routes and working in the TV shop and purchased a Zenith “portable” record player with AM/FM radio.  It had two front firing 5.25” speakers that provided stereo … but not much channel separation for the ears.  My first two LP records were Tommy Dorsey with Frank Dinatra album and a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, by George Szell and the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra.   I was hooked then at the age of about 12 or 13.