JBL L-110 at Tech Hi Fi in 1979. conrad-johnson Premier One in 1982 solidified my passion for HEA. Returned to Tech Hi Fi in 1982 and came home with a pair of Ohm Walsh 2’s. FWIW the salesman would not sell me the speakers until I brought a parent with me. I was 17 but could easily have passed for 14.
the gateway product that turned you into an audiophile
@foggyus91 suggested/pushed/encouraged me to start a thread about this. It was related to Darko's post about 12 audiophile misconceptions. One was that we are all about music - vs gear. I think that subject has been chewed up already a 100 times. I am not sure anyone has anything new to say.
However, that made me think about the day I turned into an audiophile.
It was when I bought my first "gateway" product that was affordable but audiophile quality and led me to explore more and tweak and switch and experiment and never be fully content but always be smiling when I turned the power on. It's been about the sound and not the music and that's fine. But I realize now that those Monitor Audio speakers I bought from craigslist were my gateway drug 
Were you always an audiophile or was there such a moment and a piece of hardware that made the difference?
(Lastly, I am very uneasy and on the fence about this forum and starting a thread - for my last correspondence with the moderators. What I learned should bother anyone who cares about fairness or even the appearance of it. I can't discuss it because it will get removed - I tried, my comment lived for less than 5 minutes, )
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This has been interesting, particularly how influential the '70s decade has been in the audio hobby. For me there was no identifiable time I became an "audiophile". But it started with music, Vaughn Monroe's "Ghost Riders In The Sky" when I was 7. Growing up there was often music in the house from my parent's consoles. In junior high I got a portable (suitcase style) mono player with BSR changer and AM, when I began collecting 45s. That survived through high school when I began buying LPs, and on until half way through college when I built my first stereo system - Dynakit ST-70, PAS-3, FM-3, and Dual 1009 with Empire cartridge. Over the years I've owned an uncounted number of components but music always came first, with an effort to simply have a system which maximized the listening experience. |
@mapman Tech Hi Fi in Livonia Michigan. |
My journey started when I purchased my 1st vinyl record, Linkin Parks Hybrid Theory. I had no player, no system no nothing. I only bought the album as a way to remember and have something in memory of Chester Benningtons after his passing. I ended up buying a few LP posters and another vinyl record of theirs a few months later. And now owning a few records and appreciating the art and reading how so many enjoyed the sound of records my curiosity began to get the best of me. SInce I had the record I began to tell myself, it would be neat if I could play it. Knowing nothing about nothing when it came to audiophile gear I went into a audiophile shop here in northern Ca ran by a couple from England who introduced me to all sorts of very interesting equipment. The sticker prices were a little shock to the system especially when your new, but I eventually settled on a very lightly used Naim amp, focal speaker and rega tt. That was my first sytem, I’ve had many since, and today have what I consider my end game system. That being said I still have my first sytem. |
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