the gateway product that turned you into an audiophile

Back in the 70’s my parents had a Harman/Kardon A-401 amp and Garrard Zero turntable and some big speakers that I didn’t notice what they were.

that I didn’t notice what they were.

I try to tell that to my wife when at night she walks into them, but she DOES NOT notice or perceive how they disappear. 

I mostly dabbled into mid Fi gear until I took the plunge and purchased a Conrad Johnson Premier 11a.   The tube magic hit me and I have been hooked ever since!!

WVhen I was in college in 70’s, the campus radio station replaced much of their equipment.  I salvaged some of what had been relagted to the dump, including a pair of two-way horn monitor speakers on the Altec model, two Marantz mono preamps and a studio-quality idler-drive turntable with a classic wooden tone arm.  I dragged them around for a couple of years and loved the sound, then aventually traded or sold it all.  I truly wish I still had them!  I have never forgotten the "woody" tone of stringed instruments on that setup.

Back in the late 60's I came across a pair of voice of the theatre Altec Lansing speakers. They were originally made for movie theatres. You'd see them in the old movie houses built in the 1930-1940's off to the sides of the room which was tiered down towards the screen every few rows.Had Sony seperates at the time about 60 wpc but it was enough to make them talk pretty good. They did not have quite as much bass as I like for rock music but the mid's and high's were superb and I was hooked.

This is an excellent thread. 

The first hint for me was in the 60s, playing records on the family Magnavox console. Glenn Miller, Pete Fountain, etc. Then with my first earnings as a teenager I bought a Dual turntable and a small Marantz receiver. The first speakers were also Marantz, but were soon traded in for a pair of Epicure 100s. That might be the gateway right there. The Epicures had an interesting tweeter.

Thinking about it, the next fully confirming gateway hardware was the next change of speakers to Infinity Kappa 8, with an EMIT tweeter. I tried stacking the Epicures on top of Advent 6003s, but that didn't work so well. 

My dad sold Advent as one of his lines for a while. I still have a pair of Maestros, as back speakers for an AV system that I am not at all passionate about.

I forgot what amp I was using, but it as a pair of Proac Studio 1 monitors I picked up that really did it for me. I fed them with an average turntable and McIntosh C20 preamp, which prior to that I had not been able to fully appreciate. I was in my mid-20s at the time (in the mid-90s), and this was my first real experience with a 'sound stage'.

I started in my teen years. Being middle class folks, my first taste of good audio was a hand built HH SCOTT tube amp, then a Dynakit.ST-xx(i forgot and all this are surplus gear). This was all driven because my college degree was EE and Amp projects is where my interest was.

some of my family friends owned Pioneers, Sansui and Marantz. they all sounded so good, that my homebuilt HH Scott was no match. 

Since i have very limited budgets, i modified the HH SCOTT changing caps, re-bias and even doing my own transformers. finally i got it to sound as good as the modern Marantz..

Growing older and in my working life, i settled with DECWARE gear (amps and Pre) with LOWTER Acousta for the longest time.. and now, all these are gone and i have settled for Pass Labs, Falcon and ATC / REL

Wish I could remember. I moved out of the house when I was 18. My roommate and I both had stereo’s. Receiver, turntable, speakers. I am guessing Radio Shack. 
I do not know the definition of “audiophile”. I might not truly qualify. I am more interested in being entertained by the music than chasing gear. Not that I do not revamp my system every so often every time trying to improve what I hear. 
Not so many years left at this point in time. 

@hbarrel some of the best and purest audiophiles refuse to be called audiophiles :)

I love this thread. My first aha moment was in 1983 when I bought Celestion Ditton speakers.  Loved them.  Listened to mostly rock, new wave, alternative.  I wish I still had them

I dabbled in mid fi stuff in the 1980’s. In the early 1990’s a local dealer , whom worked out of a Music store where I bought CD’s  sat me down and I listened to a pair of Unity Audio Fountainhead signatures. He played a cut from  Paula Abdul. I was mesmerized. I couldn’t get how that voice sounded. I ended up buying those speakers and a Musical Design amp and preamp to drive them.   

FYI ‘Beginning Led Zeppelin’ is currently available for viewing.

Billed as formally The Yardbirds I found their, take it or leave it trajectory into the music industry smartly interesting.

John Paul Jones, “I loved John Bonham’s right foot so much I’d just lay out.”

I’m waiting in that line under the Fillmore marquee.

@m-db I thought the first half of the documentary was exciting, I learned a lot, the 2nd half felt lazy, fell flat for me. For the greatest band of their genre there is so much more to tell - about them, the are, the story of the music, etc.

Dahlquist DQ 10s. Along with the Citation 16 that drove them. Fun times. I'm still into it big time but I have more patience and money.