I think for me it was a local audio store, long since gone, Soundtronix. I was looking for a all in one system due to limited budget. Up till then most of my listening was done on a Zenith console with Alegro speaker system.
So the salesman knowing what my budget was invites me into the HighEnd room for a listen. And there were these pyramid
ESS speakers with Heil Air motion tranformers and a Garrard TT with McIntosh front end. He puts on a side of Days of Future Past and I fell in love.
The salesman saw my reaction and with a certian wisdom told me and I will always remember. "Now you know what YOUR ears are capable of" and as he walked me over to my price range and said "lets get you started and now you will know what direction to go from here" It taught me that I was wrong in thinking quality was in how loud you could play it without distortion. Although my parents might have argued that statement. I learned a valueable lesson that day. I never owned the ESS but have had many McIntosh components since. Thanks for the thread I hadn't thought of that for years.
So the salesman knowing what my budget was invites me into the HighEnd room for a listen. And there were these pyramid
ESS speakers with Heil Air motion tranformers and a Garrard TT with McIntosh front end. He puts on a side of Days of Future Past and I fell in love.
The salesman saw my reaction and with a certian wisdom told me and I will always remember. "Now you know what YOUR ears are capable of" and as he walked me over to my price range and said "lets get you started and now you will know what direction to go from here" It taught me that I was wrong in thinking quality was in how loud you could play it without distortion. Although my parents might have argued that statement. I learned a valueable lesson that day. I never owned the ESS but have had many McIntosh components since. Thanks for the thread I hadn't thought of that for years.