circa 1970/71 (16 yrs. old) walked into a friends Uncle's house. His Uncle had these two speakers (make unk.) which had to be 18 - 24 inches in diameter and this contraption with more tubes than "Carter" has pills. We begged him to play it.
We were "blown away".
I'll never forget it.
Heck I had a "FM" converter in my car to one speaker. |
Twenty some odd years ago I was blown away by a Keith Monks record cleaning machine.....Nitty Gritty came out with a machine for $350 and had to have one.....Wore it out and bought a VPI RCM.....A few years ago I found Optrix and it made CDs sound listenable.....Bought a beveling machine for CDs called an audio desk systeme and it was a revelation....As far as gear goes the ARC SP3A-1 was an eye opener....The Goldmund Studio was killer, but the Rockport was so much quieter and so easy to use....Rockport speakers were wonderful ten years ago, but the Sound Lab M-1s are cleaner.....Epiphanies are few and far between in audio unfortunately.... |
Both the MG12 and 1.6 Magnepans knocked my off my feet when I first heard them and I love listening to my 12's every single day. |
The first speakers that really knocked me out were the Acoustat X. The ones with the built in direct drive tube amps. The sound was (to me at the time) unbelievable. It sounded like there was a harpsichord in the room. They were so beamy you almost needed a vise for your head.
Anyone else ever own these? |
No paticular order
Quad 57s.....oh my
Baby Maggies....sweet
Early watt/pups..........BAM Bam!!
Krell KSA 100...BASSSSSSSSSSSSS
Stax Headphones...UNREAL...maybe SUREAL
Wolcott Amps on planar Infinitys....THE BEST
My first childs , first cry....UNBEATABLE |
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One could argue that this is not a componant, but I would disagree. The best componant I have ever heard was a pair of Purist Dominus interconnects. See my review if you are interested.
The cables knocked me out! Chin on floor amazement! Superlatives fail me. Nothing has ever impressed me more. |
1. The Apogee Duetta II
2. The Revel Ultima Studio
Both were definitely keepers from the first note. |
My Wireworld ic's and speaker cables. These cables left me dazed and confused for a few weeks after installing them.
Also, the Avantgarde/BAT demo room at the 2003 HES. That demo was the closest thing to actual live music I have ever heard. The sound was real "live" music, not a stereo simulation of live music which can be all well and good. But that demo showed me what it really takes to really GET THERE! |
A system using NEAR speakers in 1990 and before that Maggies!
Speakers are the things that knock me out! I do not get to rattles by components until they are inserted into my system and I hear the difference.
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Tact 2.2x room correctiion preamp. First heard it at a friend's house and it blew me away--opened up and separated the performers in a much more lifelike way, and added layering to the stage and fleshed out and added body to the vocals--was like listening to a different (and much better) system.
After experimenting with a dozen cables and half-dozen amps in my ($25,000+)system , but still not completely satisfied, I wondered if the Tact could do the same for me.
Well, it did even more. Not as much a difference with soundstage, but cleaned up the whole presentation. My best description is that a blanket was removed from over the speakers.
Everything opens up and the natural decay and detail just hangs there. I erroneously thought my 10'x16'x24' dedicated room was decent. Not anymore. Made all the amp and cable changes seem quite subtle and unremarkable.
I'll also second the Apogees. 12 years ago I heard the Duetta Sigs at a dealer with top-of-line Mark Levinson gear and was enthralled. I bought them, but unfortunately was never able to get them to sound as good in my room/system and eventually sold them--which pleased my wife ;-) |
Old tannoy 15 incher with a tweeter in the center. This sounded so realistic! I went up to a grand piano, and closed my eyes, and played a few notes, and I had a hard time distinguishing them apart! I had a chance to talk to the famous maestro Jung Myung whun, and he said it sounded better than all the orchestras he conducts! (McIntosh amp + Cd player)
I love the sound for their realism, as well as for their profound spirit they seem to convey in classical music.
There are soft and mushy sounding upscale speakers that sounds glorious, but listening to them for awhile, makes me miss a realistic sounding speaker. I think it would be nice to have a several set of speakers connected by speaker selector like Niles (ebay). Many audio lovers go that rout I heard, coz different music sounds better on different speakers, and buying is fun (the real reason) :>) |
Phase Linear"Flame"400/DQ-10s/Revox Reel playing "Blood Sweat&Tears.Sorry can not remember the pre-amp.Was first lesson in the all audio is not the same school. |
Back in the 1970s it was listening to Altec Model 19s and Tannoy Monitor Golds.
More recently, upgrading from a Quad 34/606 to Meitner PA6+/MTR-101s, and from a Sony CDP-X779ES to a Sony SCD-777ES with Allen Wright analogue output stage.
Cheers,
JT |
Original Martin-Logan CLS with Entec Lf30 subs driven by Audio Research D115mkII amp and SP10 preamp
Quad 63s with Entec SW1 subs driven by Spectral DMA50 amps and DMC10 preamp
Avantgarde Duos driven by Audionote Kondo (?) integrated amp
Wilson Watt/Puppy 7s driven by Jadis Defy 7 amp and Hovland HP100 preamp |
goes to the following scenario/combo:
1977
SAE MK (don't even recall the numbers) amp and preamp
Technics (for God's sake) TT with SME Arm -- Empire cart
Driving Dahlquist DQ-10s -- The music: Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin -- in those years they put more raw emotion into the music than anyone.
F7 |
I got goosebumps the first time I heard the Yahama NS-1000S speaker. This was in a stereo store in NYC Leonard Radio, now long gone and must have been in the late 70's. They were playing a choral recording of some kind. To my ears at that time, although a little bright it sounded holographic and real. I coveted those speakers for a long time after that, but they were always beyond my means and out of my price range, until I lost interest. Although I didn't spend enough time with these speakers to know if they would suit me sonically overall and I did have reservations about the depth and power of their bass response, I was delighted to find out years later that this speaker, along with the similar NS-10, remain underground classics of the audio world.
My first speaker was the original Advent Loudspeaker (ca. 1970). It certainly was an audio purchase of which I was very proud. I thought it was smooth and had a great low end for its price, but as good as it was, it didn't do to me viscerally what the Yahama speaker did.
My dad, who was a recording engineer for almost 40 years, had a Revox A-77 reel to reel recorder (ca. 1966), a very fine piece of equipment indeed. As it was relatively easy for him to procure various, excellent, high-quality microphones, and he was then interested in producing new acts, he was able to make some fantastic home recordings which were much more alive and dynamic than anything I was generally hearing on vinyl commercially at that time. I wonder what happened to all those tapes?
Other components which knocked me out remain in my system today. Number 1 would have to be the CAT SL-1 Ultimate preamp, which I can now admit is not perfect, but still does more things very well than any other that I have heard. It has dynamics and bass and low-end power and weight to die for, a beautifully smooth and tonally balanced and accurate mid-range.
I also like my First Sound Presence Deluxe Mk II preamp, but not quite as much overall. After working to find power cords which work well with it, it is more transparent than the CAT, has that stunningly quiet black background, throws a slightly wider soundstage, really kicks out the female vocals to their best advantage, but lacks a little weight, depth and power at the low end at least in my system. I am trying to find an amp which will show the First Sound to its best advantage.
Lastly, there are my Pass Aleph 4 amp and my Vandersteen 3A Signature speakers, which have sufficient accuracy, bass extension, midrange purity, overall smoothness and presentation of detail to allow me to hear the differences in all the other components. |
The first real stereo I ever heard... 1972
Kenwood KR-6160 90 wpc driving Pioneer CS88 speakers- ..source material an Akai reel to reel.
The second- 1975- in a stereo store- Luxman 1050 receiver driving ADS 810s with a Denon turntable
nothing has sounded so good since |
Bose 901 with Macintosh amps. (I'm old)
Hill Plasmatronics
Beveridge Model 1
Stax Class 45 watt per channel amp with Dahlquist DQ10
Infinity Beta with Audio research
Apogee Scintilla with Krell
Sequerra tuner with Stax Lambda phones
Pass Labs 30 watt single ended |
Dannylw:
You're not THAT old. The 901s were IT back when. Compared to the regular stuff that floated around at the time they were considered amazing.
Driving DQ10s with 45WPC? Wow, imagine what they would have sounded like with sufficient power to open them up. My old SAE amp had "just enough" for my DQ10s (a speaker I still miss and fondly remember) at 125/side.
F7 |
It was a Stax Class A with 45 watts per channel. I had heard the DQ10 many times before but never like that. The speakers finally lived up to the articles I was reading. And just for the record I had an SAE 4C for a long time. I no longer own the SAE but it still doing daily duty. |
Proac response 2.5's driven with sonic frontiers power 3's...wow, the image they created was 3 dimensional, for real, it was like you could walk around the saxophonist and he had physicality to him!! not to mention the amazing bass for such an unassuming speaker
Totem modle 1's driven by cary triods...i have yet to hear diana krall sound better, on any system
Wilson Grand Slamms with Krell FPB 600...that was an eye opener on how good audio can get, yet you'd expect it to be good cause it costs 100x what the totem/cary system cost.
in that sense i was much more floored by the other two systems. |
The system that first knocked me out as a novice was at a Legacy Audio road show. They had the Whispers being driven by their high current amp. It was at that time that I publicly vowed to somehow - someday buy a system that could, again, emotionally move me to tears. After the journey began and I learned more about audio, my taste evolved. The system that first knocked me out since the acquisition of audio experience and knowledge was this:
Levinson 390S
Levinson 33H monos
Revel Salons
And it is this system that I currently own as a result of that experience. Needless to say, it moves me everytime I hear it. |
Elite dv47ai...first time I heard multichannel sacd. The rest of the system is 49txi, jmlab electra, parasound. |
My 1st official KO came in December 2001 when Gayle Martin Sanders of Martin-Logan was touring showing off his Statement E2 electrostatics.
These speakers were driven by all-Krell electronics & cabling was MIT everywhere. I don't remember the Krell model #s except that the FPB-600C monos were driving the Statement E2s.
I had auditioned a # of M-L speakers for my home but just could not get to like them. Neither am I a Krell fan for various reasons.
However, what this Krell-Statement system did was pure sonic nirvana! The immediacy, the transparency, the purity of timbre, the feeling that I was sitting at the venue of the music event, the sheer power, the nimbleness of the amp-speaker combination to reveal all the nuances was just over-whelming & awe-inspiring. On the effects side - the bass was truely moving (pun intended) as all items not securely bolted to the wall or floor rattled & moved when Gayle Sanders played a certain church organ recording & those bass notes went 20Hz & below!
I've been to a few dealerships & been impressed but this experience was a total KO! |
when i first heard magnapan speakers back in the early 70's.the clearest most open sound i have ever heard.it took over 25 yrs.,but i finally got a pair of 1.6's. |
About 7 years ago when I purchased my Vandersteen 2C's my wife went with me for the final look/buy. She asked to see/hear something significantly better.
The owner took us into his high end room and let us listen to Apogee Grands powered by 4 giant (not sure what they were) tube amps.
I have lusted after the Apogees ever since. |
R - Where was that? - an Apogee Scintilla owner. |
Muralman - Elite Hi-Fi in cupertino, CA. Sadly no longer in business |
In no specific order:
Ohm F speakers: My first taste of TRUE "dimensionality" and "surround sound".
AGI 511A preamp: SO much cleaner, clearer, faster than any preamp i had ever heard. The phono stage was miles beyond comparison to anything else.
Forte' / Threshold amps: SS with the sweetness, air and delicacy of tubes.
Cary tube amps: There's a reason that people talk about "Cary Magic". The warmth, depth and spaciousness of these products speak for themselves. Maybe not all that accurate, but highly musical and enjoyable.
Atma-Sphere OTL amps: My first taste of tubes that could be as fast and effortless as good SS amps.
G&D Mobie: I could not believe that such a device could change how cables sound. The results of using this device forever changed any notions that i had about cables up until that point of time.
Goertz flat speaker cables: The most natural presentation from any cable that i've ever heard. Introducing these into a system was a revelation to me in terms of musicality, harmonic structure, body, warmth, flow and "liquidity". No sense of "hi-fi" at all i.e. the opposite of Nordost's sonically etched / "highly detailed" presentation. Sean
> |
Quad ESL 63's, properly set up and powered with tubes, in a large room - Jazz at the Pawn Shop on a Linn 12 and a Grace F9E. Talk about dimensional with the "you are there" feeling! Been trying to duplicate that sound for years, got all the gear, but I never got the right room. |
Sean, what is a G&D Mobie? |
I recall my first exposure to the Ohm F as well (at tech Hi Fi in Boston)...incredibly powerful.
Koss ESP-9 electrostatic headphones.
Magnapan Tympani 1Ds, driven by Audio Research electronics....one of the first true high end systems I ever heard (many thanks to Lyric in White Plains for indulging a poor college student!)
The first time I heard Thiels (can't recall the model, unfortunately), I was blown away by the imaging and coherency. That launched a long obsession with soundstaging....although my speakers at the time, Dahlquist DQ-10s, were no slouch, they were no match for those Thiels. Today I own both 1.5s and 2.3s. |
Unsound: A Mobie is G&D's model name for their cable burner, which is no longer produced. Sean
> |
Apogee Divas driven by a Classe DR3-VHC. I heard an LP of Liszt's "Via Crucis" through these turn the far end of a showroom into a cathedral. Utter magic.
A KR-18 integrated amp - it was the first time I "got" what SET was all about, and bought it on the spot.
My Coincident Total Victories and Audio Note 4.1x DAC |
There has been no match to my first experience with the Apogee Scintilla for a knock out experience, until I heard the Acoustic Reality eAR 2 MKII on Scintillas. That was an equally mind blowing experience. |
Gilmore Model 2 and Model 3 speakers.
They must be heard to be believed.
KF |
Back in the early 90s, I auditioned a tube/SS McIntosh system that made me a stereo junkie...
Now I'm a Krell guy, looking to make the transition over to Levinson. |
Replaced my monster cable speaker wire with TMC gold (20 ft runs) and replaced the MC300 with two MC352's in a biwired and biamped system into the same speakers....Tannoy D-700's.
Didn't get any sleep that night. Quantum leap! Giddy with delight! |
My memory of how good the Beveridge speakers I posted on above has been brought back to life by another speaker..my Apogee Duetta Signatures. This middle of the line Apogee is a new experence in an old package..total knock-out in my room and my system and brings a package to the table that this old thread is all about.
Dave |
Vandersteen Fives. JM Labs Utopia. Very intriguing, 3A De Capo. |
Berning TF-10 tubed preamp....My first "amazing"... |
In 1978 I walked into a little audio store called New England Audio Consultants in New Haven Connecticut to listen to Rogers LS3/5As.The dealer insisted that I sit down and listen to his big system---It was comprised of Mark Levinson amps and preamp along with two huge Quad speakers on stands and two 18" Hartley subwoofers. He didn't crank it to ear-splitting levels, but instead just let the system convey the power of the music. It was magnificent!
It's too bad there are so few dealers today that are willing to share such experiences just for the love of music...our hobby might gain a few more devotees if they did. Oh, and I did buy the Rogers and kept them for twenty years. |
My Nestorovic 5AS speakers. I auditioned them at HIgh End Audio in the Twin Cities back in the mid- 80's. It was love at first listen, and still is. I hope they don't ever wear out because I"ve never wanted any other. |
In sequence, Quad 57s in the early 70s the Linn LP-12 in the later 70s, and then WAMMs at a Vegas CES in the mid-80s. The WAMMs are still my favorite. BTW, Dannylw mentioned a Stax 45w amp (the DA-80) which I still own, and that was the first solid state component to knock me out. |
The Boulder Rocky amplifier. |
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A pioneer open reel tape deck with ANY factory pre-recorded tape ( Preferably an Ampex or Magtec at 7&1/2 inches per second) |
I was 12 years old and my next door neighbors father had Klipschorn speakers and McIntosh amps. I listened to that system untill I was 18 years old. I had to wait 25 years before I could get myself a pair. In those 25 years I never heard anything that sounded as real as the Klipschorns. I now have three pairs in a home theater set-up. |
Demos of the following were so dramatically better/different from what I was used to listening to, the experience was thrilling:
Wilson Maxx/Halcro multi-channel system at CES.
Apogee Scintilla, Apogee Diva/DAX
Custom Speaker system utilizing giant Western Electric midrange horns.
Custom made OTL amps (not even a blocking cap on the output)
S.A.P, J-2001 (twin) speakers*
Audionote Kageki (uk) SET amplifiers*
Audionote DAC-5 Signature digital-analog converter
NAIM CDS3 CD player*
The big @ $50k TAD speakers (too bright and hard sounding for me to want to own it, but transient attack is absolutely amazing)
Overkill Audio speaker with Manger driver
Items marked with * I actually have purchased. |
