Who Do You Credit For Getting You Into This Hobby?


I didn't know which forum to post this in so I hope it's alright to have done so in "Speakers".

When you look back over this obsessive hobby of ours, who do you give credit for helping you take the plunge? I am extremely grateful to Albert Porter and John Fort, who were salesmen at Arnold and Morgan (Dallas) in the mid-to-late 70s (I believe Albert might actually have been the sales manager), and spent a lot of time with me to assist in finding the best system for my tastes and budget. They also treated me the same as their male customers, and never made me feel like the minority (female) that I was in this particular hobby. Their love of the hobby was infectious, and I quickly became enamored with the quest for getting the sound right. That first small system was comprised of a middle-of-the line Yamaha receiver (1977), Yamaha speakers, and a Dual turntable. I still own the Dual turntable and have kept it for its sentimental value. It is currently not in use although it is still operational almost 30 years later.

So, thank you, Albert Porter and John Fort, for taking the time to help me all those years ago. It's also evident here at Audiogon that Albert continues to help all of us as we pursue this endeavor, a few of us much older than when we originally began the journey.

--Mary
mcrheist
Thanks Mary, now you have to come listen with the gang again some Tuesday night.
but it was Jax2 that toured me around the audio block. Danke, Marco!

Glad you're still enjoying it my friend. When the fever chills, cold sweats and the shakes set in I may be long gone so I'll take the gratitude while I can get it. I really didn't know I was still contagious. Damn that Jones and his tube-driven Quads, his Goldmund turntable and Grado Signature cartridge. I should have stayed away, but his wife can cook like Julia Child!

Marco
The folks who made the Ohm F loudspeaker and Tech Hi Fi for carrying it! I was shopping for some under $100 low-med-fi equipment when I head a live guitarist in the next room at a Tech Hi Fi in Monmouth NJ. When I went around the corner to see him I was shocked to learn that such realizm was coming from a loudspeaker. I've been chasing that experience ever since.
Giacomo Puccini. In college in the late '60s I discovered La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, and Tosca but I found that even on a friend's "separates" system I couldn't listen to any of those glorious arias without the voices breaking up all over the place. Clearly, a superior "hi fi" had to be found as soon as the budget would accommodate.
I don't know that their is anyone that got me into equipment end of this hobby (not that I'm far into it), but as far understanding what's really important in music (heart, soul and talent), that would be my Dad. Many of the people (Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Hank Williams, Chet Adkins, Bob Wills, Hank Thompson, ect) that he turn me on to I still listen to their music. I certainly branched out into other genre of music other that 40/50/60's county/western swing and bluegrass that my father favored, (I'm more blues, jazz, 60's soul/RnB, some classic rock, ect) but he's the one that taught me to find and listen to the "real deals", that had staying power and something to say and didn't forget where their musical roots where.
My Dad. He owned a shop in the 50's-60's (he died in '66). They did sales, service, and installation of Audio, TV, and Communications (ie intercoms). I would go to the shop with him on Saturday, while he and his partner worked repairing customers gear he sat me down with a screw driver, pliers, and an old broken piece of gear so I could "work on it". I was 6-7 or so. We always had a decent hifi in the house too. And I had my own system when I was a teenager. Of course I didn't really become an audiophile until college. That's when I found how much difference there was in consumer gear and the hi end.
I always had an interest, having played music for years, but it was Jax2 that toured me around the audio block. Danke, Marco!
once i was exposed to live music, i wanted to try to recreate the sound of acoustic instruments, to the best of my ability.

i concluded that speakers which do not use horns or cones come closer than the aforementioned drivers.
I give 100% credit to "Motown Records"...Waaaaaay back in my early teens.

Dave
Great tribute to Albert!

I credit my Dad. He got into "stereo" in the late fifties I think it was, with a Fisher amp, a Rek-O-Kut turntable with a Shure cart and a pair of handmade horn speakers. I remember hearing a good many Golden Age vinyls on that system from the time I was about ten years old. Today he loves listening to my system when he's visiting.