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How Did Your First Audiophile Experience Impact Your Audio Journey?

I am going to be somewhat liberal when choosing my first truly "Audiophile" experience.  In college I had a friend that had a pair of Definitive Technology BP2000 speakers that were by far the best speaker that I had every heard, but his style was mostly just blasting music which didn't appeal to me or demonstrate their true SQ.

My first true "audiophile" experience was visiting a local HiFi shop that appeared to be an almost tacky car audio place from the outside, but I had been told to ask about the basement.  The only thing that I remember was some Vienna Acoustics speakers that blew my mind.

When I was ready to dip a toe into the audiophile pool several years later, I went back to the shop and it had shifted it's focus to be exclusively home audio with Focal being their brand of choice.  Their main room gave me opportunity to audition  Focal speakers from the $750 bookshelf to the $180,000 Grande Utopia's.  What was cool looking back was that I was able to hear the most affordable speakers at their best because they were being powered by the huge Krell mono blocks that were there for the Grande Utopia speakers.  My favorite setup was Diablo Utopia speakers with a JL Audio Gotham subwoofer.  The sound that came out of a large bookshelf was mind bending to me.  As it turns out, Krell has continued to be a consistent amplifier that pulls me in whenever I'm around a system with them in it.  I also have continued to love the Focal sound and have never once thought about needing to upgrade mine even though I've heard objectively better speakers and know that there's a lot out there that are superior.

The thing that I look back on and laugh about from my auditioning and buying process was the pain that I must have put the salesman through listening to one of my Josh Groban CDs that I later discovered is a painfully poor recording.  Ironically, there was one song in particular that was used to make the final decision for which model to get.

I don't know how much my tastes are a result of being blown away with Focal speakers and Krell amplifiers being my first significant experience in the audiophile world or if I happened to be very fortunate by it also aligning to my taste.

- robot

mceljo
asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
4,288 posts
 

@waytoomuchstuff ....Yeah, the descriptions get muddled within the wetware. *L*

First ran into an SAE paraeq when working with friends at an antique refin/repair shop in Oakland.  Steve had struck a deal to store some gear for Graham Central Station,  a funk band of the time.  Head roadie Chris dropped off the 8 band version which I got to play with v. the 4 band I own....

You could target an annoyance in the fq and do with it what you willed; 'needle it', smooth the bumps, all sorts of wonders for the time...

I've kept it since, nice for making *meh-ish* speakers in the shop system more tolerable for the late-night work that sometimes occurs and one's not using digit removal sort of tools. ;) 

Of course, now I've got 2 digital 'stand-alone' eq's and a pre that can do the same and more...

Put 'em in-line to each other and create a sonic 'black hole'....see if anyone notices the vocalist sounds like they've been huffing helium..*L*

Not so cheap thrills.... ;)

"If you don't know what it is or how to pronounce it, Point @ it...." ;)

asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
4,288 posts
 

Oh, and currently a means and method to See what I've done to the output.....

"By Gawd, I've sent the bass player deeper than hell....*L*  Now, for 'earthquake mode'...."

*BOOM!*sizzle*

"Oh, F....there goes those voice coils...😖"

*L*  One learns to avoid that....mostly....

kren0006
1,859 posts
 

Early to mid 90's in college, no money, but roommate and I would spend countless hours at B&M's and the big box stores listening to systems.  When I heard top series B&W speakers, which blew away the Pioneer/Kenwood/Boston Acoustics... stuff at Best Buy, even though they were way outside anything I could afford at time, I knew that when I started working that would be the brand.  By early 2000's the HT Dolby movie surround phenomena had hit, and my new bride could justify a great HT but not so much a 2ch only, so my first system became a dedicated HT that doubled as 2ch.  B&W indeed was the choice, and they are still used in my HT.  20 years later, I don't care for the B&W sound for 2 ch any longer, but those early days will always leave a soft spot for the brand.

dekay's avatar
dekay
5,355 posts
 

"Paragraphic Frequalizer"...

I had a wine customer walk in one day looking for a really good Cabaret Sauvignon.

I asked "like the Liza Minnelli movie" and he replied "exactly". 

I replied "we have a few in various price ranges, but they are all good wines".

I showed him a few cab's in the $5-$50 price range noting that I drank a $10 one @ home (2nd label for a killer CA Vineyard and this was in the early 90's - 1990 vintage had just arrived).

At that point my wife walked up to ask me a non-work question (we worked in the same store for 6 months, or so, before I, as a new hire, was promoted and transferred due to us being married).

He asked "was that your wife" and I replied "yes, she's great isn't she" and he asked "does she drink it" to which I replied "no, she doesn't drink alcohol, but she married me".

He purchased the $10 bottle with a smile on his face.

 

DeKay

roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,686 posts
 

Huh?

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