AudioCircle
Audio/Video Gear and Systems => The Starting Block / Introductions => Topic started by: harrymax on 28 May 2020, 05:22 pm
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Hello Audio Circle friends,
Do you recall when the passion struck? Was it a single bolt of lightning or a slow reveal through multiple moments? Where were you and when? What type of music were you listening to? When did you become conscious of the fact it became a hobby (version a simple interest) ...or an obsession.
I thought answering this would be easy, but now realize that for me, it was a slow reveal with a lightning strike in the middle, which is when I was in London in 2011 for work. I went to Bond Street to look at watches (purely for fun) and to an audiophile store of which I can't remember the name. It was there that I got to listen to Big Love from Fleetwood Mac on a set of STAX SR-009.
That was it. I still love my Thiel speakers, Eagle amps, etc., but now I'm a headphone guy. Boom.
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Hello!
I feel like I've had a little bit of it in me ever since I got my first car stereo components (which of course were terrible). Eventually that shifted more into home theater and now I'm finally working on a dedicated stereo setup. Good question!
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Welcome! Got the bug with my 1st set of separates about 40 years ago. Haven't been able to shake it.
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Welcome :thumb:
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Oh and I forgot to mention but I envy you folks who can enjoy good headphones. I unfortunately have one deaf ear, so it's speakers only for me. I can still see a bit of a sound stage though, if I sit in the right spot and turn my head just a bit. The brain is a crazy crazy thing.
Fortunately, my good ear tests really well. I have to remind myself when listening that I only got one left, so better take care of it!
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Welcome aboard Moss :thumb:
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Hi everyone,,
For me it was a bit of an "oh yeah I forgot how much I enjoy this" moment. All growing up in high school I spent my money on mostly gas and a few cds per paycheck blasting music on my mom's old 70s JVC. Years go by and mp3/pandora takes over and lost the bug for a while. Then I found a random turntable in the garage, plugged it in and bought my favorite album. It was then, wandering around the record store, smelling the insence, hearing old punk on the stereo while talking with the people there about the concerts from years gone by that I remembered how much I loved everything about it. Finding gems at the indie music store or even Goodwill. Coming home from work to tuning out the world and cranking music til you can't help but tap your toes and smile. All of it. I'm hooked. Slowly but surely making improvements to my gear, but always remembering to stop and enjoy the music.
-Lloyd
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Probably in the early 7O’s when I first heard a pair of Quad ESL-57’s. It’s what I use now.
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1976 when I heard a pair of Acoustats with servo tube amps. Still one of my favorites even today.
Before that I had a quad system from 1972.
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Upon hearing the song "In the Year 2525" as a kid, must have been on my mom's phonograph. Guess I'm more of a music lover who is also a gear head of sorts (worked 38 years as an engineer).
My first audiophile moment was when I bought JBL L-44's in high school and plugged them into my plastic Panasonic AM/FM/cassette. That rich, deep, detailed sound captured me. Dragged Dad upstairs for a listen but sadly he couldn't hear the difference from the speakers that came with the Panasonic (car speakers in hardboard cabinets). He'd lived around engines his whole life and couldn't even hear the crickets outside when we were done.
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Greetings & Welcome to AC harry :thumb:
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For me it was when I started attending concerts back around 1970. I loved being immersed in the sound put out by a great band playing in a decent sounding venue. I wanted to be able to recreate that sound in my own home. I also have collected a lot of live recordings over the years. I can say that today if I turn my sound system up loud enough it sounds as good as being at a concert. My neighbors get to enjoy it too!
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1961, I was 10 and had a little all in one record player. All in one means it had a speaker and amp in it. Ceramic cartridge of course. I bought a 45, "Tragedy" by the Fleetwoods. Played it over and over. Don't know exactly how I got the idea but saved my chore pennies and bought a box speaker from Radio Shack, I think it had a 6x9 or 5x8 in it. Took my record player apart, disconnected the 3 or 4" internal speaker and connected the "big" Radio Shack. Wow, better sound. I was hooked.
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I’ve always been a gadget guy and I’ve always loved music. I had a GE Silvertone suitcase stereo turntable and a Panasonic RF-888 radio when I was a teen. I caught the audiophile bug listening to my dad’s boss’ Pioneer SX-1250 receiver. I forget what speakers and other components he had but that big receiver was beautiful.
I bought my first stereo soon after. A mid-range Pioneer receiver and turntable and big Cerwin-Vega 313 speakers. I loved the sound of that system. I remember kabuki speakers were big in the late 1970’s. In the mid-1980’s I had an SAE Two R6 receiver, a Dual turntable, Akai cassette deck and a pair of even bigger Cerwin-Vega 12-TR speakers. Also a nice sounding system.
It’s been a continually evolving journey ever since.
Martin
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I think it was mostly a slow burn for me until I heard a really good demo of B&W speakers in my mid-20s. This would have been right around the time that CDs were introduced, although the demo was vinyl. I had never even heard of B&W up to that point. Pretty sure one of the songs was Landslide by Fleetwood Mac - a holographic Stevie Nicks was in the middle of the room singing to me. I HAD to buy the speakers - DM220's. $450 or so for the pair - God, what a steal. I used them for many, many years before giving them to my best friends 20-something year old son. I hope he realizes how much I loved those.
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I started in the ‘90’s with a NAD (Saturday Audio Exchange) and KEF (United) combo during my graduate studies in Chicago. Then my “aha” moment was when I heard a pair of Magnepan MG10QR’s, not 10.1’s, at Audio Consultants. I bought a pair and later bought an Audiolab 8000CD player. I still have the 10QR’s (main system for tri-center) and the Audiolab player (transport) that I mate with an Audiolab 8000DAX in a bedroom system.
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I was in the Navy and my system was mid-fi stuff I had bought at the base exchange in Japan. I was pretty convinced it was hi-fi then.
In 1985 I had to fly from Japan to Hawaii for Navy business (I know, horrible right?) and while my squadron mates went to the beach, I visited a local high-end stereo store. Things were slow at the store and even though I said I wasn't really buying, the salesmen couldn't have been more helpful and informative.
That store was big on Magnepan, which I had never heard of, and one of their listening rooms was entirely dedicated to Maggies and Audio Research. They started with the MMGs and worked their way up to the MGIIIs and that was it. I realized my stuff was just stuff. I did buy one of the better Grado cartridges and when I was transferred back to the States a few years later the first thing I did was buy a pair of MGIIIs which I enjoyed for 14 years.
Two careers and two moves later I put the MGIIIs in storage and haven't had the time or space to do anything with stereo since, but I retire in two weeks and that is all about to change. :D
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I became interested in the mid-70s. Moved to Atlanta, had an NAD/Time Window system and got invited to a house where the owner (Glenn Gleaton) had a set of Beveridge speakers, Beveridge pre-amp and more. WOW!! I was hooked.
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Honestly, it was a two-part hit. #1 was a music appreciation class in college that made me actually listen to classical for the first time. And during that semester over several weekends, I went to my girlfriend's parents' house. Her dad had a full Krell system and Martin-Logan speakers. It was quite a step up from the 6x9" car speakers I was used to. I stayed with that girl much longer than I should have just for those weekend experiences. :D
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Iam sticking this topic that fell in popular preference.
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May I introduce myself ; I am an electronics engineer retired from government firm. I am in fond of European Vintage audio systems especially German made. It is a hobby for me to collect European vintage audio systems. Especially open reel recorder.
Joseph
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wow 40 plus years ago in my early teens when my mom bought a H H scott integrated amp and after she shortly passed away after that i took it and started to play and upgraded and put all kinds of combos together with whatever i could scrounge up. I'm back into it hard now that I'm a empty nester and can treat myself to some toys .
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My passion for Hifi was ignited after I bought a Sony MDR-EX450B headphone with a slider for extra bass. It was the first thing I listened to that did not have a veil of blurriness.
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Hi! I have been a huge fan of listening to music since my teenage years. However, I just recently discovered the beauty of audiophile equipment, although at its very entry-level. I feel I enjoy music no more than before, trying to discover a wider range of music genera that satisfy my appetite for music. I'm in the process of building a headphone entry Hi-Fi set up and having fun with it. I look forward to learning from and participating in this forum.
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For me, it was listening to music on my Walkman as a kit at night when I was supposed to be sleeping.
I enjoyed listening to radio and my cassette tapes on my terrible little boombox. It was fun. But when listening at night on my cheap K-mart headphones, there was so much more music there. Amazing little details. Better bass. Better everything.
Was there more? How deep did this rabbit hole go? It was fascinating.
So, I have always liked to dabble in this hobby. It's fun getting new and improved equipment and rediscovering your music. People come and go, but music's always there for me!
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Unintentionally in 1995. Until then, my familiarity was limited to what was available at Sears and I did own a set of Pioneer separates purchased there for around 200 dollars of that era. In that year, Bob Carver went out of business and his products became available through Costco, Seattle. I bought a 5-CD changer, a tuner and a 60wpc amplifier with, ahem, sonic holography, costing 4 times the Pioneer. I added a pair of Klipsch purchased half priced at Circuit City grand opening! So they say, "the rest is history!)
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Hearing Supertramp’s “Crime if the Century” album for the first time through my uncle’s Advent speakers, c. 1975
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I bought my first audio system when I was in seventh grade, with money from my morning paper route. That was 1978. It was a Kenwood receiver, Technics SL-3300 turntable with AT MM cartridge and a pair of Becker speakers. Eventually I bought a BIC cassette deck. I upgraded to a Denon PMA-737 and Proton tuner a few years after that. Then I fell into an audio abyss for several decades.
What got my interest in good audio equipment restarted, I forget exactly, but in early 2016 I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD 600 headphones, a Schiit Bifrost Multibit DAC and Schiit Valhalla 2 headphone amp, driven by a Mac Mini running iTunes and Bit Perfect. That was a pretty incredible sounding combination. I realized what I had been missing.
I now have a 2-channel system that I would say is mostly nearing endgame stage for me, for a long time. I can't see myself changing out my speakers or power amps, unless I moved to a much smaller space, where the speakers wouldn't be appropriate. In July or August, I'll be doing a three-way comparison of my Schiit Freya (original version) vs. the Freya S vs. the Freya+, and I expect that the winner of that will be my preamp for a long time as well. I recently purchased a used Freya S, so now I'm just waiting for Freya+ to come off backorder (caused by parts shortages).
-Pete
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Hi All,
My father was in the military in Europe in the 70's and they used to have amazing on base hi-fi shops back then. It was a treat to go with my father to listen to all the gear and some amazing recordings. One of my favorite memories was being able to sit down in front of his rig for 30 minutes every night before dinner listening to whatever vinyl or reel to reel he selected.
Bottom line is that once the hook was set, it was there for good and have continued to learn over the years.
Now I hope to pass that on to my kids. They clearly don't love music or the hobby like I do but we will see how it all plays out over time.
Cheers!
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I was never fussy with audio. I had some of those terrible all-in-one phono/radio/cassette units in the 80s! But I loved music. I liked to write down the lyrics - stopping and starting the tape to get it - before everything was published on these inter-webs!
I went to school in 89 for Mechanical Engineering. Promptly failed out. However, got to see my first electrostatic speakers and met the first crowd of people that got me thinking about really listening to the music - and expecting to hear every nuance.
I could never afford hi-fi, so I became a mid-fi guy and a budget-hunter. And I was happy. 30 years or so I was happy.
Then I had it in my head I wanted a Reel-to-Reel. My dad had one, I found someone who was willing to repair it, and I started interacting with him. One day he let me hear his r2r through a McIntosh amp and DynAudio speakers. I regret to say I can't remember the specific gear because I was too busy quaking under the nirvana of the ear-gasm I was having.
I heard real "detail" for the first time. I think that's what I'd call it. It was so crisp, so clear.
And now I'm trying to squeeze every ounce out of my mid-fi gear to try and recreate that moment!
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Going to a Yes concert in Miami Baseball Stadium in the 70’s and wanting to relive that sound in my home!
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We always had music at the house (piano, guitar, clarinet) and I had a cruddy little Sears Silvertone suitcase type doohickey with a turntable and detachable speakers for true stereophonic reproduction. I used to lug that thing all over the place until it broke and then it was back to Sears to get it repaired which would take months. Did that several times, it was a real piece of crap but I loved it when it was working!
However...
Hearing a pair of JBL L-100s and a Dual 1229 and Sam Goody's when I was in junior high school.
They had it cranked and it was WOW!
ME WANT!!!
It's been all downhill from there.
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1964 I was in a electronic parts store with an almost boyfriend (tagging along..) and saw a Garrard LAB 80 turntable. I was transfixed. and had to have it. with no previous stereo anything, no previous interest in it at all. but that TT was like alive and glowing..
So after awhile my parents helped me to by a stereo (including the LAB 80) I had it for 15 years and only sold it all to 'see the World'. But Iwas hooked on listening to music.
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Summer after freshman year. Saw John McLaughlin with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Billy Cobham on the same bill. Bought a Yamaha integrated amp, a pair of BIC bookshelf speakers and a turntable with some Monster cable.
Ric
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Stood in line during college days for a Black Friday sale at 6th Ave Electronics...a costly mistake...should have never been there :-)
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Sometime in the early 1960's listening to a Grundig radio console in our basement rec room, there was magic in that box and it sounded great.
We used to play Chubby Checker and Cha Cha records on the turntable and have dance parties when my cousins came over, they were Chicago girls and terrific dancers.
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Hi there,
First post here and have been into Audio gear since the start of the 80's and have off and on worked in the sound industry. High end and Studio gear.
Love vinyl and Digital and all kinds of funky speakers are a big fave of mine. Have way to many records. (Over 10,000.) Love turntables and pre-amplifiers too.
Nice to be here.
D.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=211160)
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My Dad was a drummer with the Air Force band. One dayI came home from school and he was listening to Fire and Rain by James Taylor writing down the music. I've been hooked on hi fi and James Taylor ever since.
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I got the BUG!!! about 68 years ago when I was 20 years old.
Cheers
Charlie
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Well, like quite a few here I was a gadget kid and my dad loved listening to music. First on a phonograph with one speaker, then on a stereo console by magnavox. I thought it was cool seeing records piled on the turntable, and relished the task of flipping them over and putting them away. When I became a teenager a young man who was a electronics tech showed me his setup. McIntosh tube gear, 240 amp (which he had me "hold" for him when he was in some financial difficulty, so he said), tube preamp and tube tuner. He also had a reel to reel deck that I think was a Tanberg. His speakers were AR-3s and to my ears at the time all sounded great. My electronic tech friend told me to scour for used gear as a start and I went to repair places and stereo stores and put together a system. Harmon Kardon Citation 11 pre-amp, Citation 12 amp, AR 4x speakers and a year later a pioneer TX 9100 tuner, which I still have! I recently had it updated and upgraded by Mike at Radio X Tuners, who did a great job. Love this hobby and current setup is Bel Canto E1X int, VPI Scout 1.1 w/Ortophon Cadenza red Cartridge, Pioneer tuner, Modwright 9.0 phono(terrific by the way), Marantz ND 8006 CD/player-streamer and Auralic Altair G1 Digital Audio Streamer. The Marantz is used as a CD transport now and soon I will replace Bel Canto with Modwright KWH 225i integrated w/phono. :)
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I'd had a stereo for all of my post high school life. A receiver, reel to reel with dbx, Dual turntable, and decent speakers for the mid 70's, but nothing really audiophile.
And then in 2003, fate led me to Danny Richie's living room-- I'd never heard anything that realistic before. 17 years later, his living room is still ear opening, but my system has taken a huge leap forward.
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Probably freshman year of college after visiting a hifi store in nashville. My wallet probably regrets that decision...
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Sophmore year of college in East Lansing 1980, my dorm roommate critically auditioned various speakers at the local stores and settled on some variety of inexpensive Polk speakers that were marginally better than the other brands. I still didn't know about high end audio, but that was my first awareness of making a serious effort to get good sound reproduction. Have fond memories of buying records, playing them once to record them on to cassette tapes, and then carefully preserving in protective plastic covers. I hauled them around for 20 years from Michigan to California to North Carolina, and then foolishly sold all of my perfectly preserved LPs when I moved back to California again in 1999. Complete collections of Talking Heads, Kraftwerk, The Who, etc. I hope some lucky person benefited from my mistake.
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I walked into a stereo store in Honolulu just to look around. I went into their "Magnepan room" and that was it. I'd never heard anything like that before. It was then that I learned what "soundstage" and "scale" meant.
That's when I realized my "hi-fi" stuff was just stuff and within a year I had a pair of MG IIIs and all-tube Audio Research amp and Modulus preamp. I've had to scale back since then, but that's when the light bulb went on.
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Sophmore year of college in East Lansing 1980, my dorm roommate critically auditioned various speakers at the local stores and settled on some variety of inexpensive Polk speakers that were marginally better than the other brands. I still didn't know about high end audio, but that was my first awareness of making a serious effort to get good sound reproduction. Have fond memories of buying records, playing them once to record them on to cassette tapes, and then carefully preserving in protective plastic covers. I hauled them around for 20 years from Michigan to California to North Carolina, and then foolishly sold all of my perfectly preserved LPs when I moved back to California again in 1999. Complete collections of Talking Heads, Kraftwerk, The Who, etc. I hope some lucky person benefited from my mistake.
You and I probably went to the same stores in Spartan country back in the day. There was a stereo retailer across from campus on Grand River, can't remember the name. They're long gone now. But, Flat, Black and Circular record store is still there, and thriving.
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Two different moments, first was when my son asked to buy a cd by Linkin Park we listened on the way home and I loved the Rock/Rap/Screaming, it hit me that I had been missing music in my life. I grew board of the music after several years and began listening to books on cd instead of music. I watched an episode of mad men and seen the stacks of lp's in the lead attorneys office and remembered the whole process of listening to lp's, I bought a very simple setup and that was my Boom moment. Not only did the sound become full / immersive there was a commitment to the album that I actually really enjoy. I have been hooked on LP's now for about 5 years and love each moment I get to listen.
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I first got the hi-fi bug back in the mid-60s.
My first separates system ever was an all Acoustic Research system, with AR-3as, AR integrated amp, and AR turntable.
Over the years I owned the Large Advents and other entry level components.
My current (July 2020) system is a 2.1 satellite/subwoofer home theater system using a Lenovo notebook and an 42" LG LCD TV set
-- Cambridge Audio Azur 640A V2 Amplifier
-- Paradigm Atom V.5 Monitors
-- SVS SB-1000 Subwoofer
-- Keces DA-151 USB DAC Digital Analog Converter
-- Tripp Lite LC1200 Line Conditioner
-- Tara Labs Prism 300A Interconnects
-- Onix "Black" Speaker Cables
The Azur 640A is 12 years old and occasionally acts up. The volume control drops by itself, or the protection light comes on.
As a result I started looking at potential replacements. I first went to WHATHIFI where they recommended the Onkyo A-9010.
But the website of the local high end Taipei dealer where I purchased most of my current components showed an unfamiliar NuPrime IDA-8 for a mere 3000NTD (approximately 1000USD). The fact that the Absolute Sound awarded it Editor's Choice repeatedly as recently as 2019, left a real impression, as did NuPrime's explanation of Class A/Class D hybrid technology.
I'm looking forward to a listening test.
So now I'm seriously considering that as the replacement for my Azur 640A.
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It was 1968 when I heard a Dual turntable. It sounded significantly better than anything else I had ever heard. I started subscribing to High Fidelity magazine...cause hey, I didn't have internet service then. :D
Anyway I learned that it wasn't really the Dual producing that superior sound. It was the Magnetic cartridge. Until the Dual all I had ever heard were Ceramic cartridges.
Nez
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I got started back in freshman year of college when I moved up from a JVC compact to my first component system, as modest and mid-fi as it was: a Pioneer SX-727 receiver, Pioneer PL-12D turntable and some long forgotten Cerwin Vega speakers. I upgraded the speakers and turntable over the next couple of years, but the big change was discovering the high end through The Abso!ute Sound, which prompted me during my senior year in '78 to sell all my old equipment and all my camera gear and buy a GAS Son of Ampzilla, GAS Thalia, Denon armless turntable, Infinity Black Widow, a Decca Gold cartridge and a pair of Magnepan MG-1s. That was the real start of my downfall. :wink:
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Started playing with simple audio gear when I was 12 but the AUDIOPHILE moment came when I was a freshman in college.
I went to the home/showroom of Charlie Santmire owner of the "Sound Environment" in Lincoln Nebraska. He sat me down in front of Magneplaner Tympani 1U speakers driven by an Audio Research D-75 amp and SP3A-1 preamp. Incredible sound! I'll never forget the moment.
I still see Charlie every on occasion and have thanked him for introducing me to this wonderful hobby 46 years ago.
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For me, it was in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan when I wandered in to Adelphi Bookstore and in the back, through a beaded curtain, was Custom Stereo. The salesman steered me away from solid state gear, and sold me a Dynaco 35 tube amp, which I still have!
Since then, I've had tons of tube hi-fi gear, my favourite being British... Leak, Radford, Woodside, Beam Echo, Acrosound etc.
Best amps ever are the Julius Futterman OTL monoblocks, the H3aa's, apparently named for his apartment number.
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1975 in college.
Marantz 1060 integrated
Garrard Zero 100
Advent Speakers
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Hello everyone. I have always loved music. And my background is primarily as a musician and pianist. Fell in love with Beethoven early on at age 7 or 8, started learning piano by ear at age 12, haven't stopped since. But as far as catching the audiophile bug, I fell in love with my parents old unused record player. I had to figure out how to plug it into their old Emerson speaker system which was also in storage and hadn't been heard or used for probably a good 12 years. It worked fine though. I don't know if it was the discovery of the new sound that actually came out of vinyl, or the solitude I had at that time age 14, free to listen to music in the basement and doing what I loved as much as I wanted with no disturbance. But yeah, that year was particularly great for me musically. I should mention that portable 60mb MP3 players were just coming out, and CD players were the norm. Meanwhile I felt like I discovered a treasure trove in my parents modest vinyl collection...and this was waaaay before hipsters were all trying to bring back vinyl. It was the coolest thing listening to old Al Di Meola records, Journey, Stevie Wonder, a single of axel f I repeatedly played over and over, lee ritenour, Lee ritenour, jazz and r&b albums and others that have passed from my recollection. My favorite thing to listen to was an epic bass solo by Louis Johnson on a song called Twinkle by Earl all ugh. Still to this day, that bass solo has never sounded so rich and full than it did coming out of that vinyl player in my basement. And they're all gone now. Parents gave the collection all away one year to my dismay...but I feel privileged to have had that time with the old vinyl equipment. I feel it sharpened my ears and my appreciation for the art of sound recording and audio in general.
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It's been with me almost as long as I can remember. As a child I had a Grundig 211 with its original speakers (big woofer and paper cone tweeter in a sealed enclosure). I had a portable tape recorder connected to it too. One memorable album is a children's one that had a cover of The Police's De Do Do Do with lyrics in Portuguese. I loved the song and some others on the album.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=213535)
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Found a picture of the speakers!
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=213536)
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My 6 year older brother Steve and I shared a bedroom until I was 11. We had one of those little all-in-one records players with the speaker on the front that you could carry easily in one hand. We would listen to 45's we started to accumulate most every night as we went to bed until mom or dad would tell us to turn it off and get to sleep. Our older brother Bill built his own system out of an Eico integrated amp, Garrard turntable, and fairly small cylindrical speakers made by a company in Rockford, IL. called Leonhardt. We all thought that was a dream setup. The love of listening to music was installed in me very early on. When I finally made some money in a factory job, I bought my first stereo--Garrard turntable, Pickering cartridge, Pioneer 424 receiver, and 20th Century house brand speakers. Every year of college I traded that in and bought a slightly better system still using now a Pioneer 727 receiver, Philips GA-212 turntable/arm with a Stanton 681 EEE cartridge, and Atlantic 5 speakers. The speakers were just OK but funky looking. I heard a Magnepan Tympani IV setup with Audio Research tube amps and preamp. THAT was AWESOME! Started reading The Absolute Sound and anything I could about high end sound. My buddy Steve and I were down at 20th Century and listened to a pair of Jensen floor speakers with 15" woofers play Rocky Mountain Way at high volume. That was also memorable. After college, my wife and I moved up to the Chicago suburbs. I started hanging out at Paul Heath Audio and Victor Stereo in Chicago. I was deep into the bug by then. Bought my first high end system--Allison Ones, Quad 405, Mitsubishi DA-P10, Kenwood KD-500, Grace 707, with Microacoustics 2002E. I had that Quad 405 amp for 28 years--had it modified by the Mod Squad in 1985. Bought a pair of Vortex Screens by Von Schweikert in 1991. Also added an Audible Illusions 2D preamp that was awesome.
The real obsession started again with the discovery of Audiogon in about 2006. The opportunity to buy used allowed me to buy a much better than I would have at list prices system. I've gone through quite a bit of equipment, cables, tweaks, etc. since with the sound of live music deep inside my head. The VMPS 626R with the addition of VMPS 215 VSS subwoofer really opened my ears to great sound. I've had many lucky acquisitions, along with some well thought out buys and now my system is pretty much completed as long as things don't break. The main players are VMPS, TRL, Nuforce, Lenco, Pete Riggle, Charisma, Whest, and Modwright. Cables are from Clarity, LessLoss, Aether, Teo, JW, WyWires, Darwin, and Amadi. The addition of PPT stuff a few years ago brought the sound to levels I did not thing I'd ever smell. I'm just now completing my basement listening room which has been quite a fun time. My brother Steve has been a great help in doing this. He had maybe more fun than I did while helping to build out many custom features. I will have plenty of space for more records, CDs, cassettes, and DVDs. I was out of room before. We also did the rest of the basement--it's close to finishing now.
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A victrola.
(https://image.coolblue.nl/max/500x500/products/1387545)
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When I lived in Sydney in 1977 and walked into Miranda hifi store. They had a pair of huge Infinity speakers with countless drive units playing the end of the 1812. Wow! I was then captivated by all the fabulous silver fronted systems in their branded cabinets. Yamaha, Marantz, Teac, Luxman, Sansui, Pioneer, Akai, etc.
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Hello World!
:D Hello Audio Circle; I have loved listening to music since 8 track tapes on really crappy portable and in car players. Most vinyl I own is country music and it was my mothers.
My first HI-FI purchase in 90' was a Denon integrated receiver, Denon dual cassette (still have), Denon CD player, Sony LD/CD 5 disc combo player and Klipsch KG 2.2's (still have).
This was what I settled for until I bought Klipsch ChorusII's in 92' as my Mains and the KG became stereo surrounds. I would love to own a pair again, ignore the ratings i could run them at 600watts clipping and not break a sweat. I swapped the Denon for ADCOM Pre-amp and 555 II main amp 200st/600mono and a their 60 watt for the KG, I cant remember the model.
Oh this was back in 97'. Now i have a Rotel Surround and multi-channel amp that are almost dead. Onkyo HTB 7channels and its crap. Until I have new speakers I am not buying new power. My music taste is all over the place.
I am not a fan of the new Klipsch speakers they all sound like crap, so over the years I have been searching for the Holly Grail in speakers and finally settled on GR Research designs.
It has taken 10 years to dig out of economic problems and looking at building to save money and get the quality I want. And now 2020 is the best year ever to do that. :o
I can not cut a piece of wood square to save my life so this will be interesting. :oops: Shawn
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Started for me a few years back with an interest in setting up a home theater system, then migrated to a good pair of headphones and REALLY realizing everything I was missing! That bridged to tons of hours of research, videos and learning the verbiage to now setting up a serious HiFi 2 channel system to listen to my new obsession with vinyl and obtaining the best sound possible.
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Friend of mine suggesting my son and I build a set of speakers during the Covid lockdown.
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All right, I'll play.
I grew up around good stereo equipment -- Bozaks, Citations and McIntosh, Revox reel-to-reel and so forth -- and got my first stereo in Jr. High. A few years later I heard DQ-10s, which I thought amazing (and bought), and then mated it with a reworked pair of Dyna Mk IIIs (8417 tubes) and a Precision Fidelity Preamp. SOTA table, Premier arm, and various Denon cartridges.
The awakening happened when I heard the Beveridge Model 2-SWs and the Hill Plasmatroic loudspeakers. I preferred the Bevs -- they simply were stunning. I also heard properly set-up QUAD 57s in a great room. Both showed me for the first time what stereo can do.
In the end I still remain more of a musician than a gear head. I don't need or want super high-end stuff -- I just want to enjoy the music. Still, I do have two pair of Bevs now.
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My initial passion struck in 2003; I started with M&K's since was good reputed brand. Was quite happy with these for 17 years.
Then I started reading everything I could about speakers, receivers, etc.
After listening to about 10 different brands including B&W, martin Logan, etc., Decided upon Salk.
Eagerly awaiting them to be manufactured !
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I have always been a lover of music. I worked in music venues all throughout undergrad and grad school and have spent countless hours listening on cheap, poorly set up gear and loving every minute of it. However, after Recently purchasing my first home I felt so compelled to finally build my first real system in a space that was truly my own, and I have really enjoyed the learning process. Hearing my favorite music on a proper reference setup makes it feel like I’m hearing all of my favorite albums for the first time again. This experience has been much more powerful to me than I expected.
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I have always been a lover of music. I worked in music venues all throughout undergrad and grad school and have spent countless hours listening on cheap, poorly set up gear and loving every minute of it. However, after Recently purchasing my first home I felt so compelled to finally build my first real system in a space that was truly my own, and I have really enjoyed the learning process. Hearing my favorite music on a proper reference setup makes it feel like I’m hearing all of my favorite albums for the first time again. This experience has been much more powerful to me than I expected.
There's seriously NO BETTER FEELING.
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Honestly pretty recently. I've always been interested in sound and stuff like that but it wasn't until relatively recently where due to covid, I kinda have more free time and decided to look into getting a sound system of my own. Still learning and figuring some stuff out but I gotta say it's been quite the fun journey truthfully.
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2014. Monmouth stereo red bank NJ. Monitor audio silver one, and an NAD316 BEE.
Record- Copper Blue by Sugar
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2011 or so. We had just moved into a small apartment where my computer setup needed to be close to the livingroom, so I needed to get a pair of headphones to game without disturbing the Mrs, and so I could focus on what i was doing. A few dozen hours over a couple of days ;) later and I was learning what these "open back" headphones were all about. After perusing craigslist for a deal on some used Grados, that was all it took to set it off. Within months the house was filled with audio gear.
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it started for me when I was about 10 years old, in the early 60's. I remember telling my Dad that we need to buy a new speaker for our hi-fi. It became my hobby and hasn't stopped yet.
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My passion for music came first. I ask for and received a record player at age 6 for Christmas. From there it was buying pop 45s every week of whatever caught my attention on AM radio. By my early teens I built a 35W Heathkit receiver and some Heathkit bookshelf speakers and I was then buying rock LPs I heard on FM radio.
The bug bit me once and for all one evening in 1976. I was 16. I dropped off my parents at a garden club meeting and was given the green light to cruise around town and come back and pick them up in a couple of hours. I wasted no time racing to the new stereo shop that had recently opened. I walked into a shootout between two power amps, one from a competing store down the street. In front of me was two pairs of Dahlquist DQ-10s stacked vertically and as the tonearm dropped down and Carry On Wayward Son struck me in the chest and appeared before me as a wall of sound hanging between those speakers, there was no turning back!
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I was in Jr. High in Morgantown, WV in the 60's and there was a record store with a stereo shop next door called Sound Investments. I went in to look at the records, then wandered over to the audio room. The clerks humored us by demonstrating the equipment. I became hooked and frequented the shop after school. I never lost interest. I have enough stuff to open my own shop right now.
Larry D.
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Hello all,
My passion started at a friends house listening to a hockey game in surround sound. It was pretty incredible. I then went to the CES show back in 2000 looking for a good quality surround system and wound up with a two channel audio system. From there it's been a passion....
Ian
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For me it was a gradual process. My dad had a large system in the basement as I was growing up. He had a Rega Planar 3 TT, a Conrad Johnson pre, and a bunch of Dynakit ST70 amps that he used to power some homemade push pull tower speakers (that used Dalesford drivers for the mid bass). Whenever I felt brave enough I would try to figure out how to turn the system on, but never could. I was barely tall enough to reach anything. But it was the forbidden fruit. I begged and begged for my own stereo and finally got it when I was twelve. A Technics SL1200 and a Technics receiver, I can't remember the model. Hooked for life.
For movies, it was when I realized that the reason there was a HIFI symbol on our VCR meant I could plug it into my stereo. I plugged, put in the speeder bike scene from Return Of The Jedi, and the next thing I know I'm an audio engineer.
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Around 1974 when I began to play my albums versus my Dad's Herb Alpert and Mitch Miller records on his Utah speakers built into the living room wall with tubed amp and pull out drawer 6 record changer.
Then I bought my own JVC SR301 receiver in 1977ish and HAL speakers in the same room environment because I was working through high school and attending community college so I could afford my own gear.
Then in 1981 after the bachelors's degree I went out and bought some JBL L100's, 2 woofers, a Richter Scale xover, and an Adcom amp from the stereo shop in Oneonta and went straight to a bi-amped satellite system.
Never looked back. Spent the 90's with Acoustats and Hafler amps. Focused on MT in the 2000's until 2006ish when I went all in on Salk HT3's. Have had 33 amps since then!
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Up till 2005 I had what I considered decent gear from appliance/stereo stores (RTR III speakers, HK CDP, Kenwood receiver, solid copper house wire speaker wires). Then my HK CD player died so I went on-line to search for a replacement, and what I discovered ... :o ... a world heretofore unknown to my myopic, pea-sized brain of high-end gear. Extensive searching opened up unlimited selections of gear and possibilities for acquiring. After a few mesmerized months I happened upon a local dealer who demoed gear in his home. Still no replacement CD player, I went there with an open mind ... and he blew it. That got me hooked into searching for all new gear. An audiophile was born.
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Upon hearing the song "In the Year 2525" as a kid
ahhhh yes, Zager & Evans, it was number one the summer of '69 as Armstrong stepped onto the moon ! I was a kid too, albeit a sophomore in High School !
My love of gear / music came about 7 years earlier when I heard my first stereo Lp played on my parents Stromberg Carlson Console Hi-Fi
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September 1989. My first year of university, living in a new city, not really knowing anyone. There was a hifi store at the mall. I went there a lot, and learned everything I could from the sales people about the Infinity Kappa speakers on display, and would listen in awe as they spoke about the now legendary IRS speakers. I vowed to one day own a set of Kappa 9's. That still has not happened for me, but many years ago I did acquire a pair of infinitesimal 0.1's that I enjoy as my computer speakers.
-Peter Straub
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It was third or fourth grade. I was in music class, teacher wanted us to listen to something. So he turned out the lights, and hit play.
What Ensued left me speechless. Things were coming from the left, right, center. It was dynamic. It flooded every sense I had, I was hooked from then on.
Track in question. https://youtu.be/4nMUr8Rt2AI
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I remember quite clearly in late 1969 realizing that a lot of my peers had systems and wondering what the fuss was all about.
More subtly, my father's influence in knowing something about and loving music was also at work. He was a guitar player, recreationally, but had played for a "living" briefly as a very young man with a country singer named Floyd Tillman ("hard core" country from the 30's forward).
So, I found the most popular hifi emporium in Houston and bought Akai Speakers, Sansui Receiver, Dual Turntable with Shure needle, zip cord wire and was in heaven.
Everything else since then is somehow connected to that beginning and the passion is as alive today as it was then (just bought a new amp, the NAD C298 and my wife of 50 years is gobsmacked at the sound, which means that it's a good piece. :)
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My (now fiancé) and I’d second date. We had been talking about music, and he was the only person I’d ever found who “got” it. I had no idea there was a whole community of us nuts! He played me Pink Floyd (naturally) on his B&W and that was the end of it for me. Currently listening to a pair of Vandersteen Model 1 with a Harman Kardon 730, and collecting too much secondhand equipment. :wink:
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=221260)
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=221260)
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=221260)
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Oh nice, you remember me the great Syd Barret
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H6ci4pAYiUw
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7c0EDM-Yu9o
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When I got tired of buying 9 volt batteries and bought a bigger radio with an AC cord in 1964.
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I think it was probably the Sony Walkman that got me started. There was a clear difference in quality between cheap portable cassette players (and headphones) versus the better Sonys. Yeah...that was probably my very first foray into chasing better sound. I was just a kid. Fun memories of a simpler time! :D
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Music had been a passion of mine for a long time, leading me eventually down the path of learning to play the bass guitar, but the high-end audio bug struck me when I first began to try and record my instrument in a home studio setting. Realizing how... poor... my amateur recording attempts sounded like made me fully grasp the extent to which attention to detail in the process of recording, mixing, mastering, etc. makes the world of a difference in how a song sounds, in how it resonates with your body and soul when you hear it. Naturally, that made me appreciate the reproduction of audio all the more and here I am today.
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For me, it all began as a teenager (late 60's) and cash has always been a restricting factor...but I did start out with a Naim amp, B&W speakers (terrible mismatch in regards to power capability/need!) and a Rega Planar 3 turntable with a Grace F9E cartridge - one of the few that could track the Telarc 1812 vinyl! Today, I'm in search of good bass, as 20kHz tweeters are almost unnecessary now! :D
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Hello Audio Circle friends,
Do you recall when the passion struck? Was it a single bolt of lightning or a slow reveal through multiple moments? Where were you and when? What type of music were you listening to? When did you become conscious of the fact it became a hobby (version a simple interest) ...or an obsession.
I thought answering this would be easy, but now realize that for me, it was a slow reveal with a lightning strike in the middle, which is when I was in London in 2011 for work. I went to Bond Street to look at watches (purely for fun) and to an audiophile store of which I can't remember the name. It was there that I got to listen to Big Love from Fleetwood Mac on a set of STAX SR-009.
That was it. I still love my Thiel speakers, Eagle amps, etc., but now I'm a headphone guy. Boom.
When I was a wee lad my grandfather had a 1940’s home entertainment console that contained an AM and shortwave tuner, a turntable, and a single large coaxial speaker. I would take every opportunity to listen to it, as his home was only a few hundred yards from mine. I am guessing I was 4 or 5 when I started and I delighted in pulling in foreign broadcasts on the S/W radio, particularly after sundown..
I think this interest in logging foreign broadcasts when I was a wee lad led to my working for the NSA later in life, but that’s another very long story.
Cheers
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Hello Audio Circle friends,
Do you recall when the passion struck? Was it a single bolt of lightning or a slow reveal through multiple moments? Where were you and when? What type of music were you listening to? When did you become conscious of the fact it became a hobby (version a simple interest) ...or an obsession.
I thought answering this would be easy, but now realize that for me, it was a slow reveal with a lightning strike in the middle, which is when I was in London in 2011 for work. I went to Bond Street to look at watches (purely for fun) and to an audiophile store of which I can't remember the name. It was there that I got to listen to Big Love from Fleetwood Mac on a set of STAX SR-009.
That was it. I still love my Thiel speakers, Eagle amps, etc., but now I'm a headphone guy. Boom.
I “thought” I had a good system (AR receiver/AR 3a speakers/AR turntable w/Shure V-15 Type 3 phono cartridge) until I heard “Tubular Bell’s” on a ………
Audio Research SP-3a/Audio Research D-75’s/Magnaplanar Tympani 1-D speakers in in a Sound Approach audio store in Norfolk, Virginia in 1972.
I was gobsmacked by this demo and life changed for me.
Cheers 😎
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I had just started high school and my father bought me a Sears Rack system (100 WPC!!!! :lol:) for my birthday and a friend bought me So by Peter Gabriel. Near-field loud listening in my room was Nirvana and about as good as other discoveries of the time 8). Starting joining Columbia House over and over again and recording albums to tape.
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Started when I was 8th grade. I skipped school to hear a friend's Rotel amp and Jensen speakers. He and his older brother had purchased the system together. I do not remember what turntable he was using. The bass was so powerful and the Jensen's moved so much air I could feel it in my chest and my pant legs moved. Wicked cool for a young kid who had never heard any music beyond what was on TV. I was poor and could not afford to buy a system, but I had a paper route. I spent the next year delivering papers and scrounging for old consoles, speakers, cassette players anything I could find on trash day. I cobbled together a turntable with washers and bolts for counter weights, a cassette deck I rigged up to serve as an phono / amp, and Zenith speakers ripped from several consoles, connected with lamp cord. It did not sound great, but it stirred a passion and addiction for audio and tweaks.
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18 year old me was driving down the road with my father by my side, when I spotted a small Hi-Fi store. We stopped by and met the owner of 40 years. Since we had time to kill, the owner was kind enough to demo some Maggie’s. I was blown away and I knew I then wanted to replicate that experience. 2 years later here I am. Diving headfirst into the audiophile world :D
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Hi - New to this site. The bug hit me when I was very young. Along with my 2 parents, I am the youngest of 6 kids. We always had a stereo in out LR and we all somehow took turns playing the music we liked. My dad played his swing and big band 78's, my mom listened to opera every Saturday, and my older siblings introduced me to anything from Metheny to Zappa to Tull to the soundtrack to American Graffiti. It was years before I developed my own tastes and built a system in my won room, but that's where it all started. I miss those times.
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Whe I was a teenager my father built a Heathkit. His success sparked my interest. I watched him build speakers , amplifier, FM tuner and an add on stereo multiplexer. That was over 40 years ago. Still hooked.
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Frederick here. Mine Started back in school in the 90s reading my first Car Audio Magazine. :D :D :D
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Mid 60s began the passion. Mom was an opera Soprano and practiced all day long. Dad bought her a huge console LP player which I immediately took over for Beatles albums. Of course, Dad chased me off it by buying me an all-in-one record player. But, I loved that portable player. All grown up now and I am almost all classical with some jazz.
Marcus
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When I got my first and only system - pictured below.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=224259)
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I remember well my realisation that sound quality was important to me.
I was finally buying my first "real" system, as in not a boom box! :lol:
Went to the store armed with a wide cross section of CDs with the various genres I listen to and a budget.
The sales rep eventually left me alone as I listened to each CD on every system at or around my price point.
Eventually went home with a Yamaha separate system, which was neither the most expensive nor the loudest nor the "boomiest" (?).
But the clarity of the sound was fantastic.
As I learned and evolved, that system grew with me.
Had my listening room setup *just* right so that with the right recording, I got surround sound effect from the 2 speakers.
Absolutely loved it.
To this day, clarity over cost and loudness continues to be my theme.
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As far back as I can remember I’ve always been fascinated with audio. It transitioned from listening to creating, and now it’s been a mix of the two. More stereo listening to vinyl since lately, and been bit hard by both.
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1976, my first year in college when I heard an all marantz system. Although it could be a few years earlier when my father built an all tube Heathkit tube amp, preamp, tuner and TT. He was an electrical engineer so it was a piece of cake for him.
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50 years ago. Still trucking.
charles
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My most resent bolt of audiophile awareness came from my DIY Speaker build. I paid about $270 for a DIY speaker kit, put it together very quickly and haphazardly and it out performed ALL of my previous store bought speakers. Some costing nearly 10 times as much. This lit a fire in me to step up and do better. Better quality sound does not have to cost more.
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Mine started 30 years ago when I met with tube amps and Quad 57s and a nice turntable. I listened and was instantly hooked. While still in college I met Richard Fry of Spectural Audio, who sold me one of his pre-amps and with their advice got a budget amp (Dynaco monoblocks), Connoisseur Turntable and a set of Quad ESL 57s. Today I still have the quads, a better turntable but with the same preamp and amp and still loving it!
Adding to that I have 10 of Danny's GR Research speakers for my computer room, media room and kitchen/dining/living room combinations.
Now I'm toying with the idea of selling the Quads and getting Danny's NX-Otica Speakers and an Open Baffle woofer!!
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Mine started in 1970.We had a Stereo store and the guy sold Marantz Tube gear and McIntosh gear, Fisher, AR speakers, KLH Speakers, Dual, Garrard, Quad a host of Reel to Reels I can't remember. I went to work there part time and ended up with some pretty neat gear over tme
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I loved music from as young as I can remember. The quest for ever-better sounding equipment started with the cheap tabletop Panasonic my parents bought in the '70's to replace our mono am radio; what had i been missing?. Later plugged into that same Panasonic the get-well gift my mom's boss bought me in the early '80's - decent but not high end headphones. I heard things I had never heard before and was hooked ... it got worse / better from there.
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2009 ... The Beatles were releasing their remastered box sets. I was only using a boombox at the time but I wanted to get a proper stereo system in order to appreciate the "new" release. I started with a pair of vintage speakers and I've been adding and tweaking ever since. A lot of $$ has gone out the door in those 12 years!
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Hi all,
I think I got bit by the analog bug because of live music’s ability to surround the listener and plaster a smile there that only can be had by going to another concert. I knew digital music could sound clean and clear, but had not been exposed to what a good analog system could do. I had bought a few records over the years played on an old dual. Then I acquired a crate of records from my wifes father. I bought a cheap direct drive numark dj table and mounted a stanton mkIII cart, then a shure 97xe, and on to jico sas upgrade. I figured I had better give these records a solid presentation before I would let them go. Since those earlier days , separates have entered the picture and listening life has forever changed! I feel very fortunate that people share their experiences with audio as the help navigating components is invaluable. Hope to return the favor as the sounds just get better the more I learn.
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The passion actually clicked during COVID-19. Once you’ve been forced to shelter in place for months and not travel, you end up wondering what to use that money you otherwise would’ve spent on travel for. What better way to enjoy home life than sprucing you your audio set up? Once I started upgrading and learning the intricacies of what makes great sound, I was hooked!
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It's hard to pinpoint THE exact moment my eyes were opened to the Hifi world. Firstly because it's always been about music, not audio, and my passion for music goes back to even before I can remember. At 14 I spent my "confirmation" money on a Fisher stereo. That gave me a lot of joy, but it wouldn't have been anyone's idea of "Audiophile". In my early twenties I was ready to upgrade. I got a pair of Snell E3s privately from a an employee in a local hifi shop and that was my first "Audiophile" purchase. The natural, very musical sound of the Snells made listening to music so much more enjoyable. I remember how they made albums like Jeff Buckley's "Grace", Ben Harper's "Fight For Your Mind" and Maria Mckee's "You've Gotta Sin To Get Saved" so much more powerful and intimate. Since then I've always valued musicality, naturalness and air above most other parameters in hifi...
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Hmnnn what a great topic for an intro! I think I was hooked when listening to the radio premiere/release of Wish you Were Here at 15, through a home made mono setup consisting of some full range drivers rescued from a brothel inside a couple of cardboard boxes and tied to the heating pipes and then realizing how much one can be transported by psycho acoustics and artists. I had already been touched by some JBL magic at a friend’s house so when I went past hi-end audio stores I knew that a world was waiting to be explored. Each little step thereafter has been joyous, even menial scenarios have allowed for learning and now, here, I hope to continue the journey amongst kindred spirits. Simple setup, Linn Majik and Totem Arro at the moment. Cheers!
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Great topic: I can remember the early years going to my best friends house when I was 12 and his dad had a built-in Scott Integrated amp and turn table and small Wharfedale floor speakers. Gorgeous stuff. I lived in a small apartment and had a Panasonic amp combo with turntable and 8 Track deck stack unit. So years later, a friend of my dad give him: Fairchild turntable, Dynaco separate amps and preamp, (2) "massive" 15" electro voice speakers and T-35 Tweeters and huge electro voice cross overs. I never saw any thing like this. So, I took my two small dressers and pulled all the clothes out and put plywood on the front and stuffed it will insulation and mounted the speakers and hooked it up. I remember listening to Jethro Tull, Thick as Brick a 1000 times. From there, I bought a nice Pioneer receiver from a friend and a pair of Yamaha speakers. Then, when I got to working, Luxman L110 and T-110 tuner, and then Kinergetics KBA 100 and then Adcom, B&K. I have owned Bose 901, Walsh 4's, Real to Real/Legacy Audio Classics, Thiel 03As, Mirage OM7s. I am retired now with a Peachtree Nova 125 and Legacy Audio Monitors but I have a nice room upstairs I would like to start some trouble in. I like Luxman or Accuphase integrated, and Thiel CS 2.4? I love Salk Audio, Kerr Acoustics, Nestorovic 5As and Obelisk/Shahinian. That is my journey so far.
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I remember listening to Jethro Tull, Thick as Brick a 1000 times.
I listened to Thick as a Brick 1000 times too, and saw them on the 1972 Thick as a Brick tour, my favorite concert of all time. 49 years later I still listen to the album frequently, the Steven Wilson remaster sounds fantastic on a nice audio system.
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I was 12 years old and riding with my dad in his truck when Pink Floyd "Brain Damage" and Eclipse was on the radio. I asked him who it was and he said "Pink Floyd" while turning it up loud. That was the moment.
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As I read the main post, these thoughts came to mind. I have an older brother that is into cars and audio. Through him, I learned about a stereo with towers and audio systems in vehicles. Eventually, I found a Technics receiver and hooked up some Sony stand mount speakers. It sounded good, but back in those days good to me was loudness with clarity.
Fast forward a few years, I purchased my first car. As it was my “race car” I did not add a system to it, but did on my second car. That is when I wanted subwoofers to add to the music enjoyment. Comparing the music reproduction to my car and brother’s stereo I said there is something missing here. I lowered the input sensitivity on the subwoofer amplifier so that the front mains blend with the low-end extension. It sounded more balanced, but there was something still missing.
Years later when I got into mobile audio, I purchased equipment with sound quality in mind. Most importantly powerful components that had great mid bass as I remembered that it was one thing that lacked in my previous car. From there, clarity imaging, etc. was my goal.
This year, about six months ago, I got into home audio. I thought I can reproduce music better in my home, let’s give it a shot. After researching different components, I decided to purchase what I have now. My goal was to have a budget stereo system that was able to get loud yet sound great doing it. Thanks to some of the people I follow on YouTube, they confirmed what to expect from the given components that I purchased.
I have never heard a system like mine. Keep in mind that i do not have friends that are into audio like me, so I have not auditioned many stereo's. Considering the world we live in today, I have not had a chance to visit any dealers and listen to more speakers. You guys, I think the audio bug has bit me.
My System:
Outlaw Audio RR2160MKII
Elac Audio UB52 2.0 stand mounts
Monoprice Monolith 32” stands
Two Elac Audio 10” subwoofers
Mounted above my Outlaw Audio to keep cool:
Currently using Amazon music and Spotify to stream. I plan to purchase a record player in the future….
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🤦♂️Trying to hook my long time 2 channel kenwood ka3500 amplifier to a modern tv when i bought my first home. I got fed up shopping for converters and bought an upper level marantz av. It never sounded as good as my great grandmothers amplifier she passed down. It was then that I realized i had both feet in the rabbit hole and was getting sucked in. Its one of my favorite hobbies. I look forward to meeting you all!-Dodge
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I started playing trumpet in the 5th grade and went on to play in a top notch jazz program. At that point I started listening as much as playing to learn and what I heard reproduced wasn't anything like I hear while playing in the band or other live performances. At that point I cared about audio reproduction and recording with the goal to capture and reproduce the live sound!
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I started playing trumpet in the 5th grade and went on to play in a top notch jazz program. At that point I started listening as much as playing to learn and what I heard reproduced wasn't anything like I hear while playing in the band or other live performances. At that point I cared about audio reproduction and recording with the goal to capture and reproduce the live sound!
Welcome to AudioCircle, Paul
We share a similar story, playing trumpet jazz in school with interest in music, sound and later, hifi.
I have found that larger speakers are required to even begin to approach the feeling of being near a live band, even small band. But if you want to feel like you're onstage in a jazz big band that requires some very large speakers and appropriate sized room to unleash them. Not an easy goal, but if you've been there and have the sickness then it is worthwhile goal, imo.
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While falling deeper into the rabbit hole of DJing, along with clubbing, and experiencing the joy of watching what music can do to a crowd, and the wild impact that great sound has even on crowds that aren't consciously thinking of the quality of the sound!
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Around 10 or 11 years old, parents had descent record collection and my father was a bit of an audiophile. He bought his Klipsch h700 after coming back from Vietnam ( they now sit in my main system after years of pleading with him to pass them on) Those speakers are what started me on this path.
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Great idea OP.
The first decent system bought around '75 was:
yamaha ca-610 integrated
belt drive turntable kit w/vestigal tonearm and stanton cartridge.
dynaco a25
citation tube tuner
I got into the hobby to listen to Grand Funk's self titled second album.
A couple of years later I had:
dynaco mklll, factory assembled with the nickel plated case and gloss black cage, real pretty
pas3x kit
thorens td160 w/grado cartridge
diy transmission line speakers (phillips 7065 woofers and dome tweeters and you could actually buy mdf back then)
Either system would suit me to this day considering the single most important component ever to come about for audio in the last 40yrs is music streaming.
Now I'm listening to, Control-Job To Do
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Guy that worked for my parents took me to his house and his step dad had a huge rack of gear and a horn loaded subwoofer in the basement. I was maybe 15? Back in the early 80’s… I sat in “the chair” he played owner of a lonely heart and my life changed direction that day…
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When I was 20 years old, I worked briefly at Hi-Fi Buys in Ann Arbor MI as a bench tech. They carried Magnepan, Mac, Nakamichi and NAD, among other hi-end brands. For me lighting struck in the form of listening to Tom Petty’s debut album along with Supertramp, both at unhealthy levels of volume ;)
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When my dad bought a Sony HP-610A and a set of headphones. The sound was so much better (and it would play louder) than the Magnavox console.
Thanks for letting me into the group. I'm hoping to find info about ACI Jaguar speakers.
Kevin Looker
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Year of 1976, I was 12, my older friend played "Speed King" by Deep Purple.At that time, we had average stereo at home, but my parents seeing how much I love music, bought me really good system, I was 16.That, when the real hifi adventure began.Of course, I almost destroyed my hearing by headphones.Blasting metal really loud wasn't probably good idea.
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When I was 8 years old I bought Magical Mystery Tour, Beatles in case you are from another world:)
That did not last long, though I still like the Beatles.
I was getting rather advanced in hard rock at such an early age because my friend's brother was in a band.
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The first time that the sound of music actually brought me to tears was listening to Wendy Carlos's "Switched on Brandenburg" ... listening in the dark, on a crappy stereo (and yes - totally straight). Sometime around my freshman year in college. Not that I didn't like music, buy albums, and listen to music before then (sang in HS chorus as well) - but that is the first time that LISTENING to music had that effect - so I guess it was my first true audiophile moment.
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1966. I was six YO. Mom brought me home from Tulsa Little Theatre rehearsal. We walk in the house and Dad is sitting on the floor with a glass of whiskey in his hand listening to Take Five on his Jensen driven Dynaco. I saw that and thought "that is what I want to be".
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I listened to Thick as a Brick 1000 times too, and saw them on the 1972 Thick as a Brick tour, my favorite concert of all time. 49 years later I still listen to the album frequently, the Steven Wilson remaster sounds fantastic on a nice audio system.
I saw them on that tour, too, at the now-vanished Chicago Stadium. Fall of my freshman year in college.
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Hello all, I am new to AudioCircle. My passion for becoming an audiophile began about 11 years ago when I moved on from home theater in a box and bought my first set of seperates.
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love for music (unrequited) in teens
late 20s when the hand me down cheap system broke down
was the late 80s
yes i m old
...anyway...decided to get into proper hi-fi (regrets to this day...) and get into budget stuff and got a NAD amp and CD player
-sigh-
CDs made me chase for the kind of sound I already had from throwaway gear but from analog
well digital did get better, eventually.
40 years later.
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In the 70's. I was into the hard rock scene at that time and still am. I worked, saved and spent for a really decent system. 50's and 60's jazz came much later.
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I went to festival for the first time and listened to g jones. Da bass struck my heart and sound design blew my mind. I was an audiophile ever since
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CanJam 2019 in New York City had Innuos demo their different music servers with a stack of Chord TT2s. I donned a pair of Dan Clark Audio Ether C Flow headphones and could stick the quarter inch plug into the different TT2s to hear the different servers. The sound was great out of all of them. It blew my mind that different digital sources could sound so different. I’ve been on a quest to replicate this feeling of being awestruck ever since.
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the passion hit my ears when I was introduced to the B&W 805D's.
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Hi all, This is my first post so and this thread looked like a good way to introduce myself.
I've been a music lover all my life and I have worked in music in various capacities.
I didn't really become an audiophile, until recently. I never really could afford it.
The first system I remembered was my parents' Kenwood and these big speakers from a band called Swedish/Sweden <something?>. It got a serious workout in my teenage years.
When I moved out my first system was a hand me down amp and speakers that my parents owned in the 60s-70s. It looked really cool. That was fed by an entry level Pioneer DVD player (great sound!) and an extremely crap record player that I found in a back street. During a period of unemployent I moved back in with my parents and when I moved out again I discovered that they threw out that vintage amp ("it looked old"). :x
About five years or so ago I went to a local hifi shop where I demoed a Cambridge Audio Azur AM10. The sound out of that machine was so sweet and smooth. I was hooked!
I later got their CXU as well because I collect blu-rays as well as CDs and records.
I still love the CXU and AM10, (esp the CXU) but now that I can afford it I want to upgrade my system to something more substantial. Hence I've joined this group to read your comments and hopefully learn something new.
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Hello All,
I'm new to Audio circle. I'm an audiophile and a DIYer in the North Dallas metro area.
I got hooked on Hifi at the age of 12 in the mid 80's I had an uncle that had a Counterpoint preamp, Adcom amp, and a set of Spendor speakers. I have no idea what his TT and CD player were at the time.
I do know that I had already spent my entire life listening to music (young parents into 60s and 70s rock) and that was the first time I ever experienced separation and soundstage. It was unreal to me. I was hooked. It took me a decade or more to even get a system that was a pale imitation of that system. I've been messing around with 2 channels and home theater ever since. I even worked in the industry for a while.
Nathan
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My dad built a stereo in the early ‘60’s and loved playing Mitch Miller, Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, movie soundtracks—you get the picture. Shortly thereafter this 12 year old dropped the needle on his first LP, Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced? Whoa, did that get the family’s attention!
I quickly saved up enough paper route money to buy a Radio Shack portable stereo and my dad helped me solder in a headphone jack. Haha, I wonder why!?
50+ years later, evolving up through systems here I am still enjoying Hendrix and so much other music.
Good audio, great pastime!
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when I was 4-5 years old, I fell in love with music along with all things electrical! The Rolling Stones' Get off of my cloud rocked my world.
Remember it's all about the tunes!
George
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Music in classical form has been a life long constant from childhood with my Mom having the radio always on and tuned to KKHI through today where it’s my constant work from home companion. I can trace the passion back to a day in the early 70’s when my future and now ex brother in law gave me a few albums including Zeppelin 4 and Cream “Wheels of Fire”.
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When I was around 14 years old, my best friend's dad bought a console system. One of those cabinets with a turntable and a radio and stereo speakers. I remember listening to Roy Orbison singing "Sweet Dreams" on that system and thinking "wow". Then the dad played some records with sound effects like thunder storms and steam trains with the sound approaching and then going by. I was blown away with the realism. I was hooked from then on. I built speaker systems, built a 50 watt per channel integrated amp from Heathkit (it worked first try), designed and installed sound systems in every car I owned. Now my system consists of: main speakers - the ME-2 designed by Lynn Olsen, a pair of large ported sub woofers using Adire Audio 12" Shiva drivers. The power is a Marantz SR7005 with a modified Marchand Bassis to shape and control the bass response of the subwoofers, each sub has a 300 watt plate amp. The subs measure down to 16 hz (-6db) in my room. The center channel is the same as the main stereo speakers. The rear speaker are ??, but are a three way with a 8" woofer mounted in the ceiling behind the listening area. It's been a fun somewhat costly journey. Fortunately at 78 years my hearing is still good.
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For me it was a single stroke of lighting as you say.
I had a set of Harman Kardon HK3300 that I got at a garage sale and I was happy with that until one day I was cleaning and moving my speakers. When I unplugged the speaker they crossed, I think, and a puff of smoke came out of the HK. A stroke of lighting as you say. I had left the HK turned on. I took it to a local hifi shop and they said it wasn't worth the cost to repair it...why don't i browse their used room.
I have been buying and trading up from them ever sense.
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The Audiophile Moment - passion struck first in a Radio Shack listening to a pair of realistic speakers. It grew through my brother's Sansui quadrophonic system and has been burning bright ever since.
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I'm dating myself but i started with Heathkit and then worked my way up through "Rat Shack" then on to Dynaco. I started with tubes and transitioned to transistors. I'm an EE so I've seen the transition over the last sixty years from tubes to transistors and back again. Now we have Gallium Nitride with quicker response times. What's best? I think it may be time to upgrade my ears!
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I was 3ish.. my folks had a Marantz 2215, 8 track and some Ampex speakers. We (sister and I) were allowed to use it..
I was fascinated by the lighted blue dial and the wheel i could spin, to bring in radio stations. Too young to read, I gave names to the 8track tapes. There was one I called 'big nose' that had >> a close up of a big nose on the front pic. Not sure what that was now, but I liked it, played it a lot.
Some time after, at 5, I heard a pair of Bose 901s in a well set up 'listening room'. (yeh i can hear folk groaning now) but at the time, compared to 2 smaller Ampex speakers, in a wood floored open area, these ceiling suspended marvels, blew my mind. The sound seemed to be coming from everywhere.
Later on in life, chasing that dream/ vision, I would buy a Bose 125W, wood sided receiver and some 901s, but it wasn't the same. Possibly my expectations had shifted. I also used to really like orange soda, until I puked it up, with some hot dogs.
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I also used to really like orange soda, until I puked it up, with some hot dogs.
Lol. Pretty sure we all have an orange soda story. Good times.
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My passion stared around the age of 16 when I was starting to go see more and more live music and would appreciate a good sound system at an event.
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My moment was in college about 30 years ago when I bought an Onkyo integrated amplifier and some large Cerwin Vega floorstanders.
I thought I was buying a great system....as it turns out, the amp was ok but the CV's were awful. I kept blowing drivers on them.
I knew at that point that there must be better products out there, and I started exploring.
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9 years old when I garbage picked an old tube Westinghouse radio with a giant electrodynamic speaker. What bass!
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I was 9 or 10, the Beatles had hit the US shores so I asked for a record player and records for birthday or Christmas. I got a little white GE portable record player and two albums. No Beatles or Stones in our Eisenhower Republican house, I received Peter, Paul, and Mary, See What Tomorrow Brings, a pretty good album actually and began a lifelong love of folk music, and The Alamo, a dramatization that set off my interest in history. I must have played those albums a thousand times, I still remember the lyrics to some of the songs.
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When I realized how much better my dad's Dynaco system sounded than my Soundesign all-in-one.
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54 years ago.
charles
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1. Listening to classical music on my family's stereo console on Sunday afternoon's while my father and I read the Courier Journal. Circa early 60's.
2. Enhanced when my older brother brought home a reel to reel and played back Beatles recordings he had made last a friend's house.
3. As a teenager, making a set of speakers using old drivers from a non-functioning unit with cardboard boxes as enclosures.
4. Buying a Pioneer receiver for college and listening to the King Biscuit Flower Hour.
5. A renewed interest that really started the ball rolling years later when I found a pair of Ohm speakers going for a huge discount at a department store warehouse.
Hey, it's more than a moment. More like momentum.
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When I was 16 my Dad bought me and my brother a joint Christmas present of an HMV record player with a built in receiver and an extension speaker producing stereo :lol: We used to put the speakers as far apart as possible to get wide stereo, hole in the middle, probably, but we enjoyed it. First proper system, now married, was a Dual 506, some Kef floorstanders and a NAD 3020. Typical of the time, it was the 3rd biggest expenditure after house and car.
Years later, once our kids had grown up I started down the DIY route, first restoring/modifying Lencos then building speakers mainly using Jordan full range drivers. I've dabbled with electronics and most worked but I still don't trust myself with things electronic.
Cheers, Ian
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I grew up listening to music, lots of Jazz and Blues and a lot of Baroque music too. I took over my parent's record collection when I was 15, and with it a fantastic Braun Hifi system designed by Dieter Rams, which my dad bought himself as a student in the early 70s. It consists of an amp, a record player, an upright tape deck and a pair of matching speakers. Still love this system to this day, and whenever I visit my parents, I play some music on it. It's probably due for a service...
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Hello,
I feel like it has been most of my life. I grew up with a family that always had car stereos, played music in bands, and always had something on in the house or the car. My Dad growing up had a pair of cornwalls in the living room for most of my childhood.
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That is a question I've asked myself. I can not remember a time that I was not interested in trying to make everyone's "Stereo" sound better. Whenever I'd go to a friends after school and watch the Three Stooges I'd always tweak with the rabbit ears. I would hate to hear the sound of a fading television station while watching the Stooges. I'd miss one of Curly's signature noises he'd make. Then I turned 17, I had to rewire every speaker that would come with a "Stereo receiver". By the way I am 61. Thanks for asking.
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It runs in the family. Both my father and paternal grandfather loved music, and wanted great sound reproduction in their living rooms, and wanted to talk about and celebrate the equipment. I inherited the obsession in elementary school and it has persisted, for better or worse, into my 60th year on this earth.
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Must have been in the late nineties, listening to Pink Floyd "High hopes" through NHT 2.5i speakers and Carver amp.
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The passion struck me when I was a teenager and had access to the Hi-Fi clubs on military installations overseas!!
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For me it was when I was 15. Saved up some money and bought a Sansui AU9900. A classic that I wish I still had.
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I remember it very well. I was in 6th grade and my Aunt Clara bought me a new to me cabinet stereo with built in speakers for my birthday. Oh how I loved that stereo. It had AM/FM tuner an 8 track tape player and the all mighty turntable. I enjoyed finding albums at the thrift stores and spending the hot Arizona summers building models and listening to my mighty record collection. :icon_lol:
Johan
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Glad to be part of this community!
I spent my younger days obsessed with car audio, I was "the car stereo guy" at my high school. My dad had a Phase linear 400, Pioneer receiver and some Janszen electrostats. I loved em and they've been in storage for over 20 years. After many trials and fails trying to make new home theater equipment sing like I remembered, I dug out the old equipment. Started the process of repairing (much of which was extensive) and setting up my man cave. I am now totally obsessed with 2 channel stereo and have an entire rack of equipment, most in queue to be repaired. Enjoying the vintage reboot of my free time!
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About 20 years ago. Since I was 15. Probably before then if I think about it. 20 years later, still in search of the "Perfect" sounding setup somehow, even though I have a lot of wonderful gear.
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For me it was actually the first time I put on a decent set of headphones that my cousin had. It was a pair of base heavy Sonys from the early 1990s and it was connected to his discman but I had never heard music that clearly before. Started chasing that.
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Got my first system in 1976 from Tech Hifi in Boston.
Upgraded it in 1977, 1978, 1979, … 8)
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It was when I first got to America in 2010 and bought earbuds I was 10 at the time, I got em from Dollar Tree, I thought distortion at 40% volume and muddied vocal and bass along with a general sense of dread when listening was just because I was listening to music on YT. Then one day some doofus left his earbuds on a bench, I waited 20 mins and he never came back so I picked it up. I think it was Sony? or Philips? That was when I first got introduced to too much treble so instead of shouty it was more like shrieking, even with that though it was clear and everything was pleasant enough to listen to. I knew I wanted better so I looked it up, it was 80 bucks and I couldn't really go around asking my parents for that stuff.
it wasn't until I was in high school that I owned something besides the typical apple earbuds, I already bought plenty of random IEMs that sounded good to me. Then I got the HyperX cloud headset and that's when I learned headphone clamp force were a thing. Squeezed my head so hard it gave me a headache and I kept them like that for way too long. My first real "hi-fi" headset was the HD599SE, got em for 100 bucks at amazon. It was good but it didn't wow me because I didn't know what to expect with it being my first set, and I used to EQ incorrectly everything I ran into.
now I'm here, trying to learn more about it and getting into the hobby. I try not to get too caught up looking for the best or the FRs and blast some music every now and then. Music's just amazingly great with a great set of cans
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I first got the bug around 1960. My dad loved big band and jazz, and bought a Fisher console to feed his addiction. I suddenly realized that my little transistor radio was selling music short. Bought my first LPs and confirmed there was good music and great music.
My dad started buying me "kits" to build my own system. Taught me how to solder and read a schematic and I was off to the races.
With a brother, we found old gear like tube consoles being thrown out. We would carry them home and try our luck. That got us our first TV and later our first color TV, along with more stereo systems to compare. I became a packrat at the local stereo stores. Within a decade I knew all the great gear names I couldn't afford, and yet managed to build a decent system because I could find broken gear cheap and occasionally fix things. Worked up to my first audiophile system by 1980, which I used for 20 years.
Everything since has been seeing how many different ways great music can be played and heard.
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I bought gear when I was in college back in 1979. Thank goodness I kept my amp. A Sansui AU 7 17. My friend & I dug it out of storage and started cleaning it up, but it needed professional help. I had it restored and added some AR11’s along width my old HK turntable and from there there was no turning back! I’m a low (to mid) budget VINTAGE dude, and so is my gear.
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The interest build was slow through the decades of growing up until 2023 when the desire really kicked in. I got an OB speaker with complimenting amp and room correction. Although most of my preference is listening via speakers, I had to get a decent headphone with complimentary amp and I am very happy that I did.
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I just got bit after I got rid of my klipshhorns and got a pair of jbl l7s. Who knew?. Im now looking for Looking for a pair of jbl4648a-8 or even just componets.
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Hello to everyone,
I'm new here, so I don't even know if I'm on the right thread, it's seems a little tricky how to navigate where to post a new post.
So I guess I'll start here and hope that's fine.
I started getting into audio when I was 10 years old, my uncle got me into audio since then.
It all started around 1975 ish. He had scott audio integrated amp and some diy criterion laffeyette speakers. He was a good man and he past away at the age of 38. After being an achoholic most of his life, he found his passion and he opened up a vcr repair shop at home called woods electronics. He gave up drinking found his dream and made it happen, and after a year later he passed away with cancer. I continue his passion with this hobby.
I will continue more about how much I appreciate this hobby. I had my goods and bads about it but it keeps me happy.
I have some Vincent audio gear and some crown amps.. Tekton speakers and vanguard scout book shelf speakers, etc.
Enjoy the music.
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I got the bug playing with diy speakers. I’ve built a few subs and played around with horn speakers. Open baffle speakers intrigue me as well.