[Bob in St. Louis]

Mine was the mid-eighties. Turntable. Billy Joel, "Glass Houses".


Yours?

[Guy 13]

1965 with the Beatles with
turntable 

Guy 13
 

[a.wayne]

1973,  Dave Brubeck , Jazz was played in the house alot , Garrard TT, Sony receiver , KLH speakers .........

[PMAT]

Early 70s listening to The Doors on a Kenwood receiver, dual turntable and Advent speakers.

[Devil Doc]

Mine was the mid-eighties. Turntable. Billy Joel, "Glass Houses".




Yours?

Boy do I. I was laying on the floor in an alternative state of consciousness  when the alarm clock went off. I just about hit the ceiling. That was 1973. In those days I had a Pioneer receiver, AR turntable, and KLH speakers.

Doc

[mcgsxr]

1978, I was 8.  At a friend's house watching his older brother play pool and they were listening to Sgt Pepper. 



I was already playing violin for 3 years at that point, and knew I loved music, but this was the first time that recorded music struck me.  Sadly I also totally loved Boney M's "Nightflight to Venus"...



Reconfirmed fully in 1994 when I was 24 in a local hi end store and heard Rebecca Pidgeon on a Maggie/VTL setup. 



When both my daughters responded well to both Bob Marley and Pink Floyd when they were toddlers, I figured I might be lucky enough to spawn a 2nd generation!

[Emil]

I remember getting this album for Christmas when I was 9 years old.

Susan Dey hubba hubba

[Phil A]

Mine was around 1980 when I got my first set of separates (Phase Linear) and Mirage SM-3 speakers shortly after.  I've continued to keep up with the newer things, although I should be almost ready for this:

[simoon]

Been a musicphile since I heard Sgt Peppers when I was a kid on my portable stereo. You know the type; fold out speakers, tilt down record changer, bunch of silver nobs.

Been a audiophile since I bought my first 'real' system as a late teen, with the purpose of playing music LOUD. But then I noticed something else. It actually hinted at real people, playing instruments, in a real space.

I figured since my relatively inexpensive system could do that, what else was out there that could do it better?

Well, that stupid question has lead me to a life of continuous searching (with a huge helping of frugality and DIY) to keep the search at a reasonable level of expenditure. 

[Early B.]

Wow -- you guys are ancient!   

[JLM]

"Inherited" mom's late 1940's AM tube table radio and bought a $30 Panasonic portable cassette deck to record songs by laying the mike on top of the speaker (about 1970, age 14). 

[Phil A]

Wow -- you guys are ancient!   

Careful there - I am perfectly capable of gumming someone to death

[Zero]

2001 for yours truly.  A pair of Totem Acoustic Sttaf's playing some Ella Fitzgerald followed by a couple tracks from Incubus got me hooked.

[brother love]

Boy do I. I was laying on the floor in an alternative state of consciousness  when the alarm clock went off. I just about hit the ceiling. That was 1973. In those days I had a Pioneer receiver, AR turntable, and KLH speakers.

Doc

Similar experience ...

Senior year in high school, came home from part time job late one night after buying Pink Floyd's Ummagumma.  Was playing a live version of "Careful with that Axe Eugene", & the trippy instrumental was very low volume, so I cranked it up a bit. Then Roger Water's belts out a loud blood-curdling scream.  I leapt up from the bed to turn it down & just knew one of the parents was going to come in & give me pure hell. But I lucked-up, they slept through it.  AR receiver, Celestion speakers, Dual turntable.

[ksbruce]

Mine was the mid-eighties. Turntable. Billy Joel, "Glass Houses".


Yours?

Listening to Heart's Magic Man on an NAD 3020 hooked up to a pair of Polk Monitor 10's. Circa 1980, that was when I learned what imaging was.

[brother love]

I have had so many seminal moments listening to music that resulted in taking steps toward audiophile status ...

Age 9: Watching American Bandstand expecting my fave Louie Louie- Kingsmen to be no. 1, but finding out I want to hold your hand by The Beatles took the top spot.  Next day I bought the 45 of I want to hold your hand/ I saw her standing there, & I didn't even have a record player! Coerced parents to get a console home stereo very soon thereafter.

Age 14: After seeing college football game with friends & riding in the back seat of friend's older brothers Malibu stuck in after game traffic, heard Jimi Hendrix Experience- Are You Experienced & Cream- Wheels of Fire on their 8 track with 6 x 9 rear speakers. Mind blowing ... A couple  months later I got a part time job & saved for first home stereo system (Lloyd's compact stereo with turntable/ 8 track not unlike 1st cartoon pic).

Age 15: Heard Led Zep II on buddies headphones... surreal.  Few weeks later bought Koss Pro4A headphones.

Been upgrading equipment ever since...

[rockadanny]

Audiophile awareness did not happen for me until I was around 50 yrs old. Completely missed that whole world until then. However, the music love bug bit me around age 9.

[SteveFord]

Hmmm...
My mom and one aunt played the piano so that led to piano lessons in the first grade so I really knew what good sound was about from a very early age.  Few things sound more like a piano than the actual instrument!
That led to clarinet and the school band and then guitar around the 6th grade.
Attempts to reproduce that sound in stereo systems began in junior high school and has continued ever since.
To put this in perspective, I'll be turning 56 in three weeks so I've turned over more than a few stereo systems!

[charmerci]

Actually, I can't remember exactly when.


My older brother groomed me. First, he gave me a cheapo stereo for a birthday present. Then sometime, he told me to stop buying singles and buy the album instead - to be played on his nice stereo. Then he would sell me his stuff so that he could buy more expensive stuff - buying and re-selling used equipment. This all took place when I was about 12-13 years old.

[thunderbrick]

Early 60s had a 40s-era floor model radio and would listen to Chad and Jeremy on AM late at night.

Then my father gave me his 1957 mono Garrard/Fisher/University 6201 system that I kept next to my bed, listening to "underground" FM stations at night.  Heard the guitar riffs on a CCR extended play single and was hooked.

DynacoA25/Dahlquist/MartinLogans/Magnepans with innumerable component upgrades later and I find myself turning to the pre-rock Sinatra/Julie London/Nat King Cole more and more.  PLUS Dire Straights, Eva Cassidy, Chris Isaak, Reiner, Reference Recordings, etc.

Ten years ago married a woman who insisted I dump all the vinyl I "wasn't listening to" until I rebuilt my audio room and A/B'd her favorite CD against the LP.  After that she though the used Maggie 20.1s were a great idea.

And here I sit.  Retirement is gonna be a BLAST!!!