[giantsteps]

 
 1958. Rio de Janeiro. I was 21 years old. It was a hot, humid day the waves breaking gently on Ipanema beach. I was looking out my bedroom window gazing at Corcovado. I was excited and filled with anxiety. Suddenly, a knock on the door. "Come in"...and there she was... lying on the floor....in an assortment of boxes....my first Hi-Fi. My father bought me (my choice) a 40 watt Marantz amp with matching preamp, a Rek-o-kut turntable with Shure arm and cartridge. And in the corner of the living room a 3' by 2' Pickering Isophase electrostatic speaker sitting on a mahogany corner enclosure with a 12" Peerless woofer. The beautiful sound and in particular the glorious midrange that emanated from that corner is still vivid in my mind.

 Sigh......................


 Frank

[giantsteps]

  

  Pickering Isophase Electrostatic Loudspeaker


  Frank

[topround]

Frank,
You old dog you
1958
I wasn't even a thought in my fathers mind.
Frank is the Hippest "old man" I know

[giantsteps]

 Aw shucks....


 Frank

[richidoo]

My first serious audio experience was live, standing in the trumpet section of the high school jazz big band in September, 1980, I was 15. My very first rehearsal with them (or any band of that caliber,) the director counts off Kenton's Malaguena which everyone learned over the summer, but never played together before. I was not prepared for that sound. Loud, HUGE, real. No speakers, no LP noise, LOUD! Shit it was so damn loud, but stunningly beautiful and extremely stimulating.

This band was the Massachussetts State and New England big band champions for many years. They sounded like a pro band, but could only play 3 rehearsed tunes Anyway, that first time the sound rose up around me, drums right in front, fender bass to the front left, 5 saxes to the left. 5 bones to the right wailing at full blast, and then BAM! Trumpets exploded around me. I was completely penetrated and rocked by the power of the big band. It was scary, awesome, deeply moving. I was grateful that I was able to keep up, grateful for the chance to feel like that. I enjoyed that moment for all it was worth. In later years it got better and better of course, playing lead trumpet and soloing out in front with the band wailing behind, but that day in 1980 was the first time I was aware of how deeply music could affect me.
Rich

[Zero]

The year 2000.  I had just turned 18. My parents and a neighbor pitched in to buy me a Pioneer receiver and a set of monstrous Polk Audio RT2000p towers as a graduation gift.  I plugged in some Santana -  and have been smitten ever since.

[giantsteps]

My first serious audio experience was live, standing in the trumpet section of the high school jazz big band in September, 1980, I was 15. My very first rehearsal with them (or any band of that caliber,) the director counts off Kenton's Malaguena which everyone learned over the summer, but never played together before. I was not prepared for that sound. Loud, HUGE, real. No speakers, no LP noise, LOUD! Shit it was so damn loud, but stunningly beautiful and extremely stimulating.

This band was the Massachussetts State and New England big band champions for many years. They sounded like a pro band, but could only play 3 rehearsed tunes Anyway, that first time the sound rose up around me, drums right in front, fender bass to the front left, 5 saxes to the left. 5 bones to the right wailing at full blast, and then BAM! Trumpets exploded around me. I was completely penetrated and rocked by the power of the big band. It was scary, awesome, deeply moving. I was grateful that I was able to keep up, grateful for the chance to feel like that. I enjoyed that moment for all it was worth. In later years it got better and better of course, playing lead trumpet and soloing out in front with the band wailing behind, but that day in 1980 was the first time I was aware of how deeply music could affect me.
Rich

 Man! I can hear it! What an experience!
 I love big bands. I was a huge fan of Stan Kenton at the tender age of 8! Then Thad jones-Mel Lewis, then.........
 I'm fortunate to live 40 minutes from Manhattan and once in a while I'll venture in to hear the The Village Vanguard Orch or Maria Schneider...front row of course. Beautiful!


 Frank

[richidoo]

I try to make the Vanguard once a year. PM me when you plan to go in next, I'll meet you there!  I wanna hear Jim Rotondi this year too.
Rich

[giantsteps]

I try to make the Vanguard once a year. PM me when you plan to go in next, I'll meet you there!  I wanna hear Jim Rotondi this year too.
Rich

 Will do!


 Frank

[BrianM]

Like richidoo, mine's a live experience.  My first concert singing in the Chicago Symphony Chorus as a college student, Mahler's Symphony no. 8, Levine conducting.  Being on stage with that orchestra for the first time in the first dress rehearsal, and standing agape as the augmented brass section, plus an extra antiphonal brass choir directly in my right ear, played the living shitola out of the final instrumental coda, just for practice.  Like rich's jazz big band, it was my cherry-popping first exposure to an ear-splitting yet utterly glorious, deafening din of pure unadulterated sonic utopia.  And this was in an outdoor (albeit covered) auditorium...Still gives me chills thinking about it today.

[BrianM]

Oh yeah, and there was a pipe organ behind me, too.

[konut]

It was in 5th or 6th grade, so '63 or '64, I was in the elementary school band, playing clarinet, and the band director gives us tickets to the Jr. high band recital so we could experience what to look forward to after graduating. The recital was pleasant enough but the finale consisted of J.P. Sousa's 'Stars and Stripes Forever'. The director followed the standard practice of having 3 piccolo players come out in front of the band on the obbligato on the first repeat, but nothing could have prepared me for the second repeat where the entire brass sections come out in front, and at FFFF, play the conclusion. They practically blew me out of my seat, and to this day whenever I hear it, my pulse quickens, my chest tightens with emotion, and I tear up. Corny, I know, but such is the power of music. 

[giantsteps]

 1958. Rio de Janeiro. I was 21 years old. It was a hot, humid day the waves breaking gently on Ipanema beach. I was looking out my bedroom window gazing at Corcovado. I was excited and filled with anxiety. Suddenly, a knock on the door. "Come in"...and there she was... lying on the floor....in an assortment of boxes....my first Hi-Fi. My father bought me (my choice) a 40 watt Marantz amp with matching preamp, a Rek-o-kut turntable with Shure arm and cartridge. And in the corner of the living room a 3' by 2' Pickering Isophase electrostatic speaker sitting on a mahogany corner enclosure with a 12" Peerless woofer. The beautiful sound and in particular the glorious midrange that emanated from that corner is still vivid in my mind.

 Sigh......................


 Frank

[giantsteps]

 I tried to insert this post with the new thread "my first time" but it didn't quite work out. My bad.


 Frank