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What started you on the merry go round?

Forgive me if this is an old thread, but can you look back and say a particular event, experience, got you started? For some it may be your Dad, perhaps attending a show, or a friend.
For me it was sometime in the Autumn of 1977. I had just started in my first residency job in the National Health Service in Devon. Ian a fellow serf in the hospital trenches had a pretty good system for the time and his salary, Linn LP12/SME 309/Shure, Monitor Audio speakers, I can'nt remember the rest. I was getting into Opera then and he played the Beecham version of Puccini's La Boheme, I bought the set about this time and it is still the first record I would rescue in a fire. It was the entry of Mimi in Act 1, scene 1. Victoria De Los Angeles was perfect on that record and it was as if an angel had come into the room. Well that was it for me and I started the long, hesitant road to where I am now, with a long gap when the kids were young.
Did any of you guys have a similar "epithany"
david12

Showing 2 responses by don_s

don_s
271 posts
 
Large Advents---It's all their fault. They blew away everything in the store except for the most expensive stuff. Got them home but the magic wasn't there. Added a McIntosh 6100 and it was a lot better but still a far cry from what I heard in the audio store.

I realized my old turntable was off kilter. The heavy platter did not seem warped when I removed it and checked it, but every revolution the tonearm would do a roller coaster ride. I replaced it with a Dual 601 and Sure V-15 Type III (I think) cartridge. I stood there dumbfounded, literally jaw open, at the first track played--"Diamonds and Rust".

It was downhill from there. Hooked and craving more. Stacked Advents then DQ-10s and, and, and.............

By the way, has anyone seen my DQ10s? They were stolen in 1992 and I would like them back. My name is on the rear and I signed the custom walnut bases I made.
don_s
271 posts
 
Perhaps I slightly misinterpreted the question. Consider this a prequel to my previous post.

There was no music in my house while I was growing up. My parents did not play period. And I don't mean just music. There were no older siblings to lead the way. I did not drive yet so there was no car radio.

For high school graduation an Uncle bought me a transistor radio. Yes, a stupid little radio that ran on a 9-V battery. The iPod of the 60's. I worked on an estate that summer doing yard work. The radio went everywhere with me. Not sure how I kept it in batteries.

I paid my own way through college but I managed to scrape together enough for a suitcase-style (GE) system. It was a turntable that folded down and two speakers that detached from each end. My best buddy had one so I had to have one too.

Fast forward to my first "real" job after graduate school. Woooheeee, I had money for the first time. I bought a 35mm camera and a Radio Shack (Allied) stereo system. That evolved into the Dual/McIntosh/Advent system described above.

To mix up metaphors---from humble beginnings grew the mighty oak. There might even be hope for the iPod generation yet.
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