How did you contract "Audiophilia"


I remember it well. The year was 1973 the place was Austin Texas. I was stationed at Bergstrom Air Force Base and befriended a guy in my squadron who had just returned from a tour in Japan. He invited me over to listen to music at his house. He played a lot of good records. The Rascals, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, etc. Then he put on Dark Side of the Moon and turned up the volume to what at first seemed like ridiculous levels. But, as I listened, the music pulled me in. I heard details in that album I had never experienced in recorded music before. The record took me on a journey. When the silence at the end of the second side brought me out of my dream, I was hooked. His simple system consisted of a turntable (I can't remember the brand), connected to a Phase Linear amplifier and driving a pair of JBL Athena 99 loudspeakers. I've never been totally satisfied when my playback equipment since then, always searching for better sound. What was your first foray into hifi?
danoroo

Showing 2 responses by tostadosunidos

Around '73 or '74 I walked into High Fidelity, Inc. in Austin and walked out with a Mac 2300 power amp for our band's PA. I had a pair of Advent speakers and then graduated to Mac ML1's and Mac preamps. I loved their "thump" for loud rock but was never sold on their overall "sound of reality" when it came to acoustic sounds, especially classical music. I fell away from audiophilia in the 80's and re-entered around the turn of the century. I can't speak for all brands but I like my newer stuff better, whether vinyl or digital format.
Danoroo, you're thinking of Audio Concepts--it was in Dobie Mall at 21st and Guadalupe. As Sfar pointed out, HiFinc was on Lavaca, around the 1700 block I think. Later they opened another store on Anderson near MoPac and eventually closed the Lavaca store. Now both HiFi INC stores are long gone. As is Audio Concepts. But we've still got some brick and mortar stores with some fine equipment to offer.