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Memories........What made you catch the Audio Bug?

I remember back in high school, my ''industrial arts'' teacher was an avid audiophile and music lover. We are going back to '73 now. I remember one day being very different from any other. Upon entering class for our usual 40 minutes of the usual wood-cutting and bird-cage building routine,(some of us were luckier, getting ,'design' classes instead) we found our teacher,Ed, busy at setting up an LP on a Thorens turntable. Alongside, some strange, industrial-looking brown and orange boxes (QUAD) and a cloth-wrapped box with the initals B&W on them. He informed us that, today, we would discover something new, ''high-Fidelity'' as he called it.

We all sat in awe as our teacher put the SGT Peppers Lonely Hearts on full blast, to the amazement of everyone in the room. Wow! What was THAT? The equipment, the sound, the MUSIC was unlike anything most of us had ever seen or heard. I remember thinking to myself, now this is how the Beatles really sound like? I just could not beleive it.

I remember that we had no quality music equipement in our home back then, as with most other kids.

It was just amazing. Word got around that 'something special was happening, in industrial art's class. Turned out the topic of the week was 'high-fidelity' discovery I guess, as every other class in turn got the same treatment all week long.

The Following year, our teacher somehow managed to get the school board to approve a special ''equipement'' expenditure, officially probably a vacuum system, or new circular saw, or band saw, whatever. The class built a special wooden closet complete with locks, to accept the new ''equipement''. When it finally arrived, holy smokes, a McIntosh amplifier and preamp, with Thorens turntable !

We ended up ''founding'' an audiophile club at school, and would have students spend their lunch hour seating in a closed room in complete darkness, listening to a complete album...against a 10 cent fee that we would keep to buy records !

If you are reading this ED, these 30 years old memories are as fresh in my mind as yesterday. Thank you so very much for sharing your passion with us, and opening our eyes to so many horizons, music being just one of them.

Just wondering how others in this forum got the audio bug also?
sonicbeauty

Showing 2 responses by chams_uk

chams_uk
159 posts
 
Neat thread, and GREAT stories. Mine dates to around 1983. I was working in a mall in Massachusetts, making money through college. This mall had a Nantucket Sound store in it (anyone remember these?).

I was already into music, but had no concept of the finer systems. I used to like to visit this store to see what i couldn't afford.

On the third or fourth visit, I walk into this glassed room, JUST as a climax from Stravinsky's 'Rite Of Spring' is being reached. This is the part where there is a buildup of some brass, then a brief pause. I literally opened the door during this pause.

Then, out of these massive speakers (Snell A's), comes a long series of Tympani shots that literally caused my hair to blow a bit. Then the back-and-forth tumult of strings and brass, as the "storms" of spring set in.

I don't remember if I vocalized anything, or if I was too dumfounded to even talk. But from that day forward, I paid good attention to the equipment, as well as the music.

It's been downhill for the wallet ever since :-)
chams_uk
159 posts
 
I'm reading all these great stories, and loving them! I also notice a trend of a love for music for a while, THEN followed by a general or specific point in time where the concept of getting the equipment comes into play. Maybe it's when it can be afforded?

As an tangent to my story, I had been into music for MANY years before buying my first true hi-fi equipment (Adcom GFA-1A amp and Apt Holman preamp in ~1984). My mother loved to listen to music, especially female vocals (Helen Reddy, Crystal Gale, etc etc). And I had two older brothers who each listened to a lot of music. I remember my first 45 and LP, The Who "Love Reign On Me" and J. Geils' "Full House Live" in ~1971 and ~1973 respectively. I remember getting huge into ELP in 1975, and Pink Floyd (Syd Barret era especially) around the same time.

Stereo-wise, I had the equivalent of a close-and-play, and a portable mono cassette recroder/player.

I graduated to a Fisher all-in-one, with receiver, cassette, and turntable. I remember opening up the speakers and seeing a single driver, and a second "driver" that just was taking up the hole - no wires! Within a couple days, I found out what a passive radiator was, and realized I was NOT ripped off. I upgraded the full range driver with a Radio Shack speaker, and the step up was dramatic.

College had me with an Aiwa minisystem due to space limitations, and about 400 cassettes!! Ah, what a group of misfits we had on our floor: a dance/disco music freak, an Ozzy Osbourne freak, a Deadhead, a Southern rocker (Molly Hatchett, Allman Bros, Mountain, etc), an alternative geek (me), and these bizarre brothers who always seemed to have only 3 songs they ever played: Monkee's "Daydream Believer," CCR "Have You Ever Seen The Rain," and the theme from the "Beverly Hillbilly's" (!).

It was my between my freshman & sophomore year that I discovered the higher end gear at Nantucket Sound, and my junior year that I bought the Adcom and Apt gear.

Last note: the Deadhead was into some stereo, and I had listened to and loved his NAD 3020 integrated as well! I bouht an Aiwa ADF-990 cassette deck from him, and I still have it to this day!

Ahhhh, memories.....
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