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 3 responses by viggen

Audiogon certainly made hi-fi affordable to me with its vast available resource of buying and selling second hand goods whereas I otherwise wouldn't have built/trialed so many components in many different systems in a short amount of time within a budget restraint. But, Audiogon certainly isn't when/where I was bit. But, it certianly perpetuated the sting.

I really can't recall when I was bit. Like slappy, I was the only kid into this stuff for as long as I know. My taste has always been very stuck up (and don't give a shit about what others have) no matter what it was either toys, cars, electronics or style. I guess it was just a natural evolution for me that I'd stumble upon and stick to Hifi.

I enjoy learning about technologies, theorizing improvements, and assembling systems as much as listening to the final product. Hifi is somewhat intellectually stimulating as well as job well done gratifying. And, Hifi as a "practice" is also very therapeutic.
Dean, Please don't install that supercharger in your M3. I wouldn't feel safe on the 405 if you did.