What was your greatest epiphany?


That one shining moment when everything first came together. When the heavens opened up, the clouds parted, the sun shone, and the angels began to sing.

For me, it was hearing music played through tubes for the first time, after a lifetime in the solid state wilderness. Even my wife came into the room and noticed how much better the music sounded. Carole King never sounded so good.
kinsekd
one day it dawned on me that retirement accounts are holding the middle class down and that overtipping is extremely harmful to the economy
About one year ago I electromagnetically isolated the opposing halves of an AC field and plugged the unit into my amp; the music escape from the speakers, time stopped and in my mind pure silence took its place. It was the most religious experience I have ever had.
When I first heard a real transparent highs and liquid mid. When I first heard it, I was pleasantly surprised to find this world of beauty I had not known before.

Made me so happy to learn that I can turn on happiness at will with a good hifi system. Needless to say, I've been hooked ever since.

Most people react positively to hifi - they just don't want to pay for it. Since we know good midfi components like parasound and arcam, we can share this joy with all who will listen.
The day I find out that you can actually go up to a girl and talk to her without being slapped right away. That happened a little bit later, but stil, a small step for mankind, but a great step for me!
In high school during the bus ride going to a state playoff game in baseball.I KNEW it was going to be a big day for me.I don`t remember the 45 minute bus ride because I was defintely in another zone or place.We were facing one of the best pitching prospects on the East coast (who later was drafted in the first round)and I was the lead-off batter.The very first pich was a fast ball down the middle and it looked like the size of a grapefruit.I hit this ball dead center field,well over the 400 feet sign that was on the fence.The next time I came to bat,he threw me a first pitch curve ball that I promptly hit 350 feet over the right field wall.The third time up,he threw a fast ball right at my head just missing me but dropping me to the ground.I got up,dusted myself off,then turned to the catcher and dared him to call for another fast ball.Well it came,and it was hit over the right field wall for my third home-run of the day.To make a long story short...I went 5 for 5 with 3 homeruns,a triple and a double,with 5 runs scored,and 9 runs batted in.I knew beforehand that something special was going to happen that day.People still to this day,27 years later,come up to me and say,"That ball you hit over the center field wall was the longest home-run they have ever seen a high-school player hit".I consider my day a blessing from an outside source because at this time in high school..I stood 5'3 and weighed 120 LBS.
That budweiser is horrible beer. College was a steady diet of genesee, piels and red,white&blue (16oz of course). On the rare occasion, when we could afford it, we'd sit back and enjoy/savor some budweiser. I thought it was the best until a friend started working at Holmes&Watson in Troy, NY. A great little bar with a fantastic selection. Our first night there he served us Bass, New Castle, Sam Smiths, Ass Bock, MacEwen's, Mackeson Stout...
My god, my god, what have I done? I'd been drinking piss.
Matchstikman: I was talking about digital front ends in this post, not amplifiers. As far as amps go, almost all of my speakers are of low impedance, low sensitivity and highly reactive. This is a combo that very few tube amps would enjoy dealing with. Sean
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When I got my first relatively high end system and discovered that Stereo Review had it all wrong!

Of course, that doesn't compare to Jeff's revelation ;-)
I'd like to hear more on that '67 acid trip, rasta.

kinsekd, agreed: the first time i heard a tube amp in my system (sonic frontiers) i almost cried. that was the beginning of the end.
I do remember a Mahavishnu Orchestra concert ath the Auditorium in Chicago back around 1971(?) when I really thought I had reached heaven/nirvana.
Sean, interesting post. Can you elaborate on the tube and SS amps that brought your epiphany? I am very interested in the SS amp that beat the tube amp.
Only a couple of days ago I removed a pair of stillpoint bearings ($275.00) from under my amp, and replaced them with a pair of BBC brass cones. My mouth dropped open when I heard how much better the brass cones sounded. It wasn't due to the significant $$$ savings, but the sound was fantastic!!!

Brian, looking forward to meeting you some day!
I think my wife said I finally got it when I took oth 'Th" sound out of 'epiphany' and started saying the word correctly.......
When couple of days ago on the great performance and talk-show I got an autograph from my favourite female singer Nina Hagen on the rarest record I possess "Revolution Ballroom" just next to her beautiful photograph UUUHa!
About 9 years ago when the Lord spoke to me and led me into The truth, no doubt, the Angels were singing.

As for audio, in which I assume you were leading, recently adding a Concentra II to my system has made my audio 'come together', finally.
I injured my left hip and my femur's end cartilage was damaged.

Oops, that was my greatest epiphysis.
Two young ladies got in an arguement in a bar over who was the better "lovemaker" and selected me to tend to both of them immediately then pass judgement on who was more skilled.
Switching from an SS based digital system to a tube based digital system. This opened my eyes / ears to the fact that digital could indeed sound like music and not just a "facsimile" of music. Switching from a tubed digital system to a higher grade SS digital system took this a few steps further and put me solidly back in the "SS can be as good or better than tubes" camp. Sean
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A $150 NAD belt drive table taking out a $1200 Denon table with blacker background, better soundstage and open detailed reproduction. Ouch!!