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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
illuminator
59 posts
 

I'm an Air Force guy too!

But way before that, back in the early 70's when I was in high school, my Uncle Joe was a college professor who lived 200 miles north of us. I'd look forward to visiting all of my cousins and being able to go into his study ( the precursor to the man cave ) and listen to his album collection, especially "Demons and Wizards" and "Survival".

He had an AR turntable, a tubed receiver and Empire marble topped speakers. I had played in the grade school and high school bands, basically being around music all of my life since my mother played the piano. But from the first time I heard "The House of the Rising Sun" on the radio in the middle 60's, I've been a rocker.

When I went to college in the early 70's, Marantz, Sansui, Pioneer, AR, Advent, ESS Heil Motion Transformers and EPI were the big names in the stereo stores around campus.

I worked extra, and have had nice systems ever since.
danoroo OP
239 posts
 
@Tostadosunidos
Was High Fidelity, Inc. the store located on the corner of Guadalupe and 24th, adjacent to UT campus? There was a really nice hifi shop there but I can't remember it's name. There was also a high end audio dealer on I35 near 12th street or MLK. That shop had the very first JBL Paragon I ever saw.
bojack
634 posts
 
I remember it as clear as yesterday. 1988 and 15, I walked into Audio Alternative in Columbia, SC and the smell of NADs, Denon, and Paradigms was as sweet as any perfume. Then I became a true addict when I moved to Charleston at 18 and saw the real stuff at Read Brothers (VTL, Cary, Fried, Spendor, etc.) It was over...no looking back since.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,451 posts
 
Though I was already into mass-market Hi-Fi (AR table and speakers), it was hearing an electrostatic tweeter (an RTR, in the ESS Transtatic I---pre-Heil) that blew my little mind. It was 1971, and the Transtatic's were hooked up to an ARC SP-2 and D-50. The birth of High End!
abucktwoeighty's avatar
abucktwoeighty
1,079 posts
 
One trip to a hi-end store to have a mid-fi amp repaired....hook, line, and sinker.
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