Decisive moments your your audio journey


Have you had any truly decisive moments in your time in this hobby? 
 

I would have to point back to the first time I ever heard Magnepans, it was a “whoa what was that moment?” moment. That was in the 1980’s. It was the first time I ever truly heard reproduced music that got the midrange right, without it being squished 

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1) The first time I heard electrostatic speakers: they were KLH 9's.  I was still in college. 

2) The first time I heard a Direct to Disc record: it was Lincoln Mayorga " The missing Link."  At the time I believed all records were very high quality.  As soon as I heard that Sheffield Lab recording, I knew that most of my records were crap. 

In 2002 I and a friend of mine a couple time a week visiting different audiophiles homes and listened different systems.
On day we visited a man who had a strange system with Lowther PM4 in Oris 150 horns and 15 inch EV mid-bass woofers plus subwoofer. Lowethers were driven by Bottlehead 2a3 SET monoblocks. When we listened this setup we can believe what such sound is possible. All other systems we had listened before sounded like toy boomboxes compared to this system.
We were like a medieval knights who suddenly saw modern combat aircrafts and tanks.
Since then the direction I choose in audio is high sensitive speakers with SET amplification.

During college in the late 70s, I heard the original B&W 801s in an independent hi fi store in New Brunswick, NJ (Tech Hi Fi?).

Early 70's, when I heard pop's double KLH-9 setup with ARC electronics.

Late 70's, my double Large Advent setup with Advent 300 pre and GAS Ampzilla.

Mid 80's, my Acoustat 1+1s, RHLabs sub, monoblock Hafler DH220s and ARC SP3a

Late 90's, pop's B&W Matrix 800s with Jadis MC80 pre, Defy7 amp, VPI TNT with SMEV and Audio Quest cartridge.

2020, upgrading my system with and ARC SP11 mk2, VS110 and Marrow cables.

 

Late 70's,  I was still in high school, sharing a joint with my friend in his house, and he put on Baba O'Riley from 'Who's Next' LP.   The rest is history...😀