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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Around 1976 when I accidentally pressed the FM button on my dad's quality Grundig radio. At the time there were only 2 (pirate) stations broadcasting on the entire band range. But the SQ over MW was spectacular. Hooked to High fidelity ever since :-)

1970. The Allman Brothers live at the Tea Party in Boston. My first rock concert. Blew my brain away. I have been chasing that sound ever since. I had been to several Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts at Boston Symphony Hall but none of them made the impression on me that the Allmans did. Greg's Leslie still reverberates in my head. 

I visited Audio Innovations (soon to be Audio Note) factory in Brighton, UK.  Listened to the Voyd turntable and some AI monoblock tube amps through Snell E speaker. Joan Sutherland materialised in the big room. 

My first blind amp test in the 80's. At the time I was lusting after all the expensive stuff the magazines were pushing ... until it was proven without bias that I couldn't pick out any differences, much less the expensive amplifiers. Neither could the other three audiophiles participating. It has saved me a lot of money over the years.