As far as gear goes, it was either the used pair of Aragon Palladium II’s I picked up, or the moment I switched to a Dynavector 10x5 Mk II cart.
Additionally, I was of age when CD players first came onto the market, and I remember playing my first CD and marveling at the clarity, the punchiness, the lack of noise and the ability to immediately scan to other tracks. I remember hearing my first SACD, and my first recording at 24-bit depth instead of using 16bit ADATs.
I remember the first time I played through a proper DAC as opposed to a crappy consumer-grade one (I even remember the DAC; it was an old Universal Audio 2-192), or when I switched from mixing through old Digidesign 888 units to an Apogee AD8000SE... I remember the enormity of the piano tracks that suddenly sounded real, and marveling at how the hell I could have tolerated the muted, dull sound I was getting on the poorer 888 units.
the gateway product that turned you into an audiophile
@foggyus91 suggested/pushed/encouraged me to start a thread about this. It was related to Darko's post about 12 audiophile misconceptions. One was that we are all about music - vs gear. I think that subject has been chewed up already a 100 times. I am not sure anyone has anything new to say.
However, that made me think about the day I turned into an audiophile.
It was when I bought my first "gateway" product that was affordable but audiophile quality and led me to explore more and tweak and switch and experiment and never be fully content but always be smiling when I turned the power on. It's been about the sound and not the music and that's fine. But I realize now that those Monitor Audio speakers I bought from craigslist were my gateway drug 
Were you always an audiophile or was there such a moment and a piece of hardware that made the difference?
(Lastly, I am very uneasy and on the fence about this forum and starting a thread - for my last correspondence with the moderators. What I learned should bother anyone who cares about fairness or even the appearance of it. I can't discuss it because it will get removed - I tried, my comment lived for less than 5 minutes, )
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I can’t help but add my own to this one. My introduction was 1969 with my friends hand unit Dynaco 70 with a pair of 15 inch Jensen’s, as I recall, unmounted sitting on the floor. I heard my first taste of musicality in that experience and have not stopped my own quest since. We are now much older and he has never stopped building and searching for life’s experiences in all aspects, including this speaker for a mono system he’s
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Oh what a walk through memory lane. Oh my! My roommate had a Phase Linear 400 in the late 70's... it was so awesome at the time... and such a cool name. Thinking back, wow... what a terrible sounding amp. I can still remember long sessions into the night... I can't believe any of the girls I dated stayed after hearing that system played loud. |
1974, 16 years old, walked into "Natural Sound" in Framingham, MA (where I grew up), sat down in their "high end" room and heard Quad ESL's, stacked two on each side, with Mark Levinson separates and a turntable I can't recall. But I will never forget those Quad's. The band sounded like they were playing right in front of me. I mean, not just good soundstage, but literally, with my eyes closed, the band was right there! I have chased that sound since then! Couldn't afford anything close to that setup at the time, but got Phase Linear separates with Epicure Trilogy speakers in college and so began the chase! I always wonder what those Quad's would sound like now . . I occasionally see rebuilt and reconditioned ones for sale and I always wonder if I could recreate that sound that I remember from my youth! |
In 1973, age 25, I inherited my Uncle Johnny’s Console, the 'Fisher President II’, all tubes, 4 way horn/15" woofer speakers, made in 1958
The drivers are all working (woofers re-coned several times) inside this new Rosewood Enclosure
more about the ’President II’ here https://www.audiogon.com/systems/11420
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