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What are your Eureka Moments in this Hobby?

OK so I did steal this term form @lordmelton 

I wandered through midfi.  Surround speakers, 5.1 set ups, eventually getting to Classe Pre / Pro, Parasound 5 channel amp, Bowers and Wilkens Nautilus 800 series speakers and M / K Subs.  Then the best thing ever happened.  My Classe SSP-800 Pre / Pro broke for the second time.  So I ended up getting an Audionet Pre G-1 preamp.  Eureka!  What were your events?

fastfreight
zlone
1,358 posts
 

I have had so many, especially in the digital space. But commenting because I had the same eureka moment when I plugged in my new to me Audionet G2 and AMP1, their gear is phenomenal. 

mulveling's avatar
mulveling
2,451 posts
 

25 years in, the list has been resorted & modified many times over. I'll try to boil it down to the big ones:

  1. Hearing a Tannoy dual-concentric speaker for the 1st time at Audio Atlanta (now long gone). It was just the modest Eyris DC3 model, but blew me away with the coherence and imaging versus more conventional driver arrangements. I've been exclusively Tannoy speaker'd for years now with no inclinations to change. 
  2. My first vinyl setup (SOTA Star III w/ Benz Glider). Spanked the Meridian G08 and Sony SCD-1 I had at the time. Game over for digital here, for years. Vinyl still dominates as my primary source today. 
  3. Hearing my first Koetsu cartridge - a well worn vintage Onyx. The king of romantic, fun MC sound and a polar opposite to the modern high-tech Ortofon MCs I was using at the time. I thought Koetsus were stupid (pricing, several models differing by nothing but stone body) before this. Never thought that again, and started a collection.
  4. Hearing Stax SR-009 electrostatic headphones on a very high end DIY T2 amplifier. Next-level headphone sound. Converted me to e-stats (for headphones). Dynamic and planar driver headphones have had a rough time with me ever since. 
wharfy's avatar
wharfy
564 posts
 

Fun topic! Thanks to OP for starting.

Getting an Audio Research LS2MKII with a Bugle Boy 6DJ8, in 1998. Opened my ears/mind to both tube-based equipment and Audio Research products. Since, everything I have purchased, except one-oye, and have really happy with, until upgrade-itis, has been ARC, and has synergy with ARC.

lewl28
62 posts
 

Becoming satisfied with what I have.  

jperry
2,538 posts
 

I have had a few:

1. understanding how important a tonearm is in the vinyl reproduction system. I replaced a Rega tonearm with a Basis Vector. The difference was astounding, and sent me through a lengthy system upgrade to see what else could be improved.

2. doing some room treatments took my system to another level. The best bang for the buck upgrade

3. replacing my very good tonearm cable with a great tonearm cable. It made a huge difference. Far more than I could have imagined

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