As A Youngster, What Unit Puqued Your Interest In All This?

I found out that my kit amplifier was a Knight Kit. I actually found one for sale on eBay. It was sure fun building it back in the day. 

Electro-Voice Patrician 800 speakers!

Mike

https://products.electrovoice.com/binary/Patrician%20800%20EDS.pdf

Like all of you, music is what got me interested in audio gear, broadly speaking. When I was 23 (~1979), I went to a local audio store in Richmond, VA and heard an Audio Research preamp SP-?, Audio Research amplifier, Magneplanar (probably the 2.5’s) and a moving coil cartridge (what the heck is that?). I was thunderstruck. 

in 1967 I was 5 years old- Dad took an old portable radio and made it a PA box for me- 2 D cell batteries a carbon microphone from a telephone handset. My first rig!

I was hooked. Soon after that I "took apart" desktop tube radios trying to make something. I failed :) but it was fun.  I somehow found an old Harman Kardon Recital II mono Receiver which played CKLW- the Canadian  AM rock station across the river. I was totally fascinated by this whole gear/music/interactive thing, That never changed. 

By 1978 I had a Marantz 2215B (15 rockin' watts!) BIC Venturi speakers and a BIC turntable to spin my Bob Seger record (singular not plural- as in only 1 LP) all bought with my Detroit News paper route money. 

Then it really happened: Absolute Sound in Birmingham MI had a D79 amp by Audio Research playing a set of Timpani Maggies. I thought I died and went to heaven. Not long later I had a set of MG-1s (first song on them was Jackson Browne Stay A Little Bit Longer) and the better gear followed as time went by.  

I've stayed loyal to ARC mostly because of nostalgia.

I love music but to be honest I like fooling around with gear better. To me music is there to test and prove gear. Sacrilege!   You can tell I'm not a musician LOL!!!

Had to wrap some duct tape around my skull this morning to keep my head from exploding. So many woofers. So little time.

This complex journey can needs to be broken down into incremental steps, discoveries, and bone-jarring (literally) experiences.

1955ish. Admiral split chassis, 12" 4-way dual mono console stereo.

My dad probably walked into an appliance store and asked for the best thing they had. One day, my dad decided to see how many houses away we could get and still hear the stereo. If memory serves me right, the number was 7. Years later, when the parents were gone, I’ll put on Ina Gadda da Vida, turn up the bass and volume to 11 and feel the bass on the wooden floor.

First "Hifi" experience: KHL Model 20

A friend picked up one of these from David Beatty’s in Kansas City. At first glance I thought it was a cutesy little system that couldn’t hold a candle to my dad’s system. Then, he played Sgt Pepper. I heard a sweetness, clarity and intimacy that was missing from by dad’s big Admiral.

First "High End" system: Mac stack/AMT1a

I was loitering around Davy Beatty Stereo and was invited to hear the newest thing. The salesman cued up Blood Sweat and Tears and turned up the volume. I just remembered how "clear" it was. Later I would be able to describe what I heard as extended dynamic range compared to the KLH with more detail and space.

First "Scare the ever loving *%$# out of me" System:

David Beatty engineered and installed a JBL pro system inwall. They called it. appropriately enough, "The Wall of Sound". Here I was, in the store, minding my own business, when they put on Lincoln Mayorga’s cover of Peace Train. The salesman took it easy on me in the beginning and incremently cranked up the volume. When the kettle drums(?) hit towards the end, I felt a shock wave hit my chest that startled me and shook me to the core. I just wasn’t "right" for a few minutes after that.

Years later, I got into the audio business myself. Designing and installing Disco systems and supporting them on site, surrounded by alcohol induced, hormone explosive young adults exhibiting poor judgement.  This experience truly qualifies in a class of its own.