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Memories........What made you catch the Audio Bug?

I remember back in high school, my ''industrial arts'' teacher was an avid audiophile and music lover. We are going back to '73 now. I remember one day being very different from any other. Upon entering class for our usual 40 minutes of the usual wood-cutting and bird-cage building routine,(some of us were luckier, getting ,'design' classes instead) we found our teacher,Ed, busy at setting up an LP on a Thorens turntable. Alongside, some strange, industrial-looking brown and orange boxes (QUAD) and a cloth-wrapped box with the initals B&W on them. He informed us that, today, we would discover something new, ''high-Fidelity'' as he called it.

We all sat in awe as our teacher put the SGT Peppers Lonely Hearts on full blast, to the amazement of everyone in the room. Wow! What was THAT? The equipment, the sound, the MUSIC was unlike anything most of us had ever seen or heard. I remember thinking to myself, now this is how the Beatles really sound like? I just could not beleive it.

I remember that we had no quality music equipement in our home back then, as with most other kids.

It was just amazing. Word got around that 'something special was happening, in industrial art's class. Turned out the topic of the week was 'high-fidelity' discovery I guess, as every other class in turn got the same treatment all week long.

The Following year, our teacher somehow managed to get the school board to approve a special ''equipement'' expenditure, officially probably a vacuum system, or new circular saw, or band saw, whatever. The class built a special wooden closet complete with locks, to accept the new ''equipement''. When it finally arrived, holy smokes, a McIntosh amplifier and preamp, with Thorens turntable !

We ended up ''founding'' an audiophile club at school, and would have students spend their lunch hour seating in a closed room in complete darkness, listening to a complete album...against a 10 cent fee that we would keep to buy records !

If you are reading this ED, these 30 years old memories are as fresh in my mind as yesterday. Thank you so very much for sharing your passion with us, and opening our eyes to so many horizons, music being just one of them.

Just wondering how others in this forum got the audio bug also?
sonicbeauty
slappy
903 posts
 
Theduke, great story! :)
chryslers_rule
32 posts
 

My first memory was the long evening basement parties my parents threw. All would end up in bed except my father cranking a portable 3M reel-reel player listening to "The Happy Harmonica" until the wee hours of the morning, or until he was sent to bed by mom.

Years later, I received my first Zenith portable 45/78 player and dug into mom's 50's singles collection and started spinning some classic 78's. Every few months went by and I would have to tape another penny on top of the phono arm to get the needle to play but vowed to someday get into real stereo.

I finally landed a job in my teens and made my first purchase into high-end with a Pioneer SX-880 receiver. At the store, the salesman heard me remarking about McIntosh gear and subsequently dragged me into a back listening room full of McIntosh gear. I left the store with tears in my eyes vowing to avenge my fathers poor reel-reel with all out McIntosh.

Many years went by, having to sell off my stereo collection twice to go back to college which was painful. Finally, in the prime of my life and still in college, I decided life is too short and I would beg, borrow, and steal to assemble the dream system. Two years later I am in heaven, along with significant debt, but looking back wouldn't have changed a thing. My father has long since passed but I am sure he is here listening with me on those long imbibing evenings when I crank his favorite "Ink Spots" CD.

I should close by stating that I grew up 3 hours from the McIntosh factory, hence the attraction and devotion. Finally, if there are any reel-reel buffs out there who are familiar with "The Happy Harmonica" and can transfer to digital medium I would forever be in your debt.
quadophile's avatar
quadophile
418 posts
 
I remember the early years when my father used to play music on his Grundig Radiogram. The equipment with Ivory switches and teak cabinet fascinated me. Looking at the black shiny disks spinning fast and with a needle on top of it producing all the sounds always intrigued me. I had no idea why the system sounded so good; today when I look back I can understand why! It was a one-piece system; everything was almost perfectly matched and had the tubes! I had no way of comparing the equipment, but whatever was being reproduced had sounded very good.

My first memories of music were the "Blue Danube", Xaviar Cugat, Glenn Miller, Mantovani and his orchestra, soundtrack from Lawrence of Arabia (my favourite movie of all time), Spartacus (the real film about a gladiator), and some others.

My dad passed away in 1999 and on many occasions when I listen to music alone I really miss him, especially when I listen to the music mentioned above. He taught me how to handle the shiny black disks!

I taught my son the same thing back when he was just 3 years old. He is 14 now and knows a lot more about how to put together a hifi system than most kids his age.
sonicbeauty OP
324 posts
 
Thanks all, very enjoyable reading indeed!
chathamdad
5 posts
 
What a great thread. Not surprising that there are more postings on this thread than on most others on 'Gon. Also not surprising that so many of them start with "My Dad got me hooked....".

Well, my dad got me hooked. I was born in '59, so my friends were listening to a lot of 60s and 70s rock as I grew up. So was I, and I was playing it in my band, but I always spent a few hours a week listening to Jamal, Peterson, Evans, Wes, Miles, etc., with my dad. He had a small den with classic 60s style built-in bar/TV/stereo cabinetry, which contained (to the best of my recollection) a Scott tube amp and tuner and a Garrard turntable. Vinyl ,vinyl and more vinyl, "Friday with Frank [Sinatra]" on WWBD-FM, and a mother and sister who just didn't get the fascination.

When I was 16 my parents bought me my first "good" stereo, a Marantz 2225 receiver, Sony PL-518 turntable and speakers that I don't remember ('cuz I blew them out freshman year and replaced them with ADS floorstanders). My dad was more excited about my new equipment than I was. I didn't understand it then. I do now, as my 8 year-old son and I snuggle on the couch and listen to a lot of the same stuff my dad spun for me 30 years ago. I still have the Marantz, all tuned up and cranking fine down in the kids' playroom, while I listen to my Mac/Mac/Harbeth system up in the "daddy den". That Marantz will probably go with Ben to college in 10 years. I hope he takes a love of music there, too.

My dad suffered for 15 years with Lou Gehrig's disease, the last 8 of it confined to a bed or wheelchair. Happy moments for him were sparse during that time, but among his best were Saturday mornings or weeknights when I would go over and sit with him while we listened to whatever struck our fancy. It was never more apparent to me than then just how restorative music could be.

My thanks to everybody who contributed to this delightful thread. It awakened a lot of great memories for me.
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