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What hooked you to audio?

I was 16 and my sister got married. All I had in my room was an AM radio, but when sis got married I grabbed her room because it was bigger.

She had a Panasonic stereo system- combo turntable and receiver, which she left. I had no records but I started to listen to FM- WPLJ in NY. Oh, I got hooked- Queen, Chicago, etc. I realized I needed a decent hifi. I bought records at Alexander's and Korvettes

A friend- a year older, already discovered hifi and through him I learned about what I thought was an incredible system- a Dual table, Marantz receiver, and KLH speakers.

Then I discovered Tech Hifi. Their catalogs were eye opening. Yes, the Dual was nice, but the Thorens seemed real nice. The Marantz seemed nice, but the Mac stuff seemed real nice. Likewise, the KLH's seemed nice, but those Ohms with the Walsh driver seemed real nice.

This was all in the 2nd half of the 70's.

My first good table was a Thorens. I have a pair of Ohm F's in my garage. I once owned a Marantz 22 something for a short period of time.

Some deep and lasting hook!
128x128zavato
rpeluso
1,050 posts
 
For me it was the music, and the desire to try to reproduce it in my home; my
dad bought me my first, it was radio shack, and he got it on layaway, was
definitely NOT gear-related, was, and is, always music first. Its been a long time
since that event, but I have settled on my system now; its simple and satisfying
to me.
dragon1952
181 posts
 
I'm 61 and have playing records since I was 6 or 7. We had an old Silvertone combo TT where the single speaker fit over the TT and fastened together into a carrying case....ha ha. I used to play my Mom's Brothers Four album and my older brother and sister's 45's....Chubby Checker, The Fleetwoods, Bobby Darin....and then came the Beatle's when I was 12. Later when I was 15 we still had that thing and I remember listening to Jimi Hendrix Are You Experienced on that stupid rig. We were close enough to SF to get rides from our parents to the Fillmore West about that same time and owning a TT was a must, just like cell phones are now to 15 yr olds (and everyone else for that matter). We all had cheap rigs and some of the parents had cool stuff but then when we started to graduate from HS some friends joined the Navy and went on a west-pac (Japan, Phillipines, etc) and came back with all these cool Sansui's and Marantz's. That was probably when I knew that's what I wanted more than anything.....really super cool audio gear.
zavato's avatar
zavato OP
1,403 posts
 
Dragon1952- you reminded me of something- when I was 15 or 16 I recall seeing a military PX catalog. You say Marantz and Sansui- that was basically the entire catalog!
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,468 posts
 
My uncle gave me his old Webcor phonograph and his entire record collection - must have been in the 50's...I was doomed.
chayro
2,986 posts
 
My uncle's JBL Paragon/MAC/Thorens system in the 60's. My dad bought EV Royal 400s, HK tube receiver and Rek0kut table. I was pretty damn spoiled. BTW, my mom still has those Royal 400s in her house. Not hooked up to anything, but they make good end tables.
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