When I went to college my sophomore year in 1965 my roommate showed up with a KLH Model 11 portable. Growing up, I’d played piano and trumpet and sung in a choir but we never had any music at home, AM radio and jukeboxes were my standard.
I was shocked by the quality of the KLH and bought my first albums that year. As soon as I went to the big city for my next year of school I wandered into a real audio store and with wonderful guidance from the owner bought a Dynaco SCA-35 kit.
The owner quizzed me about my soldering skills but was satisfied and told me to build it but bring it back to him before I plugged it in so he could bench test it. It tested better than spec, which seemed to impress him and knowing I had no more money he found a pair of small AR speakers in their storage room that had been ordered by a customer but returned because he didn’t like the wood finish. Then he brought out an AR turntable and told me to take the speakers and turntable to go with the amp and pay him for them as I had the money. It took me most of that school year to pay him but he didn’t seem to mind at all.
I’m sure he knew I was going to be back for more but it was clear he loved the idea of helping a kid who shared his passion. He was right, I came back many times and slowly built a better system but I’ve never been happier than I was listening to that first one.
