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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
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maxsound2000
26 posts
 
I guess it would have to be many, many years ago when my family was over at a friend's house and we were listening to some music. I think it was around '70 or '71. I don't remember what the music was or what equipment they had, but I do remember are the headphones and listening to stereo for the first time. "WOW! This is neat. Different sounds in each ear with drums and vocals coming from the top of my head. How can this happen?" I was memorized by it. My brothers wanted to listen, but I did not want to give up the headphones. When I did I took them back as soon as I could. Mom and Dad had to drag us away from the stereo in order to go home.

Within a few days I tried to make my own headphones with two small transitor radio speakers. Crude, but they worked. Only problem was it wasn't stereo. By Christmas I had a small Montgomery Ward's stereo with cassette and Santa gave me a pair of headphones.

I will never forget that first experience and have enjoyed every minute of it since.
siliab
362 posts
 
My father's passion for recorded music was the true root of it all. He had a very good mono system (Weathers table, Bogen tube amp and preamp, and Altec speaker) until 1967 when he bought his first stereo (Garrard table, Scott solid state receiver, and Scott 3-way floor standing speakers). That system was not as good as what it replaced, but it was equipment lust 101 for me. I was regularly transfixed by Tchaikovsky, Horace Silver, Beatles and Puccini.

We had an indulgent neighbor that allowed me to cannibalize the dozens of dead and dying TVs and stereo consoles in his basement to cobble together crappy systems (speaker cabinets out of cardboard cartons, etc.). All the while I was buying records with every penny of disposable income (nothing's changed!). My first "real" system was a Panasonic Dentist's Office special (de rigeur for every dentist's office in the early 70s) that I modified over and over until I started buying real equipment a short time later (mowing lawns and paper route = equipment).

I got into the audio industry in the late 70's, buying equipment cheaply in bulk and selling it for a small profit. I also bought Hafler kits and modified them for sale to friends for a small mark up. All the while I was getting hugely into the playing and recording of music. Much of my college time was spent on these pursuits.

Although I remain an avid musicaholic, my drive for building and collecting equipment is greatly diminished. The system that I have assembled dispenses musical bliss with nary an effort, and I feel no compulsion to change a thing. My son, however, has stepped into the breach. He has started building his own system and tweaking things to his liking. Alas, the passion has been communicated to another generation.
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pehare
835 posts
 
Older buddy's in the neighborhood w/Marantz receivers, Gerrard turntables & those Sansui(?) speakers with the
diagonal wood lattice grills, playing Steppenwolf & Cream albums from the Murphy's cutout bin. Meanwhile I had a Panasonic quadraphonic system w/8-track, turntable & receiver & 4 detachable speakers. I had some quadraphonic 8-tracks that would do some wild things, Ten Years After, a space in time comes to mind. From then on has been nothing but fun.
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mitch4t
1,610 posts
 
Circa 1974-75..Lots of my friends had stereo systems in college and they all played loud. I really didn't understand what the big deal was. I got a chance to visit my girlfriend's parent's house.....her dad put on 'Chicago Damn' by Bobbie Humphrey and my life was changed forever. The crystal clear sound of that flute and synthesizer coming through a Sansui 771 reciever, Dokorder 7140 reel to reel and a pair of JBL speakers with 12 inch woofers...it was a life altering experience. I had heard that song maybe a hundred times before, but NEVER LIKE THAT!....the flute just pierced right through me and I was riveted.

As soon as I could save enough money, I went to Leo's Stereo in Van Nuys, CA and bought the exact system with a Techics SL 1500 turntable and Superscope cassette recorder. I bought a stereo system before I bought a car.....I had my priorities in order.
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ashra
148 posts
 
My Dad is responsible. One day in the early 1960s dad brought home 3 large boxes with the word Heathkit on them. One box contained small glass bottles along with screws and metal frames and other unknown goodies. He introduced me to the careful use of a thing called a soldering iron. He even let me melt something called solder onto a circuit. The best part was watching dad carefully and deliberately construct this thing. I could see by his expression that this was something really special and important and I learned to be patient while he was using the iron and to give him space. The other 2 boxes contained what looked like end tables on tall spindly legs.
When he had completed construction I knew I had witnessed sorcery. When it was first turned on I heard jazz coming through the end tables. All that for jazz?
It is now years later and when I discover an LP that I have a distant childhood memory of I anxiously play it for my father to learn about the artist and whether my dad saw them perform live and what other songs and LPs I should look for. Oh, Four Women by Nina Simone. I loved hearing that song when I was young, even though I never told my dad.
Yep!..music and audio equipment, itÂ’s all my dads fault.
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