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

What a great thread!

Chathamdad i also was born in '59 and was hooked by my dad as well. Back in the late '60s and early '70s he had a nice system with a Fisher tube integrated amp, a Garrard turntable and a pair of whaferdale speakers. He listened primarily to male/female vocals, trios and other groups in spanish. I would sit down with him and listen and asked everything about the artists, the compositions and the equipment. I could not afford my first system until i got to college. Since then i have gone through many system changes all to the upside. My musical palate has also evolved and now i'm most comfortable with jazz, female vocals and light classical music. However i still love the spanish music and artists that my father introduced me to and have sought and found that music on cd's. Not too long ago i had my in-laws over to my house and surprised them with some of that precious music from their and my father's generation and they could not believe how beatifully it sounded. They were almost in tears reminiscing of times 40 or so years ago. Aren't we fortunate that dad showed us the way!

I was exposed to Hi-Fi and live music from a young age, I thought all music sounded great until I heard lesser systems. Lucky me!

My Dad was a cabinet and speaker builder in the Seattle area during the 60s and 70s. We had a system he built that went through many changes over the years. At one time he had some large cabinets with some E-V Voice of the Theatre drivers. All tube amp at that time, and a Dual turntable (I think). This system had a huge full sound. I remember playing it 'at Volume' quite often while the folks were away. Once I played the Beatles 'Dear Prudence' over and over just to hear (and feel) that wonderful bass line.

I used to have a number of friends come over to the house and they always loved to hear the music. We would play all kinds of contemporary music. At that time it was Doobie Bros, Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, Beatles, Rolling Stones. I remember one time we were all sitting on the sofa, (under the influence of something I'd be sure) Led Zep playing (Kashmir?) at a moderate volume, and watching cartoons. We were zoning away when suddenly everybody said at the same time "DID YOU SEE THAT?" - the music and the cartoon had been in synch for quite some time and it got to the point where we all returned from our inspired leave of absence to realize it...

My mother used to listen to Mancini's 'Breakfast at Tiffani's' quite often- I still love that music. What a big enveloping sound carressing and massaging the whole body. You could feel the magnificent presence deep in your chest, even at lower volumes. Moon River and Something for Cat were favorites. The big meandering bassline and smooth airy strings along with the sharp horns and jassy percussion. Wonderful. I have just recently achieved that similar audio nirvana with my own system.

One time, a few of us were at a guys house, down in his basement bedroom. He put on Peter Frampton's new album and played 'Do you Feel like we do?' The song was OK, the system was marginal. He kept saying 'check out that bassline!' I guess it was there, but I couldn't really feel it. I pretended to be enthused.

Some weeks later he stopped by our house for the first time. I put on something... it may have been Chicago's 'I'm a Man'. If you know that song, it starts off with this immense bass rift and then hits huge percussion. I guess I'm a little mean-heheh- I turned it up and let 'er rip. He literally fell back in his seat when those Voice of the Theatre's cleared their throats. I think it may have been 'a hi-fi memory' in the making!

We all must have so many musical memories from the past. They are all unique and special. The joy is in passing new memories to the next generation.

Some of you might be grizzled enough to remember what it was like to be in the service in the 60s, stuck in the sticks, where AFVN or AFKN provided brief relief from the green tedium and holyshitijust mightdie blues. A lot of us purchased our first sets of gear either through the PX or while on RR in Japan, Bangkok or HK. For me it was a 75wpc Kenwood receiver, Sony reel-reel, Dual 1249 (Shure) and Pioneer speakers - all of which I shipped home. There were already three systems in our hooch. There were a lot of Temps, Smokey, CSN, LZ, Lee Michaels, and the usual suspects spinning on the turntables, sometimes in direct competition with each other. Don't have a lot of great memories of my tours but I hazily remember many nights listening to one album after another with my friends. If I hear 'Cloud Nine' it immediately brings to mind those moments we shared a long time ago.

If you would allow me, my recollections are not only of my introduction to audio/hi-fi music, but also my most significant experiences and memories along this great way!!

When I was a young boy, living in Brooklyn, my dad had a great collection of music. Mostly opera and symphonic pieces. He also had some Caruso on 78's! My memories were of the excitement I had listening to the thunderous climaxes to symphonic pieces like Schererazade, or Beethoven's 5th. The music was played on a Strumberg-Carlson console (first a half model and the a floor model. When I was old enough I started buying my own musics which was mainly 45's doo-wop (Dion & the Belmonts)!!!
I must have been 14 years old and working for my uncle in NYC during the summer when I was asked (assigned) to go to Hines & Bolet (forgive me if the spelling if wrong or even the name) an appliance store. The year was approx 1962.
When I walked in the store I heard this magnificent sound coming from somewhere! It engulfed the entire first floor where I was. I looked around and there it was.....I believe it was an original AR-1 speaker. To this day the feeling I got when I heard that sound is still a moment for me to pause!! I was then determined to "get" that sound.

Many years later (1975??) I was invited over a friends home to hear......the famous, fabulous, legendary ....Infinity Servo Static 1-A's!!!!! Yes a working pair of 1-A's. That night we heard record album after record album...and my mouth remained opened with my jaw 2 inches from the floor. Ahhhhh, memories. I am sure that if I were to hear that system again today it would lave a bit to be desires and not rival my system of today.......but to capture the youth of my experience that day will never be forgotten and still my search.
I am happy to say that I am still quite young (young enough) to get excited by great sound (and a lovely woman) both real (the NY Philharmonic) and re-produced (not the woman) Try to listen to the IRS/1-D's or the watt puppy 7's, pipedreams, VR-5's (and 7's I suspect), and many more!!!!! The memories and there waiting to be made!!!!

I was walking down 27th street in Milwaukee when this big, long, black Lincoln Towncar pulled along side of me. As I glanced over to see what this shadow was, a window rolled down and a southern gentleman (I could tell by the accent) said "Hey dude, you wanna get high?"
"I don't do that anymore." I said, almost telling the truth.
He chuckled for a moment and replied, "You gotta check out what I got, then you can go straight."
I was tempted to turn and run as my mother had instructed when I was a little boy, but he had not said anything about candy, so I figured he must be okay.
"Watcha got?" I asked affecting my most sofisticated tone.
The man called to someone up front who steered the car to the curb. The salesman got out. He must have been all of 6'-9" tall and tipped the scale at over 300lbs. I stepped back, for obvious reasons. The man pointed to the trunk of the car which suddenly popped open.
"Check this out..." he drawled, or was he drooling? I don't remember it was a long time ago, and not relevant to the story.
My eyes popped out of my head, and my chin hit the ground. It was disgusting. As anyone who lives in Milwaukee and near 27th street can tell you santitation was not a big priority to the city fathers. I tried to look up at the big man but it was not possible with my eyes hanging out like they were. After replacing the orbs into their sockets and dusting off my chin I glanced into the trunk again. The original affect thankfully did not reoccur.

The cavernous trunk contained all manner of hifi gear. I was drawn immediately to the MacIntosh gear by the bright lights and multiplicity of knobs (I am not particularly bright, so such things are very interesting to me).
"That's cool!" I muttered pointing at the MacIntosh reciever.
"You're not real bright are you?" asked the big man in a friendly voice.
"No sir, but I sure would like to get some of that stuff in there. What is it?
"This is stereo equipment." he answered.
"What does it do?"
"It plays beautiful music."
"I gotta get some, but can I listen to it before I plunk down my hard earned paper route money?"
"Of course," he replied "what do you want to listen to?"
I pointed to a bunch of stuff. He removed several boxes from the back of the trunk and handed them to me. I almost stumbled under the load. It was all I could do to carry all the boxes. There were two Klipsch speakers, a B&O linear tracking TT and a Nakamichi cassette deck.
"I'm gonna run home and listen to this stuff, if it sounds as good as you say I'll come back and pay you the $8000, for all this stuff."
He turned around and winked at the driver.

I ran home and sure enough, the system was everything he said it would be. Some of the music was so good I nearly wept as I listened.

I still feel bad about never going back and paying the man, but I told him it might take a while before I would be back. As far as I know he's still there on 27th street waiting for me.