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Which components knocked you out on first listen?

I've been listening to stereos since 1973 and I am still waiting to be truly knocked out by the sound of a component. I have sat in showrooms across the country and have been pleased by what I have heard but never truly blown away.
The closest I came was when I listened to a Meitner str-55 amp and VTL preamp a few years ago, sourced by a Linn Ikemi and Revel loudspeakers. However, I also have been moved by a
Apple computer cd drive, circa 1994 through a Creek 4040 and RA Lab speakers, estimated cost about $1,200; maybe more so than the Linn,Revel 10K system. How about you?
cody
dannylw's avatar
dannylw
172 posts
 
Bose 901 with Macintosh amps. (I'm old)
Hill Plasmatronics
Beveridge Model 1
Stax Class 45 watt per channel amp with Dahlquist DQ10
Infinity Beta with Audio research
Apogee Scintilla with Krell
Sequerra tuner with Stax Lambda phones
Pass Labs 30 watt single ended
fathom7
57 posts
 
Dannylw:

You're not THAT old. The 901s were IT back when. Compared to the regular stuff that floated around at the time they were considered amazing.

Driving DQ10s with 45WPC? Wow, imagine what they would have sounded like with sufficient power to open them up. My old SAE amp had "just enough" for my DQ10s (a speaker I still miss and fondly remember) at 125/side.

F7
dannylw's avatar
dannylw
172 posts
 
It was a Stax Class A with 45 watts per channel. I had heard the DQ10 many times before but never like that. The speakers finally lived up to the articles I was reading. And just for the record I had an SAE 4C for a long time. I no longer own the SAE but it still doing daily duty.
mbacinello
54 posts
 
Proac response 2.5's driven with sonic frontiers power 3's...wow, the image they created was 3 dimensional, for real, it was like you could walk around the saxophonist and he had physicality to him!! not to mention the amazing bass for such an unassuming speaker

Totem modle 1's driven by cary triods...i have yet to hear diana krall sound better, on any system

Wilson Grand Slamms with Krell FPB 600...that was an eye opener on how good audio can get, yet you'd expect it to be good cause it costs 100x what the totem/cary system cost.

in that sense i was much more floored by the other two systems.
thesaint519
162 posts
 
The system that first knocked me out as a novice was at a Legacy Audio road show. They had the Whispers being driven by their high current amp. It was at that time that I publicly vowed to somehow - someday buy a system that could, again, emotionally move me to tears. After the journey began and I learned more about audio, my taste evolved. The system that first knocked me out since the acquisition of audio experience and knowledge was this:

Levinson 390S
Levinson 33H monos
Revel Salons

And it is this system that I currently own as a result of that experience. Needless to say, it moves me everytime I hear it.
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