Components I would have died for when I was a wee pup

****what did you have in your cross hairs when you started out?****

At 18?  The pic next to your moniker is about it 😉

But, seriously, stacked Quad 57's/Sequerra ribbons/Levinson ML2's.

lynott82 posts12-31-2016 10:19amAvantgarde Trios. I still remember hearing the Who’s "Live at Leeds" through them. The amps shredded my ears, but it was certainly memorable, and I always wondered what the AGs would sound like with a friendlier amp. I found out years later, and again, it was quite the experience. Even back then, the cost was astronomical, though!

Lynott, you must’ve met REAL good sale pitcher to spend on your first system near-fortune! I was also in dedicated Avantgarde room (obviously to fulfill my curiosity to innovative speaker design in 90’s) and after audition I had my ears ringin’ for the WHOLE week. The most expensive Trios obviously sounded the MOST terrible and ringin’ with upper mids dominating the whole spectrum and unfortunately there’s no ’right amp’ for’m. Such deep lack of tonal balance I haven’t heard in any speaker at all. Similar effect I heard when I placed the clock radio in the corner of completely empty room and turned the volume all the way up till clipping!
The best sound in Avantgarde listening room was out of Solo the least expensive speaker($4k back than?), but unfortunately it’s out of production today. T

Those Vandersteen 2a's were my grail-which I thankfully got 34 years later in the form of 3a sigs.
Dahlquist 10's, Maggies, and a brief fling with Shahanian obelisks also piqued my interest. I was obsessed with speakers, as you can see.  
Funny that I wasn't thinking about amps/preamps. I guess not having discretionary income actually saved me from a load of frustration.

frogman:

"****what did you have in your cross hairs when you started out?****

At 18? The pic next to your moniker is about it 😉"

Hilarious and so true.

Best to you frogman,
Dave

When I was a little older than a wee pup and totally into this hobby in my mid 20's, I would venture into a few Phila area stores and pretty much wanted everything

Sassafras Audio:  Perreaux, cj walker, Maggies, cj, Audio Research, Tandberg, Sonographe

Chestnut Hill Audio:  Rauna Tyr's, Moscode, Counterpoint

Danby Radio:  Sequerra Met 7's, early Thiels, Nak Dragon TT, McIntosh

Stereo Trading Post:  basically a musuem of the coolest high end used gear, you name it, it was probably there in the mid-late 80's

There were a couple of other joints Community Audio & Sound Service (aka David Lewis Audio) but I didn't go there that often.