I will never forget my first lusting for a sound system, it was 1974 and Mike Oldfield had just released "Tubular Bells". I stopped by a stereo store on the Northside of Indianapolis, and the salesman asked me if I had heard ESS Heil Air Motion Transformer speakers yet. He dropped the needle on Tubular Bells, and I was gobsmacked (although it would be 40 years before I knew what that meant.)
After hearing the Heils, I was bitten by the Audiophile bug.
My first system has proven to have been wise choices, despite my naive views back in 1975. I was steered to the Large Advent Loudspeakers, which I still own and enjoy. My early electronics were Yamaha, and I stayed with "Natural Sound" until I was given a Denon AVR-2805.
When it comes to AMT, I finally got a pair, but they are the Dayton Audio bookshelf model which retail for $50 a pair and serve my bedroom system quite well.
Lately, I have been gifted with something that would have been in my "dream system" should I ever win the Lottery. A friend gave me a 1-meter pair of Nordost Valhalla (one) flat ribbon speaker wires. When Harry Pearson said they were the reference by which all speaker wires would be compared, he made an understatement. The Nordost folks released the Valhalla 2 Reference which broke the bank.
Over the years, I have befriended other Audiophiles and enjoyed their systems. I met a man who sold the Crown Prince floor-standing speakers, which I auditioned in his dedicated listening room (A room build within the confines of the garage, with amps the size of military footlockers, and connected with cables that looked like Amazon snakes). Another fellow is on pure vinyl and drives his Vandersteens with BAT electronics--and it sounds very impressive. Another friend uses a Hegel amp to drive his new speakers. But, as with all subjective judgments, I value what I listen to in my home, and with various tweaks, I can honestly say that the only thing I would upgrade now, might be my Schiit Modi 2 DAC to a Multibit version. A rather modest jump from the $99 entry-level to the $249 unit, I would hope could even further improve my digital library. I have no interest in vinyl--pops and clicks, and 15 minutes turning over schedules.
After hearing the Heils, I was bitten by the Audiophile bug.
My first system has proven to have been wise choices, despite my naive views back in 1975. I was steered to the Large Advent Loudspeakers, which I still own and enjoy. My early electronics were Yamaha, and I stayed with "Natural Sound" until I was given a Denon AVR-2805.
When it comes to AMT, I finally got a pair, but they are the Dayton Audio bookshelf model which retail for $50 a pair and serve my bedroom system quite well.
Lately, I have been gifted with something that would have been in my "dream system" should I ever win the Lottery. A friend gave me a 1-meter pair of Nordost Valhalla (one) flat ribbon speaker wires. When Harry Pearson said they were the reference by which all speaker wires would be compared, he made an understatement. The Nordost folks released the Valhalla 2 Reference which broke the bank.
Over the years, I have befriended other Audiophiles and enjoyed their systems. I met a man who sold the Crown Prince floor-standing speakers, which I auditioned in his dedicated listening room (A room build within the confines of the garage, with amps the size of military footlockers, and connected with cables that looked like Amazon snakes). Another fellow is on pure vinyl and drives his Vandersteens with BAT electronics--and it sounds very impressive. Another friend uses a Hegel amp to drive his new speakers. But, as with all subjective judgments, I value what I listen to in my home, and with various tweaks, I can honestly say that the only thing I would upgrade now, might be my Schiit Modi 2 DAC to a Multibit version. A rather modest jump from the $99 entry-level to the $249 unit, I would hope could even further improve my digital library. I have no interest in vinyl--pops and clicks, and 15 minutes turning over schedules.