My earliest exposure to music was when I was quite young. For my 9th or 10th birthday I received a small transistor radio as a gift. I spent endless hours listening to the then new music of the British invasion; The Beatles, The Stones, Petula Clark et al. Like many families our living room included a console stereo, nothing fancy, a Montgomery Wards rig if I recall, but it sounded better than my transistor, with better bass and it played much louder.
Around this same time a shopping mall was built in our neighborhood. That first mall included an Allied Radio store and several record shops. Allied Radio was my first exposure to Hi-Fi components; amplifiers, preamps, loudspeakers, turntables and tape decks. The listening rooms were filled with exotic brands like Marantz, AR, Wharfdale, Ampex, Dynaco, Fisher, KLH and Harmon Kardon. I studied the Allied catalog religiously, imagining all the equipment I would own if I were rich.
My love of music proceeded my love for audio gear, but good audio gear enhanced my love of music.
Music is still an important part of my everyday life. Over the years I've amassed a good collection of LPs and CDs. My musical tastes are more eclectic now and include classical, big band and some jazz. I own a few "Audiophile" recordings, but the bulk of my collection is just good music I enjoy listening to.
I don't have the large sums of money to spend on audio gear that some more fortunate audiophiles do, but I've always been able to build a system that is musical and realistic sounding without a bank loan.
For the past several years I've owned a pair of Magnepan 1.7i loudspeakers, Syzygy sub woofers and Audio Research electronics. I normally buy my loudspeakers and turntables new, and my electronics second hand. I've found that high-end second hand electronics are a great way to get terrific sounding components for about half the price of new. Vacuum Tubes can be a bit finicky, but the sound they produce is worth the fiddling. My entire system cost me less than $20,000, but rivals some systems I've heard costing far more.
Good music is important to me. It lifts my spirit and often reminds me of the people and places I knew when I heard an album for the first time. So whether I'm in the mood for Antonio Vivaldi, Led Zeppelin or Chet Baker it's nice to know I have a system capable of rendering the music in a pleasing manner.
I've been at this for over 50 years, so am I a audiophile? Perhaps, but a music lover for sure.
