Is your now then?

It was my fathers system… Dyna Kit Pre-amp and Amp. Very large (brand??) Speakers, an AR belt driven turntable and a Revox reel to reel.

All the switches, volume bass and treble made noise.

Simon and Garfunkel had just released Sounds of Silence and to this day, I miss the sound the crumpled tape made right at the beginning of the first track.

I must have been about 6 or 7 years old and remember spraying something on all the pots and replacing tubes on that old amp with my dad. Gosh…he would love what I’m listening to now. He’s been gone a very long time.

I’ve been hooked ever since.

The system I took to college was that Kenwood amp with the big knob and a pair of JBL L100’s. I remember that amp kept blowing the tweeters until I put a fuse on the speaker cables. I went thru those fuses like candy…!

That would have been 1978 when I heard the HQD system for the first time. (Hartley, Quad, Decca) Not only is my current system better sounding but it is way more reliable. We blew Decca ribbons and Quads all over the place. I am not a romantic and have no attachment to the past. There is absolutely nothing mythical about it. Technology soldiers on. I am after the best sound not romantically colored sound. There was this one system centered on Pyramid Metronome speakers and Threshold electronics that is my Pantheon of all time great systems. It was the first system that I ever heard image correctly. If it hadn't been for that system I wouldn't know how far you can take it, what to shoot for.

I worked for Federal Express ,I delivered to a apartment in Manhattan,  standing outside the door I heard music , the maid open the door , and  the sound just beautiful ,like I never experience before. One day a gentleman answered the door ,And invited me in ,  It was Victor Goldstein , That’s were it all started 30 years ago.

fedie ... great story!  Can you elaborate on your impromptu meeting w Victor?  Do recall anything of his system?  

At Lafayette Radio on Rte 17 Paramus, NJ, l was there to buy my first stereo, a KLH 11 suitcase, and I asked to hear the best they had. The proprietor put on Rectilinear 3s with a Mac amp. Wow. Next, in Chicago at Victor’s I heard IMF Studios playing Cat Stevens Angelsea and Quad ESLs (57s) playing a Mozart chamber orchestra and I was set on my path. I’ve never had the disposable income to own the best, but the pursuit has been great.