How long ago did you catch the bug?

Middle school in the late 80’s to early 90’s.  Friends Dad had a state of the art at the time Home Theater set up.  Lost count on how many times we watched Tombstone! 
 

First spade of my own where I could let my love for Audio shine was at 16, my car was the spot.  My audio gear was worth more than the mighty Toyota Tercel. 
 

The bug has shifted from Car Audio to Home Theater to now a heavy focus on 2 Channel.  Just bought a Krell stack, never thought I would have the means or opportunity for the kind of gear I have today and…. Still always looking for ways to get that next little bit further.  Crazy, fun, stupid hobby.

1960. The neighbor across the street (an EE) had a Mac mono amp and one Klipsch corner horn.  That thing played all day every day with a Mac tuner.  I was interested and amazed at 7 years old.  One day I asked him how loud it could play, they used it as background only.  He just smiled invited me in and let that baby rip. As you are all aware that was it for me, I was totally stunned.

I would scour on my bike for console TVs discarded.  Had my bag of tools and would "gut" them.  Finally got one amp and a speaker to work, added more speakers (raw) as I found them and finally blew the thing up setting my bed on fire in the process. Got my butt kicked and also gained space in my dad's small workspace.

Living in North Jersey there was many many audio stores and NYC was only a 20 minute bus ride away.  Imagine letting a 13 year old go to NYC on a scouting mission in this day-in-age.

Hook, line and sinker...

Regards,
barts

At age 13 in 1964 my older brother built a Dyna ST70, PAS3, FM3 while I was away at camp.  When I returned home he took me with him to buy speakers from a nearby stereo shop in Ridgewood, NJ, where I got my first glimpse of a demo room with a TD124/SME w/V15, McIntosh electronics and an array of speakers.  We compared and chose KLH 17s.  A few years later I heard Rectilinear 3s at Leonard Radio in Paramus...they were ear opening in comparison to the ARs and KLHs.  The final straw was a trip to Victor's in Chicago and hearing Quad ESL57s, IMF TLS80s and Tympanys w/ ARC electronics.  Hooked.  I couldn't afford that stuff, but the quest for "the closest approach to the original sound" was on. 

When I was a junior in high school and was a drummer in bands that actually made money!

I remember going off to college with my Kenwood integrated amp, a Dual 1219 turntable with a Shure V15 Type 2 cartridge, a Wollensak reel-to-reel, the Koss Pro 4B headphones and a pair of Dynaco bookshelf speakers.

As an adult, when I could see "the light at the end of the tunnel" with my youngest's college expenses, that's the time "the bug" cost the most (in terms of dollars!)

As a young kid I was always into technology. The more buttons a gadget had the better. Around 1965 my brother-in-law bought one of those all in one wooden cabinet stereos on legs. I loved using that thing to play music. I’d sit right in the middle of it to hear stereo. Something I never could at home on our old table-top AM/FM radio.

From that point on I was hooked. Got an all-in-one stereo from Radio Shack in 1974 (with an 8-track recorder!) and never looked back, graduating to a "real" stereo with modest components when I got to college in 1980.

My brother-in-law got a reel-to-reel deck and that thing was amazing, but it was stolen in a house robbery, and he never replaced it.

Been loving music and its reproduction ever since those days on a variety of equipment. Just wish my ears were 20 years old again.