YOUR AUDIOPHILE JOURNEY WHEN DID IT START AND HOW DID YOU GET TO YOUR DREAM SYSTEM?

Started with a Crystal Radio and an ear plug.  About 10 years old.  Could pull in stations from Detroit on a good night.  At least that is my memory.  

@bigtwin @mikhailark great  stories. Audio is life. 

I had to repost this because we had a troll destroy our discussion.

A troll?? No way! Not here! I don’t believe it!

Anyway, I do not own my "dream system" but it is better than it was 30 years ago when I got started. The way I started was I got one of those monstrous TVs that came out before the flat screens (not the original large screens) and I hooked my two channel rack system up to it and I thought I had surround sound. One of the home theater guys at work was happy to tell me that I did not have "surround sound" and that got me in to the Dolby Prologic scene and the integrated prologic unit I bought had a sub out jack, so one of the home theater guys at work told me that i HAD to get a sub, so I bought an M&K subwoofer for what seemed to me to be an xorbitant amount of $. I was talking to a guy at the gym who I knew was into sound about my HT, and he came over to watch the Rodger Waters doing The Wall live in Berlin. He started telling me about vacuum tube stuff and my HT evolved in to 2 channel only and three amps and 3 preamps and three digital front ends and numerous other expenditures here and there later, I am where I am. Three pairs of speakers as well, but I am having second thoughts about the last pair I recently bought and am wondering if I ought to go another way. I also need a new sub.

Anyhow, that’s the short version.

I was working for my parents when I was about 12, in their TV store.  They also sold a limited number of console “hi-f”i units and a Zenith stereo record player.  I saved my money from working at the business, delivering newspapers, and collecting walnuts (&1/bag for Black Walnuts, $10/bag for English walnuts).  The. Zenith unit had a record player, a radio tuner (AM & FM, if I recall correctly), a built-in amplifier, and two round speakers on the front,  both maybe 5 & 1/4” units—the speakers’ centers were only about 11” apart, so stereo separation was not the best.  My first records were George Szell and the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra playing Beethoven’s 5th and 7th Symphonies, a Glenn Miller record, and a Tommy Dorsey/Frank Sinatra record.

i was hooked! 

I played trumpet and French Horn in a Concert Band in High School.  When stationed in Germany—first of three tours in Germany, 1973 to 1978, we attended many concerts, especially in West Berlin, the greatest being Karl Böhm conducting in Berlin, a performance of Beethoven’ “Pastorale,” 7th Symphony.  The Berliners went wild with their applause and foot-stomping, which went on for over 40 minutes.  On about 1973, we saw a fairly young Kyung Wha Chung play Max Bruch’s “Scottish Fantasy” with the Munich Orchestra … also superb!

 Still am hooked!

I started with a portable box record player with a tall spindle for both 45s and albums. I made cassette tapes to take outdoors by putting a mic in front of the speaker in the front of the box connected to a portable tape deck.  Then moved on to 8-track and finally CDs. I’ve had multiple systems over the years. Some I still use, some in storage and some I gave to friends and family. I finally moved to separate components when I went back to a music focused system after years with home theater setups. The system I have now is the best I’ve ever had but for me enjoying the music I love over the years is living the dream. This hobby is a journey not a destination IMO. As Hans says, enjoy the music.