How did U get into this expensive hobby?

Well I have no comment on Leaf or his "friends". I was in Junior High in 1969 when I was offered a used Marantz Integrated amp and tuner. I had two summer jobs at the time so I bought it with a small loan from dad. I talked my dad into a bit more for some Jensen speakers with 15" woofers! After I paid dad back I saved $400 and got an Empire belt drive turntable. I had no idea how lucky I was to have started with such a good system. I guess that starting that way spoiled me and I've always gone up from there. It wasn't until the mid '80s when a friend of mine took me to an audophile shop. I was blown away at how good a stereo could sound. After some time I bought my first quality system, and I still didn't even know Sterephile and the other mag's existed. As has been often stated, music brought me to this hobby and my drive to improve the sound and my personal enjoyment keep me upgrading. If all the jabs cast on this site could end and we could just share our hobby together life would be perfect. Come on guys, can't we just enjoy eachother?

You are Jademo a true music lover.Your route is the music lovers.The mag come latley crowd are gearheads who should look for other sites like audioassylum where they belong. th

As an analogy Leaf, lets me splain it to ya. If you became a Christian by reading the Bible rather than going to church, would you be any less a Christian? Does your argument really make any sense let alone difference in how we arrived at where we are? Each of us got here via a somewhat different path, I’m sure. The POINT is evident to me that most people here LOVE music. There certainly may be a percentage that are gear junkies but that STILL doesn't necessarily mean they got to where they are by the magazines. Case in point, myself. I have been into music as long as I can remember. Mom and Dad bought a Zenith ("The Quality goes in before the name goes on") solid maple console that I spent my childhood listening to music on. Could easily recognize more than the rest the quality difference in recordings. I was 9 years old when we got it. I didn't get my own system until high school, a Lafayette receiver with matching speakers. Went to college bought a used Scott integrated with Dynaco A25's later Bose 501's with garrard turntable. Never did like them as much as the A25's which were really good bookshelf speakers at the time. Mid 70's got a Pioneer SX 838 50-watt receiver, B.I.C. 960 turntable, still had the Bose 501 later sold for Sansui. At this point the changes happened rather quickly. I bought a Yamaha R-9 receiver, based on Audio Magazine review kept the same speakers and bought a Denon turntable, better but something was still missing especially on classical music (the music was STILL 2 dimensional and bright). At this point the Hi-End to me was McIntosh which was very good indeed AND expensive, didn't hear about ARC or the others until....heard from a friend about his brother-in-law’s system. Was invited over and was swept away by his Perraux and Vandersteen 4A Speakers with I don't remember the rest. He told me about a Stereo Store that sold hi quality gear and also about Stereophile Magazine and The Audio Cheapskate. About 1985. I ended up spending 5k on all new gear within 2 months, which I lived with for almost 10 years making a few changes here and there. Stereophile was one guide and listening was the ultimate determinating factor in buying. Hey it sounded like music for the first time although that Scott system was the most satisfying up till then. I always reminisced about it after I got rid of it. The quest I am on now is to realize as close to live as I can or am willing to spend. I haven't found that limit yet but the speakers I am currently listening to for the past 5 months have outclassed everything I’ve put in front of them. Their limit hasn’t been reached. So here I am actively on the journey. My system sounds great but I’ll certainly know when it has arrived, to date it hasn’t. The criteria now have changed with the improvements. I am within striking distance of mimicking live music on the best recordings, and the poor recordings are just that much more enjoyable. Ain’t it Grand?

I just spent the last 4 hours in my basement cleaning LP's on a manual wet-vac machine.Fun? not really but I have 3000 LP's down there and someone has to do it.Its music not gear.If I were a gear head I sure as hell wouldnt be in my basement cleaning LP's!! I'd be up here where its nice and comfortable staring at my stereo!! I live in a rural are in western NY.I never even knew high-end shops exhisted till 4 years ago.My introduction to this hobby came from Stereophile.So what? Actually I dont even know why Im responding again.Its very apparent leafs is bitter and angry over something.Too bad he had to pollute this site with his latent issues.

Nicely put Leafs, concise and to the point. Have another one on me, you're not quite there yet. Yes, I love gears, all kinds of gears. That's all I love in my "pathetic life", and I sure am a jerk. I'm an ogre...that's what I am....Let it all out Leafs. You are magnificent, and I am utterly souless!