How did U get into this expensive hobby?

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!

i bought my first "hi-fi" in 1957, an rca with blonde wood cabinet and metal legs in the "moderne" style. it was purchased with the $$ i got from selling a huge lionel model rr setup. (yeah, i know, the stuff would be worth a fortune now.) the first record i bought was the platters on a 45 rpm with the big hole, singing "the great pretender." my first lp was van cliburn's tchaikovsky's first, which won him the big prize in moscow and propelled him to stardom. my phonograph purchase was followed the next year with a gift from my folks of a viking 1/4" reel-to-reel that played pre-recorded stereo tapes. i used the tinny little speaker in the tape deck for one channel and the rca phono as the other. from this less-than-modest "system," i became better aquainted with the world of classical music, since there were more prerecorded tapes in that genre than any other. in college, starting in '61, i was introduced to much more classical work and better "stereos." then, a fraternity brother built a dynakit amp and pre-amp, which i heard first in '63, playing bob dylan's first album. it was that little system and that album that really hooked me; i remember the experience with great vividness even after 37 years (my god, can it really be that long ago?) i continued to buy records, playing them on my roomates' stuff until i was married in february of '67, during the semester break of my second year in lawschool. my wife and i purchased "our" first "real" stereo setup a couple of months after our marraige. i still have it. it was comprised of a fisher integrated, ar2 speakers and an ar turntable (cartridge came with). we moved that little system around from one rented house to another, iowa city to kansas city to denver, together with our slowly-growing collection of records. in around 1980-81, i heard "highend" for the first time at a basement "salon" in boulder. that setup included a stax amp and pre, b&w speaks and a thorens tt. i loved it but couldn't afford it. a year or so later, tho, i rationalized withdrawing the meagre savings i had accumulated in my "own" account ( perhaps this is why there aren't more women in the hobby-they're not nearly so self-dillusional or quite as sneaky!) to buy into the "highend." my first system was comprised of infinity rs 2.5 speakers an apt-holman pre, bryston amp, denon tt w/arm an an ortfon model 30(?) mc cartridge and accompanining stepup. i kept that groupo fairly intact until 1984-85, when i stumbled upon a tiny new shop in an old denver neighborhood that sold used highend gear. it was called "soundhounds." i got to know and become friends with soundhound's owner and saleman. by hangin' with them and other customers and hangerson, who'd gather many nights at closing time for a beer or 3 to listen, sans the great unwashed, to all the new stuff that came in almost daily, my audio horizons were expanded exponentially. we listened 3 or 4 times a week, over time, to hundreds of combinations of speakers and electronics, used and new, mostly playing cherished lps from our "members'" collections. i met many members of the loose-knit audiophile community in this era, including some well-known colo designers and manufacturers. in '87 or '88, through my expanding circle of audio buddies, i met the man who has now become my best friend. i'll identify him only as "j." j invited me to ces, let me party with his distributors and other friends and generally provided me in numerous ways with an entre into the "inner sanctum." audio and music is now at the center of my life, as it's never been before. i delight in listening to my now rapidly-expanding music collection that is fed in no small measure by my older son and his spouse, both of whom are in the radio/entertainment industry (read:promo copies!). j has open-houses 6 or 7 times a year that always end with a dinner with the reps or writers and hours of listening to the newest of the new and biggest of the big in j's wonderful main soundroom. my audio circle has become even wider on this site. tho there have been some wild any crazy dissagreements, the group of "regulars" has taught me much and entertained me more. here's hoping 2001 (my favorite all-time movie, BTW) is prosperous to all. let's all raise a cup to civility, good humor and fun on audiogon. the past is the past; let's let it melt away with the end of the last year of the twentieth century. CHEERS TO ALL!!!!- Kelly

i composed the last post while some of you were engaged in impolite colloquy. (i'm a slow typist-4 fingers at best.) hope you don't mind my getting back to the theme of the thread. ;>0